AIMEES GUIDE TO GILI T



Restaurant owners favourite dish

Sunrise instead of Sunset - Just to mix it up
 

Ferry port, Gili Trawangan

I have worked Asian travel so that it is cheaper than staying in Australia for my breaks.

For example Gili T in Indonesia - Perth to Lombok direct with jetstar $210 return. 2 hour taxi to the ferry port $20, half hour ferry $1.30. One nights accommodation between $25-$30. Scuba diving $35 per dive. Not to mention $2 beer and $2 for Mie goreng. Gili T in comparison to Lombok is quite expensive and this is me not being a tight ass and being a 'rich' tourist, if I was keener, I could do it cheaper.
 

Gili Trawangan makes up one of the three gili islands and is a backpacker haven for partying and diving. Surprisingly I have had little to do with the partying on the island because I have always been too keen on the diving.
 

I did my Advanced Open Water dive course here on Gili T about 3 months ago and fell in love with the place and the dive shop. All the diving is quite close to shore so it involves basically no travel time. Having dive sites so close means you can get a dive in, in the morning, come back for lunch, get a quick nap in and be ready for your afternoon dive. Then after your second dive, be back to shore by 3:30 to drink beer and swim in the pool. If you want
to get a night dive in you have to skip the beer

The sunset at the bottom end of the island is the 'thing' to do. There is two bars at the best viewing point that fill up about 45 mins before sunset. Sitting out front of the dive shop you can actually see the hoards of bikes heading past in that direction.

Food on Gili T is pretty amazing with lots of fresh Bbq'd seafood. A great place to sample local Indonesian food is at the night markets, with all sorts of variety from chicken noodle soup to fish in local spices with rice. I learnt from a friend that a good way to get good local food is to ask the waiter what their favourite dish is and order that. I have been doing this for a while now... Sometimes I win, sometimes I really lose.

Another thing that helps make for a unique little spot is that there are no motor vehicles on the island. Locals and tourists use horse and cart and bikes to get around. You can ride/push your bike around the island in about an hour.

 

Really not a hard place to spend my RDO's

 

 

 

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CURRENT - ISH

Karajini National Park, Western Australia

Hendo's leverage tool for changing the engine mounts

Diving Baja

Ok so I have found sailing, found Mexico, found a boat and bought it! Now were up to date...ish.

At current to sustain this lifestyle I am in Australia still working. My mate Hendo on the other hand was smart enough to quit his job and is in Mexico doing some work to my boat (absolute gun). He also has big plans of putting it back in the water and cruising around on it for a while. I am working to get back there.

In the meantime however, I have been lucky enough to have a two week on site, one week off site roster. Allowing me to be homeless and just about travel wherever I want for my week off, saving money by not paying rent and for a car, etc.

Over the past 18 months I have been floating between Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Kalgoorlie. And been on trips to China, Mexico (twice), Thailand, Indo (twice), Broome, Kununurra, and briefly Karratha and Karajini. Not a bad effort considering I have had a full time job.

Right now I am in the middle of changing sites with an unexpected 2 weeks leave(paid being debated) in between.

So what do u do when your put on the next plane out of Port Hedland... You book more flights. Too expensive and not enough time to fly to Mexico, so 10 Days diving in the Gili Islands it is!

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BOAT BUYING

 



The Sea Trial



Camaron Cerviche
 



The Ole Volvo



 

 

 The second I got to La Paz I knew I had made the right decision going. I had semi organised to stay on Franks boat but was pretty vague on the details. He knew around when we were arriving and I just kind of figured I would meet him at our local bar. When I arrived he had organised a little welcome back gathering - with some of my favourite people that were still in La Paz, along with some friendly new faces. Instantly I was glad I had made the journey.

 

When your actually in La Paz, time slows down. Days feel like weeks and weeks feel like months. Luckily for me this meant not only could I get in some boat buying time, I also had plenty of time to eat all my favourite foods. Having a weeks worth of time in one day also meant that I could eat more than just 3 meals each day- which is exactly what I need when it comes to cramming all the best taco stands and restaurants into 3 days. 

On day two we went on a sea trial. Luckily for us there was just enough wind for a beautiful day of sailing. She comfortably fit 8 of us and handled perfectly. She is an incredibly sturdy yet forgiving sailboat and I was instantly in love. In love with the boat, in love with ocean and in love with the lifestyle. Only one minor oversight...

I really know very little about sailing!
 

 

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APPARENTLY YOU SHOULD VIEW A YACHT WHEN YOU BUY IT!



 



 

Hendo, Lulu, Frank & Steve at Costa Baja

 

When Frank told me about this boat I was intrigued. A 1978 Rafiki Cutter - the type of boat I had been originally dreaming of. A boat covered in Teak, that I could pretend was my own miniature pirate ship.

 I got as much info as I could from the owner and had friends (Frank included) go and look at it. I was going to make my decision blindly from Australia. - I didn't have the leave and was very uninterested at the thought of going all the way to Mexico just for my rostered week off.

I was at work in the shipping container (makeshift hose-shop) when I told my friend Hendo about the possible purchase. He was pretty adamant that I should at least go over and look at it before I made a decision. I wasn't keen but deemed it do-able to fly over on my one week break. $1500 flights being the decision maker.

Hendo seemed as intrigued by this boat as I was and I think the fact I was randomly heading to Mexico gave him a good excuse to get out of Port Hedland for a week, so off we trotted.

 

Going to Mexico for a week in itself was quite a feat. From Port Hedland to La Paz was nearly 40 hours each way. 4 flights, 4 airport lounges, many cocktails and a 2 hour drive. That left 4 nights/3 full days in Mexico.

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FRANK

 

 

Frank and I briefly met at a backpackers in Ocean Beach, San Diego. Frank was driving down to Mexico in the direction I was heading and as I am always looking for a free ride, I hit him up for a lift in return for some great company! Frank is a young at heart, 60 ish year old semi retired Texan lawyer; always keen for company and a good debate or philosophical discussion on life. I also since learnt that he knows more about 60's and 70's Rock than anyone I have ever met! The morning of our departure another girl from the backpackers Alison, decided to join us as well.

I had only planned on heading about 150kms down the Baja Peninsula, however, after sitting in the car with Frank for a brief period of time we obviously got chatting about where Frank was going. Turns out he had just bought a 32ft downeaster called Island Seeker in La Paz and he was heading down to put it in the water to live on...

Safe to say all the sailing dreams/goals and bucket list priority came flooding back. I made the 1500km journey to La Paz with Frank and Alison and spent 3 months in the town and on the surrounding islands. I also had the privilege of being part of an amazing community of sailors where I inherited my 'La Paz Parents' and a La Paz Family.
 

18 months-ish after returning home - back to work in North Western Australia, doing Fly in Fly out to Port Hedland; I got a Facebook message from Frank saying 'if you still want to buy a boat, then I have found the one for you'

 

 

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THE BACK STORY!



Kochin, India

 

Gokarna, India



Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, Malaysia

 

 

I stumbled across my first sailing experience when my travel buddy and I were chasing our next adventure and were pointed in the direction of a Malaysian yacht race 'The Raja Muda'. We solely saw this as an opportunity for a free ride - not to mention some great parties. During this 'race' we met heaps of different yachties. One who eventually invited us on a voyage to the Mediterranean. Long story short, we sailed from Malaysia to India where the captain got sick. 9 months later we flew home- After finding ourselves and our inner peace, of course!

After the Raja Muda yacht race; a month in Langkawi getting the boat ready; a 3 week voyage and a lot of open ocean, my mind was blown! It was blown so much that owning a sailboat became my dream.

Over the next 8 years as I went from ridiculously poor traveller to working in the Western Australian mining industry the category of 'dream' got upgraded to 'goal' and I nearly bought a live aboard sailboat with my ex boyfriend.

With life, work and relationships changing, my 'goal' of owning a sailboat along with lots of other things, turned back into a 'dream' and got down graded to low priority - then I met Frank...
(enter suspenseful music here)


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AND SO IT BEGAN...

I'm a 28 year old single, Australian female Traveller June last year I bought my own 37ft sailboat - it lives in Mexico.... Shit yeah!

I grew up Coastal but never around boats. When I was seventeen I had the opportunity to spend a reasonable amount of time overseas which grabbed me hook, line and sinker. 

When I was nineteen I had a mind blowing travel/cruising experience! Now, not mind blowing in the sailing sense (so any of you actual sailors reading this switch off now) but mind blowing to someone that didn't even know this lifestyle existed!

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