Science is amazing. After 2 nights of transition back in Kuta, Bali (all journeys seem to lead back to Bali!), we boarded a plane at 1:30 am July 3rd to Hong Kong. After landing in the early morning, we hung out in a very rainy, foggy Hong Kong for a few hours before boarding another flight at 3:30 pm (same time zone as Bali) to Toronto. This longest flight of our lives lasted FIFTEEN HOURS and landed us in the early evening...still on July 3rd. The ultimate exam...

...and that is the sense of an ending. 5 nights on Gili Air capped off our almost 11 month adventure, and so it was fitting that we ended it in a beautiful land of sea and sun; two of our true loves. We inadvertendly saved this favourite Gili for last. This island closest to Lombok was the perfect mix of serenity and activity, and became the scene of several "last" experiences for now: last scuba, last snorkel, last boat journey (Clare's personal favourite). It ...

It's a tiny hop, skip, and a jump on a local boat next door to the island of Gili Meno, where we stayed for two nights to check out the smallest of the Gilis. This is apparently the most bypassed island of the three, but why! It is super relaxing, peaceful, and quiet, and home to a special little turtle sanctuary where we learned more about the friends we have been snorkelling and scuba-ing with for months now. When the turtles lay their eggs at the beaches here...

We needed 3 nights of rest and recovery back in what seems to be our Indonesian home base; Legian, Bali, after all our Javanese adventures. We ventured no further than a 5 minute walk from our place, and it was exactly what we needed. We then sent Clare's sister off in a taxi to the airport for her long journey back to Toronto, and the two of us were off on our last (for now!) excursion: The Gili islands. It was a "fast boat," but it still took around 3 hours to...

The famous, elusive blue flame that Troy learned about through the BBC's "Human Planet" program is what brought us all the way to the tip of east Java for a midnight tour of the Kawah Ijen crater. It was here in the town of Banyuwangi that we lay down to rest at 7:00 pm in preparation for our 12:15 am wake-up call for an all night tour that would take us traipsing through the pitch black for hours, having no real idea about what we were going to see or experience...