Bikes, Buses, Boats, Beaches and Beer, on a Budget - Noddy's (mis)Adventures in Asia

WILDERNESS LODGE, GATOKAE ISLAND

We finally make it to Wilderness Lodge and one guy is very confused at why this boat is pulling up on their private jetty. There is a deep circular lagoon fringed all the way round with beautiful coral and you have to take the boat through a little gap in the reef. The lodge itself looks perfect nestled in amongst the palm trees and right on the water, this place is much more upmarket and somewhere you could take your girlfriend.

A big contrast to Mavo, which although beautiful and still my favourite, was a lot simpler. It is all very confusing for a while as there doesn’t appear to be anybody here either. Oh crap, here we go again! We try to find somebody who knows what’s going on and I stumble across the Aussie owner/husband of owner? (although for legal reasons I’m guessing, he claims no part or knowledge in any of it ) who has just come in from diving and he is of no help whatsoever. ‘Nothing to do with me mate, my wife runs it’…..

We’re wandering around trying to work out what the hell is going on in a strange country, on a remote island and this guy won’t give us the time of day?! Did not help AT ALL?! What bullshit! Get your head out of your ass man, you want to live in paradise, on granted money from what we gathered, then at least be of some assistance, especially to your fellow Australians. Offered no help whatsoever and I couldn’t care less if he reads this, you’re an absolute tool mate.

Glad we only had a few encounters with this guy during our stay. Get’s better though, has paying customers coming to the place to catch GT’s and many other species, and they’re out there spearing them and killing billfish?! But this shouldn’t reflect badly on the rest of the place and I would recommend Wilderness Lodge to anyone who dreams of a tropical island escape without roughing it. Just another slice of paradise in the Solomon Islands.

We finally talk to somebody who will help, they are not ready for us obviously as we are 4 days early, but they offer us a delicious, refreshing, cold, fresh fruit juice, just what we need after the trip getting here, and we wait around some more while our room is prepared. They even bring out an awesome seafood pasta for lunch and it is well received as it is delicious and we are starving.

We finally get a look at our room, one of the 2 ‘deluxe’ ones they have there, it would be quite romantic if not for the 2 other feral, hairy blokes I have to share it with. We all get a double bed, the room has its own bathroom and 2 outdoor showers, one attached to a tree out the front and another beautifully crafted from stone out the back. We have this amazing deck that extends over the clear water and coral and I can tell there will be much Solbrew and Johnny Arrow consumed out here! The trip is saved again and things are looking up!

It is late afternoon and we just relax, the three of us are actually reading a lot on this trip and it’s a nice change, I usually find it hard to just relax and sit still, but the Solomon’s have a way of allowing it with ease. Dinner time rolls around and as with Mavo, the food here is also fresh, healthy, abundant and delicious. We also get to meet our skipper for the next 10 days, John, who turns out to be a real character and great fun.

This guy really knows the meaning of relaxed, not sure I’ve ever met a bloke so casual about everything. We discuss our plans and targets and set a ‘schedule’ for the next day. There is another guy staying at Wilderness already, an Australian living abroad in Singapore.. Hong Kong? I can’t remember, but his name is Rob, over here to do some diving and a really great bloke, we find ourselves sitting up late into the evening with a few beers talking about travelling.

The lagoon from G Earth, you can see the jetty that extends from the main hut, across beautiful coral and giant clam garden out into the deep drop off