We booked a bus from Bali to a place called Probolinggo which is the main base for tours to Mount Bromo. The bus left Bali at 10am and took us onto a ferry across to Java and we were finally dropped in Probollingo at about 9pm. As the guide book had pre warned we weren't dropped at a bus station but at a travel agency where a guy tried to sell us a tour to Bromo leaving at 3am to see sunset. We said we would come back the following day and took a cyclo to the hotel. On checking in we asked if they do tours and showed him what we had been quoted by the tour agent - this included pick up at 3 and a tour of Bromo then a mini bus to the next town we wanted to visit, Solo. The guy was genuinely surprised at the price we had been given so when we asked he called the tour operator and booked for us to leave at 3am. This wasn't what we had planned but worked out very well....

Mount Bromo is an active Volcano and is 2329 meters high. By no means the tallest in Indonesia but easily one of the most well known for it's high activity and breath taking setting. It last errupted in Jan 2011 but they are good at giving warnings if there is any activity and don't allow visitors at those times so we knew we were safe!

After not much sleep due to both the excitement and a few hungry mosquitos a minibus came and picked us up at 3am and we picked up a Spanish couple from another hotel before making our way up Mount Bromo round hair pin bends and climbing so high that sometimes it seemed the minibus might not make it. The driver took us as far as he could up Mount Penanjekan then stopped on the side of the road and pointing up said, "follow the road, I meet you back here". On stepping out of the minibus we realised we were walking on cold black ash and Gem regretted wearing her walking sandals straight away, for once Matt had prepared better and was wearing walking shoes. We climbed for about half an hour until we reached a viewing point and the track stopped. It was still pitch black and there were so many stars it really felt like we were in space, we've never seen so many stars before and must have seen at least 10 shooting stars, it was truly stunning.

Although Matt had prepared with the right footwear neither of us had thought about how cold it might be, we were both frozen! Luckily an enterprising Indosesian couple had a campfire going and were selling hot chocolate, tea and coffee. See pics of Matt warming by the camp fire.... The Spanish couple took pity on Gem and offered a rain coat which helped keep the chill off until the sun had risen.

There were only about 15 people at the top and silently we all watched the sun rise over the mountains in front of us, changing the colours of the horizon from blue to purple to pink to red to yellow and back again for about half an hour. It was spectacular and the adrenaline from witnessing something so beautiful made us forget the cold and the fact that we hadn't slept. As the sun came over the valley we could hear the cockerels waking up at different houses in time with the sun moving and once it was light enough we could see Mount Bromo over to our right steaming in the distance. The scene was like something from Lord of the Rings, we hope our photos do the fascinating views we had before us justice.

Once the sun had fully risen we went back down to the minibus and he explained that we had a couple of hours to go over to Mount Bromo and climb the crater to the top. Looking down on the valley we realised it would have taken at least an hour to walk there so we hired 2 guys on motorbikes to take us into the valley below and take us to the crater. This was great fun, like something out of top gear they sped through the ash and dropped us at the bottom of the crater. Locals were there with their horses offering rides to the top but we walked and once we reached the top we were able to look down the crater and see the jade green sulphur bubbling and steaming below. Amazing.

We made it back to our minibus and he drove back down the valley. Matt will tell you the driver back was one of the most scenic journeys he has ever been on, unfotunately Gem only experienced a little of it as the tiredness kicked in!

We had lunch in Porbollingo and boarded another minibus to Solo, our next destination which the guidebooks say is a true Javanese town so we are looking forward to it.