14 of us decided to visit Borobudur and Prambanan in central Java. This entailed a two hour fast ferry from Karamunjawa to Java and then another 5 hour bus journey through Java to Magelang where we were going to spend the night before our 4.30am rise.
First giggle of the trip was when we all plonked ourselves down in the first class section of the fast ferry – when we were promptly all continue reading.
Karamunjawa is off the central north coast of Java and is an archipelago of 27 islands. The main island is small and very untouristy – a change from Bali but very pretty and clean. We took three days to get here from Lovina with a stop over on an island called Bawean, and arrived about 3pm – just in time for a quick beer and shower continue reading…
Bali is a special place especially for us who come from Western Australia as it is our closest capital city and our number one destination for holidays. The cost of coming to Bali from Perth is half that of flying to any other Australian city and it is in the same time zone – so West Australians tend to know Bali better than their own country! So when we set off for Bali from Lombok we thought we knew what to expect.
We usually go to the south of the Island but on the rally we were all going to Lovina in the north. Lovina is a really beautiful part of Bali – very unspoiled and still retaining the charm that is Bali.
We arrived early in the evening, and Lovina was thumping – it was their local festival and there was also a welcoming ceremony for us. Continue reading
We sailed to Senggigi next. This is the main tourist centre for Lombok but it didn’t seem to touristy. The beach front is mainly bars and restaurants and the main street caters for all – but there was not a traditional fruit and veg market here. It was a great little anchorage with a really safe and sturdy dock – where we left our dinghy quite safely while we went and wandering around trying to provision. I bought my first souvenir here Continue reading
Medana Bay in Lombok was where we all met up for a traditional welcoming ceremony and where we could extend our visas for our remaining month in Indonesia. The first time we passed by it was very rolly and so we headed for the gorgeous little island of Gili Air for a few days. Gili Air is one of the three famous continue reading
We left the Komodo Islands and headed to the Island of Sumbawa. This is one of Indonesia’s poorest islands with few visitors. There is nothing here of note to bring tourists in and therefore it really has a feel of a time lost and the villages still rely on their traditional laws and regulations It is drier than Flores and Komodo continue reading…
It had always been one of the places I wanted to visit – and now I was here in the Komodo Islands to see the famous Komodo Dragons. We actually saw them in the island of Rinca (pronounced Rintja) as there is a higher chance of seeing them – continue reading…>
As we started our westward journey across Flores, we came across a small town called Riung. It was a good little anchorage with a small restaurant at the end of a long pier so we headed in for dinner. We were surprised to see other travellers here, as we had not seen many other keep on reading
Maumere is the largest town in the province of Flores. Flores is the greenest of all the islands we have seen so far. We headed for Wodong, a small anchorage chosen mainly because it had a restaurant attached to a small dive centre. We were not disappointed. Keep on reading.
We all arrived at the idyllic setting of Kroko Atoll during the course of the day and all dived straight into the crystal clear water. The snorkelling was good but not brilliant due to in part the dynamiting that has been going on in Continue reading
S/V Indian Summer 1 