Hello! It’s been a while. Too long. I’ve tried writing and uploading a couple of blogs but for some reason or other the island of Gili Trawangan hates what I write and didn’t want the world to suffer any longer. So sorry about that. Now we have left the island it seems like everything is ok again and I can finally update you all. So here goes.

We will start from the beginning as there isn’t really ever a better place to start. Unless this was Star Wars when we would  probably start somewhere in the middle. But it’s not. So yeah….

We arrived at the harbour at around 9am along with 3 French boys who had been living in Australia for the past year. Before  travelling to Ubud they spent a little time, like us, in Kuta. The pretty disgusting place we’d spent Christmas in. Turns out it seems we’re not the only ones to hate the place as one of the lads had his bag stolen by a thief on a passing scooter. The bag had his mobile, his passport and all his cash in. And we thought we had it bad.

The boat ride was not as fast as the title ‘Fast Boat’ originally depicted. We waited around for ages for all our bags to be chucked into the lower deck of the boat before jumping aboard ourselves. We never really had ourselves down as being ones to get sea sick. But this boat rocked us about so much we felt our brains could quite easily have fallen out of  our ears. The journey itself took about 90 minutes including a stop at the large island of Lombok for some people to get off.

By the time we got to Gili Trawangan I was fully recovered but Soph was still just one sharp move away from seeing her early morning banana pancakes again. And although those pancakes were lovely, they didn’t seem to have the same appeal having spent a good few hours in her stomach. We waited on the beach for our bags to be lifted out off the boat and on to shore. Thankfully it didn’t take too long for ours to land on the sand, and we were in our way before we knew it.

Gili Trawangan is a tiny island to the East of Bali. There are no cars or scooters. Just horse and cart. But having looked  up that our hostel was only a ten minute walk away, if that, I wasn’t going to be tricked into jumping in taxi, no matter the horsepower. So we grabbed our bags and walked along the beach to find our home for the next 6 nights.

One side of the island is packed full of bars and restaurants all along the beach. A beach that has the clearest water we’ve ever seen. It really was perfect. The further round the island you go the quieter and less touristy it gets. We hired a couple of bikes and cycled our way round the entire island. We had heard lots about how clubby the island was and that the more tranquil sister islands of Gili Air and Gili Meno were much nicer. But really we feel those people must have only stayed one side. The quiet side of the island is just private beaches with perhaps the odd bar to grab a drink from. Gili T is truly the best of both worlds.

When we first cycled past the last of the restaurants on the busy side of the island we found ourselves a little lost. We could no longer see the sea and we were clearly in an area only the locals went. But after making our way through some thick mud and past some pretty filthy looking cows, we found ourselves back on the beach outside a rather expensive looking resort. “That’s obviously where all the rich people stay” I said as we cycled past. The next thing we knew we were chilling out by their pool drinking bottles of beer and strawberry smoothies. As we got closer the staff asked us if we wanted to come in and use the pool for free. Having just exercised more in the last 10 minutes than we had in the past 2 months, we needed the rest. They even brought is some fresh towels to lay down on. Luxury.

Pretty much every day was spent grabbing a light lunch before relaxing on the beach. But one day instead of just relaxing, we hired out some snorkelling gear and went in search for some fish. It wasn’t too long ago that Soph and I used to visit a tropical fish shop every weekend to find a new character for our tank. So we knew our stuff. But without going scuba diving in deep water we never expected to see too much. We were so wrong. As soon as we dipped our heads in the water we were surrounded by some of the most amazing fish. The cast of Finding Nemo came out to greet us and take us on a tour of their favourite spots. But what we really wanted to see was a turtle.

We’d heard rumours that there was one near where we were looking but we just couldn’t see it. We looked everywhere but couldn’t see anything turtle shaped other than coral and bits of rock. We were just about to give up and head back to shore when something caught me eye. It looked like just another  bit of coral but this time it was moving pretty fast. We swam closer to get a better look praying that it may be what we had  been searching for. Then it became clear. There he was. An actual real life turtle, there, in front of us. He was huge. I had  been searching for something no bigger than my hand so I was totally shocked to see something so big. I guess it was one of those moments that you realise, at that very moment, you will never forget it. Unfortunately however it also happened to be the day our waterproof camera decided to brake. So perhaps we will forget it. Hopefully not though.

On our very last night we decided to head over the far side of the island to see the sunset. Bit girly I know, but we heard it’s worth a look. Turned out the clouds really weren’t playing ball and we could barely see anything going on behind them. Still it did mean we were able to see some different restaurants than the usual ones we’d been visiting during the week. We plucked for one right on the beach front. So close that if I’d dropped my knife or fork it would have been taken out to sea immediately. Making it hard, if not impossible, for the 5 second rule to be applied. Unless the salt water extends it. I’ll have to look that particular rule up.

The next morning we got all our stuff out the room and asked for the weeks bill. The man on duty happened to be someone we hadn’t met before. And it wasn’t as if the place had an influx of staff. So when he brought our bill over with the room rate much cheaper than expected and with a whole night missing off it, we weren’t going to say a thing. Who were we to question his judgement. Especially having only just met the guy. That’s just down right rude.

We sat down at a small bar where we were told to wait for the boat and ordered some breakfast. Having just saved a little money on the room we thought why not treat ourselves. Just as the boat was arriving we asked for the bill and got the money out to pay. Yet all the staff started to get distracted by some fella playing his guitar and singing some Argentinian folk song that nobody could understand. We tried our best to get someone’s attention but nobody was looking our way. So amongst the crowd of people we grabbed our bags and snuck on to the beach with everyone else. Obviously I still had the  bill and the cash in my hand to pay, but only when someone was good and ready to come get it from me. Turned out nobody ever did become good and ready because we were on our way back to Bali still with the cash. Turned out things were going from good to better on the financial front.

We spent that night back in Kuta as it was close to the airport. Same hotel as we spent our first night on Bali in, better room, cheaper price. As usual we booked the room online and paid the deposit of £3. We would need to pay the rest on arrival to the front desk. Yet they never asked for it. But this was normal. Many hotels are happy for you to pay on departure. Yet this hotel didn’t ask for any money on departure either. Quite a strange way of making money we thought. But we didn’t question it. We don’t run businesses after all, so what do we know.

So, if I’m right, we paid only £3 for the hotel, who on Christmas Eve, were charging £195 per night. And we got breakfast the day before free. And our room that night. And we got a cheaper rate for the past week. Not bad.

Unfortunately a large chunk of that saved cash was then eaten up by Indonesia’s ridiculous 200,000RP charge per person for simply leaving the country. Any who, it’s done now and we have finally touched down in Australia. Not a single cloud in the sky for as far as the eye can see. As if there is some cloud forcefield surrounding the whole country. Like England, but the opposite way round. We are staying in Perth at Soph’s Auntie Penny and Uncle Cedric’s place. We’ve been here only a few hours and already the beers have come out the fridge and talk of a barbecues and trips to the beach have started. We’ve got a really good feeling about this place.

Thanks for following x

P.S. Now we are in Australia and we clearly have much better internet I will start to blog more often again. The past week has been difficult and I’m sure there are hundreds of you out there worrying about where we must be. Literally hundreds, I’m sure.