Lombok MPG Tour Sep 06

Novotel Resort, Kuta Beach

The final stop for our journey, we stayed at the spectacular Novotel Resort where the flying was amazing in the almost extra-terrestrial landscape surrounding the resort. At low tide, the villagers tended to their reef farms that produced seaweed for cosmetics and other products. With steady sea breezes, the flying was smooth and clear.

Rinjani Volcano

The Gunung Rinjani flight was one of the highlight flights of the entire trip providing a totally different environment to the coastal flight. Here, we flew near a volcano in a deep valley, This volcano is the second highest in Indonesia. Our flight was quite late in the evening due to having to wait until the wind subsided in the valley that had been creating rotors. I was able to switch off and do some amazing ridge soaring. Afterwards, we were invited to dinner by the village chief Rahman. Surreal flying up to 2500m with a take off at 1200m that pushed the performance of my motor to the limits.

Mataram City Flight

The second day of the tour was flying over Lombok's main town, Mataram. Despite a late start, the flight was good though a good amount of thermal activity was kicking up from the surrounding rice paddies. As per usual, within minutes of our arrival at the launch site, hundreds of locals had appeared for the show. Initially, our plan was to fly around the town though turbulence eventually turned us around. We later returned to the site in the evening and had another excellent scenic sunset flight.

Sengiggi Beach Resort

The first resort we stayed at was at Sengiggi Beach on the west coast of Lombok Island. The resort, on a isthmus of land surrounded by tropical reef. The evening flight here attracted a great deal of interest! A strong but steady tropical wind was blowing in from the north that made for some interesting take-offs though once airborne, a lot of fun! I snapped a few shots of the resort on the last morning with some excellent light on the water and waves.

Gili Islands Tour

This was the first day of the one week tour of Lombok Island. Here, three coral atolls are within easy reach of the main island of Lombok. These islands are a well recognized destination for divers and back-packers. Our flight out to the outermost island lasted a little over 1 hour in perfect tropical conditions.