West Life

Out of all the days, I think this was my favourite.

We woke up around 6am. We weren't due to breakfast until 7am so we stayed in bed for the longest time, just listening to the waves. The ocean was a little choppier this morning and the tide was even further out than the day before.

We got ready and headed up to the dining hall to a breakfast of mini banana pancakes, coconut muffins and fruit.

Fairly soon we were on the boat again, this time heading to Manta Point. This was what I had been looking forward to this whole trip. Rays in general are one of my favourite ocean animals, I love how graceful they are in the water. When we got to Manta Point we were told we would have to go in the dingy to look for the manta rays. There was another boat out looking for them too and they found them first. We quickly got our snorkel gear on and jumped straight in. There were three below us and the water was maybe 6 meters deep. They quickly vanished but we stayed in the water. We spent a while searching for them and eventually one of the guides found them again.

I don't think I have ever swam so fast in my life, even against the strong current. The jellyfish were bigger and hurt more here too! I soon got to him and could see the three of them swimming over the cleaning station below. The biggest one, which was probably around 3.5m, swam away first, then a smaller one. One remained at the cleaning station and I spent what felt like half an hour (was probably 10 minutes) paddling in the water watching it in awe. Eventually another group came and I was getting tired so we went back to the boat. It was easily one of the best experiences I have ever had.

Mawan

The next stop was Mawan, a tiny little island with a white sanded beach. The boat managed to anchor quite close to the shore so we swam from the boat to the shore. The current in the area was moving quite fast and moving in multiple directions so we swam around with that in mind. There wasn't much coral but the fish were plentiful. We swam out a little from the shore and saw some more unicorn fish. I spotted a family of clown fish in an anemone and Matt stayed there watching them for ages, poking their little faces in and out, checking if we were still watching. 

We went back to the boat and had some noodles for lunch and just spent ages relaxing on the boat. We hopped back in for a little swim before we got dry and changed as it was our last snorkel of the trip. We spent some time at Mawan, just relaxing on the boat, even the guides and the captain went in for a bit of a swim!

Eventually it was time to pull the anchor in and head to Rinca Island.




Rinca Island wasn't at all what I expected. The dock for the island was around a couple of bends and the island had a more mangrove/wetland feel to it. We paid our entrance fee and decided on the medium trek. Our guide, Anton, wasn't as knowledgeable as the guide on Komodo Island but he was a great photographer, insisting on taking our photo at every look out or interesting spot. The first part of the trek was past this building commonly known as 'the kitchen'. There were around 5-6 komodos laying down around the building and a couple more off to the side. The locals claim they don't feed the komodos but rumour is they do, I'll let you decide for yourself if you ever visit.
The trek wasn't that long but there was a steep incline and it was quite muddy, my shoes got saturated.

Next to the kitchen

sweaty Matt haha

On the way back down we saw a komodo basking in the sun, Anton insisted we get behind it and take lots of photos. On the way back to the boat a komodo was crossing the open area, he looked like he was coming straight for us. Once we got back on the boat we started heading towards Kalong.




Kalong is a mangrove area in the middle of the ocean between Rinca Island and Flores. The area is full of fruit bats, or as they call them, flying foxes. At dusk all the fruit bats from the mangrove fly out and head to Flores to find food at night. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. An endless stream of bats flying in every direction against the sunset, beautiful.

They made fried banana for my birthday while we waited for the bats

the black specks are bats

After watching for a while we made way back to Labuan Bajo, a 1.5 hour boat ride, to finish our tour. Once we got back to Labuan Bajo they took us back to our villa where we ate a dinner of mentos and rice crackers.


Going to Komodo Island was easily one of the most spectacular trips I have ever been on. I was definitely pushed beyond my comfort zone but I think that sometimes we have to be to really experience the wonderful things the world has to offer us. If I could go back tomorrow I would, and I can't wait to plan my next adventurous holiday.

Stay tuned for a video I have put together of our trip that I will be uploading in the next couple of days!

We woke up and the sun had barely risen. Matt pointed out how low the tide was. I put my glasses on and saw one of the guides walking along what looked like rocks to get a bag from the boat. We got ourselves ready for the day and headed up to the dining area for breakfast. We had omelette, bread with pineapple jam and coffee. We finished getting organised and then walked out to the dingy to take us to the boat. Our first stop for the day would be Komodo Island which is a 3 hour boat journey from the camp.

When we got to Komodo Island we walked to the main office where you pay and sat down with a ranger. It cost around $30 each to get into the national park which pays for a personal ranger to take you on a walk. Our ranger was fantastic (I can't remember his name :( ) he was very knowledgeable about the island, the plants and the komodos. We opted for the longest trek, which took us around an hour to complete. We didn't get to see any Komodo dragons on the trek but when we got to the watering hole there were three lazying around. The waterhole is water that is supplied by the locals. 

On the way back to the harbour we saw a baby dragon and some deer. The baby dragons stay away from the larger ones as they can easily be eaten from the adult dragons. We walked through some souvenir tents and bought a simple wooden komodo magnet. 

Back on the boat we had a simple spaghetti lunch before heading to Pink Beach for a snorkel. Pink beach is pink because of all the coral in the water. We only had an hour there but it was long enough to marvel at the colour of the sand and range of fish swimming in the coral.

The next stop for the day was Batu Bolong. Primarily known as a scuba diving spot but our guides said it was also great for snorkelling, however the currents are ever changing so you have to be careful. There was no where for the boat to stop and anchor so we jumped off and the boat drove off. The guides came with us, one in front and one behind, to keep an eye on the currents. We saw a black tip shark that hid almost as fast as we spotted it. I also finally got to see a unicorn fish in the wild! 

We headed back after only a short time because the current was getting too strong.

The water was rough on the way back to camp and the journey was long. I was glad to get off the boat when we finally got back. We lazed on the sun lounges and drank warm Bintang for a while. Then we had hermit crab races. We each found a hermit crab, placed it in the middle of a circle and the first crab out won. I won every time.

We showered before heading up to the dining hall for a dinner of burgers and fries while watching the sunset. The guide filled us in on what we were doing the next day before we went back to our hut for bed.

Stay tuned for day 3!

I'll go back to the beginning to explain how this holiday came about. We hadn't planned on going away, but we always say that 😏

Around the start of January I randomly-half-jokingly said to Matt "hey I don't really want any presents for my birthday I'd much rather just go on a holiday", half expecting a get away to Melbourne or something. 

A week later he said it was booked and then asked what my passport number was. From then until two days before we left I had NO CLUE where we were going. I had my suspicions but I was so far from guessing it wasn't even funny.

Our view from the villa in Labuan Bajo

Kanawa Island

When we got back on the boat after an hour or so exploring and walking on the shore we had a delicious lunch of tempeh and rice. Then we just hung around on the boat for a while before going to the next location.

Tempeh and rice for lunch

The next location was Mini Wall. Before we went in the guides warned us about trigger fish. Apparently if they are feeling territorial they can be quite defensive and are known to attack humans. One of the guides said he was chased by one in the water once. They also warned us about sharks, only little reef ones but sharks none the less. I went into the water but after about 10 minutes the anxiety kicked in and I made Matt swim me back to the boat. I just relaxed and read on the boat while Matt continued to swim around.

After that we headed to and island called Sebayur, otherwise known as pirate beach camp. They own part of the island and have set up a dozen or so beach side huts with nothing more than a couple of foam mattresses and some mosquito net. There was fresh water for a shower (aka a hose) and toilets that needed a bucket to flush but it was enough.



Matt and I relaxed on the sun lounges drinking Bintang and making friends with a cat with creepy eyes before heading up to the dining hall for dinner.

Lucky the cat

The dining hall

The sunset over the horizon was amazing and the food was delicious. One of the guides gave us a brief run down of the next day activities and then we had a quick shower (in the dark, the solar panels weren't working!) and then went to bed listening to the waves lap on the shore.

Keep posted for day 2!

Last year in the October school holidays Matt and I travelled to Hong Kong and Shanghai to tick off two more Disney parks. I have a confession to make, I only just took the pictures off of my camera. Shocking, I know. Especially considering I had 6 weeks off over Christmas! I am the worst when it comes to doing things I'm supposed to be doing. Anyway, I thought that I would do either a 3 or 4 part blog series on what we did, where we stayed etc with the first being Hong Kong Disneyland. 

I'm going to skip the Hong Kong city stuff and jump straight into the Disneyland.

We didn't stay in a Disney hotel, and we never have, because we were seeing parts of the city as well, and as a whole we were only in Hong Kong for 3 full days. We woke up early so that we could get to Disney well before it opened so we would have time to find our way and buy our tickets. 

Hong Kong Disneyland isn't that big and as our time in Hong Kong was limited we only spent 1 day there, but we felt like it was more than enough. We aren't the type of couple that like to do things like character meets so I find that adds a lot of time to our day to get around the park and go on rides again that we enjoyed.

I was THRILLED that they had Halloween decorations. I had wanted to see some after seeing so many other people posting pictures for years and finally got there at the right time of the year. I was disappointed in the amount of Halloween merchandise (aka not much) but I guess as a country that doesn't celebrate Halloween I can't expect them to have gone all out.