Ah the Gilis....

Since it has been so long since my last post, I will spare you all the day by day recap (I think). Oh and Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful time with your families and friends and eating loads and working none!

So my friends Susette and Lars and I decided that we shouldn't tell anyone about the Gilis so it stays just like it is. I'm totally breaking the pact. Keep it on the DL will you?

First stop was Gili Trawangan. Trawangan is known as the party island of the three and it definitely has the best nightlife. I had met Lars and Susette (they are from Germany) and Bags from Oz on the ferry over. They became my Gilis posse. It was great fun! So the Gilis are three small (you can walk around Trawangan, the biggest one, in less than 2 hours) islands off the coast of Lombok which is the next island to the East of Bali. The islands are completely free of the rains that plague the other islands during the rainy season (now) and are blessed with clear blue water, white sand beaches, and abundant marine life. Everything revolves around the beach and the hotels and restaurants have absolutely everything you could want- cold drinks, snacks, exposed chairs on the sand, covered chairs on the sand, covered platforms with pillows to sit on while looking out at the beach and enjoying your snacks and/or drinks. Nothing is rushed. You can order one soft drink and sit there for four hours reading, lounging, and enjoying the scenery and no one bothers you or pressures you into ordering more. Susettte, Lars, Bags and I stayed at Edy's homestay which is behind the main strip of beach bars and hotels. This was perfect because we were right in the middle of the action in a 5 minute walk, but far enough away to not be kept awake all night by the DJs when we were done for the evening. Oh and there are no motorized vehicles on the Gili Islands. Just horse carts, bikes, or walking. No dogs either which was a change from Bali. Loads of cats though and none had a full tail- we never did figure that one out. Every night one of the bars on the beach hosts the "party" where everyone who is out for a big night goes. Our favorite of the bars was Rudy's as the local guys who work there are hysterical. So we had to hit up Rudy's Friday night party our second night. The days were spent relaxing on or near the beach. I did a dive one morning and the highlights were seeing a turtle as we entered and then a large (about 1.5 meter) white fin shark while down there. Definitely the biggest one I've ever seen while diving! One day Lars, Susette and I did an all day snorkeling trip around all three islands in a glass bottom boat. Not a bad way to spend the day! I planned to spend 4 nights doing 2 islands and 5 nights later I was still on Trawangan! It is just how things go on the Gilis. They also had movie bungalows where you can watch DVDs as long as you order food or drink. Every night they project 2 movies on the screen and have mats and pillows to lounge on as you watch. Since copyright laws do not apply, I saw Twilight and Changeling while I was there :).

After 4 nights on Trawangan, I did a day trip to Gili Meno, the smallest and quietest island with the best beaches (the islands are each about a 20 minute boat ride away from one another so island hopping is super easy). There I went to the Bird Park and saw many birds from all over Indonesia and beyond. They also had a kimodo dragon which was good for me since I am not going to make it to Kimodo (4 days one way). I met a great Irish couple in Meno and they were my crew on Gili Air (the third island where I spent my last 3 nights) until Susette and Lars came the day after I did. Gili Air is a nice medium between the party scene and crowd at Trawangan and the complete chill of Meno. We spent more beach time and dropped by the island's Christmas party on the 24th. Lars and Susette opted to stay as far from civilization (the main strip) as possible but their bungalow was in the perfect place for the sunset to make us a private show for my last night on the islands. It was amazing (and of course I took like 40 pics)! I had my own little bungalow on Air with a hammock on the deck for afternoon reading. Loved it! I'm not usually a lie around and veg for a week type of person, but it was terrific to do it in the Gilis (and I walked around all 3 islands, swam a bunch, and did the hike over the hill on Trawangan to the Sunset bar- which is only open for 2 hours everyday at sunset- thanks, I feel less lazy now).
It was sad to leave Susette and Lars (Bags had gone a few days before), but we're meeting back up there in 5 years (right Susette??).

So, after the Gilis I spent 2 very long days (and one long night) traveling from Lombok to Bali to Java. This took me on a little boat, shuttle bus, big ferry, another shuttle, airplane, night bus, and a train. And now I am in Java. It definitely feels different here! Must less touristy! And very few people speak English. I was lucky to find a room here in Yogyagkarta (pronounced Jogjakarta) as New Year is a big holiday here too. All rooms are marked up and most places are full. So far I like the town though! Tomorrow I'm going to explore the old temples and parks here in town and Tuesday I head to Borobodur which is often mentioned in the same breath as Angkor Wat as far as old temple ruins go. Should be fun! I think I will stay here until New Years.

Hope you all have a wonderful New Years Eve!! Tell me all about it! Miss you!!

Oh and the pic is from Gili Trawangan. I took it when I looked up from my book and realized that I was sitting in a Corona ad. It doesn't get much better than that!

So long Western world, hello Bali!

Selamat sore,

I hope the holiday season is treating everyone well. I'm spared from the craziness here in Bali (Hinduism is the dominant religion here) and I don't mind at all! So what's been going on with me...

My travel day was long and uneventful except that I was forced into buying an onward ticket from Indonesia or JetStar would not check me in. So I am leaving from Jakarta on January 4, unless I change it. So, 3 hours to Melbourne, 2 hour layover, and 5 hours to Bali later I arrived. I was glad I'd picked up a Lonely Planet and knew that there was an official taxi window with set prices at the Bali airport as "official" drivers tried to charge me double before I found the window. Since I arrived late at night, I had called and reserved a room in touristy Kuta. I only spent one day in Kuta and that was plenty for me. Everyone wants to sell you transport, sarongs, dresses, massage, etc. It is like that other places, but they are not as pushy as in Kuta. The beaches are not so nice this time of year- lots of trash and dead fish washing up. It does look like a good place to learn to surf, but I opted for wandering about. There are loads of tourists in Kuta though- definitely a hotspot for Western visitors.

After my day and 2 nights in Kuta I took a shuttle to Sanur on the East Coast and hopped on a boat 12 km off the coast to a small island called Nusa Lembogan. What a terrific decision! The island has only 7000 people on it and since it is the off season it is pretty quiet. I met an English and an Australian girl on the boat and we stayed together at this really nice hotel overlooking the ocean. It is definitely the nicest place I have stayed thus far (Jody, it reminded me of Pelican Eyes). I spent 3 days in Lembogan. The first we wandered up the beach. The second I walked to Mushroom Bay and then down to the village of Lembogan. Then I booked scuba diving for the following day and did a quick refresh in the pool. Later we hung out by our Infiniti pool and watched the daylight fade. My dives the next day (there were 2 of them) were fantastic! The first spot we saw loads of colorful fish and coral. The second was my first drift dive and we were lucky to see a miniature seahorse as well as the giant sunfish, the Mola Mola (totally out of season) plus more coral, fish, etc. A Spanish couple I met on the boat joined our crew (we hung with a Finnish couple staying at Ware Ware with us) for the evening. The next day I headed back to Sanur on the public boat and Hollie, the English girl, and I went to Ubud.

Ubud is the cultural area of Bali located in the center. It is surrounded by hills and rice fields and is lovely. I went to the Monkey Forrest the first day and saw loads of grey monkeys. They are very used to people feeding them so a baby grabbed my leg hoping for some food and scared me silly (to the amusement of the other tourists nearby). I then went for a walk through rice fields to a few artisan villages and got lost for awhile (literally) in the fields. Yesterday Hollie and I chartered a car and driver to take us around. We saw the Elephant Cave and Temple and then Temple of the Rock (really visually stunning). We also stopped at an painters' enclave, batik weaving shop, bone carver, and a coffee plantation. All very interesting. Later we went up to Kintamani and had some great views of the volcano Batur and nearby Lake Batur. On the way back we stopped at rice terraces. Quite a great day! Today Hollie headed off to the Gili Islands and I stayed. I had a $5 one hour massage and tonight I am going to see one of the tradidional Balinese dances.

Bali is amazingly inexpensive. Although some rooms don't come with flushing toilets (you have to pour water down them) or hot water (but it is warm enough that it isn't an issue). The people are very friendly and always smile at you (and then often give the ubiquitous inquiry "Transport?"). Hinduism is quite visible with offerings in front of every doorway three times a day. I'm trying to pick up some Indonesian words and phrases. I haven't needed them thus far but I likely will in Java.

I guess that is it for now. I think tomorrow I will start making my way East to Lombok- the next island over. Miss you! Keep me updated.

St

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

So that question was painted on the back of a campervan I saw and it made me laugh. Anyway, wow, my time in New Zealand is nearing an end. Tomorrow I fly to Bali. This month has flown by! Before I start with the recap (and I will try and be succinct- I've done so much), a couple of random things from my head... Firstly I don't think I've talked much about the people I've met on the trip. They are awesome! And I keep running into people I'd met previously in the trip which is super fun. Yesterday the world got even smaller when I ran into an Irish girl I had shared a hostel room with in China near the Tibetan border last April. I'm going to her and her boyfriend's place tonight for dinner. Good times. Some more random tidbits about New Zealand. It was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote in 1893. Pretty cool. Also, since I'm so far South, the days are long. Down in Dunedin right now it is light out until after 10 PM. I think I had a few more, but I am drawing a blank so on with the recap.

We were able to get out of Franz Joseph the day after the flooding. So then I went to Wanaka which I loved! It is this terrific alpine village on a huge blue lake with snow capped mountains in the background. I went to Mount Aspiring National Park and did a day hike to a glacier overlook with loads of waterfalls and more snowy peaks. Quite a nice place to have a sandwich. After 2 nights in Wanaka I headed to Queenstown. That was reunion central as I randomly ran into 6 or so people I had met at varying other times on the trip. After a quick night there I headed to Te Anau for a day trek on the Kepler Track. It was grey and drizzly so the views were not so great. The following day I did a day trip to the fabled Milford Sound. I was the only person going from Te Anau so I had a private guided tour of the road to Milford with a conservationist. He knew all about the local animals and plants and we did quite a few short walks and drank directly from an alpine stream on the way back. It was the tastiest water I've had- maybe ever. I did a boat cruise on the sound seeing waterfalls and peaks including one of the Mitre which is one of the highest peaks on earth to come directly from the water. We also saw a bunch of sea lions. The following day I headed back to Queenstown and then to Arrowtown, an old gold mining town, to wander about. Back on the Magic bus the next day I went to Dunedin where I stayed at a really cool hostel that used to be a bishop's residence. It is now called Hogwartz and since it was stormy out I watched a Harry Potter movie to be in the spirit of the place. Met up with a friend from the bus that night and went out for a bit and the next morning we were off to Lake Tekapo. Lake Tekapo is a glacial lake that is a super clear color of blue due to the glacial residue once it moved on. Mount Cook, the largest peak in New Zealand, was spotted at Lake Pukaki on the way in. The night skies in Tekapo are famed for being great for star gazing so a group of us braved the cold to check them out. The next day I was meant to hike in Mount Cook National Park, but another storm foiled the plans. So I spent the day playing games and watching movies with some of the other Magic bus peeps.

Christchurch was the next and my last stop on the Magic bus. I didn't stick around though, I caught another bus up to Kaikoura which is known for its dolphin and whale population. It is a cute little seaside town- very chill and relaxing. I ran into some American guys I'd caught a ride with to the trailhead near Te Anau and had dinner with them (local seafood- yum!). The next day we did a dolphin swim. Seriously, I think it is one of the coolest things I have ever done (y'all know how I love dolphins). They take you out in a boat to a pod with hundreds of dolphins and you are in a wetsuit and have snorkel gear and when they get you to right where the pod is going, you slide off the boat and join the pod. The dolphins are totally wild so you swim and try to act like a dolphin and basically look and sound like a total moron so that they will be interested and play with you. When they start to swim off, we get back on the boat and follow and then repeat about 5 times. I don't think I can describe what it is like to be swimming and looking into deep, cold, murky water seeing nothing and then, out of nowhere, there are 5 dolphins about a foot from your face swimming in circles through the water. I'm so glad I did it! We also saw a sperm whale on the way in and some albatross as well. I headed back to Christchurch which is where I am now. Christchurch is the biggest city on the South Island and I quite like it. It was created to be an English Christian settlement and originally men needed a letter of recommendation from their church to be allowed to move here. Luckily, things have changed.

Um, I guess that is it. Time to leave Western civilization behind. I'm looking forward to it, but of course there is so much more I would like to do here. Maybe I'll come back. We'll see. Oh and my fave wines I've tried are the 2007 Forrest Sauvignon Blanc (Marlbourough) and the Rockburn Pinot Noir (Otago). Beer wise, I like Monteith's Original and Speights.

Photos are uploaded. I'm captioning now. Here is the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/stacyb/SouthIslandNewZealand#