Craters and Critters

---

Warning - best get a cup of tea and ensure the boss isn’t looking over your shoulder, this is a long one!

Fully refreshed and restocked after our couple of days in Singapore, we caught a flight to Manado which is in the north of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Travelling much lighter now after having left much of our dive gear and random unnecessary bits and bobs in Singapore was a dream and meant that we didn’t have to blag our way out of excess baggage at the check in desk.
We were met at the airport (our flight was late- again!) and had an easy transfer via taxi and boat to our next home away from home - Nomad Adventure Divers (NAD) Resort on the Lembeh Strait. This is a small new resort that Lise had found from which we were basing our ‘muck diving’ adventures. We had an amazing time at NAD, we were given our own boat, boatman Ramli and dive guide, Eric, who looked after us very well. Ramli had hot coffee after we came up from each dive and sorted out all our gear and Eric asked for our “wish list” of critters to see and managed to find most of them- his keen eyesight put us to shame. We saw so many amazing critters in our four days diving, cockatoo waspfish, frogfish (hairy and painted varieties), seahorses (pygmy and common), leaf fish, flying gurnards, octopuses (octopi???! - long armed, coconut and mimic) - at least five new critters each dive. We clocked up another dozen dives at NAD around the Lembeh straight, including a couple of wall dives and a wreck dive to mix up with the muck diving. Lise’s favourite dive was to see the vibrantly colourful mandarin fish. This was a great dive though one of the coldest as you have to remain stationary for 1 hour. It was worth putting up with the cold though as the mandarin fish were not shy and came out and put on a show for us. We even saw some pairs mating which was quite amazing.

All of the staff at NAD were great and it was so laid back that we found it hard to leave. Fortunately, the resort was expecting a large tour group to arrive the next day, so we were forced to leave!

We spent one night in Manado in what looked like a reasonable hotel. Looks can be deceiving. The guys in the room next door partied all night with the local entertainment, there were rats nesting in the roof above us- complete with baby rat squeaks and scratching that made us think they’d fall through the plasterboard and the loud speaker from the local mosque right outside our window (that didn’t shut) called us to prayer at 4:30am. We say no more at risk of sounding far too un-pc.

We ran into a few problems on our next bit of trip planning. One thing we hadn’t banked on was the Indonesian school holidays, which meant that all flights out of Manado and around where we wanted to head to were booked solid. The credit card had to take a severe pounding - the only flight we could get was in business class down to Denpasar in Bali. Naturally we had to make the most of this and gorged ourselves in the business lounge (although Lise was very disappointed that with what will probably be the only time she travels business class, she didn’t get a sky bed! Shame!)

We hubbed through Kuta, Bali- one of the reasons was to get some new glasses ordered for Al (so much cheaper than home) but we only spent 2 nights there. After wandering around the streets and observing all the tourists we just felt a bit.. well let’s say that Bali seems to be recovering and the tourist industry is flourishing!

We learned our lesson and tried to pre-book some flights but the next few weeks were almost booked solid! We managed to get our flights booked with a bit of rearranging. Our next stop was Lombok, the island east of Bali. We spent a day reaching it by a 7 hr ferry ride- the ferry was a scramble, the locals are admitted first and claim all the good seats but we got a sleeping mat (at a cost, of course) and claimed our bit of floor space. The ferry only left 1hr 20mins late, not bad… We headed to Sengiggi which is a bit of a beach resort town. Lise had been here last year and hated it but because it was the most convenient for arranging tours etc we went back. We still disliked it- the hawkers are incessant and it’s hard not to be rude and snappy after a very short time. We were also told when we were only 15 mins away in the shuttle bus that all the accommodation was booked out as there was a medical conference on, 3500 doctors and their partners all in Sengiggi. We managed to get a room, although at inflated prices. From here we arranged our next few days entertainment and the main reason we’d come to Lombok, trekking on the active volcano Mt Rinjani. Excuse us if the next bit drags on a bit but we’ve just returned and it’s all very fresh in our minds. Plus, we’re a bit proud of ourselves, so let us ramble!

We’d read a little about this trek before booking and we knew it was supposed to be challenging. That’s a lie. It’s hard. Very hard. Really really soul destroying, muscles ache for days afterwards, wish you were dead hard. Well, if you’re as fit (or unfit) as we are. We booked a 3 day/ 2 night package which included food, lodging in the million star hotel, guide and porter. We stayed overnight at Senaru which is one of the entry points to the park but started our trek from Sembalun (alt:1,100m) the other entry point. Our bemo(local bus) transfer between the two villages was action packed. Things fell off the roof (luckily, none of the people riding up there), we had to negotiate fallen coconuts, get out at steep hills so they could drive up and our fuel tank fell off. We got there safely. We had our guide, Jooky and porter, Ronnie with us. We just carried small packs with our personal stuff. The trek started through savannah hills, basically grassy plains with not much shade and intense heat. With a break of rainforest, this lasted about 3 ½ hrs with some uphills and downhills. This was the “easy” bit but we still struggled. We had lunch in a dry creek bed, complete with lava flows. The food for the trek was great and very filling, always cooked fresh and usually noodles or rice, veggies, an egg and possibly some chicken. Fruit with every meal too. After lunch, things got serious and we started climbing. This was 3 ½ hrs of relentless 45-60 degree hills. You’d reach the top of one hill to be confronted with another, just as big and just as steep. Jooky was the master of “little bit more” and “one more hill” and eventually we got to the rim. Which was ALMOST at the camp (Lise nearly cried when we reached the top and they said, oh yeah, see those tents over there? (ie.. 30 mins more) that’s our camp- alt:2639m) We got a magnificent sunset and could see Mt Agung on Bali and another mountain on Sumbawa. We were camped on the crater rim and could see the lake in the crater as well which actually has a new volcano in its centre- this volcano last erupted in 1994. On the other side of the rim we could see the lights from the villages where we started. We had dinner watching the sun go down. Lise wasn’t feeling well (bali belly, what good timing!) and had the shivers and shakes for a while so didn’t eat dinner. Luckily, it didn’t go to waste as a naughty monkey stole half of it from behind Al’s back. We crashed out early and quickly discovered all the lumps and bumps in the volcanic ash under the tent but still managed to get some sleep until 3am when all the hardcore climbers were attempting the summit. We had originally started the climb thinking we’d do the summit too but as day one got harder and harder we realised we were being a bit ambitious. This was vindicated when some guys we met who were young fit outdoorsy types told us it was the hardest thing they’ve ever done. The summit is at 3,726m and is an incredibly steep scramble up, the last 200m are almost straight up in sand. Woo- what fun! We still got to see an amazing sunrise and were quite content to have the couple of extra hours lie in and breakfast in our tent.

Day two was a sheer descent down to the crater lake at 2000m. We hopped down over steep, slippery rocks for 1 ½ hrs and then had a relatively leisurely walk for another hour and realised then that someone unkind had emptied our leg muscles out and replaced them with jelly. We spent 2 hours at the lake, mainly soaking in some hot springs nearby and having a nap and some lunch. Then we had to go up the other side of the crater as day 2 camp was up there (2641m again). This was incredibly difficult as our legs just didn’t want to work and our energy was down- scrambling up rocks and very steep climbs. We wanted to give up but what’s the use in giving up when the only way out is up anyhow?

Our guide and porter were masters of this climb and put us to shame. Ronnie, the porter, carried 30+ kgs in two baskets on the end of a bamboo pole and walked in flip-flops (thongs for the Aussies). Jooky would either climb up a bit and wait for us or wait behind and catch us up. Each time we started off, Ronnie would pass us quickly and always have lunch or our camp set up and the tea on. Jooky helped us as best he could, he was delighted to know Lise spoke a little Indonesian and tried talking to her in Indonesian- luckily his English was good enough to explain what she didn’t understand. Jooky even hauled Lise by the hand up some of the bigger scrambles at the end of day 2 even though Lise probably had a good 10kg on him. After 3 hrs of climbing up we got to the top but again our elation was dampened when we were told again camp was 30 mins down the other side. The landscape at this camp was totally different again with rolling plains of grass and few trees- sort of like savannah but at altitude and we could see down to the sea. We got there, somehow and were fed and asleep by 7:30. It was bitingly cold at this camp, the night before had been cold but this even made Al shiver. There was no option besides putting every item of clothing we had on and getting into our sleeping bags. Lise was happy to discover she could pull her beanie down over her nose to keep it from freezing.

We were up at 6:00 the next morning so we could start the descent back down to 650m early. We set off down steep hills- loose dirt with some grass which meant we skated down and quite often landed on our backsides. We still don’t know how Jooky managed to just run down these hills, he seemed to be part mountain goat. This was really hard on our knees and we started to really feel the muscles and joints scream. Then after an hour we got into rainforest which we thought was better, jumping and clambering down steep hills made up of tree roots, rocks and wet dirt. Our knees disagreed and thought this was equally bad. The descent was relentless as we couldn’t see up or down to gauge where we were. It took us 4 hours to get down out of the park, at each rest stop Jooky and Ronnie would rest with us, then we’d get a good head start and just before the next stop they’d come flying down again. At the park gate, we had another 30 mins walk to the end point. Our knees and thighs were so sore that Lise nearly cried each time there was another descent. We finally got to our pick up spot and when a car came to fetch us, sitting but still moving felt like the best thing in the world.

Back at our hotel in Sengiggi, after a long shower (cold, but it was so good) and after a steak sandwich (although when they seated us upstairs we both had to use the hand rail to stumble up) we are both incredibly proud of ourselves. Lise can confidently say that she totally underestimated how hard it was going to be and in hindsight should have paid more heed to the warnings which said this climb is not for inexperienced and unfit people- it’s physically the hardest thing she’s ever done but it’s one heck of an achievement. It also brought us closer together as we both encouraged and supported each other at the low points and shared the highlights.

Tomorrow we head back to Bali (if we can get out of bed) en route for Flores for diving, komodo dragons and an overland adventure.

Last note: We were lucky enough again in Sengiggi to have a hotel that backed onto another Mosque. We can say that the 4:30am call to prayer inspired the same delight from us as the last time…

---