Saturday 9^th & Sunday 10^th March

We have had a fantastic weekend away with Valeria and Melanie to an island called Nusa Lembongan which is between Bali and Nusa Penida and a bit touristy compared to where we are living.  We travelled over to the island by a chartered long boat and hired a scooter for the day from a local who insisted we follow him because his friend has some great accommodation!  The motorbikes were very good so we took a punt and followed him.  Well the accommodation was fantastic and only about $40 NZ a night, pool, air con which is a necessity, wifi, lovely restaurant and of course clean sheets and shower.

After we were settled in our rooms we went on tour around the island and our first stop was Dream Beach, it was beautiful, but you had to be very careful not to go out to far as the surf was rough and it had a real strong current that was all over the place.  So a quick dip to cool off.  We then went to Mushroom Bay and chatted to a guy about a snorkel tip the next day around the mangroves.  We then headed further around the island to another area with cliffs and huge waves coming in from the Java Sea. Very spectacular, there is a jumping in rock for the very brave or foolhardy, and a ladder to climb back up, so we didn’t do that!   We headed for refreshments as it was extremely hot and the middle of the afternoon and then back to the resort for a swim and rest.

On Sunday we were away by 9am to meet our boat for our snorkelling trip from Mushroom Bay, this time we travelled by an outrigger long boat to an area by the mangroves. The water here is crystal clear, (in fact it’s like this all around the island) you can see the bottom, even fish swimming from the boat and mostly it isn’t too deep, but you had to take care not to touch the coral.  Jim saw a snake which swum right up to Melanie and popped its head out of the water. Lucky she didn’t know until it had gone again. We googled it later, and it was venomous but highly unlikely to strike out.  After that wee adventure we headed back for a relaxing afternoon.

We met our charter back to Nusa Penida at 4pm, with the trip taking about 20 or so minutes, a most relaxing and enjoyable weekend, thanks Valeria and Melanie.