Trailer Treason- A Trip to Indonesia

Whilst it may seem idyllic travelling around Australia, there are times it seems less so. Day to day living can be quite a challenge. The most basic activities of living are slightly more complicated- going to the toilet in the middle of the night, making a cup of tea, opening the fridge. Not to mention the frequent set ups and breaking of camp. It was starting to wear a bit thin, so we decided to take a holiday from the holiday and head from Darwin to Indonesia. It sounded like a good idea, but there were some practical difficulties with pulling it off........ researching and booking a trip was difficult with intermittent internet availability, and we had no luggage to take with us, not to mention lack of resort wear. As we travel in the trailer everything we have with us has a very particular place, and taking a plane somewhere meant reorganising a lot of stuff!  We purchased a couple of large storage bags with the hope they would last the distance, and crossed our fingers.

Flight times between Darwin and Denpasar are anti-social to say the least, a 2.5 hour flight departing at around midnight is guaranteed to produce a cranky family the next day. Admittedly on the day of our departure we were still in Kakadu, so the day started with packing up camp, followed by a 3 hour drive before we got to Darwin, did 4 loads of washing, last minute shopping and stored the trailer and car before heading to the airport for our middle of the night flight. Perhaps we should not have been so ambitious.

We had a lay day in Bali prior to hopping on a fast boat to Lombok. We had booked the trip not 2 weeks prior to leaving, so accommodation options were limited to none. When we arrived at the resort we had booked, we soon discovered that is was an Islamic run establishment which served no alcohol whatsoever! Once we had recovered from this initial shock, the place began to grow on us. There were no Aussies lying by the pool swilling beer whilst ignoring their badly behaving children, and the place was quiet and relaxing. Sun loungers were readily available, and there were plenty of restaurants nearby where Bintang and great food could be sourced.

We took it pretty easy in Lombok, since the whole point of the trip was to have break from travelling rather than do a lot of travelling in a different place. One day we went on a day trip to Gili Nanggu and Gili Lomkong, for some snorkelling and a lunch of BBQ fish on the beach.

Another day we introduced Hugo and Zoe to risk taking, hiring a couple of motor bikes and taking them for a cruise around the place, through lush rice paddies and up the mountain through the rain forest to the monkey forest.

We thoroughly enjoyed Lombok. Previously we have found Bali just a bit too hectic for our liking, but Lombok is a bit quieter, with tourism being only a minor part of the island's economy. The people are friendly and welcoming. We like to think the trip was satisfying some geography and Indonesian language education the kids are missing at school.

Soon enough it was time to make the return journey back to our trailer. Unfortunately it was clear that our storage bags were not fit to make the return journey, and we had to purchase some (very cheap) luggage. Life back in the trailer had not changed..... but having someone make the bed, do the laundry, clean the bathroom and cook meals for a week was a welcome and enjoyable change.