Sunrise over Borobudur with the active volcano Merapi in the distance © Tony Redhead

Kelly and I tend to travel mostly as a couple and enjoy being on the road together discovering new places and experiencing all that travel offers. Our most recent trip through Central/East Java and the Spice Islands was a unique experience for us, as we travelled with another couple, our dear friends Nick Rains and Janelle Lugge. Nick had arranged a vehicle for the time it would take us to go from Yogyakarta in Central Java to Denpasar in Bali. This was one of the most memorable road trips I have been on and it will be a memory I shall treasure. We had the most beautiful weather, even when it poured with rain on Mount Igen, and the shared experiences, beyond the two of us, were immensely satisfying.

Beyond Denpasar was a ten day voyage on the National Geographic Orion as we travelled along the route through the Spice Islands to Cairns, Australia. This trip was made even more memorable by the presence of two more dear friends, Dr David Silverberg and his wife Marianne Selsjord.  

East Java

Spice Islands

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Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population roughly equal to Russia as of 2014, (excluding the 3.7 million on the island of Madura which is administered as part of the province of East Java), Java is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated places in the world. Java is the home of 57 percent of the Indonesian population.

The Maluku Islands or the Moluccas are an archipelago within Indonesia. The islands were also historically known as the "Spice Islands" by the Chinese and Europeans, but this term has also been applied to other islands outside Indonesia.

Bandanaira Island in the Moluccas