Indonesian @ Matthew Flinders GSC

Indonesian Trip - 12th September 2015

At approximately 3am on Saturday the 12th of September, 16 students and their families arrived at the Gull Bus Station for the Indonesia Study Trip 2015. Among these students were teachers too - Ms Caroline Hall, Mr Ross Kalla, Mr Jeremy Dyson and Ms Bridget Henry.

After piling on the bus we started what would be a long journey. We arrived at Tullamarine Airport at approximately 5am where we, as Bu Hall liked to call it, “free ranged” around the airport until our check in time. Fully fed and energised, we all met up and checked in at around 6am, where we then eagerly awaited our boarding time at 8:30am. For many students on the trip it was their first international flight.

Arriving in Bali, Indonesia at 12:00 noon (3:00 pm Australian time) the heat of Indonesia hit us hard - going from 15 to 30 degrees is a big adjustment. Many of us were sleep deprived and exhausted from the 6 hour plane ride and we were 12 hours into our journey, but we persevered and many of us eagerly awaited the chance to put our Indonesian skills to the test. Once again we were allowed to “free range” around the airport until our next flight to Praya at 2:30 pm.

Arriving in Praya, we had another hour and a half bus ride to Mataram (the capital of Lombok), where we would meet our host sisters and go to school for the next week. Many of us went home to rest for what would be a week filled with fun. We were nervous, but excited and our host families were very welcoming.

Monday morning was our first day at our sister school ‘Sekolah Menengah Atas Negeri 1’ (Senior State High School 1 – we just call it SMANSA) in Mataram. Many of our host sisters awoke early in the morning as school started at approximately 7:00 am.  After standing around in the heat for what felt like forever, many of the Indonesian students eagerly waited to take photos with us, the ‘bule’. The next few days at the school were spent attending classes with our host sisters, munching on the delicious food from the canteen, and hiding away in our air conditioned room when the heat was too much.

Day 6, many of us were homesick and exhausted from waking early and going to bed late, but we all had adjusted to the heat and we went for our first day trip to Sendang Gile Waterfall. There were actually two waterfalls – one close and one far, but both were reached by many, many steps! It was a long hike, but after what felt like forever walking through the jungle, we arrived at the big waterfall. We all enjoyed a well-deserved swim and the water was freezing!

Day 7, our second day trip, but this time it was to Kuta Beach, or Tanjung Aan, Lombok. The views and crystal clear water made up for the heat and sunburn.

We spent the next two days with our host sisters and going to school. We ‘Tari Saman-ed’ at Lombok Epicentrum Mall (my personal favourite place ever) in front of around 300 people. The Tari Saman is a dance from North Sumatra that Bu Henry had spent most of Term 3 teaching us. It was scary but everyone did a great job!

On Saturday night and on Sunday it was SMANSA’s 58th birthday. We paraded the streets and then sat down and watched performances by the students including bands to students breathing fire. That night we also had our farewell party.  We all gathered at the school and enjoyed a night filled with food, fun and laughs. We performed our Tari Saman dance again and that was then followed by a very impressive dance by some of the Indonesian students.

After another 3:00 am start, we all met up back at SMANSA for the last time. We farewelled our host sisters and took off for the airport for the second leg of our trip. Many of us didn’t want to leave our host sisters as we’d gotten along so well, but we were excited for our road trip around Sumatra.

After another two plane rides we arrive in Medan, Sumatra. We got to stay at the Tiara Hotel for just one night of luxury before starting our five day road trip. 

The first day of our road trip involved crossing a very long, Indiana Jones-like bridge, to get to a place called Tangkahan. Some of us got to relax and play in another waterfall, while others of us got to go elephant trekking. This was very basic accommodation but the food made up for it, and I think many of us were relieved that there weren’t any squat toilets!

The next day we helped wash the elephants and rode elephants around the jungle; it was an amazing experience! The baby elephants were very, very cute! It was great to see the impact that eco-tourism has had on the area – before the elephants were there, Tangkahan was a logging village, but now the jungle and the animals in it are protected.

Upon our departure from the Mega Inn Lodge, we crossed the long, scary bridge one last time and prepared ourselves for a long drive to our next stop – Bukit Lawang.

Once we had arrived at our next destination, we had to cross yet another scary bridge, and the next day we went hiking through the jungle to see orangutans. We got to see two mothers and babies playing in the trees right above us, which was amazing. In the distance, we could hear gibbons and we managed to actually see one, too!

Bukit Lawang works with groups like The Orangutan Project to protect orangutans and raise awareness of the problems they face. We spent a lot of the time leading up to the trip fundraising and were proud to be able to present a cheque for $1 500 – it was great to see what our hard work was for and where our money was going. Our donation was enough to get three orangutans through the rehabilitation process and released back into the wild.

After visiting the orang-utans in the jungle, we set out on a long bus ride to Lake Toba, where we would catch a ferry to our lake-side hotel for the next two nights. We stopped at a traditional house, where they showed us how to make sirih – it turns your mouth all red and tastes disgusting if you’re brave enough to try it!

 Lake Toba was filled with swims in the massive crater lake and visits to the traditional villages around the Island – it was all amazing. We got to see megalithic execution stones at Ambarita, join in a traditional dance at Simanindo and see the Batak kings’ tombs at Tomok. Of course, we got to go shopping as well, which was a highlight!

 After eaving Lake Toba, we went back to the Tiara Hotel in Medan, which would be our last hotel. The bus ride was long and tiring – everyone in North Sumatra seemed like they were going home after a long weekend, so we got kemacetan, or stuck in traffic for seven long hours. Karaoke helped us, but I’m pretty sure the teachers weren’t as happy about it as we were…

 Our last night in Indonesia was filled with swims at the pool and well deserved sleep. Before arriving at the Airport, we went on a City Tour, visiting the Masjid Raya or Great Mosque and seeing the sights of Medan. At the airport, we were all sad to leave Pak Jo, our tour guide for the week, and the bus drivers, who had done a great job driving us around all week.  They slept on the bus every night of our road trip!

 Leaving Medan Airport, we caught a connecting flight to Australia, many of us got no sleep on the plane, and so we were all very tired. Landing in Australia, many of us were happy but sad.  We had enjoyed our time in Indonesia but we were glad to be home. It was very cold, though!! This would also be the last time we would see Bu Henry, who we had enjoyed bonding with over the last two weeks.

 It was an experience of a lifetime, and if we all had the chance we would do it all over again.

The girls on who came on the trip were: Hannah Arkinstall, Laura Bath, Gemma Bird, Hayley Bond, Ashleigh Borgelt, Bella Hall, Emily Harrison, Abbey Henry, Emmason John, Nicola Kett, Charlotte Kitchenman, Georgia Pupovac, Jacqui Robinson, Abigail Robinson, Lucy Schaeche-Priestley and Ellamae Tanner.

 Thanks go to our wonderful teachers for making this trip possible.

Hannah Arkinstall, 10D