Day Thirteen – New Country, New Continent
We definitely could enjoy staying in Queensland a bit longer. There is so much to explore and enjoy in Australia. But to be honest, it feels good to get to a new culture, new country, and a different continent. Feels good to be going back to Bali for the first time since 2013!
Maybe a bit of foreshadowing in our world, is the first thing we noticed when arriving to Bali is the brand new airport (at least for us). Back in 2013, it was an outdoor, small, not so nice airport. Fast forward twelve years, we arrive to a nice, state of the art, new airport.
Going in to today, we knew it would be a long travel day:
Early arrival to Cairns airport, leave rental car, through immigration, 5 hour flight to Bali (a litte delayed), through customs, an abnormally long wait (about 1.5 hours) for luggage, 45 minute taxi ride to ferry (hustled to make it on time because of luggage debacle), 50 minute ferry ride to Nusa Penida, and an hour long taxi ride from port to hotel.
But, not sure we were mentally prepared after an already hectic day for what happened as we arrived on the island of Nusa Penida.
First problem, low tide (who knew). Our ferry couldn’t make it to the dock, or land for that matter.
So, here we go… a two stroke, barely functional boat picks us up from the ferry to escort us to land. As we overpack this less than capable boat with people, we notice the locals are bailing water in the front 🤦♂️. Wild! Somehow, we make it to land. Inshallah!
Next dilemma… our luggage is still on the ferry. OK, so we are on island time, extra kind of island time in SE Asia, but we are also SPENT and eager to get to our hotel after a long day! We wait for about an hour, and then Scott finally heads up with Putu (our driver) to get the bags at the end of the dock after they were finally retrieved from the ferry.
And… we heard about the roads on the island being less than good (it’s no secret), but this may have been the icing on the cake of a long day. A bumpy, pot hole filled, half of a road across the island mentally finished us off. And made Scott a little motion sick.
An hour ride finally landed us at our hotel. Thankfully, the welcoming faces and kind Balinese culture helped our spirits as we settled into our nice hotel, Kelingking Mesari Villa.
A short walk down our street led us to why we are here, Kelingking Beach! Of course, because of the traveling debacle, we missed the chance to see the sunset.
A much needed chill Balinese meal & fries, a couple of Bintangs, and back to our hotel to wrap up a tough day!
Reflective thoughts from today: Australia left us feeling many of the norms of being at home, which was amazing, but we also know why we are coming to SE Asia, specifically Indonesia, the culture. And a big part of the culture is the simplicity in the way they live and adapt to life in less than ideal living conditions. It’s spectacularly different, and a gentle reminder to relax, go with the flow, and sometimes take a moment to appreciate the finer things we have that we take for granted (like paves roads and not trekking through water to get off of boats). Time to enjoy exploring this amazing country!
Day Fourteen – Exploring Kelingking Beach & Manta Rays!
Getting in the water and potentially seeing manta rays was something Scott has been looking forward to since the early stages of planning this trip. But, after yesterday’s travel challenges, he was reluctant to travel back across the island first thing this morning to the harbor. However, when you have the opportunity for a once in a lifetime experience, you chose that over the negatives. Bumbling across the island, he arrives back at the harbor, while Katie wisely enjoys a peaceful morning walking around KelingKing.
Down at the harbor, Scott embarks on what will be another epic adventure in the water.
Rules on the water are different here, maybe even just a whole lot less, or basically none at all. No briefings, just go. And one thing is for certain, if we see a manta ray, it’s go time. Honestly, not everyone aboard this little vessel was ready for this approach. And at two different stops (mainly at Manta Point), that is exactly what happened… see a manta ray, chase a manta ray! One thing is for sure, it’s a bit exhausting chasing them.
Two kind of species of manta rays are found off the coast of Nusa Penida, the oceanic manta ray & the reef manta ray. While both can be seen here, the variety of manta ray that is typically spotted in Nusa Penida, is the reef manta ray. This species can get up to 5 meters in size! These majestic creatures hang around Nusa Penida, using these waters as a cleaning station most of the year. In a symbiotic gesture, local fish feed off the mantas by cleaning off the parasites on their bodies, which keeps the mantas healthy.
A bonus to check out some coral and reef fish at Gamat Bay on our boat ride back to the harbor. Bumbling through the mountainous, nauseating roads, was worth it!
Back east, Katie is doing her thing: relaxing, capturing morning photos at Kelingking Beach, flying new Dronie, and enjoying some down time (not easy to find on our travels).
Nusa Penida, literally translating to ‘Island of Priests’, has several stunning viewpoints like the KelingKing Cliff, overlooking the Kelingking Beach. The ‘T-Rex’ shaped cliffs make for impressive photos & drone shots, and a great place to have access to for a couple of nights. We saved some energy and decided not to do the trek down to the beach.
With the amount of people who come to this side of the island to see this cliffside phenomenon, it was really nice for the two of us to be just a 5 minute walk from our hotel to this natural beauty, able to come and go several times over the two nights we stayed in Kelingking.
We enjoyed a late lunch back at our Kelingking Beach spot, Warung Joglo.
And a couple of beverages enjoying sunset at Kelingking.
Day Fifteen – Tropical Glamping
Let’s start today with a reminder that sometimes what you actually see on social media may require some grit and effort to experience. Part of what makes traveling special for us, is the adventure is takes sometimes to get to these places. It seems that the island of Nusa Penida is a prime case of this, especially our hotel tonight.
We say goodbye to our great host, Felix, and head to new parts of the island. Scott isn’t exactly loving another up and down, bumpy hour long drive, but it’s worth it.
We arrive at a crowded Diamond Beach, capture some great photos, fly Dronie,
and enjoy some breakfast, Balinese coffee & omelets, overlooking Atuh Beach.
This is one of those stops where we see way too many people here dressed up, just to take pictures for social media, rather than enjoy and experience what a unique place and culture have to offer.
Speaking of cool places to take pictures, we drive a few minutes away, and we trek down the mountainside to a well-staged, picturesque Rumah Phon Treehouse for some pictures ourselves.
After a trek back up (not an easy one), a short drive leads us to where we want to be. Our Airbnb for tonight is why we came to this island.
Well, we’re almost where we want to be. Our drive leads us to a village, where we wait for motorbikes to come take us down to the edge of the Bali Sea,
to Tropical Glamping, and some of the most spectacular views you can imagine an Airbnb offering.
A few pictures of our impressively designed & decorated room.
And lastly, a few pictures of what we can see from time to time looking straight down the cliff, mantas & turtles (some photo credit to Dronie who took the journey way down).
Needless to say, the pictures do the talking here. We had some fun listening to the ocean, laying in the hammock, enjoying a few Bintangs, taking pictures, flying dronie, and eating dinner on the porch where looking down hundreds of feet you can see turtles and manta rays swimming in pristine ocean water.
Picturesque dinner overlooking the Bali Sea!
Day Sixteen – Back to the Bali Mainland to Ubud
Our epic spot in Nusa Penida had some draw backs last night. It wasn’t exactly the easiest place to sleep. A beautiful evening led into a windy night, where in our open air cliffside stay makes for some interesting noises through the night! All worth it!
No breakfast on the patio sadly, simply too windy to keep our food in place.
Wild departure! Jump back on motorbikes, meet up with our driver to take us to harbour.
One last windy, up and down, ride through the mountainous island. And pressed for time, our driver is scrambling through these roads and motorbikes to get us to the port on time. Quick check in, and we board with 1 minute to spare.
Maybe this chaotic scramble to the boat is the perfect way for us to end our time on the island. A rough start to Nusa Penida was all worth it!
It’s just the way wandering this Earth goes sometimes… and next up, we wander back to the main island of Bali to revisit Ubud.
Two Wayfaring Wanderers 