The 7am local boat took us from Nusa Lembongan to the mainland, from there a short taxi ride delivered us at the bus station to await a departure to Java. A few 'Pop Mee' (think Indonesian pot noodle), a couple of hundred kilometres and some 12 hours later we were dropped in the non-descript town of Probolinggo. Our plan was to head to Mt Bromo, yet another volcano, but this one is considered to be quite spectacular. Standing on the side of the road a group of guys all start saying bromo, bromo, you wait here. Bored of touts by now we try to ignore them but as ever they are pretty persistent. We are still 25km away from Cemoro Lewang a small village on the edge of the crater and utterly exhausted, all we want is a bed for the night and the thought of getting up for sunrise is not all that appealing.

However, somehow we find ourselves agreeing to a shuttle but to Cemoro Lewang that will get us there the same evening so we can't really refuse. Dumping our bags in a tour office we wander up the road in search of some food. Fed and watered we begin to head back to the office and our belongings when a van honks us and pulls up alongside. A European head sticks out the window and it looks like our chariot has arrived! A little bemused we find our bags already inside and off we go. Now that is what you call service. Arriving in the pitch black in a distinctly chilly Cemoro Lewang we couldn't see Bromo and what all the fuss was about. It would just have to wait until morning.

A wake up call at 2.40am did little to inspire our mood and we tried to get another hours rest before beginning our ascent. Motorbikes took us most of the way and after a fifteen minute walk we arrived at Mt Pananjakan viewpoint just as the sun was beginning to rise. Only at that point did we realise quite why the usual view point on Bromo was closed. A towering, billowing plume of smoke arose from the crater in front of us. As the dawn broke the smoke turned from a blueish haze to orange reflecting the light of the sun. Bromo is quite a small volcano but its beauty is that it's nestled within the enormous crater of an even older volcano, surrounded by a sand sea. We stood on the edge of this larger crater looking down the vertical slopes to the active volcano below. It would be an impressive sight at the best of times but we were truely lucky to see it smoking away in its active state.

Still at the unearthly hour of 5.30am we were back at the hotel with another perfect view of Bromo, now that the sun was up we could see that everything was covered in a layer of volcanic ash and the sky above us was beginning to fog up not with cloud but with the huge amounts of ash spewing out of the crater. Bromo had only been smoking for a week and an Indonesian TV crew were camped up at our hotel recording the action. It seems our timing was perfect! We tried a little posturing near the TV crew over breakfast but it seems they did not require the services of two dashing foreigners in their next broadcast. As the morning drew on it appeared that the eruption was increasing in intensity so it was soon time to pop that sickle.