After a long awkward pause and months of living in limbo, we’re about to hit ‘play’ on our overseas adventure once again, and return back to our jungle island life. We’re off to the airport in the morning, where the logistically challenging journey back to Sumbawa with way too much luggage in tow will begin. We have received information in advance that the little supply shop near our jungalow (which usually caters for our basic food and grocery needs), is in fact rather short on supplies. We’ve heard that even those handy little rolls of 2 ply paper that our Westernised backsides are very much accustomed to, are out of stock. The knowledge that we may be forced to reluctantly explore the functionality of the bidet shower (which currently dangles unused beside our toilet), hasn’t quite been enough to motivate us to stuff our pockets with toilet paper. It does however beg the question – if the shop is out of toilet paper, (one of the more basic necessities) then what else might we find noticeably absent? It is this question that has resulted in a little ‘just incase buying’ and has subsequently caused some complications in the bag packing department. If you were to visit a tropical island – as you might imagine, the contents of your suitcase would probably include things like a bikini, a kaftan, a sunhat, a pair of sunglasses, some sunscreen, maybe a good book and a beach towel. You probably wouldn’t feel the need to pack a yoghurt maker, polymer clay, cockroach bait, a glue gun, scented candles, coconut oil, blue tack, chia seeds, tomato paste, kale powder, tea bags or brazil nuts. Furthermore, if you knew you were flying part of your journey on a seaplane with a 10kg luggage limit, making a last minute purchase of a drill, circular saw, and jigsaw, (not the cardboard puzzle kind of jigsaw either) would probably not be something that would be high on your priorities.  While getting ourselves and all of our (my) baggage to and through the airport tomorrow will be somewhat challenging, our international flight doesn’t pose a problem as we should be just within our luggage limits. It’s the seaplane leg of our journey on which we may find ourselves involuntarily parted with quite a few kilograms of belongings. I’m hopeful that we can find a way back to the jungalow with our random assortment of ‘necessities’ in tow!

Besides being a little apprehensive about the challenges surrounding our travel arrangements and the 10kg luggage limit, we also have some concerns centred around what exactly we might find when we open the door to our jungalow should we eventually arrive. It’s been a while since our departure from Sumbawa, and the biggest question mark is currently sitting over the fridge and whether it has remained fully functional during our absence. I will be relieved if upon our arrival, we aren’t greeted by any offensive odours when we step inside. I’ll be further relived if there are no squatters – in the form of locals, monkeys, geckos, pythons, mouse-sized cockroaches or any other creature that might have emerged from the bordering jungle and taken up semi permanent residence in the jungalow. Watch this space!