Tues 27th - Sat 31st May (Week 36)

Tues 27th - Took the shuttle bus transfer at 10:30 down to Kuta in the South of Lombok. The 1st minivan which took us to Mataram was the most clapped out vehicle I have ever seen - shredded seats, rusty and holey floor, and our rucksacks tied on the roof with a bit of string ! My seat was actually a stool which rocked around every corner, and I had to angle my head so I didn't hit the (non-working) air vents ! Luckily the next van was better and we arrived into Kuta at 1pm. Lovely hotel with big room, a/c and a pool !! Had lunch at Mr Cheap's restaurant (!), then sat by the pool for a few hours, relishing the blue skies, palm trees and relaxing for a change. Tried to watch sunset by scrambling up a rock on the beach, thinking we were being clever and would avoid the children selling stuff. But no, they scrambled up there as well, and we were quickly surrounded by 6 of them, trying to sell bracelets and necklaces ! Luckily they were quite friendly and proceeded to sing/shout out various Western songs they knew. Had an awful dinner, so went somewhere else for dessert and drinks to make up for it !

Wed 28th - Hired a scooter for the day and headed off at 9am. Went East and had a look at Tajung Aan beach which was just stunning - miles of white sand stretching around the bay, turquoise waters and no-one there (except the local hawkers !) Drove on to Gerupuk which is meant to be great for surfing, but is just a little fishing village, and all the surfers get taken out to the big waves by boat. Headed back to Tajung Aan, found a lovely little cafe with only 2 other people there, and spent an hour or so on the loungers taking in the incredible view. Carried on round to Seger and Brandon decided to be adventurous/insane and try and drive across a rickety bamboo bridge to the beach ! I was less sure, especially when we came to a broken part with no bamboo planks, and just the underneath struts showing. He decided to give it a go anyway, and nearly lost the rear end, just stopping in time ! I lifted the back end back onto the other side and we carried on - until we realised the other end involved concrete steps, so decided to turn around and go back over the hole again ! Madness. Not so impressed with Seger beach after all that, so had a quick lunch back in town (whilst being bombarded to buy bracelets from the local children, and ended up buying 5 !) Carried on West up a big hill with fantastic views back down to Kuta bay, and along to Mawun Beach. Another stunning sandy bay with different shades of turquoise and blue, but we decided to carry on to the surfing beach of Mawi. It was further than we thought, and down some horrible dirt tracks, but eventually got there and watch a few surfers for a while. Not as good as we hoped, and not very busy, so headed home at 5pm. Really fantastic coast line, and look forward to spending more time on the beaches over the next 3 days.

Thurs 29th - Headed out again on the scooter - back to our favourite beach from yesterday - Tajung Aan. It was still lovely and quiet, and just a few other couples sunbathing on the loungers at the Indan Cafe. The water did look very clear, but we didn't have any snorkelling equipment to try it out, so we just swam and sunbathed.
It really is paradise here, possibly the best beach we have ever been to - including Maldives and Bora Bora ! Just miles of pure white, soft sand, turquoise waters and hardly anyone there.

Fri 30th - Another day on the scooter, but this time we headed West, back to Mawan Bay which we only briefly visited on Wednesday for photos. Really windy and huge waves, but the colour of the sea was just out of this world. I couldn't stop staring at it, trying to take in the beauty and the array of blues, turquoises, greens etc. It was so perfect that you didn't want to lie down and shut your eyes to sunbathe, just sit up and stare at it all day. Not only was the sea the most perfect colours, but the 2km horseshoe bay was almost deserted so we had a huge stretch of untouched sand all to ourselves, with no noise or disturbances. Bliss. Finally dragged ourselves away at 2pm and it really was hard to walk away, knowing we may not come back, or may not find as perfect a place again. Had a nice lunch back in town, then continued East back to our other favourite Tajung Aan bay for the remainder of the sunshine. Again, really hard to tear ourselves away from there as well at 5pm. When you get out of Kuta and down to these untouched beaches, they really are paradise. No-one there, hardly any buildings apart from local huts, and just a few local fishermen on their boats. Idyllic, but not sure how long it was stay like this. Today has probably been our most perfect and relaxing day on the whole trip.

Sat 31st - A relaxing day spent by the beautiful pool at our hotel - thought we'd better make the most of it seeing as we're paying for it ! As stunning as the beaches are around here, sometimes its nice and convenient to just sit by the pool, use your room, and be close to town for lunch and dinner ! Some research and planning in the evening as not sure how much wifi we'll get on the Gili islands from tomorrow.

We've had a wonderful week in Lombok, with amazing beaches and incredible waterfalls and jungle. We've loved our time in Kuta, stunning, stunning beaches, and we'll be really sad to leave tomorrow as this has been some of the best few days of our entire trip.