Day 29 (Wednesday 14th November 2006)

The alarm went off at 07:30, but we were too tired to get up. All this travelling melarky's tiring work and we didn't leave the Wina Hotel until gone 10:00. We jumped straight in to a taxi to the airport and booked the next available flight to Lombok. We had a couple of hours to kill so we stuffed our faces with donuts, whilst our crocs provoked some very strange looks from the natives. Our flights cost 279,000 Rp - that's about 17pound each.

Things are a bit casual in Bali and the check-in desk eventually opened up about 20 minutes later than scheduled. Departure time was supposed to be 13:00 and by 13:28 we had just about taken our seats and the flight attendants were 'racing' through the safety information. Next thing you know, everyone's getting off the plane and we're back in the departure lounge. They said it was something to do with bad weather in Mataram and to be fair, there were a few puddles when we arrived.

By 14:00 we were finally airbourne and Sarah was not enjoying herself! It was a small plane and a bumpy ride and Sarah was adament she had a bigger engine in her mini. We grabbed a taxi from Mataram airport to Bangsal Harbour, the gateway to the Gili's.

The driver was cool. Having already turned back because we forgot to withdraw some money (no ATM's on the islands), he made several stops along the hills for us to take in the stunning views and most incredibly, get up close and personal with the macaques of the monkey forest. We could see why it was called 'monkey forest' and the bearded chappies of all different sizes, seemed to swing in from the trees by the dozen.

As amazing as it was to see all of these inquisitive apes nonchalently lazed by the side of the road, we had to get to the harbour in time for the last boat at 16:00. Driving through, Lombok revealed itself as a mountainous jungle rising from the sea and the local villagers by the sides of the road were as poor as they come.

When we arrived in Bangsal we had an idea of what to expect having read the page in the Lonely Planet guide titled 'Survivng Bangsal'! The swam of hawkers were intense, but Marc took it all in his stride and talked footy. However, one did test Marc's patience when he told him he looked like Wayne Rooney!!

The whole crossing over to the Gili Islands is a bit of a shambles in Bangsal. We took the Lonely Planet guide's advise and headed straight for he white ticket office by the beach where they have fixed tarrifs and times...but it turned out that they weren't much better than the scammers who all seemed to have a friend or a brother who could take us across themselves.

Of the three Islands we chose Gili Air, where the snorkelling is reported to be the best, and bought a ticket just in time for the last public boat. We asked exactly when the boat would leave and the 'talkative' woman behind the counter told us we must wait until more people arrive. We looked around. No one else was there. So we did, we waited for 'more people' and the hawkers all kept us company, trying to offload their jewellery, whilst taunting us that we had to wait for another 18 people.

It was obvious that no one else was coming, let alone 18, so Marc strolled back up to the counter..."We need 20 people for the boat to leave?" he said. She nodded her head. "There's never going to be another 18 people is there?" he asked again. She shook her head.

He didn't even bother asking her what the hell this ticket was for that he had in his hand and instead we couldn't help but give a little smerk at how unbelievably shocking the whole thing was. We paid a few extra Rupiah for a shuttle baot acorss and finally, some 20 minutes later, we were making our way across. Not before a local grabbed Marc's bag for him and put it on board and then stood there with his hand out expecting to be paid. Marc told him to do a Michael Jackson, explaining that he never asked for his help in the first place. This guy wouldn't budge, still holding his hand out, only now angrily muttering something in Indonesian. Things nearly kicked off, but Marc didn't give the pikey a bloody penny!! These people were really starting to piss us off and even as the small wooden boat was being pushed off from the beach, hoards of naked children clung to the edge begging for money...unfortunately they were just far enough out of reach so that we couldn't drown the little pests!

We were the only people to get off at Gili Air and with no roads, we took a horse and cart along the coastal track in search of a place to stay. Abdi Fantastik looked as good as any and, having consulted our bible 'the Lonely Planet guide, we rented ourselves a bamboo hut. Far from 'fantastik', it's real simple; a bed, bathroom and fan, but it's all that we need and right by the beach...proper chilled out! Complete with a hammock on the porch we can't complain. It's just 3pound a night including breakfast and it's simple living and sooo quiet...we love it!!

All we need now is some excellent snorkelling off the beach and if it has, Sarah's going to have to drag Marc off the island when it's time to leave. The signs look good, as we sat by the beach eating dinner (gotta love the curries), the waiter told us he saw two turtles out snorkelling the reef that same day. He also came back, chucked a bag of weed on the table and said "Welcome to lazy island...there's no police here my friend!"

Day 30 (Wednesday 15th November 2006)

We didn't need to set an alarm, we were up early and down for breakfast, on what was a glorious Indonesian morning. The water glistened the most amazing turquoise in the sun and Marc nearly skipped brekkie altogether to dive straight in!

The locals seem so friendly and if the pancakes weren't making our mouths water, all their talk of excellent coral and turtles right here in front of us, certainly was.

Marc, nowhere near letting his pancakes go down, went in first to make a quick assessment of the reef. When he returned some 40-minutes later, he was speechless! The reef that stretches along the shore here where we're staying is out of this world and by far the best we've encountered so far. Marc was straight back in again to show Sarah and she was just as overwhelmed as him.

The reef has its dead parts, everywhere we've been seems to have those, but where it was good it was excellent! The reef teemed with the most amazing fish. The first thing Sarah saw was her favourite thing in the whole world, a cute little pufferfish (gotta' love the puffers) and we also saw boxfish, the most incredible razorfish, bobbing vertically in the water, moorish idols, clownfish, plenty of different ttiggerfish, including the dreaded titan, tangs, fusiliers, electric damsels, beautiful goatfish, trumpetfish, starfish, urchins, worms and lots, lots more.

You couldn't keep Marc out and straight after lunch he was back in there again. This time he stumbled upon a giant puffer, fully 3-4ft in length. It was magnificent and very tolerable of Marc's ugly mut as he dived down for a closer look. Several cleaner wrasse were giving him a facial before he rolled on his side to get those little puffer pectoral fins manicured!! Marc was having a great time watching him until he realised that he'd have to come back and tell Sarah about what she'd missed out on. He drifted along the edge of the reef in the current, also spotting wimplefish, racoon butterflyfish, bi-color angelfish, large trevally and a menacing looking moray eel...this reef's got it all! As he worked his way back through the shallows it was as if he was back swimming inside his old fishtank back home...clark's clownfish, just like Marc's favourite pet 'Clowny', came right up to his mask, perhaps enquiring as to where their long-lost cousin was, as well as messy bi-color goatfish stirring up the sand and the most adorable pyjama wrasse bobbed by...remember them Stevie?!!

What a place!! It's quiet, idyllic and snorkeltastic...who wants the rest of our round-the-world tickets, we're staying here!! There's lizards here too. In our bathroom live two enormous tokay geckos,just like the one Sarah had back home and walking down the paths is guarenteed to stir some skinks. At lunch we were lucky enough to spot a large monitor lizard fumbling its way under a hut...how cool!

Just when things couldn't have got any better, whilst on a lazy stroll up the beach just 1-minute from our bamboo hut, we found a 5-star padi dive centre, Blue Marlin Divers (www.diveindo.com). We booked a dive for the next morning and the use of their underwater digital camera and by now Marc was bouncing all round Gili Air!

Before dinner Marc was back in the water again, this time with his underwater torch on a night snorkel. It was the first chance he'd had to get in and test out the torch and what a way to start. He watched a cool little octopus do his thing for a while, before studying the most amazing pair of decorator crabs blending in amongst the coral! The squirrel and soldierfish were out in force as too were the urchins, starfish, brittle stars, fan worms and funny red things attacking Marc's torch. Sarah's even agreed to give night snorkelling a go, but we're going to have to get her a little shortie on high first...'cause we know she feels the cold!

Gili Air is the best place ever and for now at least we don't want to ever leave. It is exactly the kind of place we came in search of and so here we are LIVING THE DREAM!!!!!!!

PS Phoning home may be a bit of a problem for a while guys... and we have loads of photos to upload too, but as the internet connection is through third world phonelines, the server just can't handle it!!

Love you all x...more coming soon...