They say that variety is the spice of life. Well I think the variety of foods and spices we have sampled over the last few weeks has indeed had an impact on our lives. For the first time in this trip, which is somewhat miraculous in itself given the nature of it, we have succumbed to a bit of a tummy bug.

 

Just two hours after leaving the jungle before we had even reached Medan airport we had to stop so poor Hatty could empty her stomach into a sick bag, and then again leave her mark on the side of the road. We thought it was just down to motion sickness, particularly as the driver we had was swerving all over the road, turns out this wasn’t an erratic driving style but he was actually falling asleep. Twice I had to grab the wheel, once as we headed towards the other side of the road into oncoming traffic, and the other as we went into the hard shoulder and almost off the road. I have never been so nervous and angry at the same time. The relief when we got to the airport was immense.

 

Relatively short lived however, as Hatty was unwell on the plane, this time again impressively catching the entire contents in a sick bag. And another. And a third before sleep took hold. A brief overnight stop over in Jakarta was unremarkable and the next day we caught a morning flight to Lombok which is to be our home for the next few weeks. We have opted to start off our Lombok adventure with some R&R and a little bit of comfort, which was an absolute result given Lottie also came down with an upset tummy, a few hours later, and then me. Never has clean sanitisation and air conditioning been more welcome. That, and the fact it is about 10c cooler here than anywhere else for the last month. Still high 20s which beforehand I would have said it very hot, however now rates on a pleasant scale.

 

So after a few days recuperating, girls bounce back much quicker than adults, lots of pool time and some western food, it was time to take on a mini adventure. Climbing to, and camping in, the crater rim of the largest volcano in Lombok. At 3,726m it is the 2nd highest volcano in all of Indonesia. We left our luggage at the beach hotel, which is where we will be returning to in order to recover post hike, and set off on the 2hr drive to Senaru, the small town at the bottom of Mount Rinjani which acts as a sort of base camp.

 

There are lots of options to tackle the volcano depending on your interests, physical fitness, and appetite for the wilderness, ranging from 2 days and 1 night (which we went for) up to 4 days and 3 nights taking in the summit, as well as descending to camp at the lake inside in the crater rim some 1,800m descent. It turns out the 2 day 1 night trip was more than challenge enough. Lots of people when we told them we were going to Rinjani looked at us and asked if the kids were going as well, of course we said; that should have been a clue that it’s actually quite hard.

 

We set off after breakfast at day 1 and hiked for about 8hrs including stops, climbing nearly 2,000m in altitude, until we reached the crater rim at just under 2,700m. Like everyone else we had a guide and porters who carry the tents, sleeping equipment, cooking equipment, etc.  It is clearly very hard work. Especially as many of them are doing it in bare foot or flip flops and carrying a fairly hefty load in two large parcels either side of a piece of bamboo on their shoulder. There were plenty of rest stops, including a long lunch break where we had a hot cooked meal, passing the time resting and enjoying watching the local monkeys doing their best to enjoy any scraps on offer.

 

We arrived at the top, after walking through the clouds, to some of the most amazing views we have seen, only normally afforded from a plane. We sat and enjoyed the view, taking in a spectacular sunset, and another hot cooked meal before it was time to retreat to the warmth of of our tents and get some well earned rest. After a pretty comfortable, if a little restless night, we were up at first light for the sunrise. Not quite as impressive as the sunset from our vantage point, but a beautiful way to start to day before the long trek back down. It took almost as long to get down as it did to get up, not sure what that says about general physical fitness, or the state of our knees, I think we all agreed it was harder going on the way down. Certainly the sandy scrambling bits at the top saw all of us stack it far more times on the way down than on the way up.

 

An incredible experience for all of us, but a special moment for Katie and I, as we were yet again blown away by the girls and their resilience, their can do attitude, and their teamwork to get it done. It was a tough climb for us, I know they have young legs, but they’re also small legs, and some of the height of some of the steps were a struggle for us. They didn’t moan, very rarely complained of being tired, they did demolish a lot of sugary snacks but every one of them deserved. And they surprised themselves. They were a little apprehensive beforehand, how hard would it be, how tired would they get, and could they make it. Of course they could – we didn’t doubt them for a second! Now they are full of confidence and ready to take on whatever we throw at them next. Well done L and H… we are super proud of you!

 

The only downside was that yet again, selfish human behaviour, has left its mark on the environment. Another beautiful natural landscape not treated with the respect it deserves, with all sorts of litter left behind. Most of the tour companies we saw were acting reasonably responsibly, with the porters collecting up and carrying down their rubbish, but clearly some weren’t. We only hope there is some sort of mass clean up at the end of the hiking season before the rains arrive so the landscape remains as natural as possible and we don’t see monkeys in their natural habitat chewing on discarded plastic bottles. It wasn’t as bad as we had prepared ourselves for from reading previous reviews, but it was still pretty disappointing.

 

After returning to Senaru where we met our driver, it took us two hours to get back to our beach hotel in Senegigi, where warm showers, swimming pools and a cold beer awaited to toast our collective achievement. We will spend the next two days here not doing a lot before we head south to the surfing town of Kuta, where we plan to take advantage of some of the surf schools and snorkelling on offer.

 

Lombok has been a breath of fresh air so far in more ways than one, and we are looking forward to exploring new parts of the Island to see what it has to offer us.

 

Until then

S, K, L & H x