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Hello all!
The next leg of our travels has been around a few islands in Indonesia - it's been almost 3 weeks and we've packed a fair bit in! In a nutshell....; (probably a big nutshell knowing me..)
We flew into Bali and spent a few nights at a nice middle of the range hotel off poppies lane 2 (for those of you familiar with Bali) - this is in Kuta which is the main party and tourist place in Bali - a bit like the costa del sol to the Australians! It's really hectic, with lots of hawkers and stalls selling all sorts of cheap stuff - some lovely stuff (wish we had a house to take lots of pretty things home to!) and of course lots of tourist tack and fake clothing. On our first night we happened to bump into someone James knows from years ago in Taunton! Small world. They gave us lots of hints as to where to go in Lombok - which is where we hoped to go to next. So we did!
So we spent a week in Lombok - the island next to Bali. We stayed in a small village/town there which is also called Kuta. We stayed in a nice place called Surfer's Inn which was - suprise suprise- full of surfers! It was a really cool place with a friendly like-minded bunch of people there. They also had a big DVD collection for those afternoons when it REALLY RAINED! The banana pancakes for breakfast were pretty good too. We met a nice couple from Australia there - Toby and Kaisa - and spent a fair bit of time hanging out with them and sharing the boats out to the surf points. An average day there went a bit like this: Wake up, eat banana pancake. Scooter ride to the boats, boat ride out to some waves. Usually a break called "insides". Amazing backdrop with the 'big dipper' rocks - you'll see why in the photos. Surf for 3 hours or until arms can paddle no more. Haul self back onto boat then return to Surfer Inn for a shower. Eat lunch. Snooze. Watch film while it rains. Head out for dinner. Sleep! Repeat every day until very tired. We also had a few evenings having dinner and pinapples with a local family that James' friend from home had spent some time with. They were a really nice couple with 2 little'uns who all lived in a small bamboo hut with a sarong shop as their main living area! I may have treated myself to a nice colourful sarong, or 2...
Then we headed to the Gili Islands for a few days - this is somewhere I went with Hayley and Christy when travelling in our gap year. It's changed a lot, ie lots more upmarket places and generally busier and more expensive, but it was still nice! The only traffic there are horse and carts, and pushbikes, so much less hectic than Kuta Bali! We stayed on Gili Trawangan, the largest of the 3 islands. On our first evening we had a nice meal out and I went crazy with a Bintang (i'd been kind of detoxing for a whopping 10 days!) then unfortunately we were both struck down with "Bali Belly" for the whole night and next day. It was very romantic! We swiftly got some antibiotics to zap the bug before we got really dehydrated, and we started to feel a lot better by the next day. We only had 2 full days there so didnt want to wait for it to sort itself out! The next day we went on a glass bottom boat snorkelling trip around the other 2 islands, stopping for lunch and a lounge around on Gili Air. We saw lots of amazing turtles! They're so sweet - just like on Finding Nemo - they're so happy and safe in their shells! That afternoon/evening, we mustered the energy to walk up to the top of the island to get a good view of the other Gilis and Lombok - lots of steps and sweating! We were a bit wiped out by then so had an early night before getting the fast boat back to Bali the next morning.
Back in Bali we went back to the same hotel and met Toby and Kaiser there, then Abbie and Howie arrived too!! It was really nice catching up and hearing all about their travels, and good to see a face from home too! I think you should all take it in turns to pop up during our travels! We had fun catching up over dinner and a few cocktails (remember the deadly "jungle juice" Hayley?! - it tastes a lot nicer now, a lot less like petrol) - it was a good night out! The next day was a bit slow, we all felt a bit tired... not sure why! So a lazy day of shopping and hanging around by the pool was very relaxing. We said our goodbyes to everybody then headed off to Nusa Lembongan - an island between Bali and Lombok - Toby and Kaiser had spent some time there and really recommended it...
Nusa Lembongan was really really nice - how we imagine Bali was before it was spoilt by litter and crowds. Jimmy did lots of surfing at a break called "shipwrecks" and enjoyed some big barrelling waves (not quite Lizzie proof) while I relaxed with a book on the beach. We did another snorkelling trip to a place to Manta Point - and guess what we saw?!?! HUGE MANTA RAYS! They were just so majestic the way they almost flew around under water, at least 3 metres 'wingspan' and so gentle. They apparently go to that point in the mornings to be cleaned by lots of little fish. We tagged along on a dive boat but i'm sure we got a much better view from snorkelling above, as they stayed quite shallow, up above the larger rocks and reef. Unfortunatley we never got round to getting an underwater camera - we REALLY regret this now after our snorkelling with dolphins, turtles and manta rays! Anyway, it was an amazing experience. Had a good look around the island too, and the next smaller island which is connected by a dodgy rusty suspension bridge. The place we stayed was really nice and we had some lovely seafood there mmmm. Unfortunately i fell off my bike yesterday so we've come back to Bali a day early as i'm no use with all my scrapes on my leg. DONT WORRY MUM I"M FINE!! That was just afer i sent you that long cheerful email too! I did have an "i want my mum" moment after that, but it's fine now, just have lots of superficial scratches and a few bruises which will no doubt clear up in a week or so. Jimmy's been very sympathetic!
We fly back to Perth in the early hours of Thurs morning, so we'll have a rubbish night's sleep tonight. But looking forward to Will and Suze's wedding at the weekend! Wedding number 2!! I may need a long skirt so my leg doesnt look so manky. D'oh, after all that time working on the tan and worrying about strap marks!!!
After Perth we get the train across to Adelaide then plan to spend a few weeks travelling up to Sydney. Will update you all when possible!
Loads of love to you all, dont forget to email us any news from home, it's really good to keep "in the loop" so we dont miss home too much! Have just put more pics on the blog to make you all jealous he he he
Liz and James/Jimmy x x x x x x
ps Jimmy was about to upload some surf photos from his camera (also to show the big dipper rocks i was talking about) but unfortunately the computer he's on somehow lost them ALL! Gutted. Lucky he backed them up and posted them home recently! Knew there was a reason for us fussing like that!
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