Gili T

Hi all,

Yesterday after I posted I had a dip in the pool with the group and then headed by myself to 'The Melting Pot', a pub that is known for playing AFL and rugby on their TVs. I didn't hold high hopes at first because the rugby was playing, but one minute before Collingwood vs Sydney started it came on the TV. I had a great time watching with some fellow Aussies; a man from Darwin who barracks for Richmond, an Eagles couple from Perth and some others too. I can't believe we won! It was very stressful and intense but we got there eventually. I smashed a burger in the last quarter partly due to hunger and partly due to nerves!! The only downside was a creepy guy from Brisbane lurking about, but he eventually left us alone. 

I met up with the group and being the only Australian, no one understood my football high. I had a celebratory dragon fruit and banana milkshake which was delicious!!

We headed back and I attempted to have a shower, but no water would come out so I had to use the tap and sort of throw water on myself. Another travel experience to add to the list - I'm looking forward to being reunited with my shower next week!

We got up bright and early today, but unfortunately our shuttle bus was half an hour late. Nevertheless, we made it to Padungbai on time and caught the two hour ferry across to the Gili Islands. The whole process to board was very disorganised and I'm fairly sure there were way too many people on board. But we made it - woo!

The Gili Islands are made up of three islands - Gili Trawangan (affectionately known as Gili T, where we are staying), Gili Air and Gili Meno. Apparently it's been pouring rain here all week, but when we arrived today it was beautiful and sunny. The water and sand are very beautiful but there is quite a lot of rubbish on the beach at some points. I'm really grateful we don't have that on most of our beaches at home. 

We checked in to our hotel, had some lunch and then Reyann, Rob, Claire and I went for a walk to look at the beach. We came back and had a dip in the pool and then I read some of my book. From here we could hear the call to prayer. While lots of Indonesians are Hindu, many here are Muslim. It felt like I was in Turkey!

Then the group set out on some hired bikes for a loop around the perimeter of the island. It's about 3-4km in circumference and 1km in diameter (but it's not a perfect circle - my inner maths teacher had to clarify that part). We stopped at the famous Gili swings where lots of people take photos. We did too, the sand was pretty rough and had lots of coral bits that were sharp. 

Then we carried on for a while through the potholes and the puddles and we stopped at a bar. The location was beautiful and the view lovely but the service was terrible. It took half an hour for our drinks to arrive. Luckily the view was so beautiful that we didn't mind too much. We saw a partial sunset that had clouds dispersed throughout, but it was still amazing. 

Now we are back at the room and are heading out for street food for dinner soon. Boat trip tomorrow - yay!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox