Weekend away at Krakal beach

I heard a few little footsteps upstairs earlier and figured there was a gecko or rat or something lovely running around... and its a puppy! One of the girls just got back from Bali and now has a little puppy in her room... Illhave to investigate later...Got back from the beach, fresh air and peacefulness earlier tonight... sigh... wish i was still at the beach! Weleft Jogja about 9 or so Saturday morning in a cute little mini bus and wound our way thru the hills of GunungKidul for a couple of hours. It was so nice! As soon as we left the city, the sun was shining and there was nopollution in the air! It was divine, everyone instantly became happy and relaxed... holiday mode even tho we justwent overnight. There were about 20 acicis students and so we booked out this losmen, a hotel about 50 metres fromthe beach. The rooms were basic but fine, after I got rid of the foot-long gecko and army of bullants! We stoppedfor lunch at another beach, called Baron, which is really just a fishing beach and there were heaps of long boatsup on the shore. Brownish sand- good sign, the last beach i went to had black sand!We arrived at Krakal, a great surfing beach, and met up with a few of the other aussie students whod come up a fewdays earlier to surf... A quick unpack and we headed down to the beach... heaven! I spent hours just sitting thereand watching the waves and enjoying the fresh air and sounds of the ocean. Made me think how much better it wouldbe to be studying at a uni on Bali, at least then there would be water within 2 hours drive... sounds more like home! The beach is interesting, the sand was quite sloped and led down to the water. The first 100m or so is a reefand beyond that a big surf. When we arrived it was low tide and there were lots of locals walking out on the reef and rocks above the water level looking for... seafood? Some of the guys had been out and caught mussels andother things before we got there. Jess and I tried to walk out past the rocky bit to one of the pools in the reefbut it was too hard with bare feet so we resigned ourselves to sunbaking... ah the life... lol. The area is made upof four or five little beaches, each around a bend in the coast, so we wandered around a bit. Very hard walkingon the sand tho! It was really course so didnt really hold ground when you stepped on it, like one step forward forevery two you stumbled back! Cos it was low tide, we could walk out on the rocks (with thongs on) to one of themassive rocks on the coast which had a cave going thru the middle of it... it was nice but the tide was coming ina bit too quick for my liking, and I later found out the cave is full of seasnakes! yuck...There was a little area on the beaches where we could swim, a bit of a slip lane between the reefs, pretty shallowbut it was nice to just lie around in the water and cool off! I snuck into the water when a big group of Muslimpeople left then out again after the next round... feels a bit wierd, they swim in their clothes, pretty muchjust jump around in the waves in shorts or trousers and a tshirt... felt so underdressed and shy!We had some beautiful food for dinner, fresh fish and vegies and rice.... and watermelon! yummm. I dont havewatermelon at my kos much, i dont have a fridge and dont want any more ants... and I sat down on the beach witha couple of the girls and chatted. There were so many stars, it was amazing, Id forgotten, you dont notice themin the city! We thought we saw the southern cross... maybe.Slept ok, it was actually a bit cold, had to hunt around for my sarong as a blanket! And got woken up before 6 bya lovely repetitive rooster (makes a change to the call for prayer songs) and some fighting geese. Felt very rural!Beautiful time of day tho, there were a few people around, sitting on the beach so we just chilled out as the suncame out. I went up to the lookout, it was strange, there was a lot of mist or spray around the beaches, but verybeautiful. This morning the beach was completely different. It was high tide so the reef had disappeared, and thesurf out further was massive, ten foot waves or something (too many surfie conversations this weekend...). I wentand stood out in the water, not too keen to swim above the reef in the waves, but it was still pretty hard to justkeep my footing, as there were lots of rocks under the sand. More reading and thinking and relaxing... and we allreluctantly packed up to head back to the city... It was really really nice. Lots of time to relax and not rush,me time and a break from the hustle of Jogja. But now that im back, I appreciate my pillow and my bed and my comfy little room... Ive made it mine so its a bit homely now :)