Nusa Penida

From the moment I climbed on to the roof of the boat, to jump across a gap of ocean and set foot upon the island of Nusa Penida, I knew u was going to love it here...

Broken Beach, Nusa Penida.

For Months I had been researching everything about this island, the beaches the accommodation right down to every activity I could do here! Island life is just where I wanted to be, so as apart of our 10 night trip we allocated 2 nights to this magical place! I know it's not that long, but we had plans to go to Gili Trawangan... I will tell you more about that later!

Day one, We arrived at our accommodation. La Roja Bungalows. 6 bungalows all facing inwards to the pool, the management team here are so lovely. They helped us out with tours and getting our scooter, they also dropped us of at the ferry free of charge when we were leaving.

After settling in we grabbed some food and headed off for a drive around part of the island. With no real destination in mind, we found our self's at

Atuh Beach. I was so surprised at how great the roads where on this part of the island. We made our way to the top of the cliff that we had to climb down to get on to the beautiful patch of sand located at the bottom. We managed to get almost half way before realising that we left the key in the scooter! So once we made it down to the bottom we were in heaven. The landscape around Nusa Penida is incredible with its rocky cliff face's and stunning beaches you never want to leave!

Pineapple Nasi Goreng

We finished the evening off dining in at The Beach Corner restaurant. It was so perfect, we sat at a small table on the edge of the hill, watching the waves roll in while the sun went down.

The food here was so amazing, we had two main meals, a beer and two soft drinks plus one dessert equalling roughly $12.50 Australian dollars. it was so good!

Day Two, waking up early to go snorkelling with the giant manta-rays..... so exciting!

After arriving at the bay to get on the boat we realised we left all our snorkelling gear on the bench at the bungalows! Feeling really silly, they let us borrow some of their gear!

First stop Manta bay, The driver spotted manta-ray in the water and rushed us so fast to get out of the boat! I was so confused as to what was happening, not knowing much Indonesian i hesitated to jump in, but once i got in there and seen the beautiful manta-ray swimming beneath me, it was so amazing. They just glide through the water with no care. On the down side to this we where being stung by tiny little jelly fish... they where all over my body. but nothing was going to get me out of the water... except a shark! i'd be back on that boat so fast if there was a shark!!

Second stop.

I'm not sure what the bay was called, but it had a small beach this area we just snorkelled around looking at the coral reefs and smaller fish. the reefs where beautiful, just getting to relax and watch the fish chase each other back and forth.

Third stop, the under water temple just off the coast of Nusa Ceningan. this spot is very popular with tourist. it was really cool to see the underwater statues and all the fish hiding under the pontoon.

Forth and final snorkelling destination for the day, I really have no idea what the name of the beach is called, I have tried googling it and checking my google maps but there is nothing! So at this no name beach we got to swim with huge tuna fish! They swam in schools under the pontoons or large boats that had been sitting in one spot for a while.

The tuna was the largest fish i had seen that day apart from the giant manta-ray.

That afternoon we decided to make our way to Broken Beach and Angels Billabong. After already exploring the other half of the island the day before we had high hopes that the road was going to be the same.... We where wrong!! The Management team at our bungalow warned us that the roads are very dangerous and to take it easy.... which we did. My god the roads had so many pot holes and it was a very intense bumpy ride. At some points of the trip i would get off and walk. once we made it to the destination we took a nice walk down to the Billabong and then up to the lookout over Broken beach. the photos do it no justice! Broken beach is so blue you could just sit and watch the waves roll in for hours.

That night we ate at a small restaurant near our accommodation, just reflecting on the day we had and all the amazing experiences we had managed to fit in with in 36 hours!

At this point we found out that getting to Gili T. Island was going to be near inpossible due to the huge waves between Bali and Lombok. We had Two options. 1. catch a slow ferry for

6-7hrs to Lombok and then another boat to Gili T island or 2. find somewhere else in Bali to spend the next three nights!

Day three, we headed to the harbour to catch the ferry back to Bali. this ferry was much bigger then the one we came in on and with out realising it, we ended up a lot further up the coast of Bali then expected. On the upside we got to see more places and experience more culture of the Bali life.

When I go back to Indonesia, Nusa Penida is probably the first place i want to go back too.

I fell in love with their lifestyle and how quiet the island is. The food was so good and the people are so lovely.

Don't Forget to take a fair bit of cash with you, They had no money in the ATM!

Until next time XO