The idyllic Island ... - Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia
Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia
Where I stayed
Le Pirate Beach Club
Thursday 19th September - Monday 23rd September
Le Pirate Beach Club - Nusa Ceningan
So, after hours and hours of sitting down with my Lonely Planet of Indonesia, I finally picked a spot where I could spend my last week in Indonesia ... Nusa Lembongan.
I was hoping for a chilled out and relaxed week, before entering the world of work in Australia the following week. I wanted to find somewhere nice and quiet, on the water front, with beer and wine, good food and a hammock for me to sit and watch the hours pass by. I have decided I am happy to spend double, if not triple what I have on accommodation whilst in Bali, as a little treat and bit of luxury before I leave Asia.
I had no idea what to expect of this little island, as it doesn't seem to be frequented by travels often. However, saying that Saana had indeed been there a couple of years back on her travels and said that it was a cute little place, that was minimalistic, minus cars with some beautiful little beaches & it was indeed, exactly as she had described!
I booked myself onto the fast boat, which appeared to be my own personal boat as no one else was travelling on it. The guy who was driving the speed boat, asked me if I wanted to have a go at driving it, which was pretty cool! Whilst I was capable of moving the boat, I couldn't quite get the hang of managing the waves, so I left it to the expert and sat back to enjoy the ride!
It was bizarre and as I sat on the speed boat alone, it left me wondering if the island itself would be as quiet and deserted as the boat ride over. In a way, I kind of hoped so! After about 20 minutes we arrived at the island. I cant begin to explain how happy I felt inside as I saw stunning turquoise waters, bright white sand, blazing sunshine and minimal people.
Le Pirate Beach Club was my chosen accommodation, and happened to be on the other island of Nusa Ceningan, which was just across the bridge. Someone from Le Pirate was going to come and pick me up on a bike and I would make my way across to Nusa Ceningan. As described, there were no cars on the island, just bikes. Luckily for the guy that picked me up from the beach where I arrived, I had not bought my backpack with me and had left it at D'Kubu Daje in Kuta, and only had a small rucksack on my back - otherwise I think he would have had a struggle on his hands! I checked into Le Pirate, into my own little 'beach box' as they described them. I had the most perfect view and this place was in the perfect setting. Right on the edge of the island, overlooking the sea. Only later during the day the tide would wash out and leave a seaweed plantation, where locals would be picking seaweed.
I spent 5 days here, and got into a good routine of doing a great deal of nothing! Without a motorcycle, there was no where to at all, and even if you did have a motorcycle, the roads were in such bad condition, it was quite dangerous to drive anywhere!
I would wake up to the sounds of the waves in the morning, open up my 'beach box' door to a view most would wish for (see photograph!) I would order myself an iced coffee from the bar for my breakfast, and the guys would bring it over to me on my hammock, at my beach box. I would lay in my hammock, catching some sun and listening to Angus & Julia Stone, The 1975, Ben Howard and various others. At lunch time, I'd take the long, strenuous, walk (approximately 15 feet) to the pool bar, and order a large glass of white wine to accompany my lunch (often chicken satay and rice). Lunch would normally be followed by another large glass of wine in my hammock, whilst I watched the tide go out and the locals start their seaweed farming. There were possibly another 5/6 people staying at my accommodation, so the peace and quiet I was hoping for, I most certainly got!
Most evenings, I would frequent the restaurant area, again, overlooking the water with some grub, a drink and my iPad to continue chipping away at these blog entries! This place was just what the doctor had ordered and was the perfect opportunity for me sit and reflect on all the amazing experiences I'v had over the last 4 months. Thinking about all the wonderful and inspiration people I had met along the way, some who would remain friends for life, others who would just become a distant memory in time. I guess this was the time that I really sat back and counted my blessings for being able to have this incredible experience of traveling the world.
Towards the end of my time at Le Pirate, I met a lovely lady called Sophie (Australian, Sandra Bullock look a like, lovely lady), and her daughter Ella (Well mannered and very well bought up girl, who was just adorable!), who was 13 years old. They were from Melbourne, which got me all excited for my new adventure ahead, that was about to begin the following week! They had explained to me, how Melbourne is notorious for it's weather, and how they will often get 4 seasons in 1 day there. I'm not sure I'm all that pleased about this, having had the beautiful Asian weather for the past 4 months! Sophie and Ella had a motorcycle to get around the islands, and offered to do two journeys so we could all go somewhere nice for the day, to sunbath round a pool and then have dinner that evening, which we did and we all had a lovely day! Once we had driven back from out little day/night out, Sophie realised that she couldn't find the key to the bike. We figured it must have fallen out whilst driving back through the many pot holes, so the three of us spent almost 2 hours that night walking up and down the roads with a great big spotlight (courtesy of Le Pirate) trying to find the key to the motorcycle! No such luck. However, when we arrived back at Le Pirate, Sophie discovered the whole time, it had been in her helmet. She must have put it in there when she got off and forgot. We all thought this was hilarious, especially after a couple of drinks!
We all spent the last couple of days on the island sunbathing, enjoying meals and good wine together, which was lovely. We had all agreed to meet up back on Bali main island for dinner the day we got back, and would also meet up when we arrived over in Melbourne too.
Sophie and Ella had hired the motorcycle from Le Pirate Beach Club, so all three of us had the dilemma of how we were going to get back to the beach to catch our boats the following day. I had bumped into a young, local lad on a bike the day before whilst out and about, and he had kindly volunteered to take us all over to the other island on his bike. So he would come and take one of us, then come back for another, then come back for the last.
He had agreed he would come and meet us the following morning at 8am, take Sophie over first, then drop Ella over, then myself. When we asked him how much he would want paying, he told us we could decide how much to pay him. We figured we would rather give our money to a local boy, instead of the greedy french man who was running our hotel complex, so we agreed to pay him 50,000 rupiah (2.65GBP) each. He was so very grateful for this amount, and wished us all well on our travels as we set off for mainland Bali.
When I arrived back at D'Kubu Daje on mainland, I had checked my job applications for Melbourne, to see that there were a family that were interested in my profile and wanted to Facetime/Skype interview me for their Nanny/Au Pair role that evening! This was great news, so I got myself showered and dressed, and headed over the road from my hotel to a little restaurant that had good wifi and seemed to be reasonably quiet. I ordered myself a glass of wine to calm my nerves when I got there, and decided to go ahead and make the call as soon as possible to prevent the horrible nervous feeling I was getting. So I phoned, and unfortunately had a bad connection, so decided to go to the upstairs floor of the restaurant (whilst still on the call). Whilst I was trying to reassure this family that I was very responsible and capable and that their children would be in good hands whilst in my care, the waiter (who was trying to be helpful and efficient) came upstairs and asked "you left your wine downstairs, would you like me to bring it up for you madam?" At this point I could have easily have died of embarrassment and told him politely "no thank you".
After the interview, I headed back to my hotel, knowing I was flying to Melbourne the following day, with travelling funds running low and no job secured. I was kicking myself for ruining the interview and almost didn't want to check my emails as they were coming through as I knew there would be one telling me I hadn't got the job. I was heading out to meet Sophie and Ella for dinner and didn't want 'that' email to ruin my last night in Bali, but then on the other hand I figured it was best to know the outcome either way. So just as I was walking out the door for dinner, I turn back and quickly check my emails, only to discover the family had emailed me to say they think I would be a perfect fit for their family and they would like me to start as soon as possible for a minimum of 6 months employment. I was ecstatic and it was the perfect way to finish my last night in Asia, on a complete high!
Bye Bye Bali xxx
I'm on my way down under!