Yearly Wed Globe Trotters

Monday, 25 June 2012

Sail away we did

The gap in blog writing has been due to Internet absence. Kind of refreshing in a way. We have been sailing on the seas of Indonesia... sounds beautiful and blissful, doesn't it? Well, much of that time was "bearing swells" and groaning with sea-sickness. We PAYED for this?! :) Oh boy. Sometimes the sea is great to look at, bad to feel. We are back on land now... still "swaying" with the feel of waves. Amazing how that works! You almost feel worse back on land! The sailing tour was great other than the swells. We met a lot of people from all over the world, explored many tiny islands (wow Indo has LOTS! Anyone want to buy a private island? Come here!), met locals on nearly deserted islands, snorkeled till we were nearly snorkeled out(!), swung like Tarzan & Jane off a rope over a waterfall, met a bunch of Komodo dragons (the biggest lizards on earth!) on 2 islands.... and enjoyed trekking. Interesting country this is! On the tour we sailed from Lumbok to Flores island. We stayed on Flores (recouperated) for 2 (blissful) nights under 5-stars :), then sailed back to Lumbok, ferry'd back to Bali and landed in the town of Ubud last night. It is very beautiful & jungle-like. We must venture down the street and see if we can find a computer to download some pictures to this blog. Our camera died on the trip so we are down to the iPad and iPhone as cameras now :(. Time to explore! More to follow... W&K

Thursday, 14 June 2012

Boat tour

Wayne just booked us on a 5-day boat tour (neither of is have ever really done tours) around the Gili islands here ... hiking a volcano, trekking, snorkelling, finding Komodo dragons (!), sleeping on the boat, meeting new friends. We are excited! We leave Monday and may stay longer on one of the islands (Flores). Off to explore the snorkel options on the SW part of Lumbok... ...............The 10-month marrieds!

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Hello from Indo!

Hi from Senggigi, Lumbok (Indonesia). We "have arrived" :)! We are enjoying a new country, cheap prices, friendly people, humidity and jungle... sand and sea, ok monkeys too (because they are amusing not polite). Kami decided it was a good time to catch the flu on our last day in Australia, so she spent the first few days in Kuta, Bali bonding with our 10x10 hotel room. At least we had English TV! Once her lungs were all "coughed up" we explored Kuta on foot. Crazy traffic, American stores, great shopping, cheap local food, interesting culture. It's a bartering country and "Special price, just for you!" is everywhere we turn. Hello Mexico! Sunday we found an evangelical Presbyterian church in Kuta (recommended by someone we met in Australia) and met many wonderful people. Some who are in ministries (orphanages, World Relief), some from the persecuted church with stories we have yet to hear, some who (can you imagine?) want us to come over so they can tour us around. We plan to go back. Right now we are on the island of Lumbok, staying at a place for about $12/night, rented a scooter (Honda) for our time here for about $4.50/day (fuel is 20 cents/liter) ... Wayne has caught on to "no rules" driving quite easily! Now we are independent and have a beautiful island to explore! We are fascinated by the jungle. Thick, lush, massive mountains, volcanoes, rain forest. amazing. The culture seems more advanced (skill and motivation-wise) than some 3rd world countries we have visited. It is all very interesting. Lumbok is predominantly Muslim... About 20-some mosques around our "block" our hotel-owner tells us. We hear the call for worship on the loudspeaker every morning at 4:30 for about half an hour and again in the evening. So far we haven't joined this out-of-bed call ;). Last night we went to the local (VERY local) market... in search of mangoes. We stuck out like white beacons... but we enjoyed being in the midst of local life... Yes, interesting for sure. Too bad pictures don't capture smells! :) No, good thing they DON'T. We pray for God to use us, wherever we are. We want to be willing, even if it is just to encourage someone... pray for us in that. He has given us wonderful opportunities. The other night we had supper with 2 travelers we met from the US & Switzerland. It was a neat time of sharing & laughing. We love the adventure of travel, not knowing what today holds or who we will meet next... exploring little "nooks" of God's creation, thrilling! Even changing plans. Like today, we are set and ready to explore the south of the island, but... as we sat here having breakfast, a local stopped by and invited us for a boat tour of the nearby islands... Wayne thinks that would be a good idea and has been musing at their boats... so our plans may change. We love that. We are very glad that we BOTH enjoy day-to-day living (or one of us would go crazy)! All for now. Us

Sunday, 3 June 2012

2 days left in Oz!

It's true. The end to our 4 months in Australia is very near. Wednesday we fly to Indonesia for 1 month. We have a place to stay for the first 3 nights... and that's ALL we know! I guess we like adventure and flying by the seats of our swimmers :). What a phenomenal time we have had. No regrets at all, only "so glad"'s. The last couple weeks we ventured into the desert wilds of northern WA. "Wow,there's a lot of NOTHING up here!" Wayne often said. We drove and drove and drove.... and it got hotter and hotter and drier... until we reached our destination, Exmouth. The best part, aside from wild-goat-sighting, was the water. Incredible ocean and bays... Reminding us of Carribean waters. Absolutely gorgeous. Turquoise Bay was our favorite beache. We are all about snorkeling and Turquoise Bay showed us our first sea turtles, one we named Norman.... he was very patient with us, letting us swim with him, over him, bump into him and touch him. The water was clear and the sun shining that day so we got a few good snapshots (see below). We met a few elusive reef sharks...and a million colors under the sea. Our favorite snorkeling spot (in our whole lives!) was near blowholes on our way down the coast from Exmouth. We "happened upon" the most amazing ecosystem under water with waves feeding a solid column of sea life.... corals of every kind, lion fish, the biggest reef shark(!), fish we had never even seen before... AMAZING (God's creation)!!! We wish we could have parked ourselves there for a few days. What incredible memories. Pictures only capture a glimpse. We stopped for a food/pee break in North Hampton where we met a lady feeding/caring for 3 orphan joeys. She takes orphans, grows them and relases them. She told us, "Now you can go back to Canada and tell people there that not EVERYONE in Australia kills kangaroos!". There you go. She was elated that we were interested in the babies and gave Kami some to cuddle while she fed the other. What a FUN stop!! We spent some time in Canarvon, a town of a gazillion palm trees in the middle of desert-nothing, on the ocean with all kinds of fruit, veggies and crops growing. It was alive! LOTS of banana trees. Our favorite was buying locally grown produce. When we tried "custard apples" (a fruit), we knew we would never be the same again. We tried one in our way heading north and loaded up on our way back south! Canada, we are missing out!! I don't think we would care about desserts if we had this type of fruit back home. YUMMY!!! So that is a re-cap of our last bunch of km's in Australia. We have been adopted yet again, until we leave, by a wonderful couple in Mandurah - Tim & Moira. They are the proud new owners of our tandem bike (as well as much of our camping gear). We are happy to pass on our faithful wheels to someone excited to use them. We also sold our car yesterday, thank You Lord!! Many praises. Now it is all about last minute tidy-ups, laundry, another walk/jog/bike along the ocean... soaking up 2 more days of care-free, safe country living and simplifying our belongings into 2 backpacks. Life is good! We are incredibly blessed. There's not a valid reason, at all (ever!), to complain. Every day is a gift.