Hello again, still from Gili Trawangan.....I don't think I ever want to leave here. Who'd have thought you could love somewhere so much.

It's been such a cool week since updating you last. Ramadam has officially started and much to our concern that every kind of social occasion would end on the island for the duration of our stay we needn't have worried. They simply have 'No party parties' which are just as much fun but with a select few people, typically at the dive school and then moving onto the Irish bar. You do need to be careful with your drinks though, one poor girl put her drink down for 2 seconds and next thing she knew she was drinking vodka & coke & magic mushrooms!! Not cool. I feel very sorry for the local guys who cannot eat or drink between 4.30am and 6.30pm every single day - the atmosphere on the island during the day is definately one of tiredness. We were out diving the other day and I learnt that they cannot even snorkel in case water comes into their mouth.

I am having a great time on the diving front, every single dive sees you finding tonnes of new fish, turtles, sharks and amazing coral. I am half way through my photography speciality course, and the results aren't great - I am very good at catching the coral which the gorgeous fish swam past 2 seconds earlier, as yet I have not managed to catch what I want. Obviously I don't admit this to the instructor. I am gettnig better......slowly......final dive of course tomorrow so I have been snorkelling at every opportunity and practicing with the camera. The snorkelling is amazing too - even at 2m from the shore you can see trigger fish, huge and wonderfully coloured fish everywhere you look. However the current is quite scary - today I jumped in to the sea to cool down and check out the fish, within 10 minutes maximum the turquoise water turned to deep blue and I couldn't see the bottom anymore. For anyone who knows how much I hate being out of my depth in the sea you can imagine how freaked out I was, and how dignified my panicked swim/splashing session back to the shore was - not. Very amusing. Lena acted like she didn't know me and rightly so I guess.

I also have the final exam for my nitrox speciality course - must go home to bed soon and practice my dive charts (I hate numbers). So keep your fingers crossed for me.

The other night Lena and I took chidomos (horse drawn carriages) with the dive lot to the other side of the island to watch the sun set over Bali, was amazing. We then forgot that with Ramadam we would be stranded here becase the locals go and eat bang on 6.30pm and don't appear again for at least 2 hours. It was a long, long walk to the other side of the island where Stuart (newly qualified divemaster - more on him later!) insisted we had to walk to get 'the best pizza on the island'. No joke, at least 90 mins later we arrived having been eaten alive by huge mosquitos, seriously tired and ratty and ate maybe 'the best pizza on the island' but not the best pizza ever. We weren't too impressed and needless to say slept very well that night after more exercise that my body has seen in months, literally.

On that note - Charlie please don't worry I am religiously doing my push ups, sit ups, lunges and squats every night even after a night out on the local juice. All in prep for our climb of Mt Kinabalu in just over a week!!!! There is no way we are not getting to the top of that thing. A few of the guys here have climbed the largest mountain in Bali and really enjoyed it so I have been gathering tips. Sugary substances help enormously!

I have found 2 amazing places to eat, one is called The Snapper and is like a fish and chip shop from back home - except the fish is snapper (hence the name obviously) in batter and chips that taste just like home!!! It's great. Then this little local place called...um will have to come back to you on that...but this lovely old lady spends her day cooking loads of local food and you go in and she piles a bowl full of all of these wonderful concoctions - all for the small price of 25p per meal. Amazing!!!

The thing I love most about this island is the way it is totally travellers, everyone is looking to make friends and swap stories and experiences. I have met some really nice people and have swapped contact details with lots of people I hope to meet in Oz. I am also hearing lots of things about places I hadn't even considered seeing before I left UK and now desperately want to see as well. Suddenly 5 months just doesn't seem long enough.

OK so the gossip - Lena has got a boyfriend!!! She is officially dating the divemaster at our dive school....Stuart. They went on their first date the other night and are on their second while I am writing this blog! It's very sweet ;-)

So my birthday - another 'No party party'. After a big day of diving which included seeing an enormous Eagle Manta Ray - 2 to 3m wide, was absolutely amazing and put everyone in such a good mood for the night ahead. It was HEAPS of fun. The girls all got together to get ready with wine and pringles, then met everyone else at the dive school. We had a delicious bbq dinner by the beach and then all of a sudden this amazing chocolate chip brownie cake and cream appeared in front of me - with 3 mosquito candles lit in the middle for me to blow out once they stopped singing Happy Birthday! Was such a nice surprise!! Nikki and Fern had organised it in secret earlier - seriously nice brownies too, again just like ones back home (all other chocolate seems to taste different so was much appreciated). So after the niceties a couple of 'snorkel tests' began - 2 newly appointed Divemasters had to have their snorkels filled entirely with the most disgusting mix of alcohol ever complete with a raw egg stirred in for maximum effect. Horrible. Anyway they both survived and this led to the start of a raucous night of drinking and people being chucked in the dive pool - just because!! Was very amusing. I was lucky in avoiding it after hearing Scottish Stuart tell the guys she is a nice girl, it is her birthday and you mustn't ruin her party dress!

So only one full day left on the island which upsets me greatly. Over to Bali for a week as of Saturday to do some more diving and sun worshipping. Not too keen to see Kuta though as most people I have met have hated it enormously. Then it is nearly time to meet Charlie in KL and make our way to Borneo.

Thanks to everyone for facebook messages etc!!! I promise to post photos on this site as well once I am on the mainland, it takes way too long on the islands. xxx