Happy New Year to all our family, friends and readers; we hope you had an enjoyable evening ringing in the new year. It seems like only a couple of years ago we rang in the millennium, wow, can you believe it was 9 year ago!

Our new year wasn’t at all exciting, actually we were tucked up watching a movie in bed at 8pm and asleep by 10.  With it being so damp we both caught bad colds with the most dreadful cough, so we were in no mood to celebrate.  We did go for a nice meal and I had a few beers earlier in the day. We had planned on going home to change and head our for the night but Sam got much worse so it was time to wrap up for the night.

We woke this morning feeling somewhat better and the sun is out for the fist time in 5 days so the air is clear and we should start to recover rather quickly, I hope.

We are stuck in limbo, we had hoped to make our way across to the island of Flores to see the Komodo dragons (min 8 hrs travelling) but neither of us has the energy or inclination to pack or be stuck on a ferry for that long so we need to revise our plans.  More on that later.

Have a great New Year’s Day.

An island that boasts the least rainfall of all of Indonesia, but yet, we’ve been here only 4 days and it hasn’t stopped shitting with rain.  Dammit.  We wanted to rent some bikes for the last few days and go off exploring but the thunder, lightening and monsoon rain had rendered us confined to either a bar or our hostel.

Last night the lightening and thunder was absolutely spectacular.  Scary but exhilarating.  Sam spent the night under the covers while dodging the leaks.  It hasn’t stopped all night and right through to this afternoon.

There is no freshwater on the island, other than bottled, so I’ve been showering alfresco in our bathroom which is partially exposed to the elements.  There’s nothing worse than having a shower in saltwater.

Every night there is a party in some allocated bar but tonight is the mother of all parties with it being New Year’s Eve.  Hopefully the rain will clear so we can go check it out!

On our first day we were treated to something rather special, the annual releasing of turtles from the breeding centre.  For various reasons but mostly hunting, the turtle population has diminished to worrying levels so a breeding centre was started in recent years. 

This was a very big deal for the island and hundreds turned up for the occasion.  As tourists Zoe, Sam and I were given the opportunity to release three, Sam declined in case she dropped one in front of the crowd and the Indonesian television network filming the occasion, very funny.  Although she did get to hold one.

I managed to follow a few and take some photos as they swam against the current for the first time in the wild, truly amazing.  Out of the 200 hundred released throughout the day, only two are expected to survive to adulthood.

Following the release we were treated to a meal and drinks with local dignitaries including the mayor and the head of island security (somewhat like the mafia). Yet another great experience.

The three Gili islands: Air, Meno and Trawangan all serving different purposes. Air is the smallest and is suited to the elderly (only), Meno is for the relaxed and retiring and Trawangan for the backpacker party animal – guess where we docked.

Accommodation doesn’t come cheap especially this time of year, we checked into the cheapest at 150 RP (£10) a night but most places charge upwards of 600 (£40).  As expected we are competing with the two-week holiday makers, most from the UK and Oz.

We haven’t had a chance to explore the island much at the moment so you’ll have to bear with us.  All we can say at this point is that it is paradise and so laid back it’s almost non-functional. The only mode of transport is to hire a bicycle or a horse and cart – how cool!

Having spent the best part of Christmas on the island of Bali it was time to move on to the Gili Islands off Lombok.  As we were far north of Bali it meant we had to get a taxi to the port, ferry to Lombok and another ferry to the Gilies. By chance we discovered there was a fisherman that would, weather permitting, take us direct to the islands and at a fraction of the cost but on a skimpy fishing boat.  All we knew was that the crossing could take anywhere between 2 and 4 hours.

As we left the shore at 5am we could see thousands of fishermen returning with their hauls.  A mile off shore our skipper, Lampa, turned off the engine and erected the sail.  We glided the surface of the water with the sunrise at our stern and 360 degree views of the of the Indian ocean.  This awe was taken to another level when when we were escorted by dolphins, simply breathtaking.

We arrived in a respectable 3 hours, a voyage we are unlikely to forget.