Sunday, June 07, 2009

Gili Meno, Indonesia - sand & sea

Hi and a warm welcome to my blog.

Last time I showed you Lombok. After Lombok we went to Gili Meno. There are 3 islands off the North West coast of Lombok. Gili Air, Meno and Trawangan. Trawangan is the most developed but we were looking for a real retreat so we chose the much smaller Gili Meno.

You can walk around Gili Meno on the beach in about one and a half hours. The photos take you round the island and also span early morning to late afternooon.

It really was a retreat. No cars, little development, and we loved it. The snorkelling is not as good as Phi Phi (Thailand) and Perhentian (Malaysia) but there is an area off Gili Meno called Coral Garden which is very beautiful and lives up to its name.

This first photo above was taken in the early morning.
















The Gili Isles are very close to Lombok. Just
30 mins by boat.
















About 400 people are resident on the island
















Tourism, coconut plantation and fishing are
the main sources of income
















Clouds seemed to be permanently nestled
over Lombok.
















Ohhh! Those colours!














This is Julie. A very happy little girl.
















And Julie in the BIG picture! The small island
you can see is Gili Air
















To the south of the island there is more surf
















There is an annual surfing competition
between the locals
















And it gets a bit rockier.
















Breaking wave
















The Lombok Rinjani Volcano in the distance
is the second highest Indonesian volcano.
3,726 metres
















This is taken on the west side of the island.
It's now late afternoon
















Classic Indonesian fishing boats
















A sunset beach cafe
















Keeping your boat in good nick takes some work
















In the distance is Bali. You can see the Agung
volcano
, the sister of Rinjani. This one is
3.142 metres. The line of trees is Gili
Trawangan
, the largets and most developed
of the Gili Isles.
















A wide and long view!

















And here we are. Next time Gili Meno inland,
some of the lovely local people we met
a few shots of Trawangan and a beautiful sunset.