Mount Bromo - Blogabond

View of Mount Bromo from the edge of the large crater

The next morning I climbed into another minivan for the first leg of my trip through Java back to Bali. The other passengers were a French couple, a French Canadian, and a short fat hairy middle-aged Frenchman, who did actually smell, and wore incredibly short shorts. Of course, I ended up stuck in the back of the minivan with fatty. The air-con was broken too. On top of this, the floor in front of me was so hot from the engine underneath, that if I tried to take my flipflops off I got scorched. So, we cooked. And I would describe the smell given off by Frenchman, as something akin to when someone stuck a tuna sandwich in the heater in the English demountable at school, after a few weeks in situ.

The bus stopped after a couple of hours, and without a word, we pulled up over a mechanics' pit, and a couple of guys got out a blowtorch and some spanners and got to work. 1/2 hour later, we were back on our way, and eventually got to our hotel in the pitch black and freezing cold (due to the altitude) at around 9:30.

We were visiting Mount Bromo; another active volcano. Only this one was a lot more picturesque, and a lot less volatile - Bromo is quite happy just sitting there smoking away and looking good. So this means that you can climb all the way to the Crater's edge and have a peek down.

Close up of Bromo itself

Bromo is actually only one of 3 side by side volcanoes, which are all located inside the Crater of an old super-volcano. It was from this super-volcano's edge that we were to get our first peek and photo-opportunity of Bromo at dawn the next morning. And it really was a spectacular sight, with a thin layer of mist covering the massive plain within the Crater, only punctured by the 3 peaks in the centre. As the sun grew stronger and the mist began to recede, you could just make out the temple at the foot of Bromo, and it was towards this that our jeep headed next.

View back down from Bromo's crater towards the temple

It took about 5 minutes to travel across the plain in the jeep, just from the edge to the centre. It was a surreal landscape to travel through - completely flat and desolate from Crater edge to volcano. No trees, no features, just dusty grey sand underfoot.

A look down into Bromo's crater

We got out by the temple, managed to avoid all the locals trying to get us to use horses for the walk, and made our way to the Crater's edge. Looking in, it was a sharp drop down into the centre, but it wasn't that deep. There was a crack right at the bottom, perhaps only a few metres wide, though which the clouds of smoke were pouring. The sulphur in the air here was pretty strong, and after a while walking around the Crater you could really feel it getting in your nose and throat; so I only lasted about 15 minutes up there before heading back down.

We got back to our hotel on the larger Crater's edge in time for breakfast, and were on our way to Bali by 9. We were supposed to arrive in Denpasar in Bali at 7pm. We finally pulled up at the bus station around midnight.

written by

olliejohnson on October 12, 2006 from Probolinggo, Indonesia

from the travel blog: A man from Cockshutt.

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I have to say Oliver I'm a little peeved. After our "educational, informative and witty" (Liz Murphy) blog inspired yours, you have now stolen our spot as featured blog on Blogabond's homepage. Okay, Okay I appreciate that while your blog may be a little more "cultured" than ours, and chooses to discuss the actual places you visit, while ours centres more around local nightlife and food (still very important aspects of travelling), I still find this rather rude. It certainly doesn't mean yours is better than ours at any rate, we did after all make it for 5 months as featured bloggers. You still have a long way to go young man so don't go getting big-headed yet.

Anyway what I was actually commenting on was the fact that we are in Australia currently travelling down the East coast so I'm guessing our paths may cross at some point. Let us know your plans.

Murph Junior.

written by Helen Patricia Murphy on October 24, 2006

Hello Helen, and all the other smug women,

I'm glad you, like the blogabond creators and (now vast majority of) readers, are enjoying my blog. It truly is "an awe-inspiring trip into the human psyche, as well as pretty much the funniest thing I've ever read. In fact, I laughed so much I fell out of my chair." (S.Hawking, 2006) And not only am I entertaining with the writing stuff side of things, I'm also an "artist behind the camera" (R.Johnson, 2006). The most complete blogger online today? Probably.

Fear not though, I'm almost done with the blogs. For the time being anyway - I'm going to be in Melbourne for a few months for work and money. If / when you guys get down there you'll have to let me know. Oh, and I liked the mining headtorch look that Mr MMcConaughey was sporting. I might have to give it a go myself...

written by

olliejohnson on October 28, 2006

I suspect that you will find too much of interest in your surroundings and fellow man to be able to completely stop blogging, so I look forward to the occasional updates with your sideways look at life! I have also been following the exploits of the smug crew so I will not go without something entertaining to read in the cold wet days of winter. Have fun working - apparently it is a good cure for oversleeping! Victoria has more than it's share of wine production for such a small territory and the Yarra Valley extends from the Noth West outskirts of Melbourne. You may even be able to put your knowledge of the grape to use!!

written by Old Man of Cockshutt on October 31, 2006

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