An exciting weekend

Well, we are back from an exciting camping trip up at Kaliurang. We had the luxury of riding our bike up there (avoiding the hot bus) and it's actually quite close! We enjoyed some long walks, feeling cold, sitting by the fire and finally seeing some stars in Yogya. After visiting a creepy underground museum, we waited out the rain and had a leisurely stroll back to camp. Dinner was great and the boys lit a fire. We only had tiny little pieces of wood to sit on but it was still fantastic. We chose to sleep in the hall (a wise move, seeing as many of our friends joined us at an early hour, after being flooded in the tent).

On Sunday, we visited Mbak Sinta's family farm. It was such a great experience. They have salak (sweet Indonesian fruit), rice, corn, coconuts, bananas and probably more! Sinta's dad gave us a tour and then we were able to have a go at planting the rice, with the help of the experts around us. The trip was a bit of a disaster for the shoes - efforts to keep them dry were very unsuccessful. However, it was worth the sacrifice. Then to have that lovely squelchy mud under your feet was glorious. Planting rice is very hard work! You need a good eye for straight lines and a strong back.

We also had a look at how they fry the salak fruit and then arrived at Sinta's house (who works with the Australian Indonesian organisation) for an amazing feed. Followed by a quick trip to the dairy farm and then coming home for a quick mandi before church. We have had two nasty encounters with centipedes in our home - they are totally gross! We also went out for dinner with a friend and her family visiting from Perth which was lovely.

Back to school,
Ali and Ben

An enjoyable saturday

Today was a beautiful sunny day and we went for a walk at the base of the massive volcano just north from our house. It was little bit cooler up in the mountains which was a plesant change from the constant 32 - 34 degrees in town.

It was awesome to see real life monkeys! Not just 1 or 2 but about 20 or more surrounded us as we took in the view on a viewing platfrom. They are absoultely incrediable climbers with no fear of heights whatsoever.

Anyway thats all... just excited to say we saw some real life monkeys!!!

Sydney and Singapore

Well.. since we last wrote, we enjoyed a short trip to Sydney for Steve and Laura's wedding! It was a great time to catch up with family and to share in witnessing their marriage promises.
We also caught the Booth 25 yr wedding anniversary party and enjoyed meals with old school, church and other friends.
After a small drama at the airport (Ben nearly didn't make it on the plane as he didn't have a ticket out of Indonesia - necessary for a tourist visa) we were glad to be on our way back to our little house in Yogya.
Last week, Ben flew to Singapore to get a new visa that allows him to stay longer. He also had the joy of being put up by Jeremy and Kirsty - friends from Aussie now working in Singapore. It seemed like a great time of fellowship and seeing the Singapore sights. As for me, i was home alone for the five days :(
However, I managed to get around on the motor bike and made it to and from uni safely. I watched lots of dvds (thanks mum!) and had a few assignments to do. I ate at all our usual places and generally lamented over being on my own - poor shop owners! I was also lucky enough to joing a cooking class - we made a chicken curry, potato and bean curry and corn fritters which were delicious.
Now Ben is home which is lovely. We are entertaining the thought of heading down to the beach this weekend although it largely depends on whether we can transport the surfboard there safely.
That's all for now - please keep in touch and we're looking forward to those of you who can visit.
A & B