Off On Our Next Adventure

A Crazy Journey

The journey to Lembongan from Gili Trawangan warrants its own blog post. However, I’ll try and summarize. Essentially, we shopped around for the best fast ferry direct to Lembongan and ended up buying our tickets directly from the Wijaya Buyuk ticket office on Gili Trawangan, where they said the journey would take about two and a half hours. When we got to the harbourfront to check in, chaos reigned supreme, with hundreds of people lining the wharf, waiting for their ferries. We had to jostle our way down the wharf to the harbour office to pay our ‘departure tax’ of 10K IDR per person and then we were allowed through the ‘gate’ of one person collecting tickets to catch our ferry, which was waiting at the end of the wharf. We knew that there would be a few stops along the way (see map below) at Gili Air, Lombok, and Nusa Penida before heading to Jungutbatu Beach at Lembongan.

Everything went according to plan, until we reached Nusa Penida, where they started to unload all the passengers in order of destination. Eventually, the Lembongan passengers were called, which consisted of us, a French couple, and a German woman. We all exchanged puzzled looks as we had paid for a ‘direct’ ferry to Lembongan. We disembarked to find our bags being unloaded on the wharf and were handed ‘boarding passes’ – lanyards to put around our necks – before being led off the wharf to a taxi truck waiting in the carpark, which we were told was going to drive us to another harbour for our connection to Lembongan.

We sat in the back of the bumpy truck squished in with all our luggage and fellow travellers for the 15 minute journey. We all marveled at the mysteries of travelling in Indonesia, and how what you negotiate and pay for often plays out quite differently in reality! It certainly lightened the mood having other people to laugh with at the situation.

We arrived at 3.15pm at the other port, to be told that we would need to wait in the heat until 4.30pm for our connection. At this point, our lovely new German friend spoke up, saying “But that is unacceptable! Sorry guys, not wanting to bring the vibe down or anything, but I’m supposed to be meeting someone at Lembongan now. You (to the woman on duty) need to get us on a boat right now.” Shaun and I backed her up on this, and the woman at the desk made a phone call, which miraculously yielded a boat that would transport us in about 15 minutes’ time. We made our way down the jetty as directed, to find a boat full of young backpackers awaiting us. Our luggage was unceremoniously chucked on the top of the rest of the luggage at the front of the boat, and we squeezed into any gaps we could find for the wet and wild boat ride over to Lembongan.

Shaun and I were at the front of the boat, and waves kept splashing over us and everyone’s luggage because it was so heavily loaded. Several of the young travellers were exclaiming in dismay about how their laptops might be faring in their bags. Two young, very merry German lads regaled us with renditions of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ and enacted Jack and Rose from ‘Titanic’. Anna was most amused by them. Leo was irritated and kept loudly whispering to us to tell them to sit down and shut up.

When we reached the Yellow Bridge that connects Lembongan with Ceningan, the boat pulled into a muddy beach and our children and luggage were lifted out onto the mud, where taxi drivers awaited us, touting their fares. We were pretty irate by this stage, since the two and a half hour journey had turned into four and a half hours and we still had to make our way to our accomodation. The lovely French couple had found a taxi truck and kindly offered us a ride with them, so we took them up on this, relieved to be at the end of an unexpectedly long mission.

One of the things I love about travelling is how easily you can make connections with other travellers. Chit-chat often leads to conversations about places you’ve visited and tips for onward journeys or recommendations, while also sharing a bit about yourselves in the process. It’s thanks to a lot of these random, chance meetings that our itinerary has taken the shape it has.

Koji Garden Huts

Arriving at our accommodation was a truly blissful experience, as we were warmly greeted by our host and given fresh orange juice as a welcome drink. Our interconnecting rooms were beautiful, each with their own outdoor bathroom. We were back in the land of generous Balinese hospitality, and frangipani flowers adorned the towels, beds, and surfaces in our rooms.

Once we had freshened up and changed out of our wet clothes, we went to a local place for dinner, a few doors down the road.

Shaun and I shared a grilled whole snapper with rice and veges, and it was delicious! The kids were also very happy with their burgers and fries, and we ate yummo scrummo ice creams for dessert that the kids skilfully talked us into.

Extending Our Visas

When we were on Gili Trawangan, I had gone online to extend our e-VOAs for another month, since we weren’t heading to Thailand until mid July. This proved to be an extremely straightforward process for the first three, and I successfully extended and paid for mine, Leo and Anna’s visas. However, when I got to Shaun’s, there was no option to extend it! We got in touch with a visa agent whose details were provided by our friend Oliver, and she explained that this ‘glitch’ in the system meant we needed to go into an immigration office and do the visa extension in person. This was such a pain, because the nearest immigration office was in Bali, so on our first morning in Lembongan, Shaun had to catch a fast ferry across to Sanur and go to meet with the visa agent.

We probably could have negotiated this process independently, but for ease and peace of mind, we used the visa agent. She proved to be a fantastic help and got everything moving for Shaun. We thought he might have to return the next day for his fingerprints and photo, but she arranged it so that he didn’t need to go back until the Monday morning, which is when we were travelling back to Bali anyway.

Mushroom Beach

While Shaun was away for the day, the kids and I stayed at Koji Gardens for the morning and enjoyed the swimming pool before exploring the local area to check out Tamarind Beach, Secret Beach and Mushroom Beach. We stopped for lunch at a sweet little place called Rilex Coffee (Relax Coffee) down the road from where we were staying before heading to Mushroom Beach for a swim.

We ended up staying at the beach for the rest of the afternoon, soaking up the sun, swimming, and building sand castles. It was lovely that the kids were able to meet Shaun on the shore when he arrived in the late afternoon on the fast boat from Bali…a nice end to his long day.

That evening, we ate at the local restaurant called LGood Bar and Grill. They had live music every evening, which we could hear clearly from our rooms, so we thought we may as well join in the fun. The singer was pretty good, although he did butcher the odd cover, and sometimes the lyrics didn’t quite match the original version, but they were generally pretty good, singalong hits. The food was impressive, although it was one of the more expensive places around (for our budget anyway).

Exploring Lembongan

The following day we hired scooters for 70K IDR per day (about NZ$8 each) from our hosts and went exploring around the island. Anna and I were keen to do a surfing lesson, which was recommended by a lovely Finnish family we met at Koji Gardens, so we also needed to organise and book that on our travels.

Dream Beach

First, we headed to Dream Beach to check out the view, which was stunning. The waves were huge and crashed onto the beach with thunderous intensity and a strong undertow and while there were loads of people braving the surf, we decided to watch them get knocked over by the waves from afar instead, enjoying a cold drink in the shade of the fancy resort bar on the hill.

The Devil’s Tear

Next, we headed to The Devil’s Tear, a unique area at the cliffs on the south-west tip of Lembongan. Here, the waves slam into the cliffs with amazing ferocity, and the water is sucked inside the caves hidden in the cliff walls before being expelled as plumes of ocean spray. Occasionally, spectators above are soaked in the process, although we escaped this, as it appeared to be low tide. The area has a treacherous reputation and has claimed the lives of several tourists in recent years who have climbed over the barriers in search of the perfect selfie.

We walked all the way around the cliff tops and were rewarded with a couple of turtle sightings in the rough sea below. How they managed to maintain their equilibrium in that choppy water is a mystery…clever creatures.

Jungubatu Beach

Next, we made our way across the island to Jungubatu Beach, which involved riding our scooters up and down a pretty steep, winding hill road. My confidence is steadily improving with a variety of terrain, and Shaun was very impressed with how well I navigated the hill road, giving me a rare compliment on my driving.

We reached Jungutbatu Beach, parked our scooters and went for a walk, looking for the place recommended by the family from Finland. After about 10 minutes, we found Haleiwa Surf Lesson, and booked Anna and I in for a lesson at 9am the next day.

We then made our way up to the northern end of Lembongan, checking out the beautiful white sand beaches. We stopped for a cold drink at a little Thai resto with a stunning view before heading back over to Mushroom Beach for a swim.

That evening, we ate at a lovely little place down the road, which was super cheap and yummy. It had a chess board, where Leo and Anna enjoyed a few games of chess, until they descended into arguments about rules, and then, thankfully, it was time to go.

Haleiwa Surf lesson

The next morning, Anna and I had a quick breakfast of nasi goreng before making our way over to Jungutbatu Beach for our 8.45am briefing before our surfing lesson. After practising on the beach and learning how to position ourselves and stand up on the board, we went out to the breakers at the edge of the reef by boat. The boat was anchored near where we were surfing, which meant that whenever we needed a rest, we could paddle over to the boat and take a break.

Our teachers, Wala and Juni, were amazing. Wala coached me and Carole, a lovely French Canadian yoga teacher; and Juni coached Anna, sticking near her the whole time, which gave me complete peace of mind about her safety. To be honest, I needn’t have been the least bit concerned because with her sense of balance and agility, Anna was a star! She managed to get up and stay up from her second go and made it look effortless. It took me a bit longer to get the hang of placing my feet correctly and balancing on the board, but I nailed it on the third go and mostly stayed up for subsequent attempts. The highlight was looking over as I surfed one of my last waves to see Anna surfing the same wave – an awesome mother-daughter experience. Both of us are keen to give surfing more of a go when we return to NZ, although we’ll miss the lovely warm sea at Lembongan!

While we were out, the boys had a relaxing morning at Koji Gardens, enjoying a leisurely breakfast together. Anna and I joined them around lunchtime, and after eating, we just had a quiet afternoon playing in the pool and catching up with friends and family back home.

We found another cheap place for an early dinner that evening, before watching a family movie and getting an early night. Unfortunately, my meal didn’t agree with me, and I got my first dose of traveller’s tummy, or Bali belly as it’s known in this part of the world. This would end up lasting about five days, much to my annoyance! Our doctor in NZ had prescribed useful medication for this eventuality, which meant I could still get out and about.

Nusa Ceningan

For our last full day on Lembongan, we hired scooters and went over to explore Ceningan Island. We drove all round the tiny island, which is linked to Nusa Lembongan by the famous, narrow Yellow Bridge, on which two motorbikes can just pass each other. No cars are able to cross it. It’s slightly nerve-wracking revving up the slope to get on the bridge, dodging pedestrians and other motorcyclists while trying to stick within a very narrow lane…I just used the same philosophy as riding a mountain bike: look at where you want to go, not at where you might crash!

We found a little place with a gorgeous view up on the hillside, where we stopped for lunch. The food was delicious, and I ate some bruschetta, which I would later regret, as whatever was in the food the night before had taken hold in my gut, making for a very uncomfortable reaction to food.

After eating, we made our way over to the other side of the island to where surfers jump off the cliff at Mahana Point with their boards and surf the huge waves coming in. We stayed and watched for a while before heading back over to Lembongan. On the way back to Koji Gardens, Anna asked to stop at a local shop to look at sunglasses. We ended up getting a sweet deal on a couple of pairs of sunglasses for Leo and Anna.

Secret Beach

Our last stop of the day was Secret Beach. We had considered the idea of swimming there, but the waves were a bit rough, so we decided we’d swim in the pool back at Koji Gardens instead.

After swimming and cooling off, we ate at the chess board place again before packing our things ready for our early morning journey over to Sanur in Bali.

A Couple of Days in Bali

Our hosts arranged for cheap fast ferry tickets back to Bali, where we had booked a hotel apartment for a couple of quiet days before catching a flight to Flores. I was not feeling particularly well by this point, so I dosed myself up with meds from our doctor in NZ and managed the journey to our hotel just fine.

We laid low for a couple of restful days, doing a bit of homeschooling with the kids. This involved buying some new stationery for them, so Anna and I made a special trip to a local stationery shop where we selected new maths books, drawing books and notebooks. I’ve started working on maths with both Anna and Leo…it’s taking a bit more effort than my usual teaching prep sunce Maths is not my chosen subject!

One of the bonuses of this hotel is that it included breakfast, and it had the most amazing international breakfast buffet. Shaun and the kids thoroughly enjoyed trying all the different food on offer. Sadly, I couldn’t partake as I was sticking to a diet of cream crackers and dry toast to try and settle my tummy.

I also bought activated charcoal and probiotics from a local pharmacy to help, which amazingly, they did. I’m grateful for the Southeast Asia Backpackers FB group for all the tips on how to sort out tummy troubles while travelling. After a couple of days, I was feeling a little better, ready for our next adventure, which involved flying from Bali to Flores.