Singapore to Sulawesi

Hello Friends and Family

Since we last wrote we have once again left civilisation and as I write we are sat in just about the only internet cafe in the small town of Gorontalo in Sulawesi, Indonesia. We have been rushing around in the last week and covered quite a lot of ground (and water)...

We arrived in Bali in the middle of the night last week to find the 1st Asian Beach Games had come to Kuta, but managed to find some crummy accommodation for the night. The next day we moved to a much nicer hotel with a swimming pool - luxury - and set about to some serious relaxing.

Bright and early the next morning we set off at 6am for the Gili Islands, off Lombok (to the east of Bali). We were supposed to arrive in the middle of the afternoon, but the ferry to Lombok had to wait 4 hours to dock so we didn't get to the Gilis until 9pm. Last time I was in the Gilis we stayed at Gili Trawangan, but this time we opted out of the party island and stayed on Gili Air which was lovely and peaceful. We stayed in a bungalow on stillts in a coconut grove set back from the beach and enjoyed some amazing snorkelling. fresh fish and hammocks. We saw a turtle almost as soon as we got in the water the first time, and lots of colourful fish, just like swimming in a tropical fish tank.

The next day it was back to Bali for a flight to Manado in the north of Sulawesi. After a night in the not-particularly-nice town of Manado, we went to Pulao Bunaken, just off the coast, for some more snorkelling and saw really amazing diverse coral, and lots more fish. The accommodation there included 3 meals a day, which were delicious.

The next morning (yesteday) we were back in Manado, finding a share-car to take us to Gorontalo. We arrived here last night and are about to board a boat to the Togean Islands this evening. The Togeans are supposedly a diver's paradise and we are planning to spend a few days there, enjoying island life and some diving, before following the same route back to Gorontalo and Manado from where we fly to Jogyakarta in Java on 31st October.

It's a busy life this travelling malarkey!

Hope all is well back at home. Please email with news!

Lots of love Kirst and Tim xx

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