Patience

---

Our first day was spent learning to master the art of patience. As expected the flights to Indonesia were delayed. We were expecting this as even though we had booked through Qantas we were on a Jetstar flight. The plane to Perth was delayed and then the plane from Perth was also delayed. Luckily the saving grace was that the lounge was open for us in both Melbourne and Perth. It was especially good to be able to catch the end of the ODI and see England beat Australia.

We had no problem finding a place to leave our winter bag at the airport in Jakarta, but since we arrived late we missed our connecting flight to Manado. We managed to book another - at an exorbitant premium and then had 5 hours to wait. We found some lovely food and laughed out loud when Toby choked on his chili sauce. He had been warned it was HOT, but assured us he could manage it. Fiona discovered sweet tomato juice is surprisingly refreshing and Harriet ordered her first nasi goreng. Toby and Harriet also managed to find ice cream at Jakarta airport, so their holiday was off to a perfect start.

Getting through to the dive resort on the phone was just not happening. We managed to email, but for some unexplained reason the phone couldn't connect. So we made our own arrangements for the night and decided to get our own boat over in the morning. We chose a mid range hotel near the port with aircon. Totally exhausted we ate in the hotel cafe and afterr Harriet's second nasi goreng, we hit the sack.

Three 4 hour flights in 24 hours with long waits between would have tried Job. However we decided to think about the positives of the day and not dwell on the boredom or cramped spaces. Instead we reflected on the cricket, the fabulous food at Jakarta airport - all of Indonesia has great food, even the airports - and how well each of us had managed to remain calm. A good start to the holiday as it has already put us in a easy going frame of mind and slowed us down.

Now we're ready to relax some more in Bunaken.

---