Secret beaches.

31.10.11

Today we decided to hire bikes to explore Kuta and surrounding beaches from

a different perspective. The bikes had been delivered earlier so we

adjusted seats, collected supplies and free-wheeled down the road!

The problems came when we got to the bottom of the hill and we wanted

to start peddaling and couldn't get any friction. So we tried

adjusting the gears etc. We got to the crossroads to turn left

to Kuta and still no joy, we were both peddling frantically!!

So we called Gemma and she phoned the guy that had rented them to

us and he gave us some advice on how to change gears!! We continued

cycling along the beachfront. Martin abruptly found the correct gear,

as it dropped in, smacked his knee on the handlebars and then again.

By this time I was still having troubles and we were already both

saddle sore, so we decided to abandon our cycling attempts!!

A little disappointed we began walking along Kuta beach. We

could see some tiny secluded bays so we aimed to explore those. As

we walked along the beach, a total of about 1.5km we must have seen

a total of 8 tourists! We crossed between 3 coves as we walked

along Kuta beach, marked by strange nobbly rock formations like

creased rusting steel. Sitting on one we watched several small lizards,

that had skin that reminded me of slow worms, tiptoe silently around.

As we walked further along the beach we passed

simple houses made from bamboo panels. Again there was a small fleet

of fishing boats on the sand and some bobbing around in the shallows.

A few men were folding away their fishing nets and as we approached them

another boat came in. A small group appeared and began pulling the

narrow boat out of the water, using tree trunks. One of them called to

Martin to help so of course he dutifully dropped the rucksack and began

pushing!

With his chore complete we continued walking. Once we had walked past the small

community of fishing huts the beach got dirtier, with lots of litter and

seaweed washed up. But it soon passed. We got to the end of this cove

and just had the hurdle of more volcanice looking rock to climb until we

reached our own private little coves. So we hopped from rock to rock

beneath a half-finished villa being built on the hillside and were rewarded

with the first of 3 little private beaches that we pottered between, examining

between each rock, watching crabs scurry away.

The sand in these bays glittered in the sun and in places the sand was black.

Washed up on the sand was lots of coral, all white but so varied. Some like

bushels of cauliflower; some round handfuls of brain matter (!); some like

branches of a tree that have been dipped in plaster. There was also lots of

different types of seaweed and I collected some beautiful shells.

It was amazing sat on a rock with our feet in the water eating monkey nuts

and looking towards Kuta beach, without being able to see another soul

on the beach and just the odd fishing boat heading back in from a mornings

fishing. While we were sat there we made a new friend, a very friendly, happy dog!

He then followed us back along the beach, chasing the pale sand crabs as they

raced out of their holes towards the sea. He always made the mistake of

pouncing on them, sending sand everywhere and then not being able to see them

again! Martin took up the job of being his spotter, but he didn't tend to

pay any attention to Martin's signalling and whistling!

We walked to our favourite warung for a refreshing, cool freshly-blended

pineapple/mango juice and then began our walk to Mimpi Manis, which seems

a lot longer at Midday! School had obviously just finished as hoards of

school children were walking/riding in groups down the road. To our

suprise a moped whizzed past being driven by what looked like a 9 year old,

with 3 other children on the back! A large truck was sat at the side of the

road full of people standing in the back, and 5 or 6 boys sat on top of the

drivers compartment playing drums! Along the road, we smelt it before we

saw it, was buckets of cooked fish on sticks. Outisde most houses families

were sat dozing or chatting on shady terraces, most greeting us as we

walked past.

We were extremely hot and sweaty once we got home and spent the rest of the

afternoon dozing, writing and reading. Another lovely day!