Island life

There’s something about being on a tiny little island that gives you a sense of at ease, I don’t really know what it is or how to describe it but there’s just always something different about my attitude and approach to things when on these tiny little islands dotted around Asia.
I’ve spent two days on Gili Trawangan and what a beauty it is – granted it is now bustling with young tourists looking to party the night away but that doesn’t take away it’s beautiful blue waters, fresh light sands and chilled back way of life. But if you’re looking for a quieter more peaceful get away I would suggest Gili Air or Gili Memo – unfortunately I didn’t have time to visit all three this time round.

The journey itself from the Bali mainland to the islands is rather long and tedious – not so much due to distance but to a lack of coordination and organisation on behalf of the company. You spend a lot of time waiting around for the right bus, the right boat and then for the boat to finally get going or to have a place to park. After a bumpy start with my accomodation I was finally checked in, refreshed and ready to hit the beach! I indulged myself with a luxury massage with a sea view and settled in for a relaxing evening! 

    
   
I had an early start the next morning to visit the local dive site named Manta Point – although oddly no mantas in sight! We saw around 6/7 white tipped reef sharks and a turtle just chilling (doing what turtles do best), a few box fish as well as the cast of nemo and my all time favourite – the parrot fish! 

We got back on the boat and were asked what was our spirit fish, many people answered with a shark because they were misunderstood or a turtle because they just wanted a chilled life and when it got to my turn I decided I would be the parrot fish and my logic is that the parrot fish hasn’t quite decided what it wants to do yet in life so instead it’s just a mix of every colour possible!

I’ve got in the risky habit of indulging in an afternoon nap but luckily I woke up in time to head over to the other side of the island for sunset – and what a beauty it was! On my walk over it was cloudy but thankfully they broke just in time for the sun shine through as it got lower – perfect picture time on the famous Gili T swings! 

    
    

 
I’ll be honest I’m no better than every other tourist and my travel dreams are often influenced by magical movies, fancy magazine pictures or luxury Instagram posts – the reason Bali made it into my mind and onto my bucket list was the movie (and book – which is much better!) Eat, Pray, Love and as if by magic it was playing on the outdoor beach cinema screen! What a perfect way to enjoy an evening in Bali!

Biggest fish in the ocean

Last nights stars were phenomenal! Ariane and I stuck our heads out of the tents for an hour or so before we headed to sleep because they really were amazing! Once you leave the hustle bustle of any town/city behind Australia delights you with this view of all views! If only you could capture it on an average camera! 
Today was the day of the whale sharks! The long awaited whale sharks!! I remember my travel agent first mentioning this over a year ago when I began to book my trips and I felt nervous at the thought of swimming with a whale shark, to be honest at that stage I don’t think I even really knew what a whale shark was! Then about a month ago my friend Diane also got to swim with them and her excitement rubbed off on me. Today was my turn and despite a hell of a day – the whale sharks did not disappoint!

The reason why I say it was a hell of a day is because it seemed that everything that could go wrong did go wrong! To begin with we found out yesterday that the trip might not even go ahead due to the weather however we were told it was going to ahead and the company Kings would pick us up at 8 from our campsite at Yardie Creek. An hour later and they still hadn’t arrived – our tour guide phoned to find out they were running late but it turns out they had actually canceled the trip (but not even told us) and then put it back on again at the last minute. Not a great start to the day.

We got on board and headed out in search of the whale shark with no luck for a good couple of hours. The waters were extremely choppy and everyone started to feel very sick – myself included…again! After a couple hours we headed over to a snorkel site to get everyone off the boat and in the water momentarily in an attempt to stop the sea sickness however I must say I was extremely disappointed with the site as there was almost nothing to even see!! 

Luckily the call then came through that the whale shark had been spotted and we were heading over to find it. People began to feel sicker and sicker again as we waited for the whale shark to come up from yet another dive down. I’m told these creatures can dive down to almost 1km so we had not choice but to wait and see if it decided to return to the surface. We were in luck for a number of minutes and it was our turn to dive in. Kings rushed everyone in the water as quick as possible before the whale shark dived down again however it felt more as if it was of a money grabbing scheme (you pay $100 extra if you get to snorkel with the whale shark) as opposed to them trying to get you to have a great experience. I’d say we were in the water for less than 5 minutes until we were pulled out and another company got the chance to make some more money.

That being said the experience itself was amazing to say the least. The whale sharks aren’t actually a whale but they are the largest fish in the ocean and they are beyond astonishing! So calm and majestic as they swim around the ocean like the own the place. The whale shark we got to swim with was tagged for research and I believe they said it was a female.  

   
The experience itself was phenomenal! We were unlucky with the weather and at this time of year there are less whale sharks around however I would not recommend Kings to anyone. Ever. The staff were friendly enough but it seemed more of an act if I’m honest, just a way to get more money out of you. 

They were also extremely sneaky with their photography from the day. They say if you purchase a set of photos from the day they will personalise it to include photos of you and only you – I think this is obviously to stop you from purchasing one as a group and all paying a fraction of the price each. Again another money making scheme on their behalf. Ariane and I did a deal with the photographer for both of our photographs however when we actually received the usb later there wasn’t even a single photo from our group swimming with the whale shark!!! Instead there were lots of other pictures of everyone else from the day! Obviously not personalised!!

So yes all I can say from this day is 100% swim with the whale sharks if you get a chance – but 100% don’t go with Kings!!

Tonight we are back for another night camping at Yardie Creek, just outside of Exmouth before heading off to Karijini National Park tomorrow morning!

Swimming in the big blue

Having a girls only room most definitely paid off last night as we didn’t have to put up with any of the boys snoring! 
Today we headed out to the Ningaloo Reef, a place I have wanted to go to for over a year now!! Despite the dodgy winds which lead to dodgy tummies it did not disappoint! 

First swim of the day was with the majestic manta rays, this is the second time I’ve swam with them but I don’t think you could ever get bored of these creatures!! They float along as if they have no care in the world moving with such ease and agility.  

    
 Unfortunately it was a pretty cold and windy day so I did spend quite some time feeling sorry for myself over the edge of the boat! Thankfully it had worn off by the time of the next snorkel and I was ready to go searching for some turtles! And I was in luck!! We found a very chilled out little fella who was happy for us to follow him around for some time and watch him attempt to get himself some snacks – even managed to get a few great videos and photos! 

 Although he is looking slightly angry here!
  
 As the day went on I got colder and colder, once you get to the shivering stage (and you’re wet) it is very hard to come back from that but the group were lovely looking after me and Sydney leant me her beautifully warm rain coat which helped a lot!

One final snorkel over the shark cleaning bay – yes this is apparently a real thing and not just from the cartoon movies! – although we only managed to spot a couple reefies. 

All in all it was a fantastic day put on by Coral Bay Eco Tours and I would definitely venture out with them again! Just hopefully the weather would be better next time!

Back to Coral Bay for the most beautiful hot shower and back on the bus for the venture down to Exmouth for our first go at two nights camping!

Dolphin and Turtle spotting

I booked a day trip in advance for today to get my fix of Australian sea life – today we’re off to Moreton Island with Whales in Paradise cruises.

Naturally I slept the whole of the bus journey from Gold Coast to Redcliffe Jetty and then we boarded our vessel to begin our journey. It was a fairly quick journey over although we did manage to spot some majestic Dolphins swimming around in the crystal clear blue waters! We the  arrived at Tangalooma Wrecks where 15 ships have been purposely sunken to provide a break in the water and a safe shelter for boats during storms. A bonus feature of this is the dozens of natural corals which have begun growing off the old shipwrecks – and of course the marine life that comes with!  

         

We spotted many fishies swimming around and even managed to see a turtle come up for air a little later on our Eco-cruise.

Moreton Island is the third largest sand island in Australia after Fraser Ian’s and Stradbroke Island and it is just beautiful!!  

 

Aquarium fun