Getting my sea legs. Nusa Lembongan, Gili T, Lombok.

Getting my sea legs. Nusa Lembongan, Gili T, Lombok.

Second day after the wedding it was time for a change from Legian! We said our goodbyes to our guests still at the Mandira and jumped in a car with Mum and Dad to Sanur to get the boat to Nusa Lembongan, a tiny island off Bali. Gosh it felt good not to be traveling with that wedding dress!

We got to Sanur a few hours early hoping for some beach time, but the Sanur beaches were crowded with locals and also pretty rocky, so we had some lunch and just went for a walk where I was eyed and chased by an evil goose. 

We were on a separate boat to Mum and Dad, but my friend Hanna was on our boat. Hanna the wild child who just had got a huge but awesome tattoo on her back the day before! You need to wade out in the water to jump onto the speed boat which is much more fun than the tradition jetty style. The trip to Lembogan was not too rough (that comes later), we definitely got some air on those waves though!

We were dropped off at our bungalows via an open aired ute, and Dan and I were straight into beach for a swim. The tide was out so it was pretty shallow, and you also needed to be careful as there were a lot of posts in the water tying down seaweed. Apparently 70% of the islands income comes from seaweed (how it is used I am not sure). We watched the locals at breakfast bring in boatloads of brown seaweed, and then take back out green seaweed which looked like it was tagged. 

We loved Lembongan. The vibe is friendly, mellow and still very Bali. Lots of cheap accommodation options run by families (no big resorts here), and plenty of places to eat. The number 1 activity to do is diving and snorkeling, and since Dan and I are not certified we did the latter, but honestly the snorkeling was so good you didn't need to dive (and the max depth was only 3 meters diving) . My sister and Liam organized a local to take us out on a boat to 3 snorkeling sites, the first at the mangroves being the best. The trip to the other sites around the other side of the island was a bit choppy - poor Rach was feeling a bit crook. On the way back to mainland, Liam cast a line and reeled in a huge blue fin tuna! Despite Dan and I now being vegetarian, we were still excited for him!

The rest of the 3 days we spent relaxing and spending time with the family before we parted ways. Dan, Dad and I took out kayaks for an afternoon which I loved - poor Dad got stung by a sea urchin so it cut his kayaking short. We got in some yoga at the Yoga Barn, and went for some great walks around the coast from Tamarind Beach up to Shipwrecks.

Soon it was time to say our goodbyes and head off to Gili T, one of the 3 Gili islands clustered together off Lombok.  This is where the rocky seas began.

The ride was supposed to take about an hour and a half, where in actual fact in ended up taking almost double the amount of time. At first the ride was quite pleasant - they actually gave us bottles of water and pastries - quite delicious banana bread and a canoli type baked good. Oh how I regretted eating those. Gone from the window were the calm seas, the land ahead bobbing in the water. The speed boat was taking full nose dives and getting saturated in water. It was a sickly hour.

Gili T made up for it though - it really does live up to its name being a party island. It was a change from Lembongan - a lot more people around and a lot of  the young crowd. The main beach where the boats come in is set on a coral reef, so there was good snorkeling right off the beach. Also made stepping in and out of the boats a little tricky as there was coral underfoot.

So many resturants, places to stay, and the really cool thing about the islands is that there are no motorbikes or cars, getting around is via a horse and card, bicycle or good old fashioned walking. 

We really just spent our time on Gili T relaxing. Hanging out at the beach,taking walks along the shoreline, and I even got a pedicure. We had the most phemoninal meal at the local night market - after eating Gado Gado,  Cap Cay and vegetable curry, it was a nice change to be able to have some indonesian vegetarian food that was different. I can't tell you exactly what it was, but we had five different dishes on our plate and it was scrumptious.

From Gili T we took the public boat to Lombok. You know you should be worried when you see the locals putting on life jackets. It was extremely choppy between the three Gili islands and the ride was rough, but luckily only about forty minutes. 

Lombok was so different in comparison. We came from a bustling island to a very quite, almost remote mainland. We took a private car to Seneggi and were surprised that there were not that many accommodation options. The place we ended up at was a bit of a hole but the people that ran the homestay were friendly.

On the first day we didnt do much - Dan was keen to go snorkeling again, but considering there was nobody else swimming at the big open beaches and it was pretty rough, we took a long walk instead to a Balinese temple, which is rare in Lombok which is predominatly musilm.

The next day we organized a trip to see some of the waterfalls in Lombok. We were taken to a local market where we brought some peanuts (for the monkeys) and pineapple (which our guide skillfully cut for us). We then drove through Lombok monkey forest. I love monkeys, but getting to close to them gives me the willies and the monkeys in Bali get a bad rap for being aggressive. However, the monkeys in Lombok were actually timid and very gentle taking peanuts from our hands. The males totally dominated though and if you tried feeding a smaller one, the male would not allow that!

We then had a beautiful lunch (Cap Cay I think again!) overlooking one of the waterfalls we would walk down too. The walk through the jungle was lovely - it probably took about 45 minutes to reach the first one which we were able to swim in. The water was so cool and refreshing and standing so close to the water flow was exhilirating. We stayed there for quite a while, just taking in the natural beauty and sounds of the jungle. The second one we couldnt swim in but was pretty to look at. We then hiked back up for the trip back to Seneggi.

On the way back we got to see a wedding procession. So apparently traditional weddings include doing a 5 km walk to the brides parents house through the streets which concludes with a party there. The procession had a lot of music and colors and the bride and groom (moreso the bride) looked petrified and both about 12 years old! 

We ended the day with a young coconut watching the sunset from a lookout point overlooking the 3 Gili islands. Ahhh the life. 

Next day it was back on the boat to Bali to see the other tourist mecca- Ubud. I am happy to report the seas were relatively calm and the journey was just over an hour! Phew!