Bali

I made it to Bali 17 days after entering the country, I think the mother ship is like a horse, once it has its head turned for home there is no stopping it. Bali for me is where it all began, my first overseas trip 11 years ago with two mates and I seem to not have stopped ever since and Bali is still the same, I can see why I visited when I was 19 its full of young people all here for a bit of fun, hmm do I feel old, not at all, I too was like that once, I seem a little different now and not just the amount of hair I have or there lack of! And of course a lot of Aussie tourist, its almost like the transition period back into Australia for me, I have never heard so many Aussie accents in such a long time….is that what I sound like!

Some funny things you see, check out the two in the right hand corner!





Well the chaotic traffic of Java improved as I went and should only continue the trend now as I island hope to East Timor. The ride was enjoyable skirting the flanks of the many Volcanoes scattered across Java. The most impressive for me was Bromo, an active volcano spewing gas day and night, I got to ride across the lava plains and even one night I spent camped at the base of it, with volcanoes Bromo and Batuk as my back drop, but I was a little close I think as when I woke in the morning my tent was covered in white like ash stuff. And then once I hit Bali I see there has been some earth quakes reported here in Indonesia, where I don’t know but here I was sleeping next to a Volcano!

Doing some off road around the Volcanoes.

Bromo bellowing smoke in the background, parked on a lava plain.

Home for the night, Batuk to the right and Bromo to the left.

Indonesia is such a vast contrast to its neighbor, my home Australia. Since leaving London I have traveled from one country to another and besides going from Spain to Morocco you don’t really see a dramatic change, slight changes, perhaps in religion, food but its always been a slow change of culture and the way the people look but here I am in one of the most densely populated countries on earth, mostly Islamic, Asian looking and hardly a steak to be found and right across the water is completely the opposite, thank god for the good steak part, I think it will be a shock to the system but one I will welcome, except perhaps the price of fuel, I am paying 50 cents a litre right now here in Indo and in Oz will be more than double that I think!

I have received confirmation that I have right to import the mother ship into Australia so that's it, almost all the logistical hurdles are over come, just need to try to get back my 1000 US from the Indonesian Custom authorities, stranger things have happened. So after a rest here in Bali for a few days I am sure I will be eager to make the last leg to Dili, I have the islands of Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores and Timor to go and then after the mother ship is on Perkins shipping its a very short 1 hour and a half flight from Dili to Darwin and just like that I will be there. All so long as the ever so trusty stead continues on, its tired, its started to burn oil, a lot more than I like and the rectifier problem which has haunted me on several occasions has decided to rear its ugly head again but with a bit of patch work I have made it to just go a little further, only about 6000 k's is all I ask, fingers crossed.

I remember doing this on the beaches of Normandy, France, so long ago.