Here we are, still in Bandaneira! It is a very hard place to leave, life is so easy and the surrounds just beautiful. We say, "Maybe tomorrow we will move on" but we still don't feel quite ready! The people are incredibly friendly and to top it all off, Indi has her friend Ayu come to the boat every day to just 'hang out'. It's fantastic, they don't need any looking after and will just jump in the dinghy to take themselves to land for a play or they will paddle the kayak around the boat. We met Ayu on our first day here when she introduced herself with the customary "Hello Mr and Mrs, welcome to Bandaneira, let me introduce myself..." Ayu is 12 years old and a delight to have around. I have never felt so comfortable leaving Indi to play so independantly with anyone as I have seen how closely Ayu looks after her.

Banda is such a small Island, very easy to get around. We have been getting use out of our pushbike, having found a terrific road leading out to the tip of the Island, passing a few little villages along the way. It's only about 6 kilometres return with a couple of steep hills thrown in. Along the way are wells where we will see people doing their laundry out of their wash tubs and men carrying buckets of water from the well back to their home. There are chickens roaming the street and it's hard to get that 'camp dog' idea out of my head, even though they are only chickens! There are no dogs on this Island but plenty of cats. Everywhere people are busy doing things, whether it be carrrying a load of coconuts on their shoulders, building and maintaining their homes, cooking and selling their produce at the markets. Above all this, we are always greeted with a friendly smile.

We have climbed the volcano, Gunung Api, which is 666 metres high. It last errupted in 1988 and is expected to errupt every 200 years. The other day we felt a small tremor. The climb up took a few hours and the view was magnificent (photo's will come....) We went snorkelling below the lava flow from the last erruption, the coral was so rich and abundant fish. Indi independantly swam around for a good couple of hours enjoying the great visibility. She then went and explored the volcanic rocks with Rene from Anima.

There are plenty of spices available here, being part of the Spice Islands. We have enjoyed dinner at Muthiara's a couple of times, eating under a nutmeg tree. The meal was so fantastic I then went and spent an afternoon learning recipes and how to cook some Indonesian dishes with Dilla. I felt fortunate to spend this time with Dilla. While there their resident White Cockatoo would come into the kitchen saying in Indonesian "I'm hungry!" It was quite funny! Aba runs Muthiara Guesthouse/Restaurant, I recommend it to anyone coming to Banda.

This morning we went with Ayu to her school. Her Teacher is Mr Chinta and we took Indi's preschool song (thanks Peddie!) the 'Wombat Wobble' to do with the Class. It was lots of fun and the students all got really involved. We also had a book with the different animals from the song. We spent some time there while the students practiced their English. I now have a few of them, including Ayu, standing here while I update this blog! They are helping me to get spelling and information correct.

We don't see to many cars around here but there are certainly plenty of motor scooters. It is small enough to walk around and is very safe. We thought we would leave tomorrow but at this stage we still don't feel ready to leave this beautiful paradise and the friends we have made.