What better way to start the day than with a refreshing morning run in this idyllic environment? A few mountain bikers and runners had the same idea. Big part of Australian culture are the public barbecues. It didn’t took long for a group to gather at the lake for a breakfast barbecue, or how the Aussies call it: Brekkie.

We couldn’t resist to capture a snapshot of the iconic “Beware of the Kangaroo” sign, while traveling south. Excitement and worries began to mix, when the navigation lost our way on a remote dirt road, cruising deep through the heart of a seemingly endless man made forest. As the minutes turned into an hour and the landscape stayed the same we became bored. when suddenly a colossal yet lifeless, kangaroo was laying on our path.

The next day we headed back to Caloundra. Another daring surf session awaited me. This time I started to catch waves and I could finally feel the potential of my surf board. Luckily the board was small enough to duck dive. This became an absolute life saver as a bomb set was hitting the the surf set. Each wave bigger and bigger starting to crash exactly where I was. With a bigger board I would have taken at least five waves on the head!

From Caloundra we went down to Surfers Paradise. The name can be deceiving, as it’s a bustling city dominated by skyscrapers! For me this is the opposite of a surfers paradise. We swiftly moved down south after doing our laundry. We were rewarded by the hidden gem of Burleigh Heads. Luxury apartments spiced up the landscape with a beautiful surf spot and a nature reserve nearby. This is more how we like it.

One day we parked in one spot for too long and we got a hefty ticket, which we had to pay.. The fee was quickly forgotten or at least deemed not too important with the view of the ocean and the surroundings. In the parks close to the beach, they did not only have toilets, showers and free barbecue. They also provided hot water for free. Absolutely handy if you are traveling in a van! In addition to the luxury apartments there is a street called millionaires row. It is almost an island on it’s own filled with villas out of this world. Of course we checked it out!

In Burleigh Heads I went surfing again. It was receding tide and the sand banks were shallow. The Australian surfers are absolutely insane riding these waves like true masters. I was charging a few waves as well. However II would bail from the wave early as I was so afraid of hitting the banks. One time I hit the sand bank anyways. I took of on one wave riding it down the steep edge. I lost control at the bottom and jumped into the water with my butt first. My butt crashed onto the sand bank. Luckily nothing happened to my back, but that was my call to go out and do something else, as this could have ended much worse.

In Burleigh Heads, I finally returned to the waves for another surf session. The tide was receding, and the sandbanks almost revealed themselves, their shallowness adding an extra layer of complexity. The two meter waves were breaking directly on the sandbanks. The Australian surfers didn’t seem to care, riding these waves like true masters.

I summoned my courage and charged into a few waves myself, although I couldn’t shake off the fear of hitting the sandbanks and I always bailed early if I could. This made me more confident until I caught a wave and rode it down the steep face. I struggled to maintain control at the bottom as the wave suddenly got choppy. Without a choice I was launched into the shallow water. I felt the force, when my rear end hit the sandbank. The worst scenario just had happened for me. Fortunately, I emerged with just a bit of pain and no broken back! This served as a stark reminder of safety in the water. You need to assess the dangers before every session. Especially when surfing an unknown spot. The day before I went at higher tide and had no problem at all! We went hiking for the rest of the day…

Venturing inland in search of a quiet sleeping spot, we hoped for a similar result like the Maddock dam. After navigating narrow mountain roads for an hour, we reached our destination, only to discover that the lake was closing soon. The whole are was guarded by a fence and a gate thus not suitable for a sleeping spot. Numerous ‘Trespassers will be prosecuted’ and ‘Overnight stay prohibited’ signs in the area made it even more challenging to find a sleeping spot. Persisting we eventually found a sneaky sleeping spot.

The following morning we woke up and drove to a park nearby. The view of the surroundings was truly stunning. The bushland hugging the mountains, with the lake below. After a nutritious breakfast our excitement to explore the area was ignited.

However, our enthusiasm soon gave way to disappointment, when we realized that a refreshing swim in the lake was out of the question. The coastal winds were non existent in the mountains and the sun heated the land with unforgiving intensity. I just couldn’t imagine the summer here… A contrasting experience to the more cooler coast lines, especially in spring. The disappointment couldn’t diminish the thrill of our journey, as we eagerly looked forward to the next chapter of our Australian adventure.

Thanks for reading and until next time. Cheers!

The Gili Islands are also known as turtle hotel. The reason being are the many turtles swimming around the islands. We tried to seek out some turtles as well. It didn’t take long to find some. If you sit at the beach you can see their heads bobbing out of the water. We wanted to see a few more so we chartered a boat. Swimming over the corals and with turtles is always an amazing experience. However there were way too many tourists, which ruined the experience partly. Anyways they are still remarkable creatures and I blame no one, who seeks to see them. This brought me back to New Caledonia, where I was basically swimming alone with the turtles. That was something truly remarkable.

The evening on the island is great. Live music would be played, drinks would be poured and a bonfire was lit. The evening sun would turn into stars sooner than later. The vibe was so great and we liked it so much, that we ended up staying a whole week instead of three nights. One particular evening the sunset was truly remarkable. It reminded me of Mordor in Lord of the Rings. Bali in the background looked like mount Doom.

While we were on the snorkeling tour I saw a wave breaking. I even saw some surfers out there! I had to get out there as soon as possible. The morning before we left I woke up at 6:30 in the morning and looked for a surf board to rent. It took me a while to find one. The only board they had was a 9′ soft-top. This is usually a beginners board, due to it’s length and floatation. Doesn’t matter to me, a surf board is better than no surf board. Excitedly I paddle out to the wave. This took me about 15 minutes, because the wave is far out on the reef. I could see the reef below me while paddling out. Again I saw some turtles swimming next to me. Happiness was flowing through my body and I couldn’t believe how beautiful this place actually is. To my left the massive Rinjani, Lomboks highest mountain, looming over the place. I was glad to be at this place in this point of time. To my right I see the other Gili islands and behind I see Bali’s volcano sitting in the distance. Below I can still see the lively reef flashing in it’s bright colors.

There are only five people out in the water. First I got weird looks, because of my soft top surf board. This soon subsided as people saw that I knew the rules of surfing and that I was not a beginner. We would take turns, surfing the morning away as the sun rose up higher. I love the morning stillness. The occasional boat was passing by as we all cruised above the shallow reef. Every turn would be carefully executed. If you fall you would seriously injure yourself. After a while all the surfers left until I was alone in the water. The sun had come up so high, that the water was getting too clear. Yes there is such a thing as too clear water for surfing! I remembered a phrase someone told me on my journey. ‘If the sky is blue and the water is clear you get absolutely fucked.’ I had to admit that this is absolutely true. You couldn’t see where the wave was breaking. To make things worse you could see the reef reflecting in the wave. You would look at the wave and suddenly it would crash over you because you miscalculated the lip. However surfing one of these waves felt like floating. At this point I was filled with so much joy, that it didn’t even matter if I made the wave or not. I was just glad to experience such a natural beauty all by myself. It was just too beautiful to be true. I still smile when I think about it this surfing session.

After that we went back to Lombok. Picked up our passports at the immigration and went back to Kuta. I surfed Tanjung Aan a few times more. I developed a love hate relationship to this surf spot. On bigger days it was one of the best waves I have ridden. It was not crowded and really fun. However on smaller days it was an absolute shit show. A lot of locals give surf lessons on this spot. This in itself is no problem. The problem was, that they would recklessly push beginners into a wave even if someone was already riding it. This led to some dangerous situations, that could have been avoided otherwise. We also went to one of our favorite yoga places on the island. Here two good teachers would push us through a session. We ended up coming everyday until we had to leave. To this day it stays one of our favorite places in the world.

Soon after it was already time to leave Lombok another week passed already. We wanted to catch the ferry back to Bali. We learned one important lesson in Indonesia. Timetables are useless! Knowing this we just went to the harbor without even looking. We heard that one ferry was supposed to leave at one in the afternoon. In reality the ferries wait until they are full enough to leave. This leads to a lot of delays and confusion at the harbor. Luckily there was a ferry waiting and almost full. It soon left and we didn’t have to wait long.

After a long ride on the ferry we arrive in Bali just as the sun sets. Back in Bali we were reminded by the crazy traffic it inhabits. There is a traffic jam everywhere and it always takes so much longer than expected. This is something that was way better in Lombok. The southern area of Lombok just isn’t densely populated. In fact it is barely populated. The contrast couldn’t be higher as we were headed to the infamous Canggu. This is the absolute hotspot for expats and surfers. This means it is one of the busiest places of Bali. The line up was crowded, the streets were crowded and the beach you guessed it was also crowded. Still Bali’s culture with it’s Hinduism is truly unique in Indonesia and truly stands out to the other Muslimic islands. Instead of mosques with it’s prayer calls there are temples big and small with scented sticks and ornaments everywhere. Even every homestay has at least one temple.

From Canggu we went to Uluwatu once again. This time we took a few days to explore this part, because we like it so much the last time. The peninsula of Uluwatu is quite different to Canggu or Kuta in Bali. It is not as busy and still more wild once you leave the main road. You can also find beaches, that are not not crowded. Heads up though, there are also crowded beaches as well! For instance the beach of Padang Padang. There was supposed to be a surfing competition. We paid for parking and paid theentrance fee for the beach. When we climbed down we were plainly disappointed. People lying everywhere on this small beach. There was not even a competition going on at the moment! We looked at each other and had to had to admit, that humans are a herd driven species. The reasoning is always somewhat like this: ‘ It must be special, if everyone is lining up, paying and getting down there.’ We left after five minutes, because it was too crowded and not really different to the free beaches around. We went to the closest beach and had it all to ourselves. Humans are truly that simple!

We enjoyed our last days riding the scooter and checking out several beaches. I found a nice surf spot and enjoyed the last waves of Indonesia. It has been two month already! Unbelievable! We only have seen five islands of Indonesia. This means we haven’t even seen the other 13.461 islands. This country is so big you could spend years here, but as always time is running out and our flight to Sri Lanka is scheduled. Everything will come to an end…

Thanks for reading, cheers and until next time!