The delights of the deep.

Bali's northern shore is a campur (mixture) of tiny fishing villages juxtaposed alongside enormous, oversized and undoubtedly overpriced tourist resorts. The main road across the island acts like an artery, the pulsing blood of commerce surging along it at great speed, avoiding numerous chickens along the way. We have experienced it the way almost nobody else has.(although we heard of another Aussie couple who paddled a double kayak there about 5 years ago).

By far the jewels in the crown of this stretch are the coral-lined coasts of Pulau Menjangan in the west and the scuba divers havens of Tulamben and Amed in the east. The enticing wreck of the USS Liberty, which sank there in WWII, lies just metres off the shore within easy reach of the snorkeller. Making the most of this region, and stopped in our tracks daily by the wind, we explored this underwater realm with delight.

Weighing heavily on our minds as we paddled this exciting coastline was the crossing to Lombok. I was really keen to push through the significant risks of attempting this dangerous crossing but, as always, we roll with the punches and pick our battles. Finding a fast boat that could take our kayaks and coordinating the loading and unloading of our heavy boats onto this small vessel ended up being quite a mission in itself, but one that paid off handsomely. Jumping the deep ocean trench that marks the Wallace Line where, essentially, Australia collides with Asia, the conditions turned out to be much stronger, windier and more dangerous than I had expected. I sure was glad to get a lift over this stretch of water.

To continue our paddling adventure we need to make a visa run at this stage which involves getting to Bali, flying to Jakarta, Singapore, Jakarta again to organise a visa extension, and then back to Bali, Lombok and Gili Trawangan. This will give us 60 more days in the country before we'll need to repeat the process. Our kayaks and all our gear therefore needed to find a home for a few days while we complete our international dash, and Gili Trawangan has turned out to be the perfect spot.

Trawangan is the tropical paradise that first time visitors to Bali probably expect to find the minute they walk off the plane. White sandy, palm tree-lined beaches surrounded by rich coral gardens are jammed to the waterline with sun-bronzed, muscled, carefree backpackers ogling at the scantily clad bikini babes soaking up the rays while sipping on a freshly cut coconut.

With a couple of days to spare before our international jet-setting we enrolled in a free-diving course and spent two days learning how to sink ourselves into the depths with no more than a mask, a pair of fins and the breath of air in our lungs. This sport gracefully combines yoga and relaxation with heart thumping adrenaline and we both managed to descend at least 20 metres into the deep. Seeing as we have two more months of paddling along coral lined shores coming up before our next visa run we figured we had better learn a few tricks about how to get the most from this incredible environment.

As I tap out these last words our plane is descending past the craggy peaks of Java's vast volcanoes into the dense smoggy miasma choking Jakarta. With thoughts of coral lined paradise fresh in our memories (and our bodies nearly recovered from a fortnights hard paddling) we can't wait to get back into the kayaks, back on the water and back into this grand Archipaddlo adventure.

Photos: 1. Lain paddling past one of thew many sea temples lining the coast of north Bali. 2. The wreck of the USS Liberty in Tulamben is a diver's dream. 3. Juz and Lain enjoying the dawn, and a bowl of soggy muesli, somewhere in paradise. 4. Lain explores the depths.