We travelled from Ubud to the Gili Islands in one long and very eventful day. The first hint that the day was not going to run as smooth as we’d hoped was when our mini bus ran over a puppy on the way to the harbour (fingers crossed for its survival). A few minutes after we arrived at Padang Bai harbour a speed boat exploded right before our eyes. The local people were in a frenzy, not really knowing what to do and worried for the one injured man who luckily dove into the sea from the boat as it exploded. He didn’t escape without some serious burns though and everyone was distressed as he came out the water screaming before being placed in a van and driven to the hospital. Once we got to Lombok, our bus broke down and we nearly missed the boat but we eventually arrived on the largest of the three Gili Islands; Gili Trawangan.
Our first impression was that it was much bigger and busier than we expected, although it is described in the travel bible as “the party island“! However we have been taking things easy generally relaxing on the beach by day and eating gorgeous food followed by a movie on the beach by night. The ocean is pristine and full or sea life and corals although the beach is a little stony and can lack the ’wow’ factor in places (the odd medicine bottle and flip flop doesn’t help but hey nowhere is perfect!).
We have had some adventures though, we rented bikes and cycled around the island on one day stopping off at various points to snorkel off the beach, where we saw two turtles feeding just before sunset amazing. Now we cant wait to go diving and hopefully swim with some sharks! Today we rented a surf board and practiced our surfing skills, although only a few dubious stand-ups, it was good fun. We have both been talking about what it will be like when we get to Australia now that it is getting really close. We’re nervous but excited about this next chapter, we can’t quite believe we’re going to have to get jobs though - how boring! :o)
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