Nusa Lembongan

After arriving in Denpasar and spending a night in nearby Sanur, we got a boat over to the island of Nusa Lembongan. The weather was stormy, so we waited on the - small and not particularly comfortable - passengar boat until the crew were ready to haul us away using a strenuous method of heaving in the anchor ropes to set us in motion. The journey was a soaking wet start to our time in Indonesia, but luckily the weather brightened that afternoon and we spent a very relaxing 2 days exploring the island by foot. One of the best discoveries was 'Dream beach' - a dream-like vision of white sand and turquoise, clear sea - which we had completely to ourselves for a while, and then only 4 more people turned up. Coconut Bay and Mushroom Bay were smaller but as empty and as paradise-like.

Gili Trawangan

We decided to get a boat back to the main land to catch another boat from Padangbai to take us onwards to the Gili Islands off Lombok. The hour long boat trip was amusing - there were 8 of us, 6 English and 2 Indonesian (the most English people we've seen in one space at one time on our whole travels), sitting knee to knee in a tiny fishing vessel - also transporting fish. The sail was made of what looked like a table cloth. After arriving in Padangbai, we caught a 4 hour ferry to Lembar on Lombok. We decided to stay a night in Mataram where we had the best cheap meal ever - 2 Nasi Gorengs (a traditional rice dish served with a fried egg) and 2 drinks for just under 1pound 50. Next, onwards to Gili Truwanga - another boat ride away - and this time we were rewarded with even more beautiful beaches, possibly even clearer water and a stretch of little huts and bars serving fantastic fresh fish, even a free cinema if you bought pop corn and a few beers. We spent two days here swimming, snorkelling and eating.

Gili Air

Caught a boat at 9.30am on Saturday to more stunning beaches and found a nice bungalow to stay in. Ate, sunbathed, read and snorkelled quite alot too. The fish and coral here were amazingly varied, colourful and there were alot of them to watch. We couldn't believe our luck on Sunday morning when we saw a turtle which swam gracefully along with us for about 5 minutes. The sunsets were stunning, the grilled fish was cheap and fresh and we were sad to leave this morning (12th May), to come back to Lombok main land and begin to make our way to Flores.