Our feelings of apprehension were soon quashed upon arrival in Jakarta. To get around and see the sights we hired a driver for the day, which we convinced ourselves was a justified expense, as we only wanted to spend one day in the city and it was the best way to escape the debilitating heat. We visited Mesjid Istiqlal, which is the largest mosque in South East Asia. We felt very intimidated when we got mistaken for being American, but once we convinced the security we were from South Africa they even offered us a tour. (at a price of course). Whilst there groups of people were demonstrating against the recent unrest in Israel, but we left swiftly as we were not eager to hang around. We moved onto the harbour to see the old Buginese Macassar schooners and found ourselves amidst a hive of activity. Our final stop for the day was the old town where the architecture is very reminiscent of the old Dutch colonial era. Here we took in a few museums, one of which was the puppet museum. The very animated fourth generation owner kept us entertained with stories of his puppeteering lineage. The following day we left hot, noisy, traffic congested Jakarta in favour of seismic activity prone Yogyakarta. This little arty town was a pleasant change from claustrophobic Jakarta. We did a day trip to see Borobudur and Prambanan. It was a nice intimate group, just us and a french girl called Marie. Borobudur ranks with Bagan and Angkor Wat as one of the great South East Asian monuments. Constructed in the early part of the 9th century AD and is a reminder of Java's Buddhist hey day. Next was the Hindu complex of Prambanan, situated in a town that is still recovering from the recent earthquake. Structural damage to most buildings in the surrounding area was very evident and the temples themselves were not accessible for safety reasons. Prambanan is the most grand and evocative Hindu temple complex in Java. Luckily Mt Merapi had not erupted whilst we were in Java, but we were there for a minor earthquake which we did not feel but read about the following day. Our last stop in Java was Probolinggo, where we got up at the crack of dawn to view the sunrise over the awesome volcanic landscape of Tengger Massif. The massive Tengger crater stretches 10 kilometres across and it's steep walls plunge down to a vast flat sea of lava sand. From the crater floor emerges the smoking peak of Gunung Bromo (2329m). The spiritual centre of the highlands. This desolate landscape has a strange end of the world feeling, especially at sunrise. We then scaled Gunung Bromo for a birds eye view of the smoking volcanic crater. Our bright idea to buy a direct ticket to Lovina in Bali turned out to be mini nightmare. Upon arrival at the harbour in Bali, we loaded our backpacks onto a minivan for the onward journey to Lovina. Unfortunately the driver wouldn't budge until more people arrived. After three hours of waiting, it was obvious that no more people would arrive and they demanded more money before they would take us. Luckily there were six of us. Which included a Czech couple and a lovely Belgian couple, Annelies and Fre who were also on their honeymoon. It would have been easy to cave in and pay the extra money but we all stood our ground as we all agreed that we had already paid more than enough. After a very heated debate it was evident that we were getting no where. So we took the matter up with the police, who ended up escorting us to Lovina. By the time we arrived we had all been up for 21 hours, so the only thing on our minds was finding a bed to fall into. Wanting to re-charge the batteries after our mini drama we decided to stay three nights in this quaint little seaside town. Our time was spent swimming, snorkeling and relaxing in the charming atmosphere of Lovina. From Lovina we moved onto Ubud by combining a day trip to visit various sights. We saw the Braham Vihara Arama Buddhist monastery (the only one in Bali), the Git Git waterfall and the temple at lake Bedugul. Ubud is the artistic hub of Bali and even though it is very touristy, it has a great bohemian and relaxed feel to it. Ubud is surrounded by lush green terraced rice paddy fields and it is here that we watched a traditional Balinese Barong performance and had a scrummy meal at the Cafe Wayan and Bakery. (A must culinary splurge if you ever find yourself in the area). While spending a relaxing evening on our balcony at our guesthouse, we felt the earth move. Not induced by meeting the men of our dreams but rather a point six earthquake out at sea whose shock waves could be felt in Ubud. On a quest for some much needed R&R we headed off to the coral fringed, azure blue waters of the Gili islands, which are just off Lombock. What a pleasure not to have a single car or motorbike in sight. The only form of transportation on the islands is by horse drawn cart. Gili Air was our base for ten days and we soaked up the sun, did some snorkeling and ate fantastic BBQ fish each night. You could literally walk around the entire island in an hour. We bumped into Marie, who we first met in Java and spent an evening catching up and having a few drinks under the stars at the Zip bar on the beach. Tanya also endured two days of excruciating pain in the kidney department. Feeling a bit stranded and thinking we had to cut our time short on the island, we discovered there was a clinic in the tiny village. The consultation that followed was highly amusing as an interpreter was needed since the doctor couldn't speak English. After much miss communication and much lost in translation, it was determined that she was not suffering from diarrhoea but an infection for which he prescribed some medication. Happy days. On our last day on Gili Air, a pair of sharks got trapped on the reef while happily munching away on small fish. We were able to walk up to them to get up close and personal to take some photos. This proved quite difficult as they move so fast, but we did manage to get a couple of fin shots. We ended the day with a cocktail at the Mirage bar and watched our last sunset over Gili Meno. The boat trip back to Bali was not without incident as Tanya fell through an uncovered man hole. It was a funny yet painful experience. On a more positive note, we were joined mid ocean by a pod of dolphins who swam playfully alongside our boat. We spent our last week in Bali visiting Sanur, Legian, Kuta and Ulu Watu, where you just couldn't get away from the Aussies and every second person you bumped into was a surfer.