The Simpson Desert

Have just returned from a wonderful 3 weeks in the Simpson desert.   Unlike Indonesia, there was no phone coverage between Roxby Downs and Birdsville, then not again until Hawker.    Leigh Creek was not an optus town.

If you want to see the photos, please click on this link

Final days in Bali

We have had a few easy days in Ubud.  We hired a motorbike and went for a trip to Kintamani.  We were stopped for a rego and license check, and the police decided our license was not valid.  We think they were just fund raising for their personal benevolent fund.
Kintamani was pretty much as we remembered it from 34 years ago.

We were amazed at the thousands of shops selling everything all along the roads, almost everywhere you go.

Last night we had a final dinner in Ubud - the local specialty - whole smoked duck with rice and coconut vegetables.  followed by fresh fruit - yum.
We are now at the airport waiting to check in.  We have decided to fly straight home rather than spend a few days in Darwin and catch the train home.  We have looked at the weather forecast and are not looking forward to the cold.

back in Bali

we flew from Alor to Kupang to Denpasar today and are back in Ubud for the last few days in Indonesia.  We have a deluxe room with hot shower.  Havent had a hot shower for a couple of weeks.
And on the flight from Alor to Kupang Pam won the free flight ( Peter won it on the way there - hows that for luck!!!).  So we both had free flights back to Denpasar.  Would have been nice to have another day at least at La Petite Kepa, but the flight schedules were much better today.
Ubud is a lot busier than it was 5 weeks ago.   The holiday influx has begun.
And tonight we will go out for a nice meal with meat.   We have been living on rice and fish and vegetables, and since Pam doesn't eat fish, she has had rice and vegetables.

la petite kepa

la petite kepa is a homestay on its own island, just a few km from Kalabahi, the main town in Alor.  Typical dive place.  We go out on the boat about 7.30am.  Divers have 2 dives in different locations, we get 2 snorkelling sessions, then back for a late lunch and sleep before afternoon drinks and dinner.
The setting is idyllic, 8 beach huts.  Solar power and water brought over from mainland. Some people are currently doing slack rope walking on a strap between 2 bungalows.  We are only watching.

have landed safely at alor

good flight this morning.   peter won a free flight in the promotion the airline is having.  We are staying at La Petite Kepa.

leaving Lembata

We have been stuck in Lewoleba for 2 days.  Monday night's ferry broke down in Flores.  We went to airport yesterday at 6 am, but flights were full.  We have a flight at 2pm today (wednesday) to Kupang(Timor) and Thursday morning to Kalabahi (Alor).
We plan to snorkel on Alor and Peter will probably go diving.
The first flight is on a 13 seater plane (12 passengers).  We have heard the scenery is magnificent, so hope the weather will be clear.  All the islands here are volcanic, so are excellent to look at.
On Sunday we went for a trip around Ile Ape, the local volcano.   It is smoking a bit.  It actually erupted earlier this year, and apparently smoked a lot more before that.  Most of the time it has cloud at the top.
The villages here are tiny.   Most of them do not even have a shop.   It is subsistence living of rice and fried fish 3 times a day. 
The food even in the restaurants is very plain here.  Rice with fried fish or chicken, and maybe a bit of boiled veg.  From street carts we have had martaback(savoury egg pancake) and goat satays with peanut sauce.  Breakfast in the hotel is sometimes fried banana.  Today was thick pancake with chocolate and peanuts on it.  

Lembata

Lembata is just on the tourist trail.  After a 4 hour ferry ride we arrived at Lewoleba, the main town.  We hired a motorbike to look around. 
We then took the bus to Lamalera, a small village where they still go whaling. 
The people here are very poor.  We have walked around, and visited the local high school.  Very Roman Catholic, huge church, huge cemeteries.
No whales yet this year, so no whale meat out drying. But they are catching dolphin, manta ray and fish.
Some tourists go out on the fishing boats, but not us.
The roads have reached a new low point.  Could best be described as a 4wd track.  The bus took 4 hours for about 40 km.  The bus was good, the driver excellent, but it was the worst road we have ever been on in a bus.

heading east into the sunrise.

time to leave flores and head east to the Solor and Alor archipelago.  boat leaves at 8 am tomorrow.  hunting for smokong volcanoes

in maumere

we have arrived in maumere after our 6 day trip across Flores.  we had a great trip despite the roads which were atrocious - seldom more than 100metres without a bend or a hairpin bend, and a driver who accelerated for 75 metres then stomped on the brakes for the corner.  The whole island is extremely mountainous, roads are narrow with much damage from traffic, weather and landslides.

Our first day was from Labuanbajo to Ruteng.  Arrow had a lake he wanted to visit, but the road was so bad the driver refused to go.  We arrived late afternoon on Ruteng.   walked around town and market.   we have arrived in catholic territory, so churches everywhere and only a few mosques.

The second day began visiting a loc village.   ok, but out of control kids everywhere.  then back on the road.  stopped at a lake with monkeys.  A long drive to Bajawa.

Day three began at Bena, a magnificent local village with houses around a central common area.  Village sloped up the hill, with the catholic shrine at the top.   Villagers still sacrifice animals on important occasions, and keep the jaw bones hanging at side of house- buffalo and pigs.  They also have shrines to their ancestors.  women were weaving and we bought a small piece.

We then visited Wogo, not as impressive, but we had a guide who spoke good english, so we got good explanations.
after lunch back at Bajawa we headed north.  We stopped at some hot springs.  they fed into a river which people swam in.   the driver got out his soap and shampoo for his wash.  Them on to Riung on the north coast on the worst road of all- more holes than road most of the way.
Day 4 was a boat trip to the 17 island national park.  Snorkelling and fish barbecue on beach.  Some great coral and heaps of fish, but too much rubbish floating in water and on sea bed.   Great to be out of the car for a day.
Day 5 - another long drive to Moni, a village near Mt Kelimentu.
Day 6 - up at 4 for drive to almost top of Mt Kelimentu for sunrise.  3 lakes here of different colours.  but 2 were blue amd one was dark.  clouds lifted for us to see them.  very lucky.  back to Moni for breakfast then drive to Maumere.  Stopped at a weaving village, saw the early catholic cathedral, then were mobbed by ikat(weaving) women all trying to sell us fabric they had woven, and cowrie shells they had collected from beach.  They also gave us a demo of the process, from raw cotton, spinning, dying and weaving.  Couldn't buy from them all.  There must have been over 50 of them.

Finished the day at Maumere where it was pouring with rain.  Staying at a nice hotel with a pool, air conditioner and hot water and no vermin in room.

Today (Sunday) we have lazed around the pool and travelled by bemo into town.   Drinking iced tea by the harbour.   No internet access where we are staying at the beach.  Will post this while in town

komodo dragons

the boat trip is now over and we have arrived in Labuan Bajo on rhe western end of Flores.
yesterday we went to komodo island in komodo national park.   did the long walk - 4 km.   the first 2 dragons were by a waterhole.   they seemed fairly tame.  but we also saw 3 more on our walk.  a baby one, a medium sized female and a large male.   Very lucky.   they are reportedly fairly hard to find on komodo.   we were early and they feed and lie in the sun in the morning, so it is the best time to see them.
on komodo island we then went to red beach for snorkelling.   lots of big fish and coral in reasonable  condition.
we arrived in Lubuan Bajo yesterday afternoon and found ourselves some accomodation before heading back to the boat and our farewell party.  4 people joined the trip, so there were 5 on the trip back to Lombok.
We really enjoyed our trip to Flores.
Today we checked out the town and plan to head off east with a car and driver.  Arrow is coming with us.   He is an American (of Danish origin) who is in the room next to us.
So we will have 6 days to Maumere in the east of Flores and will hopefully see all the sights along the way.
We have been taking photos qith rhe big camera and need to transfer them before we can post them.

the boat trip to flores.

we left from Senggigi Thursday morning.  All 3 of us on the "wrinkly tour to komodo".  The third passenger is Peter from Canberra who is 72.  And we have 7 crew to look after us and the boat.
We drove overland from the west to the east coast of lombok with the tourist stops to see pottery being made and boats being built before transferring to the boat.  We are the cabin class - our cabin up the top is ok.   cabin class gets a free bottle of water + 1 coke + 1 beer  +1 snack per day.  snacks are a packet of chips or a packet of biscuits.   And we get a towel and a blanket!!
food has been good.  fried chicken, rice, boiled egg, tofu and salad and watermelon for lunch.  barbecued tuna, tofu balls, salad, rice and fruit for dinner.   the chef does amazing things to tofu and makes it taste really good.
after lunch on the first day we went to an island for snorkelling and lazing on the beach and dinner.
we sailed overnight to Satonda island.  this morning we swam in a salt water lake in an old volcano.  peter walked up to the rim for a good view.  
we are now back on the boat and have the sail up (plus the motor).  6 hours cruising to next destination.
we are watching flying fish.  they skim along just above the water for 40 to 50 metres.
and we still have mobile phone coverage

leaving lombok today

we have taken our second option and leave on a boat trip today "Hunting Komodo by Camera".  3 days to Flores.   And we were told about a top deck cabin, so we have that.  Peter refuses to sleep below deck and we expected to sleep on deck. 
lombok has been much better than Bali.   And we expect Flores to be even bettter.  Now all we need is calm weather.

lombok

from the ferry we were transferred to Senggigi.  we were dropped at the office of the local transport company where they set about organising us for the next few days.  and in a weak moment we agreed.
So it was 2 nights in Senggigi, a trip to kuta lombok on the south coast with car and driver, drop off at south west corner of lombok, 2 nights there and then a transfer back to Senggigi. 
all sounded good.  $200 for the transport, accommodation and breakfast.  and it has been good, but the agent has also made a big profit.  a lesson learnt.
we went for an outing to Mataram by public bemo, to check out the system.   it is a big city and we were not hassled by sellers at all.   we went to the mall, and did some shopping.  big displays of motorbikes there.  about $1500 for a 125cc honda scooter.  
the trip to kuta lombok was hijacked to go to a weaving village.and a local sasak village.  then on to kuta beach which looked glorious but had really coarse sand.  so course it was like quicksand.  but the beach just to the east  (Tanjung Aan) was amazing with proper white sand.  we then headed to our next destination - palm beach garden bungalows.  on the west coast of lombok about 7km from the end.  the surfing beach bangko bangko is at the end.  when the waves are up the big boys arrive to watch.  and only the bravest or craziest go surfing.
we stayed in a lovely spot on the waterfront.  with a very laid back german host.  we were the only guests. yesterday we had a private snorkelling trip to 2 islands.  lots of fish and still lots of coral.  simple local food.  we drank palm wine with the local policeman who was a regular visitor to the bar. 
today we are back in Senggigi.   they do not have enough passengers yet for the boat, so we are working on our options. 
we have nice accomodation with a pool and AC and hot showers tonight.   so we are lazing by the pool again.

the gilis

we have just had a great 4 days on gili trewangan staying at the pesona resort, a small hotel on the beach with a pool.
we were transferred from ubud by minivan to padangbai where we caught the fast ferry to the gilis.
1.5 hours to lombok then dropped passengers off at gili air, gili meno and finally gili trewangan.
good boat with 6 x 200 hp motors on the back.
we had booked at pesona after tripadvisor recommendations and overall it was great.
the bed had a slat base with boards on top which hadcollapsed. they brought in some temporary replacements and it was fixed the next day.
the mosquito netting on the windows was something special.
they had shutters behind the nets so they had cut slits in the nice new nets so you could open the shutters.

no motorized transport on the islands.  horse and cart or bicycle so we hired bikes for the day to ride the 7 km around the island.  long long time since Pam had ridden a bike so she fell off when she hit a sandy patch.  got bruised toes on left foot to show for it.    very sandy in parts so we walked the bikes about half the way.   stopped in the north west corner for a snorkel.  lots of fish on the reef but coral was badly damaged.
in the evening the market sqare was set up with local food stalls and tables.  choose your own fish or chicken and have it cooked for you.  or the standard indo food.
the next day was rough weather so we mooched around and found a padang restaurant for lunch.  rice with assorted protein - beef rendang, spicy eggs, fried chicken, tofu etc.  very tasty, and very spicy.  them back to hotel for a swim.
still rough the next day so we did a day trip to gili air, the island closest to lombok.  took island hopping ferry.  had a ride around island on a horse and cart, then walked to the northern end for drinks, lunch and snorkelling.

today we caught ferry to lombok and a bus to Senggigi.  will spend at least 4 days on lombok.   hope to go to flores on a very nice boat on 2nd may.  they need 10 people.  if not we will do a cheaper trip.

gili islands were touristy but much better than Bali.  too many tourists go to bali

link to photos

To see the photos of Bali, please click on the following link

To see the photos east of Bali, please click on the following link

ubud

have had a couple of lovely days in ubud.  have been walking everywhere and it is all up and down steps.
went to the museum yesterday and looked at a lot of old paintings, then ambled round the streets looking at things we are not buying. maybe on our way home. excellent shopping but it is all available in aus for a much higher price.
really quiet at night. there are not enough tourists here for the amount of accommodation and tourist operators.
today we went for a long walk, then saw an old silent movie from 1930's.

each afternoon we come home for a swim

tonight we ate duck.  duck spring rolls, duck and avocado salad, and fried duck with rice. very nice restaurant.

we have an early start tomorrow.  6am for fast ferry to gili trawangan.

we say farewell to bali for now

we have moved to ubud

yesterday we had a car and driver again. drove along the east coast from Sanur to Candidasa enjoying the view and being out of the rush.  stopped at the bat temple.  lots of people there making offerings at the temple and also at the beach across the road.
checked out the port of Padangbai where our ferry will leave from.   Nice harbour.   would have been idyllic before all the ferries. 
lunch at Candidasa at waterfront restaurant.
then headed to ubud to nick hidden cottages - our new home amongst the rice paddies . 
wow - ubud has grown!!!!
walked into ubud for a look around.  went to a classical dance performance.  very good.  more orchestra and dancers than audience.

more laziness by the pool.

we seem to spend about half the day at the pool.
went to nusa dua in the morning. beach ok there. 
dinner and sunset at jimbaran bay last night.  beautiful beach. lots of fish restaurants on the sand.
choose your fish and have it cooked for you.
peter had red snapper and 2 large prawns.
the prawns were butterflied and grilled. when they arrived there was only 1.5 prawns. a half was missing.  when we complained they brought another prawn.
we move to ubud tomorrow.

temples waterfalls and rice paddies

hired a car and driver yesterday.  headed north to the mountains.  stopped at a couple of famous old temples, Taman Ayun  at Mengwi  then Ulun Danu at Lake Bratan near Bedugul.  From there we headed west to Munduk.  Stopped at a lovely waterfall.  About 800metres hike down and a harder 800 metres up again.  Drove home through the rice paddies.  finished the day at Tanah  Lot temple for sunset.  We saw the sun going down, but not sunset due to cloud.  then we came home with all the other tourists in a traffic jam.
it was great to see some open land.   there is a lot of urban sprawl along the roads.  country roads were narrow and windy.  we paid $80 for driver and car for 12 hours and 200km.  got charged for parking everywhere we stopped - 20 to 50 cents.  also paid to enter temples - 2 to 5 dollars each.

today we have lazed around the pool, had a foot massage - $5 for an hour including tip.  food prices vary greatly depending on where you eat, but we can easily eat for $10 for the two of us.

have arrived at kuta.

we arrived last night from Darwin. 
had a look around Darwin with trish and will, then lunch from the markets which we ate at the park.
changed money at Darwin and became instant millionaires .  9,400 rupiah to the dollar.
denpasar airport was crazy. glad we had booked a driver from the hotel.   hotel very nice.
walked down street for dinner.  spent about $5 on meal of spicy fried chicken with tomato cucumber and rice, chicken prawns tofu salad and rice.  also 2 iced lemon teas.
just had a big complimentary breakfast and checking out free wifi.

we are in Darwin

arrived safely in Darwin 2 hours late after a medical emergency.
Plane was diverted to Alice Springs and an elderly man was taken off by paramedics to awaiting ambulance.
plane was refuelled and flight continued. Thanks Trish for picking us up at 4am not 2am

Bali and Nusa Tengarra

The latest adventure is about to begin!!!    7 weeks of new experiences from Bali heading east (to wherever we get to).  We have visas and flights to Bali.