This is how you get around in Flores. A bus (and this was the nicest) which is packed full of people. Basically take the number of people it is designed for, and then triple the amount of people you put into it. You sit anywhere you can. People ride on the roof, hang out the door, sit in isles, and even on your lap if you let them! No airconditioning, my favorite spot was hanging out the door standing up. Gave my knees a rest! If you look closely, there is a pig in the cage tied to the back of the bus, and 2 goats tied to the top. 1 goat sat on Jillenes bag, and Gunnars bag was on top of the other. Jillene is convinced her goat peed on her bag... it did smell a little funny after!In the small town of Moni we stayed in the bungalow below. Simple, but nice! A waterfall in Moni where we saw a kid climb 2/3 the way up and then jumped in. The walls were pretty slick so I have no idea how he got up there even though we watched him.The main reason we came to Flores. Kelimutu is a volcano and at the top of it you can see 3 lakes which are all different colour due to mineral composition. The cool thing is they change all the time. The day we were there they were brown, black, and green. Apprently they can be red and yellow as well. We got up at 3:30am to make it to the top for sunrise.It was tough travelling in Flores, so we took a day before we left waiting for our flight and relaxed on a beach. A quick fact on Flores, most of the places on the island don't have power, and if they do it isn't until after 9:00 at night and only for a little while (mostly provided by a generator I believe). Also, water must be scarce because so are showers ~ nothing like 3 days of sticky sweat when your crammed into a bus with no airconditioning in 35 degrees! As well, Flores is for the most part a little off the beat and path, so white people aren't too common. We flelt like celebrities cause you can't walk by anyone without them trying out the only english words they know: 'Hello Mista'.

Below is how we spent our last day, and the hut we stayed in. We flew out of Maumere the next afternoon after hiring a couple motorbikes to get us to the airport.And that is it for Indonesia. We're back in Bali for the moment, but flying out tomorrow night (Thursday). We used all 30 days permitted on our Visa, and we wish we had more. But at the same time we still have so much more to see. We fly to KL (Malaysia Peninsula) first for a couple days, and then to Borneo after for 3 weeks. We'll do some more diving (hopefully get our advanced) and make it back just in time for the wedding in Singapore.

Lombok to Flores via Komodo

Okay, so after Gili we headed to Flores on a 3 day boat trip. Below is a picture of the boat we lived on for 3 days. We did however make plenty of stops along the way to do some great snorkelling and a stop in the Komodo islands to see none other than Komodo Dragons. Was a great three days that we all enjoyed.We were 'deck class', which meant that we slept on the the deck. The best choice if you as us, we wouldn't have changed a thing. Here are a couple pictures of where we slept and hung out while in transit.A komodo on Rinca island which actually tried to get on our boat.... Interestingly enough, this was a different boat. After the 3 day boat trip which dumped us off at Lambajo we back tracked for a day of diving. We stopped at this island after our dives, and it was the dive boat which this dragon was particularily interested in! We had to fend him off for about 45mins. I wonder why, they kept throwing him scraps of fish!
And a picture of the 2 of us on Komodo island after a short hike up the hill in the hot and dry 35 degrees.

Gili Islands

If you didn't hear, Jillene got a little booboo in her tummy. They pronouced it as an Amooba, but I think you spell in Ameobia! The long and the short of it, she had a parasite. She was in the hospital because she was so dehydrated and needed and IV. She didn't even remember me taking her there, she just woke up there...

Anyway, she is on drugs to kill the little bastards still and almost fully recovered.But enough of that. Shortly after we headed to the Gili Islands for some diving... Here is how we got to boat/harbour. A rough ride. Okay, so we spent the entire time getting our Open Water Diving certificate while we were here. So we really didn't take any pictures at all. Take our word for it though that the island was beautiful and we wish we could have stayed longer. But the limited time on our visa prevented us. Here are the only 2 pictures we have. One which shows a bit of the setting, the other of something else...And finally, this didn't really fit in anywhere. This was taken in a little show we went to that included 2 guys getting out of the crowd and fighting for funds provided for by the crowd (aka tourists!). Was a good little fight with sticks and shields.

The Stag/Birthday Weekend

Well the start of the month (Nov) started off with a bang. It was my birthday and my cuz came into Bali for the weekend for his stag. His last weekend of debauchery before he is locked down in holy matramony for eternity in Dec. Well it was a great weekend, and debauchery indeed...

Here is the crew for the weekend...

Gunnar and Jillene having some fun. This is their little shout out to all the poor suckers back home in the ICU who are still working. I know they're such pricks... I tried to stop them.Cory's outfit we made him wear for his last night out... We tried to find the ugliest shirt we could. I should have saved my money as the one he was actaully wearing before this was worse I think! Sorry Cory, but is was...
Buckets in Thailand, fish bowls in Bali...
Yeah, the camera got a good workout this night...
Awe... aren't we cute!
Yup, this is getting towards the end of the night. I have maybe had 2-3 beers I swear...
We just keep getting prettier...Yes, that is a cage! I'm sorry...
And finally, this is what happen when you start showing off how many chin ups you can do in the cage.
Thats all for now. Yup taking it easy over here and relaxing for the most part. Pretty quiet. Cory, you should be happy with your pics. I expect full payment for those left off the website when I see you in Dec. What hotel will you be putting us up in again?

More Temples and stuff...

Below is a pic from a hindu temple near Tempaksing (or something like that) where Gunnar and I had to wear a sarong to get in. You like?
Jillene in the same temple. She had to wear the pink scarf around her waist cause she was already wearing a skirt. Its a no pants/short zone.
These are rice terraces in the very same temple complex. It is essentially a valley with rock carving and this is on the way down. Pretty little spot really... Lots of people selling hand crafts, most of all carvings out of coconuts. We should have got a picture.
Stone carvings right in the hill side...
Blue lagoon beach near Patingbai (where we'll return to do some diving) . We can do some good snorkelling here on a reef right off the beach. We also hired a boat for a couple hours where we did some snorkelling and fished. But that was off of Lambogan.

A bit of Bali...

So this is Bali. A bit of everything. You can do it all here. Very touristy, but not expensive in the least. We're enjoying ourselve very much. A beer costs (Big Bintang - 1L) from 10,000 to 15,000 rupiah, and there is about 10,000 rp to 1 US dollar. Accomodations usally run us $4-6 but we are splurging this weekend and staying in a place with a pool for $10. Beer is more often than not, the most expensive portion of your meal when you eat.

We've surfed, we've snorkelled (been stung by jelly fish), fished, fried in the sun, walked amongst monkeys, and taken in some temples. We'll have some indonesian trekking under our belt before we leave. In a few days we're heading to a place called Patangbai where we'll get our open water certificates for scuba diving. If we like it I am sure we'll come home with our advanced ticket. We'll see how it goes...

Anyway here are a few picks. Might as well start with the one we love the most. Slimming pic isn't it (no I'm not really fat, just bad angle)? ... really, I've lost weight, I swear! Like my tuna?
I hindu temple in a town called Ubud.
I monkey doing something... This is where we walked through a monkey sanctuary. Neat place, but the monkeys are kleptomaniacs and were chasing Jillene around trying to steal her water bottle. I let them...

This is a bungalow where we stay on the beach on Lambogan Island just off the Bali mainland. Pretty typical of what we've been staying in... I think we payed about 75,000 rp.
Would you cross an ocean in this? We did. This is the boat we took from Lambogan back to the Bali mainland. We squished 7 of us on there... the locals said they have and can take 15. We wouldn't want to be on it then...
A wedding (we think!) on Sanur beach. We stay here for a night waiting for our ferry to Lambogan island.
Yeah, this wakes us up almost every day at 6am! We'll wakes Jillene up... We've eaten a few as well.

More Reunions

Finally made it to Bali and 1 day later Gunnar showed up! This was taken the night we met up in a restaurant near our hotel. Can you tell Guns has been on the road for a while...

Last Days In NZ

Well we're out of New Zealand, but we ended on a high. We left out of Christchurch, and we wish we had some more pictures to share, but we barely pulled out the camera. I guess only when it counts...

In our final night we met up with a friend from school that I hadn't seen for sometime. Great to see Rob again, and the timing was even better as he and his wife Laura had just had a little girl; Caroline. Gorgeous baby, as I hope you can see below.

And here is Rob and I. You can see where we are from the sign I am sure. Apparently this is where they first split the atom Rob tells us. We'll take his word for it...

Here is a train that goes through Christchuch. At night there is one which is actually a restaurant and you can eat dinner and goes through town. Pretty cool idea, and a pretty cool city to boot...