Climbing volcanoes in Java

We’ve spent the last few days on the island of Java to tackle the Mount Bromo and Mount Ijen volcanoes. Dylan made a new friend, imaginatively(!) named Peppa Pig. 

Java is one of the most populated islands in the world, which was evident by the sheer amount of traffic on the roads. We spent a long time driving between places, which was actually helpful to catch up on sleep after being woken up at 2am every morning to climb a volcano.

We started off with Mount Bromo. We couldn’t possibly climb the entire 2,700m of this beast, so we started off from the town of Bromo itself at 2,300m. Not to be dramatic, but when we started the hike, I genuinely thought I might be dying as I was struggling to breathe. Apparently this is normal due to the altitude, but it was hard work.

After the climb up Mount Bromo, we were meant to go into the crater in a jeep. However, there was a religious festival inside the crater, which by the sound of it, was bouncing.

Instead, we went to a massive waterfall which you had to walk under to get to. It was a good job we had ponchos.

We then spent the afternoon driving to Mount Ijen, ready for another early morning wake up. After a 2am wake up we then climbed Mount Ijen and also descended into its crater where they mine sulphur.

For those who can’t be arsed climbing the mountain, there is in fact a taxi service, where they will drag you up the mountain in a cart. As tempting as it was, I decided to use my own legs to climb.

We had one more car journey back to Bali, which mostly consisted of napping.

Next we fly to the Komodo national park to see, you guessed it, Komodo dragons.

P.S. For those wondering, Peppa isn’t good enough for Dylan. She isn’t even home made…