Hi all for the last time in Borneo,
We finally got to sleep about 2.30am last night. At 5am we were woken by the call to prayer but thankfully we then slept again until 9. We had breakfast and then set off to the Kota Kinabalu ferry terminal.
Here we bought tickets to two islands in the Taman Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. We hopped on a little boat and were first taken to Sapi Island. The weather was bright and beautiful and made the water look gorgeous. We enjoyed a swim and saw some cool fish before going for a quick walk. It was cool and relaxing having a swim. Our trip has been pretty busy so it was nice to unwind a bit for the day.
At 1pm we boarded our next boat and headed to Manukan Island. Bigger than Sapi, the beach was more spread out so we liked this beach a bit better as we had more space. Again we went for a bit of a walk, and we even saw some remnants from World War II on the main walkway as well as a water monitor. Then we saw a family from Melbourne who we’ve basically followed the whole trip. They were on my flight over from Melbourne and have been at every place we stayed except Kinabatangan River - hilarious!
We enjoyed a nice view of Kota Kinabalu before heading back to the pier for our boat back. The two trips prior to this had been pretty easy, but this part was confusing. An approaching thunderstorm was looming so lots of people were trying to board boats. We eventually found which one was ours and had a much rougher ride back to KK due to the wind picking up. We were treated to a thunder and lightning show too! As we arrived, the sky was so dark grey we thought it would pour. But luckily it didn’t rain on our walk back to the hotel. We really enjoyed the islands, but we enjoyed Brunei better yesterday as there were no tourists. Today was much busier everywhere!
Now we we are in our room freshening up and beginning to pack. Tonight we are planning on having one last dinner together before hopefully getting an early night. We have to wake at 2am for our 5.35am flight to Melbourne via Kuala Lumpur - yuck!!
We have had such a fantastic time here in Borneo. I would strongly recommend coming here soon if you are interested, because unfortunately the attitude of many people in the world is that our planet’s resources are disposable, and due to that, many of the experiences we had here probably won’t be there to be experienced one day soon. We have seen and done so many incredible things on this trip and even though I was already environmentally aware, it has opened my eyes even more so to the little things we can all do to help the environment/planet and subsequently all the other living things that call it home. Tiny little things can make a huge difference. Even today when we had an ice cream on our walk back, I decided from now on I will always get a cone instead of a cup to save the waste. I’m also going to research thoroughly when I get home which brands at home use sustainable palm oil. We need to save the orangutans and their habitat!!
I’ve really appreciated learning about Australia’s war history here, and the challenge of climbing Mt Kinabalu was huge but also hugely rewarding. I’ve loved being here with Mum and making some more memories together as well. Brunei was a spur of the moment great trip too.
Thank you as always for reading along, I look forward to blogging again on my trip to the USA and Caribbean in December/January!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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