Australia!



 So to Australia and as the airport taxi driver pointed out, no more “massage, transport, taxi” to worry us we were on our way back to the western world. Sharing a flight with dozens of dreadlocked Australian women wearing Bintang vests we flew over the Kimberley and down the western coast to Perth. When I worked at the airport we used to call this sort of flight RAF, not in recognition of our splendid air force, more as in rough as f….  Sorry kids.  The views from the aircraft window were of a vast red desert stretching as far as you could see with seemingly no sign of life. Immigration proved to be no problem, which was a relief for Ben who had somehow assumed that they would pick on an American boy. No-one could pick on him as much as we’ve done for the past 7 months. With Ben safely on his bus myself and Roberta arrived at our hostel in central Perth. Hence incurring the first culture shock. The hostel also provides accommodation for long term backpacker workers and as such resembles a student digs or even a youth offending institute but even messier. The list of rules handed to us included certain fines. So if I ever feel the need to urinate in the room it will cost me $50 or if I reach the dizzy heights of vomiting $70. I have yet to enquire if they do special two for one offers! Welcome to Australia! There was also a fight on our second night which involved one lad knocking out another. Nice!

About time I did some exercise

Both not worth drinking especially at $4 a bottle!

Hostel!  Not my mess.

Watching the Ashes in the sunshine

My running route

Feeling a bit negative I felt even worse when I realised how expensive everything is. Probably not in real terms but it certainly seems it after Asia. However a long walk around what seems a very nice city including a great waterfront made things seem better. Plus of course the sun is shining and the sky is blue, very blue. I have had my first run on Australian soil taking in no less then 3 different parks. I haven't suddenly become a great runner it’s just the parks are close to each other.

A visit along the coast to Fremantle, famous for the America cup, provided us with views of houses reportedly worth $87 million, so I just need to find the owners and I'm sorted.  The first glimpse of the Indian Ocean looks very impressive and having decided to spend a week very soon at the beach in Scarborough, not our Scarborough!, I look forward to seeing lots more of it.  I'll put some pics up soon when I buy a new camera and I have to say this quietly so my kids don't hear, I'm going to the zoo on Tuesday!

Ubud and beyond

Gili Air

Ubud turned out to be a great place to spend a few nights. With our bargaining skills honed by months on the road we managed to secure a room in a great hotel with swimming pool and breakfast for less than £6 a night which made us all very happy. It’s a great town with seemingly a temple on every corner, art galleries galore and lots to see and do and certainly plenty of expensive boutiques if you’ve got money in your purse. If you can ignore the constant cries of “transport, taxi, massage” that fill the air it really is a very nice place. The rest of the guys did the culture trip which meant that I didn’t have to, phew!! so I hired a bike to visit the rice terraces and such like. More my sort of thing. Although I did go to the monkey forest which housed 300+ macaques in a beautiful setting. Or it would have been beautiful if I wasn’t so scared of of them! One or two are okay but 300 was a bit much for me. We also found a Mexican restaurant with the best fajitas ever so happy days for all and Ben kept us laughing with his tales of his emergency use of the pages of his rough guide to Australia book and his saving of the letter P for Perth.

They might look cute but they're very very scary honestly!!

Not the worse place we've ever stayed.

We reluctantly left Ubud and travelled on a ferry across to Lombok. A scenic ride led us past deserted white sand islands, schools of dolphins and turtles. However it also led us to believe that Lombok would be similar. Unfortunately not. We arrived in the main resort of Singiggi somewhat surprised. The postcards show sweeping bays of clean white sand, in reality it is volcanic ash mainly covered in rubbish. Maybe because we have seen so many great sights on this trip we have been spoiled but certainly I wasn’t impressed. It could be that we are on the wrong part of the island, who knows. It could also be the fact that we have been travelling so long we are getting weary and things don’t appear fresh anymore. I do miss my family, my dog and especially my bambino, so maybe it’s just that, but at least least it’s warm here!




Catching a ferry to one of the Gili islands, Gili Air, the next day cheered me up. Situated just off the coast of Lombok these really are the islands that postcards are made of. White sand, deserted beaches, lots of snorkeling and swimming along with a great bungalow to sleep in all for less than £5 per night! It also had the most chilled out manager ever maybe due to his chain smoking of dubious substances. I opted to sleep outside on the balcony which proved a great choice enabling me to watch a fantastic sunrise every day. Plus it bought out the gypsy in me. Don’t think I’ll try it at home though. A run around the perimeter of the island takes about 40 minutes and again I’m privileged to be able to run amongst fantastic scenery. Running with the sun setting over the Indian ocean and the sound of the mosque calling for prayer is amazing.  Myself Heather and Roberta spent a day snorkeling and had a great time, spotting giant turtles, a huge variety of fish and the most amazing coral.  The Gili islands are famous for diving and snorkeling and rightly so.  We also saw fantastic sunsets, definitely a place I would return too.  It was the perfect end, or nearly end, to Asia for us.  After 5 relaxing days we caught a boat, bus, ferry, bus in the Indonesian tradition of hurry up and wait and are now in Kuta sorting our bags out for the flight to Australia.  Kuta is a major holiday resort for Australians and as such full of tacky bars and very similar to Benidorm, maybe without the pensioners!  Still a couple of nights are ok.  Next stop Perth.  Thanks Roberta for the photos.

Volcanos!!

Ok so now I'm the big 50 I'm meant to appreciate culture!!

Should be mighty mariners!!  No wonder I had trouble sleeping!

We tried Simons cupboard game to no avail!  Never mind Simon where ever you are!

Arriving at the train station in Yogyakarta was a bit surreal. A layer of ash covered everything as evidence of the still erupting Mt Merapi. Although it’s usually a busy tourist destination most of the tourists had been evacuated so it was just us hardy backpackers and a few random Germans, not that there‘s anything wrong with random Germans of course! Respect for race and diverity and all that! Unfortunately due to the volcano many of the tourist attractions were closed as there were within the 20k safety zone but we did manage a bit of culture, visiting the Sultans palace which was slightly underwhelming and also a batik factory, where I swore that I wasn’t going to buy anything and came out with a present for Louise. They know I’m an easy touch. The next day due to it being my birthday and to celebrate somehow reaching such a great age, I managed to persuade Roberta and Heather that cycling 40k in the heat and with crazy traffic was a great idea. We cycled merrily along to the Prambanan, a 6^th/7^th century Hindu temple. Along the way motorists stopped their cars to take videos of us no doubt impressed by our turn of speed! The temple was actually very impressive and extremely well restored. The gardens were also bizarrely similar to Chatsworth which made me long for the English countryside somewhat. Yogyakarta was overall a very pleasant city with a good feel to it and hopefully it will recover soon and the tourists return.  There was just one bad note for me, inadvertantly I found myself sleeping on a Man Utd mattress, not amused, the mighty Mariners would have been better!

We caught a free train to Solo the next day. Not used to getting something for nothing it took a lot to persuade us that it was really free and even then we weren’t really convinced. Expecting to be be thrown off at any time. However we arrived safely for a quick overnight stop in a quaint hotel. Confined to base due to a massive tropical storm dinner proved to be most amusing. First Heather stated “ I’ve never had a boiled egg before, I’m actually a bit scared!”, then I proceeded to eat a whole green chilli thinking it was asparagus and nearly passed out and lastly Ben tried to eat an ice cube, got brain freeze and had to run around the hotel for ten minutes refusing to spit it into a napkin “ because I need that for my toilet roll”. Roberta just rolled her eyes. We’re getting more sophisticated by the day! It’s only a matter of time before hotels refuse to take us.




So an overnight bus driven by a pair of maniac drivers has bought us to Lovina on the north coast of Bali. Myself, Ben and Roberta got up at the crack of dawn to watch the dolphins swimming and go snorkeling.  Very worthwhile as we saw dozens of dolphins including one which did a nifty spin for us and then did it again to make sure we had seen. So I need to add dolphins to my list of creatures to take home!  Lovina is a quiet resort with the only sound the calls of the beach traders “ Lesley, Lesley buy this buy that.  I did make the mistake of telling them my name and they have passed it round to the extent where I was swimming 500 meters out and they called me by name to buy bracelets! I thought I’d managed to avoid them by clever use of my bike only to have one of them offer me a better bike to hire. I going to try and run past them this evening, that’ll frighten them! I’ve spent a bit of time a the natural hot springs, very relaxing and riding around the countryside. Also quite relaxing in it’s own way once you get used to the traffic rules, i.e. there are no traffic rules! Tomorrow will see us travel to Ubud, a inland hill resort for hopefully lot’s of trekking.

Indonesia

   A great night out in KK where far too much gin was consumed we said our farewells to Barry and Pauline and headed off to KL. Myself, Roberta and Ben to catch a flight to Jakarta and Kirsten and Simon heading off to Africa. There was just time to have a early morning run around the now renamed Petronas Parry towers before our flight. There still looked fantastic to me. Malaysia and Borneo in particular have been excellent. Superb scenery and wildlife along with the great city of Kuala Lumpur. Yet another place I would happily revisit.

   So we are now solo travellers or solo in so much as there will be four of us when Heather joins us in Jakarta.  We arrived in Jarkarta mid afternoon to face one of the most difficult border crossings and immigration points we have seen in SE Asia.  Travelling to the hostel showed us the sights of Jakarta which appear to be endless traffic jams, street stalls, shopping malls and endless high rise buildings.  Oh not to forget a nice layer of smog. It’s dusty, noisy, big, brash and scruffy. Much as expected really. It is a massive sprawling city. The portly taxi driver asked us for a “poverty tip” which we politely refused, he didn’t look like he couldn’t afford to eat! The hostel, once we got over the initial shock of the fact that it was actually an apartment with 8 beds in the spare room, was great. With access to a huge swimming pool and a gym I was more than happy to spend a few days. We did the required cultural visit to the Monas, the statue of independence and the mosque, which is apparently the largest in SE Asia. At the mosque the “friendly” guide invited us to make a contribution to the mosque which we did and then asked “what about a tip for me?” All in the name of religion of course! Another refusal to hand over our cash and we were out of there. It was good to meet up with Heather again and swop tales from the last few weeks and make our future plans.

    A good train journey through paddy terraces and amongst mountains bought us to Bandung. There are no bridges at train stations in Indonesia so the done thing is actually to walk through a stationary train and come out the other side all the time hoping it doesn't start to move.  A good way to keep the heart rate up!   Enroute to our hotel we came across a naked man crouched in the street.  I’m not sure if this is the norm in Bandung or not never having been there before but I'm guessing not!  However he was as Heather rightly pointed out a definite trip hazard as he was blocking the pavement and we had to walk carefully around him.  Anyway the hotel was great unfortunately Bandung not so.    But like most places we’ve been always worth a visit just to experience different ways of life. We’re currently on a train heading for Yogyarkarta.  As I'm writing this the sky is dark and everything is covered in volcanic ash from Mt Merapi.  We'll see what it's like when we arrive.