On vacation from vacation in the land of Oz

G'day mates, I'm officially in the land down under! My good buddy Matt McGuinty and his girlfriend Brittni have a place here in Perth, and they have ever so graciously offered me their couch for the next couple weeks. Perth resides on the southwest coast of western Australia, right on the Indian Ocean, and is home to some of the biggest waves and strongest currents I've ever experienced (which isn't saying much, but just trust me on this one). Summer has arrived here in the outback and we just got back from Perth's famous Scarborough Beach. The beach is 35 kilometres of pristine white sand and thunderous surf. And, due to Perth's status as the most isolated capital city in the world, there are virtually no tourists here. Only Aussies use the beaches so it's quiet and clean.

Anyways, much has transpired since the last post I left so I'll go back in time a little bit. The night of the last post in Bali, Will and I headed north for Singaraja and Lovina to stay the night. These are two fishing towns on the north coast of the island and it was a long ride from Batur. We were relieved to get there just after sundown because driving after dark in Indonesia is like playing Russian roulette. Add one hefty dose of no drunk driving law, a pint of no speed limit, and mix with no helmets and no streetlights for some extra flare and you have a messy recipe for disaster. Lovina was once a thriving tourist destination aside from Kuta and Denpasar but it has suffered tremendously since the bombings. Our waiter that evening was a guy named "Do" and he lost his best friend. In the aftermath, he only had a few bones to bury and each batch was indistinguishable from the next. To this day he doesn't even know if he buried his friend's remains. It was a heartbreaking conversation, one I'll never forget.

After dinner, Will and I reflected on the bombings for a while and had some Balinese Bintang beer on the beach under the stars. For the most part, Lovina was deserted. We got a room for $5. It stank of septic bilgewater and when we walked in after dinner there was an enormous cockroach scurrying around all over our backpacks. If you've never seen or killed one, well, everything you've heard is true! They're ugly, elusive, intelligent, and crazy difficult to kill. I actually respect the bloody little guys as much as I despise them. Needless to say, we didn't sleep well that night. The next morning we blasted down the coast to a little scuba town in Tembulan in the shadow of Mt. Agung, Bali's largest volcano. We stayed at a placed owned by some German folks and swam in the ocean. The next morning Will and I parted ways - he was off to another island called Lombok and I was determined to climb Mt. Batur. If I hadn't have met Will I probably wouldn't have done that tour of Bali via bike, and I am so thankful I met him.

So, on Wednesday I went back to Mt. Batur to climb the volcano my dad once climbed 30 years ago. Thursday morning at 3:30 AM I woke up and began the ascent at 4 AM. I was with a local guide and an Italian guy, and we reached the summit by 5 AM. It was really peaceful waiting for the sunrise - thunderless lightning illuminated the crater lake. A family of maonkeys came to visit too! Unfortunately, the view of the sunrise was heavily obstructed by clouds and a lot of the other hikers were disappointed. I'm really glad I did it though. It was cool to know I climbed the same volcano my dad climbed, and I almost didn't because I was so far away the day before. Better to try something and regret nothing than try nothing and regret everything. I was exhausted after the descent and couldn't really sleep so I packed my bag and started driving back towards Denpasar and Kuta to return my bike. The ride back was really great - I took a backroad the whole way (they're all backroads really) but this one meandered through tiny villages and cascading rice fields, then through the craftsmen's town of Ubud and on to Kuta. I spent most of the afternoon at the hostel recovering in the pool and had a long chat with a Javanese guy named Agung, working to provide for his family in Java. I like mentioning chats with the locals because there is much perspective to be gained in dialogues with them. So much struggle and hardship, perseverance and character in these people. It's awakening and inspirational.

So here I am in Perth, world's away from the world I know and yet this could be the outback's version of the GTA. Curiously enough, I've actually had more culture shock in Australia than any other Asian country so far. It's like being on vacation from my trip. It's somewhat disorienting to move around as I have. 6 flights and 5 countries in one month. Constantly being on the move is exciting and refreshing but tiring and unsettling at points, so it's nice to be here for awhile with an old friend. And it's fun making tasteless jokes about Steve Irwin. Cheers mates!