SHARKS SHARKS SHARKS!

Had a fantastic dive today-saw my first shark-a white tip reef shark-about 1.5metres long.....scary as it was my deepest dive by far (30m) and we had done a desent into complete blue...couldnt see the bottom!
Fears being bashed on the head and im loving it! As you may have guessed cos ive finished my open water diver course now and am still diving....talked to pops and hes given me a longterm loan of 120quid so im doing my advance course now. ITS IMMENSELY COOL! So first dive of the course was today and it was just me, my instructor bobby whos a sheffield lad (and rather handsome!), and then 2 guys also from england (total coincidence). So i can now do all my own equipment, dont think twice about the backward roll entrance into the water, and did our desent to 30mtres , at Shark Point. We desended through schools of fish, 3 big turtles, and then after 10mins saw the sharky, who was on the bottom and had its tail to me-i consiquently naturally went very still (mad though cos, with the help of nitrogen narcosis((feels like your slightly tipsy underwater)), i really wanted to get closer as it looked so smooth and soft!). was a fantastic experience though and now i see what the other divers mean that sharks get a bad press! The ones around here especially are very chilled and theres so many fish that there are NO accoutns of any people ever being attacked by them-surfers swimmers or divers. Then i spotted a blue spotted sting-ray which was stunning....and a cuttlefish, really big schools are massive fish of all shapes and sizes, more nemos, pigmie seahorses the size of my babyfingernail.............................tons tons tons.
one of the guys from england was using up his air too quickly and panicked so we had to do some rescue-style stuff and he changed to his buddies air supply-which was interesting (scary!) but reasuring that things can be sorted when they go wrong!
Other news.....met some really nice peeps here, settling in well...its a beautiful island and very easy to get stuck on! weve been here for nearlly 2 weeks now and it looks like it may continue, jen started here rescue course yesterday, so that and one more level and she can become an instructor!!!!. kanapa tidak:>) (why not!)

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Weve moored up at Gili Trawangan just off the mainland-lombok.....stunning robinson cruiso style island but with more bamboo bars then he enjoyed!

The people are wonderful and chilled........our favourite indonesian phrase has turned from 'dimana kemar kecil' ('where is the toilet?') for bali and java, to the much used/loved phrase 'kanapa tidak' ('why not.why not')......

We had our first taste of Asias famed Full-Moon partys last night, so joyous but slightly ragged around the edges-crawled in at 5am then out again fior diving at 9am.....all good fun- as my diving instructor says (imagine in a gorg scottish accent) 'Nothing that a bit of 100% oxygen cant cure!'

Sooooooooooo.....skin is getting browner, smile is getting perminently fixed on my face, and just wish i could bring you all out here to see hoe BLOODY STUNNING it is round here.....diving is my new obsession, which is mental as jen and i worked out it connected 9 major fears ive had since a kid. well well well.

So off to collect jen from her dive theory lesson, bought her some cadburys choc to make her smile, then off for some lovely nosh! Fresh tuna in garlic sauce-NEARLLY beats mums lasagne........'nearlly'.

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BALI BALI BALI!!!!

We moored up in Bali late on sunday night-eg. stranded in the ferry port by out 'joyous' (HURRENDOUS) tour operators who were suppost to take us around bromo and then drop us in Bali......turned out to be a completely unsafe minibus with me and jen in the front seats next to the driver with only one seat belt and one of the seats just wood! Then one thing after another (expences they didnt tell us about, a 14hr drive instead of 9hrs etc etc) led to being dropped off at a random tourist info place in java then put onto a public bus with no AC or seats free and having a 6hr drive in this (and i get a lot of horrid attention from disgusting indonesian men who have NO problem staring at me for hours and licking their lips!) and then having to navigate our way to were we needed to be in bali and pay a driver (which should all have been incluided!). So a complete hellish 2 days with that tour company! Thankfully my cold/flu is clearing up, just left with a headache. Weve been in Pamuteran for 2 days on the North coast of Bali-close to ferry area- but it was too quiet and expensive....so we ook a little Bemo (minibuses that go everywhere and stop for anything with money!) and are now in lovely lovina just a bit further east along the northern coast of Bali. Its nice, has got a good backpacking community and the men seem to be less inclined to be aggressively open in their attitude to me!!ALL good news. Were in a hotel with a pool and a really nice garden, for 35000 each a night which is about 2quid.....real bargain. ANYWAY love to all , off snorkelling in shark (nd everything that could every injure-kill me) infested waters. Am here at least til Saturday as its jens 19th on friday......gotta try and locate a carot cake in indonesia...mmm tricky!
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Another lovely day in Yogya...intended to go to the Kretin-the soltans palace-but ended up having an organising day. Have booked a tour for tomorrow (approx 4quid) to go to Borobadur (amazing buddhist temple)and Prambanan(hindu temple)

Also went to find some art materials, met a local artist who told us of a good art shop (a real rarety), so picked up a sketch book and some paints and paintbrushes....spent the rest of the day painting/drawing indonesian antiques while lolling about in our garden under a big fruit tree (a spiky pear?). So tommorow were off at 7:30am and then back in yogya early evening....off on saturday at 9am to Bromo volcano-one of the most famous in java for gorg views- then straight on towards Bali! It works out cheaper that we do the trip with a tour company (300,000rp approx 17quid) and will mean airconditioned minibus instead of 10hrs on a train which we have already done this week!

was nice to get a comment from mazza and bazza, hailstorms seem a long way off guys! Keep on going onto the BBC news to see if i can find anything out about the floods in the north but not having much luck....any news?

Well anyway am off to Bromo on saturday then the next day should be in Bali quite late, in time to find a nice beach to relax on for jens 19th birthday on 13th.....TOTALLY freaked out about marine life though....loads of sharks, water snakes and every deadly fish/etc imaginable-it'll take a miracle to get me in the water!!!!:P

xxxxx love to all

Still in Yogya(said jogja) and really enjoying the baking hot weather and chilled out atmosphere-had a liein this morning then had my first really nice breaky since i got here, in 'Bedhot' restaurant (means 'creative' in javanese-has loads of fab murals all over the walls) -had banana porridge....very nice. Then we went to chat to a really nice local artist-got all inspired- then headed off into the sprawling heap of people thatis Jl Malboro to go to a market....picked up a nice batik wrap skirt for all of about 1quid! Then had a bit of a siesta as it was WAY too hot. Just had dinner in a cool bamboo place, met some nice people, saw a few c.roaches etc etc. Tomorrow were gonna go to the soltans palace in yogya and a few other interesting places.
Miss everyone but enjoying the adventure.
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joyous yogykarta!

have just arrived in WONDERFUL Yogykarta in central Java-ITS GORGEOUS and were staying in a stunning logman(hostel) which is 75p each a night and has carved shutters and fourposter beds and a garden with a well! Really great, lots of backpackers to hang with and a really safe atmosphere. chuffed to bits to be here!
Just to fill you in....we went to Bogor from Jakarta and met 2 really nicedutch girls(who are also in yogya but in a diff hotel now) who had just booked into a giuded tourist style trip (3days 2 nights staying in a bamboo hut, rainforest trek up a volcano, trek to hot springs, visit to gong factory and traditional puppet workshop-inc food,water, driver etc) which came to just under 50quid so really fab. So we went with them-treckd down a mountainside to the hot spring which was GORG, heated from volcano-then swam in the cold river...got pics of it all but computer may be to slow-will have a go. The trek in the rainforest was very hard (and a bit scary!), 8hrs!, but was a real experience (had to step around quicksand, HUGE spiders etc) walked in the crater of my first volcano and smothered ourselves in volcanic ash (supposedly the best natural antiaging!) with bubbling water and plumes of really sulpherous gas....insanely weird but great. So whole experience was brill!
One thing not so great- 2 girls and 1 bloke were given traditional javan massage by one of the men who were there to help us trek who said it was really good, so i had a go, and he tried it on (shall we say), nothing really bad happened, shook me up, but i got out very quick and later told 3 of the tour guides who were LOVELY what happened-big fight broke out and the guy was chucked out....found out yesterday(we were in bandung and met 2 other girls who had been on the tour at the same time-and they said similar had happend to both of them but they hadnt told anyone).....anyway i took homeopathy for shock/stress etc and now feeling really fine....the 2 lovely dutch girls we have hung with for a few days (Ayella and Aneka)and jen delt with me brilliantly!
So the internet is very slow , so will try my luck again uploading some pics.
OFF FOR SOME FOOD- been on a 9hr train today and woke at 5:45am this morning!!!
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