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Scrolling through the photos that I have uploaded onto this blog, this one of the storm seemed very appropriate given the wet and wild weather that we have been having in Jakarta recently. The wet season was supposed to end around May or June with a few months of the dry season, which is usually just less rain. However this year there hasn't actually been an end to the wet season and it looks like we're going to flow straight into the next one without a break. The last 2 days have seen two of the biggest storms that I have seen in Jakarta along with bad flooding and general chaos. It's all good fun until someone gets really wet!
Anyway, I digress. For those of you that haven't already heard I will be returning home to Australia pretty soon to start a new job with Cricket NSW as their Female Participation Manager. I am very excited about the job and really looking forward to starting it but I am also quite heartbroken about having to leave Indonesia. Jakarta has been a good home to me for these last 15 months and I had always hoped to find a way to stay on but in the end it was not to be.
However, I have been lucky enough to have some really amazing experiences while I've been here and a couple of those occurred recently. Firstly I had all the ladies from Australia come over to visit at various points in July and August. In a very short amount of time we managed to fit in a night or two in Bali, climbing one of Indonesia's largest volcanos (more on that later), swimming with turtles in tropical paradise (Gili Islands), a couple of nights of mayhem in Jakarta, chilling out at Lake Toba (Sumatra) and to finish several days of fun at Nusa Lembongan (Bali).
I don't have the time to recount everything that happened but the trip up Gunung Rinjani is worthy of a mention. It's one of Indonesia's largest volcanos and also one of the most difficult to climb. Liv, Annie, Jac and I settled on a 3 day 2 night trip that would take us up to the crater, down the lake and then up and down a different bit of the crater. The first day involved ascending 2000 vertical metres over a distance of about 10km. Very very hard work! And a lot of it was in the rain but with our trusty guide Macho helping us all the way we made it to the top, only to be greeted by a wall of (pitch) white cloud and non-stop rain. It was hard not to be a little put off by the fact that our porters were running up ahead of us most of the way in thongs while carrying 30kg baskets on bamboo poles across their shoulders but I like to think that they were just showing off.
On the second morning Liv bravely decided to get up at 2.30am (with some lovely singing) to climb to the summit with Macho while the rest of us continued to sleep. This involved going up an extra 1000 vertical metres but the photos from the top at sunrise would suggest it really was worth it. At a much more reasonable hour, we all began our descent to the lake and finally, after many hours of damp and clouds, we came around a corner to stunning blue sky, warm sun and a spectacular view over the lake. We spent some time recovering in the hot springs (including a hot waterfall...heaven) before lunch on the shore at the lake. (Our porters cooked all our meals for us during the trip and they were delicious!!)
Then it was time to climb back up another 600 vertical metres which seemed slightly cruel after having only walked down that morning, but apparently necessary. This was the hardest part of the climb with a very narrow track and a sheer drop not too far away. Somehow we made it to the top, ignoring the pain that was beginning to set in from the morning's descent, with beautiful views of the lake and the still active volcano in the middle of the lake the whole way up. Our second campsite had amazing views over the entire lake and volcano and we enjoyed a lovely sunset, some star-gazing and a spectacular sunrise from there. At 6am we could see the summit, the lake, the Gili Islands and Bali!
Then it was time to go back down...again! By this stage my thighs had turned to jelly and weren't particularly into the idea of 8 hours of solid downhill walking. But with much good-hearted trudging, plenty of sliding on my ass/falling over and some great memories we made it back to the bottom. It was worth every bit of the pain that occurred over the next few days and it's definitely something that I would do again.
The other recent highlight was taking the Indonesian boys under 17 national team to Vanuatu for the EAP tournament. This was something that we had been preparing for since the national championships in June and one of the most important events on the CI calendar for 2010. I was assistant coach for the team so I had plenty to do with their preparation and I was very excited about their prospects in Vanuatu! After a long trip to Port Vila, via Sydney where we had a night (some great photos coming of the boys in Sydney) the boys were ready to play some cricket.
While we didn't get as many wins under our belt as I would have liked, I can say that the boys played some excellent cricket and were enthusiastic and spirited the whole tournament. They were awarded the Spirit of Cricket Award which is not easy to win in this region where everyone plays with a true love of the game and is something that the boys should be very proud of winning. We also had two players selected in the Team of the Tournament and all the players received plenty of praise for their improvement from last year and for the way that they played the game. I'm looking forward to hearing good things about them in years to come.
As I heard about the new job while I was away, this trip was the perfect way for me to sort of wrap up my time here with Cricket Indonesia. They were such a lovely, funny, delightful, entertaining, warm bunch of boys and I will very much miss them!
And so now begins the packing (again!), the goodbyes and the preparation for starting again somewhere new. I am still trying to wrap my head around leaving and the fact that 18 months is almost up but I think it's going to take some time. It's all helped a bit by knowing that leaving is going to be a gradual process and also that one way or another, I will be back.
I hope you've all enjoyed my slightly irregular/sporadic updates on here and I can't wait to see most of you back in Australia in the near future.
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