We got up on the morning of the 13th of December at our hotel in Yogyakarta, showered, nipped downstairs for a final hotel breakfast, then packed the rest of our things before returning to the lobby. We had enquired the night before about getting a free shuttle to the nearby train station to save us carrying our heavy bags in the heat at the start of a long journey, so we soon had our stuff in the hotel's minibus and were on our way through the streets to the t...

After our pleasant flight from Bali, we landed at Yogyakarta airport and quickly made our way to the baggage claim where we grabbed our bags and made for the exit. On the way, we stopped at a counter and bought a set-price voucher for a taxi to the hotel we had booked online. This meant we could avoid the hassle of taxi touts and their constant attempts to rip us off. With our voucher, we made our way to the taxi rank and hopped into the designated car. Our ...

The little Perama boat cruised away from the long beach at Sanur and beyond the reef, then set a course for the islands we could see out in the distance. As we crossed the channel, the swell increased until the boat was undulating across the waves. On the downside of the waves, the outriggers would plunge into the water sending up plumes of spray, which got us a little bit wet. However, things got worse as we continued, when huge splashes came crashing in over ...

We set off from Tulamben driven by one of the guys from the dive resort, and took the same route we had come from Ubud, climbing up into the hills past the incredible terraced rice paddies and through the jungle. We got talking to the other passenger in the car, an Italian pilot called Giovanni who lived and worked in Papua, flying light aircraft up into the mountains to sketchy-sounding airstrips. He was an interesting guy, and we chatted for a while before si...

We set off through the busy main street in Ubud before leaving and driving through the countryside on the route we'd taken the day before. We passed the Elephant Cave and Yeh Pulu before cruising on into the countryside. Our driver zipped along the winding roads as we passed through numerous little roadside villages, across deep gorges, and alongside gorgeous rice paddies. We soon reached the coast and drove up this a little before stopping outside a temple ...