Ugh, sorry. It's a workout, jumping in this!
SHE LAUGHS Right, let's go scare some locals.
My name's Ellie Taylor.
Sugar!
I'm a TV presenter, comedian...
What is happening?
..and you may have seen me on Ted Lasso.
Oh!
I'm in Java, Indonesia,
to take on some seriously bonkers roads.
How are we getting up there? You're driving.
No, I'm not, thank you very much!
To help me on this madcap adventure...
Ooh!Sorry. Oh, dear.
..is sports journalist turned TV presenter Alex Brooker.
Oh, brace yourself.
Now, I'm not one for risk taking, when it comes to travel.
Oh! HORN TOOTS
Normally, a holiday for me is an all-inclusive
with my wife and kids.
Guys, come on! What are you doing here?
So, I'm taking a deep breath and plunging right in.
My God, Alex! Argh, Alex!
It's going to be one hell of a ride!
Located in Southeast Asia are the 17,500 islands
that make up the country of Indonesia.
And right in the centre is our destination,
the island of Java.
The island might only be the size of England,
but it packs in more than three times as many people,
plus the small matter of over 40 live volcanoes.
We're starting our adventure near the city of Bandung,
on the east of the island.
Righty-ho!This is exciting. Ready to hit the road?
Yeah, I am. I'm looking forward to this.
I'm here because I do think
it's going to be a really good challenge for me.
I am a pathetic driver.
I find, you know, a supermarket car park terribly stressful,
and I really don't want to project that onto my daughter.
Who's driving?I'm open-minded. You can drive if you want.
I never went travelling when I was young.
It was never really an option for me to go, like, backpacking as such.
So, I quite like the idea of doing something different,
a bit of life experience.
I know Alex from sort of the comedy circuit and telly stuff,
so we've met each other multiple times over the years,
but, yeah, we don't really know each other very well.
I would be very happy with you starting things off.
OK. I'm happy to get us going. Thanks, mate.
Yeah, that's all right.Phew! It's a team effort.
I'd rather drive first, purely for my own confidence.
I'm at my most comfortable when I feel that I know
what I'm doing, where I'm going, how I'm going about it.
I slightly panic a bit when that's taken away.
You've got the most confidence in me anyone's ever had.
Have you not been in a car with me?Is that misjudged?
No, it's great. We're going to be fine.Oh, God!
I think Alex is going to be... I think he's quite confident.
Um, although not... He's not, like, arrogant.
I'm not scared to get in the car with him...yet.
BEEPING What does that mean? Handbrake.
Handbrake on.
THEY LAUGH
Right, here we go!
Blooming doing it.
Our four-day adventure will first take us 120 kilometres
to the Taman Buru mountain range,
the agricultural centre of the island.
We'll then face our first volcano, Mount Ciremai,
before reaching the craters of the Dieng Plateau.
From there, we head south to the city of Yogyakarta,
all before scaling the perilous lava flows of Mount Merapi,
one of the most active volcanoes in the world.
HORN TOOTS Busy, isn't it?
Apparently, this is the most populated island in the world.
Whoa! How's your spatial awareness?
Five out of ten.Oh, OK!
Not what you want to hear. Not really!
But the good thing is, just to let you know,
I can feel the pedal cos my... I've got so much of my leg.
So, just don't you worry. I'm not worried.
I can feel it.I'm in safe legs.
How old were you when you first got your prosthetic?
I was 13 months old...Oh, wow! ..when my foot was amputated.
And, um, my mum kept... obviously kept my first leg,
and she gave it to me. And it's this little tiny, like, little boot.
It's so sweet. Um, and I put fairy lights on it
and turned it into a Christmas decoration to hang on the tree.
Oh, my gosh! So, I've still got my first leg.
Time to use my current leg,
as we begin heading up into Java's hills
and the real start of our adventure.
Up we go. Ugh!
Oh, what are these?
How much would you shit yourself now
if we went round one of these corners and you just saw a tiger
in the middle of the road?
I think I'd rather see a tiger than a lorry.
Oh, brace yourself.
Ah! Argh!
Shit the bed! Wow!
I'll write to the council about the potholes.
ALEX LAUGHS
With stuff like this, I can't remember whether they said
it was best to speed up for it.
I'm going to say, because I'm not wearing a sports bra,
slowly is good.
Slow...
So far, Alex seems right at home on these roads,
but it looks like we're about to hit a sticky patch.
Mudslide.OK.
Ugh! Oh!
Oh, my God, my hand!
Does it really hurt cos you have to really grip?
You have to really keep hold of the wheel to stop it, like, swerving.
When I had an operation to give me an opposable thumb in 1994,
I wonder if the surgeon ever thought that the greatest test
of his handiwork literally would be
holding on to a steering wheel for dear life in Indonesia.
How proud he'd be to see me now, going,
"I tell you what, he's keeping hold. That's cos of me."
I, for one, am very grateful at the moment.
THEY LAUGH
But the road isn't done with us yet.
Fuck me!
Water, Alex. Water.
Ugh... Ugh...
Don't like the look of this already...
..I'm telling you now.
With no other route open to us, the only way is up and over.
Go on, Alex.
ENGINE REVS
Go on, go on. Go, go, go, go, go, go!
Lovely. Lovely. Lovely. Lovely!
Oh!
One dangerous road done and dusted,
and now we get to enjoy the rewards.
Wow, look at this!Oh, look!
By carving terraces into the mountainside,
farmers have taken advantage of every inch of land
to grow tea, coffee and rice.
Wow!So, the land is meant to be really fertile.
Yeah.That's why there's loads of stuff growing up here.
That's so beautiful, I can't even get my head around it.
Ah, the joys of the open road.
But it couldn't last, could it?
It's steep.It is steep.
Oh, my God!
Keep going, keep going, keep going. What? What do you mean?
What's this car doing? Oh, my God.
Fuck!
DRIVER SHOUTS INSTRUCTIONS
Well done. Well done, Alex.
Oh...
Right.Oh, God!
Oh, you're fucking joking! Joking.
Alex doesn't seem to be especially enjoying the road,
and it's not doing wonders for me, either.
This is how people kill themselves.
I don't even want to look down there.Oh, God!
Guys, come on! What are you doing here?
HORN TOOTS I can't... I can't....
DRIVER SHOUTS What's he saying?
DRIVER TOOTS HORN AND SHOUTS
What's he saying?
I'm Ellie Taylor, halfway up a mountain in Java,
with a rather stressed-out Alex Brooker at the wheel next to me.
DRIVER SHOUTS AND TOOTS HORN
What I'm going to need you to do is I'm going to need you
to tell me if my wheel is too close.
Dangerous roads I can handle, but throw in a traffic jam
and it gets a bit much.
You're OK, you're OK.Am I all right your side?I think so.
That was stressful. That was, um... That was stressful.Yeah.
I don't know about you, but shall we just go to the hotel now,
and find that?I think so.
I mean, that was... that was a dicey day of driving,
if I'm honest. Um... Wow! Never experienced anything like that.
Yeah, I'd say that's as nervous as I've been,
doing any sort of driving.
You've got to be on your toes in this place, is what I would say.
And as someone who's lacking them, er, it's a problem.
CALL TO PRAYER
It's a new day,
and Ellie and I need to plan our next move.
How did you sleep after yesterday? I slept terribly.
Why?I was...I was a bit rattled. You got rattled quite quickly.
Weirdly enough, despite the name of the show...
HE LAUGHS ..it took me by surprise.
What do you mean? You're driving today.
I'm driving today. Which is great news.
That should not fill you with confidence, though, Alex.
I'm so excited for it. Well, we're driving up a volcano.
Yeah.Is that good?It's a dormant one, though, isn't it?
It is dormant. It hasn't gone off since the '50s.
There we go.So, it's about... about time, I think.
Today's the day!
Right.Cheers.Cheers.
Right, come on, old girl!Let's go.
D for "Drive". We're off-ski.
BEEPING Handbrake!
The old handbrake.Handbrake.
I came here to up my driving game, and now's my chance.
We're off!Oh!OK.
Are you normally a really confident driver at home?
No. I drove to Manchester once and I would never want to do it again.
HE CHUCKLES
Today, we're going to get our first up-close look at a volcano.
We're heading to Mount Ciremai.
At over 3,000 metres in height, it dominates the skyline.
The plan is to drive up its slopes on an old forest rangers' track
that winds its way up the mountain to a viewpoint of the summit.
Blimey!See that big thing behind the trees there?
I think that's it. That's our volcano.
It looks very high. How are we getting up there?
You're driving. No, I'm not, thank you very much!
HE LAUGHS
What do you reckon the dating scene's like up here?
Like, imagine if you're a single person up here, like, where...
where do you go to meet people, or...?
They're quite a religious country. Oh, yeah.
So, maybe not so much dating.
When was your first kiss? When I was 13, at a school disco.
I think I was 12.
I did actually think, "This is really quite disgusting."
Oh, my gosh, yeah. And the first time I got a padded bra,
and I thought, "This is it. My life's begun."
What a rite of passage. It was, as well.
I snogged five boys that night at Helen's house party.
Oh, wow!Yeah. Oh, yeah! I think... I think five...
Maybe was it se...? I think seven was the...
What? Wow!..my, like, peak snog.
I used to have tonsillitis every weekend. Riddled.
Honestly, it was, like... I'd probably have it
at least once a month, tonsillitis.
Chronically snogging disgusting, dirty little Essex boys
called Darren.
Oh, those were the days!Oh!
Is that a petrol station? Yeah, that is a petrol station.
And with a volcano to drive up,
we really don't want to get caught short.
Here we go. There's one little petrol pump.
Oh.
Hello. Hello.
Hi. Hi.
Um... We're after some petrol, please.
Only this.
Oh, this? Oh, my God!
This looks like an old-school, like, apothecary
with, like, spells in.Yeah.
Shall I hold and you...?Please. Oh, here we go.Yeah.
I'm like the beautiful assistant.
Wow!
Do you want to get another one?
Yeah, I reckon. We've got to go up a volcano.Yeah, OK.
Cheers!Cheers. Here we go.
Num, num, num, num, num, num, num, num, num, num.
We haven't given our car a name. What would you like to call it?
Thirsty Bitch.
OK. Is that enough?Is that enough?
Um, I think that's it.
Thank you. There you go. Thank you very much.
Thank you.Have you got some cash? Yeah, I've got some cash.
Is that enough? Is that OK? Oh, I've got change.
SHE GASPS We can spend it on sweets!
Oh, amazing. Thank you.
We've got...we've got 10,000 each to spend, pocket money.OK.
I think I would like a... Oh, there's snackies here.
Oh, hi! I get to sit down. Thank you.
It's all right. Don't offer the one with one leg a seat, but it's fine.
WOMEN LAUGH
They get the cadence of the joke.
Oh!Oh, now we're talking. Thank you.
Right.Do you reckon they know we're going up the volcano
and they're, like, "Ah, bless them"? Yeah, "This is their last meal."
Thanks, guys. See you.Preparing us for the last thing we ever do.
Thanks a lot. Cheers, guys.
BEEPING
Handbrake!
ALEX CHUCKLES Every time.
Er, take it we go round to the right?
We've reached the start of our uphill adventure.
Into the wilderness.Here we go.
Believe it or not, this is actually the first time I've ever driven
up a volcano. Bring on the molten lava.
There's a big rock on my side.
Oh, shit!
Yeah, there was a rock back there. I didn't see that at all.
You absolutely leathered it.
Like, I think you might have broken it.
It's like rally driving.
These are some big rocks here.
Ugh... Ooh, cor! There's a big one on my side here.
In a bid to avoid some of the larger rocks,
Ellie's opted for a bit of off-roading...
..with limited success.
Fuck, we're on a big rock! See if we can get over it. OK.
Oh...
Let's just enjoy this bit for a second.
It's like the eye of the storm. Oh!That's what it feels like.
There's a strange calm. The clouds.
Oh, look. That's where they pull the sap off out of the rubber tree.
The what?So, you see that on the tree bark?Oh, yeah.
And that's the... They're collecting the rubber at the bottom.
So, that's what makes all your fetish gear, Alex.
Oh! Isn't it nice to know that gimp masks are organically sourced?
It's wholesome, isn't it?
With every metre we climb, the track just gets rockier and rockier.
Nearly. Ooh.
Shall I get out and have a look?
OK.
Are you doing your make-up while I go and have a look?
I was just checking my lipstick. Sorry!
You do what you need to do. I'll focus on me, all right?
I got out to look how we're getting off of the volcano,
and I've just caught you checking your lipstick!
There is no harm in my doing dangerous drives with good make-up.
Come on, now! This is outrageous behaviour!
What's going on?
Alex, what are you doing?
I'm making you a little path.
I reckon if you kind of gun it over these.
These are quite solid.Yeah.
Er, actually, no, they're not.
I don't really know what I'm talking about. Just gun it.Yeah.
I should have just stayed in and done my lipstick and all.
Oh, my God! What was that on me?
Oh, it's a butterfly. Not so macho.
HE LAUGHS
Go!
Ugh...
Ugh... Ooh, cor!
Here we flippin' go, mate. This is it.
Big rock!Ooh!
Yes, mate!
And after that uphill boneshaker,
it's finally time for some volcanic action.
HE SNEEZES
Oh, I think I'm allergic to volcanoes.
But sadly, there's something missing.
It's not, like, the view you hope for.
It's not going to make a good screensaver on your phone, is it?
No.Do you know, it looks like the Yorkshire Dales or something.
It's just bang average. We need to find some more volcanoes.
Merapi's apparently a good one. Is that still going?
We're meant to be going to... That's the one that's still going.
Oh, nice.Like, proper goes.OK.
That's got magma. I want to see some magma.
Yeah, magma, lava, ash. All the big ones, really.
Yeah, into it. As opposed to just a bit of cloud.
How do you feel after, like, first day's driving,
gone up a volcano?Yeah, I feel... I feel surprisingly OK about it.
I thought I would be absolutely terrified.Yeah.
But I know this sounds silly, but I actually think
you driving in the big city was scarier than driving up the volcano.
Yeah.I'd rather do rocks than loads of mopeds.Yeah.
Greetings from end of day two.
I was really proud, actually, of how I did the whole day.
I did maintain good, solid four-by-four driving
up a steep mountainy thing for quite a long time,
and, er, I survived, and Alex survived as well.
And I think, tomorrow, I'm back to being a passenger.
I think Alex wants to have another go.
Um...so, fingers crossed.
Today, we've got
a long day of driving ahead of us, and it's my turn behind the wheel.
But after my nightmare on day one, I'm not sure I fancy it.
Are you driving first? No, you're driving first.
Oh, am I driving first?Yeah. Oh, OK.
But if you want to swap midway through, and you go, "Sod this,"
I'll jump in.Love it.
Oh!
How are you feeling, behind the wheel again? Are you excited?
How are you feeling, not behind the wheel again?
Just dead calm. You make me feel safe.
Alex, I can't tell you how misguided that...
HE LAUGHS ..that sense of safety is.
Today's challenge takes us 300 kilometres across the island,
and over the legendary Dieng Plateau
that sits at an altitude of 2,000 metres.
From there, we'll drop down to the city of Yogyakarta.
So, did you grow up in Essex? Yeah, I grew up in Essex.
And have you stayed there?
No, I moved away, and then we came back to Essex a few years ago.
But I don't know that we'll stay there.
I don't want to die there. That's what I know.
I think about that quite a lot. Like...
What? Where you want to die? Yeah. I thought...
That was kind of how I reasoned about, did I want to have children?
I thought, "I have no maternal feelings whatsoever,
"I don't like babies,
"not particularly bothered about children,
"but I can't imagine dying having not been a mum."
Oh, OK.That's how I got there. That's as good a reason as any.
It worked. I mean, yeah, and I'm glad I did it now.
And you're bang into it now, ain't you?Well, sometimes.
I'm not bang into it.
You know, with kids, it's like a good box set.
You've just got to get into it. You've just got to get into it!
Slow to start. Get through the first bit.
Yeah.It's a bit boring, yeah. By about series three or four...
Yeah...it's really found its own personality,
and you go, "There you go." It's so funny.
He's not letting you go. Fucking hell, mate!
Literally wasn't looking. That was... That is mad.
What's your classic, like...?
If you're going to swear at someone, say someone's cut you up,
what do you like...? What are you saying in the car?
Um... I can't really... Like, a lot of people gesture,
but all mine, sadly for me, look the same.
So, you've got to verbal... Yeah, you've got to verbal...
..verbalise it. I would love... I wonder...
I don't feel like I've missed out in life,
and I would hardly say that this is a sob story, but being unable
to give someone the finger has been to my detriment,
um, just because it... Mine looks like I'm waving,
and he's just, like,
"I've literally just cut him up and he's just saying hello.
"This guy's taking it really well."
THEY LAUGH
Argh!
Thank you!
So, it doesn't... It's not to my, er...Yeah, fair enough.Yeah.
This is a cool place!
So, we're going 1,000 feet up, apparently.
That's quite a lot, isn't it? Is it quite a lot.
Are we going to be able to breathe? Do we need oxygen?Oh, yeah.
We're going to get the bends.
After yesterday's disappearing volcano act,
today, we should have guaranteed action.
The Dieng Plateau is home to over 20 active craters
with steaming vents, sulphurous springs and bubbling mud holes.
The ancient Javanese considered this place to be
the seat of supernatural powers.
We're at cloud level, mate.
Can't even see the top of that pylon. Crikey!
That's actually quite unsettling.
I think I'd probably rather you hadn't brought that
to my attention.Why? I just...I don't like the unknown.
I don't think this is the sort of place that you could live
if you suffer from vertigo.
Considering I've just caught a glimpse of what that looks like
at the side. And, yeah, I'd favour this side.
Wow! OK.
Slowly, slowly. Slowly, slowly, mate.
Ah, so that's how you handle an oncoming car!
Smashing it.
After driving through the clouds,
we've reached one of the most active craters on the Dieng Plateau.
Oh, look. Yeah, craters, smoke. Oh, wow!
And there's something in the air.
Fragrant!
And when I say "fragrant"...
SHE RETCHES Oh, God, that's making me retch!
..I'm getting rotten eggs with top notes of long-dead mouse.
Oh, God, that's really bad!
ALEX LAUGHS Oh, God!
I genuinely feel like I'm going to puke as well.
I can't breathe that in. I'm going to... I actually just retched.
Can I just say, isn't nature amazing?
SHE SNORTS
Shall we get...? Shall we get an eggy selfie?Yeah.
Just to remind ourselves... Of this beautiful moment.
OK, so, after three, you have to say your favourite type of egg.
I'm going to say...OK. One, two three.
TOGETHER:Scrambled!
# You and me belong together. #
What a beautiful moment! See? And the best thing is...
We've seen it!
I... I... HE LAUGHS
I look like someone there who's made the smell.
HE LAUGHS Look at that!
Nah, it weren't me!
HE LAUGHS
So, did you enjoy that?
Did I enjoy that?
Oh.Yeah.
But do you know, the eco side of it is pretty cool.
As I understand it, those hot pools...
Yeah...the steam from that gets channelled
into these big pipey things,
and that powers turbines, which makes electricity.
That's cool.It's really cool!
And there's no carbon footprint whatsoever.
It's completely sustainable, just, you know, gets the job done.
We need to put as many miles as possible between us
and that horrendous smell,
so it's straight back down off the mountain and back onto the road.
Having spent the best part of a day and a half in the passenger seat,
I think it's time for me to get back behind the wheel.
And taking a leaf out of Ellie's driving manual,
this time, I'm determined to keep calm.
Well, here we are, back driving again.
Stay where you are. They're all coming out.
You... I knew you were going to do it.
You're not going to get me. You're not going to unsettle me,
cos I knew you were going to do it.
I need to get my confidence back, so I know I'm a decent driver.
Crikes. Crikes.
That was all right, wasn't it? That was nippy.
Nippy. I like it. In and out.There you go.
I love... I love making a holiday friend. I always have done.
Are we holiday friends now? I think we are holiday friends.
We know a lot about one another. Yeah, we do.
Alex!It's all right. We're fine.
I don't have any sisters, but I feel like...
Yeah, I don't have brothers. ..you'd be a mint sister.
Oh, Alex! I think you'd be, like... Yeah.
Also, because I quite like it when you're, like, "Alex!"
and, like, put me in my place, and I feel like
that's what a sister would do, is be, like...
just give me a little bollocking every now and again.
See, I don't think I would have done that on the first day,
but now we're holiday best friends, I feel comfortable enough.
Alex, don't call that man a prick!Yeah, "Alex, come on!"
Left here?Yeah.
Ugh, ugh, ugh. I haven't been on a bumpy road
for a while. It took me by surprise then.
Right, let's just carry on there.
Is this the way across?Yeah.What?
In a brand-new plot twist, between us and our destination
is a 16-metre stretch of water.
Ooh! This is quite a big river.
There's no way I'm driving across that
without doing some vital research first.
You're going to lob a stone in? Yeah, I am.
Go on, then. Do some...do some physics.
PLOPPING Oh, that didn't sound too deep.
You could hear it hit the floor. Yeah, yeah.OK.
That seems OK.Shot put.
That's a bit deeper there, isn't it? It is a bit deeper there.
I ain't going to run over any fish, am I?
No, I reckon you're OK.
I've got absolutely no idea, of course.
Here we go.
I think it's best just to take it with a bit of speed?
Yeah, smash it.Yeah? Yeah, I reckon.OK.
You sure?No! I've never done this before in my life.
Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Alex! Alex!
Argh!
SHE LAUGHS I did not mean that fast!
Oh, my God! Why...?
Ha-ha-ha!
Oh!
What are you doing?
HE LAUGHS Oh, my God!
That was so much fun! You're...
What is wrong with you?
I meant, like, 11 kilometres an hour, not 25!
You said, "Go fast!" Oh, gosh! That was great fun.
Car needed a good clean.
THEY LAUGH
Maniac!
Unfortunately for Alex, I think that may have been the easy bit.
This looks tight and bumpy. Yeah, it's quite tight.
How am I on your side with the trees?You're fine.
Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. I need to turn it a bit.
Fine, fine, fine. Turn, turn, turn, turn.
Don't go into the tree. Don't go into the tree, ideally.
Come on.Go?Nice, nice, nice.
You are quite tight on my side.
Ugh... Oh!
Oh.
You're going to be hitting the kerplunk bit in a minute.Am I?
Yeah, but it is what it is. You have to.
It's getting a bit tight this way. Go that way.
A bit right?That's it.
This is the edge of the kerplunk.
I need to straighten up, I think. I need to go back. Whoa!
I'm up on the bank a bit here. Whoa.
There. We're in.
Yep. Yep.
Ugh!
There you go.Nice!
Ugh! Easy-peasy.
ALEX LAUGHS
Oh!Go on, Alex!
The sun may be setting, but the night is still young,
and I've got some catching up to do.
20 years later than most people,
I'm going to get my first taste of backpacker life,
as we head to the travellers' hotspot of Yogyakarta.
Busy, isn't it? I like it around here.
It is busy. Busy, busy, busy. It's all right.
I've never been... I never went backpacking.
Did you go backpacking? Not really.
I did, like, a month in North America.
That's... That's more... That's pretty cool.
Does this count? This counts as backpacking, doesn't it?
Well, we haven't... We... No, I don't think so.
Shall we pretend?No? Well, someone's carried our bags,
and we're staying in a hotel.
Someone literally has carried our bags.Yeah, so...
But I brought a bag with me. Well done!I brought a backpack.
So, does that not count? We can pretend tonight.
And nothing says backpacker like a spot of local arts and crafts.
Shall we...shall we have a look in here?
Keyring?Is that...?
Yep, it's a penis.Is it?
Yeah, it's a penis. HE LAUGHS
It's a highly decorated penis, which is just how I like them.
Wow!I've got an idea.
OK. Because we're now best friends...
Yeah...for life...Yeah, course.
..why don't we get friendship bracelets and we can exchange them?
All right, then. I'm up for it. What's your colour?
That's quite cool. I know it's the end one and that's very convenient.
That is convenient, Alex, but I'm happy for that.
The sad thing is, I think I can get mine straight on.
There you go. Beautiful!
It's nice to see you in bright colours.OK.
I think I like, um...
I mean, I'm really overthinking it, aren't I?
That's quite a cool one. I wonder how many of these I could fit on.
HE LAUGHS
Look, it goes right.... It goes up my arm!
Ah, gutted...Right, shut up!
..with your massive wrists! SHE LAUGHS
Thank you.Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Bye.Bye. Shall we get a drink? Yeah. Magaluf!
Will we get a fishbowl of sex on the beach?
A jug of woo woo?Woo-woo!
HE LAUGHS Woo-woo!
Friendship bracelets are on. Here we go.
We're ready for the last day.Yeah. I'm thinking,
driving-wise, I do the first bit, you take us up the volcano.
All right, then. I'm happy to do that.
For our last day in Java, we're taking on a massive challenge -
Mount Merapi, one of the deadliest volcanoes on the planet.
Are you excited? I am excited, actually.
God, I hope it just spurts out just a little bit.
Last major eruption was 2010. But...
Lavaed two nights ago. It lavaed, yeah.
And like every day in Java, it kicks off
with lots of our two-wheeled friends.
These little adorable children on these bikes are really making me
miss my kids. Yeah.I can't wait to see them.
I'll get back and I'll be dead excited to see the girls,
and they'll have had enough of me after, like, five minutes.
HE CHUCKLES Can you pick them up together still?
Yeah, and that's good. It's good they're light,
cos even with my arms, I can do it.
Can you do both of them at the same time?Yeah.
Aw!I like to put them both on my shoulders.
But then, the eldest one's a little... She's very risk-averse.
Right.She's very much like her dad.
The younger one would have you, like, fling her all over the place,
whereas the elder one is, like, "No, don't like it. Get me down."
HORN TOOTS Sugar!
Can I just say, not swearing and... As I said, "Sugar,"
I was, like, "What is happening?" That was so much self-restraint.
It does take quite a lot to get me angry,
although with my children, I find it doesn't. They can...
They can push buttons in me and my temper will suddenly erupt...
Yeah...in a way that it never has done before in life.
She was really getting on my wick the other day and I did...
I really did shout at her. And then, she was, like...
SHE SOBS "You sounded like a monster!"
Sorry, baby.
Before you got into telly, what was the aim at that time for you?
Did you have one? Yeah, I wanted to be, basically,
a national football journalist. Broadcast?Yeah.Right.
No, not broadcast, just written. Oh, OK.
I never wanted to go into broadcast. I did, um, the TV and radio modules
in my journalism degree, but the radio one, I got marked down
cos the lecturer said my voice was too common.
And even when we did the training for the Paralympics,
I had it in my head that you have to broadcast,
and so I didn't even sound like myself.Yeah.
And they were, like, "We don't want that.
"We want you to sound like you." And then, when I kind of got that,
I was like, "Oh, OK."Oh, wow!
"Evacuation route".
As Mount Merapi is one of the island's most deadly volcanoes,
access is strictly limited.
Here we go.
These guys look like they know what they're doing.
Official.Official. Official-looking people.
Oh, we're stopping. Shall I go and have a check?
Hello!Hello.Hi.Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. I'm Ellie.
I'm Dila.Nice to meet you. Lovely to meet you. I'm Alex.
I'm Dila.Lovely to meet you.
He is the forest ranger here. Oh, OK.
So, we heard, in 2010, there was a big eruption.Yes, exactly.
Er, almost 300 people died.Wow!
The hiking trail here is temporarily closed because of the eruptions.
Right, OK. Three kilometres from Merapi...
Yeah...you need to stop in that area.Right.
So, how safe is the volcano at the moment?
Merapi is still active.Yeah. And now, the level is in a three,
level three. It's a caution level. What's the top level?
The top level is four...Oh, OK. ..and the lower level is one.Yeah.
The one level is normal, and four level is the dangerous.
And you are in the level three. This means, like, it's so-so.
How will we know that we need to get back
if something starts happening? Do you have a radio?
Yes, we have one like this.Yeah. A walkie-talkie.
OK.Yes.So, if you have a problem over there,
I will contact you with the radio.
Alex.Ah!Get up... Get us up on a volcano, mate.
Oh, yeah, I forgot that was my... It's you...this is my bit
to do the drive.Thank you so much. Yeah, you're welcome.
So, I'll drive us up, and if something goes wrong,
you can drive us out. Yeah, no worries. I got you.
Thank you.Thank you.Bye. Thank you. Thank you.
Ah, it's just at a three. But I'm cool about it.
Are you all right about it?I'm chilled as a dormant volcano, mate.
HE CHUCKLES How...? What level are you?
Oh, I'm like a... I'd say a one, a solid one.
Well normal. ALEX CHUCKLES
This eerie landscape is a direct result of the 2010 mega eruption
that killed 353 people and wiped out everything in its path.
Whoa!
Now, 15 years on, the forest trees have regrown.
It's up a hill.
And somehow, we've got to weave our way through.
It's pretty close.
I don't know, you're going to...
Oh... I think you're OK.
God! Fuck me, it's close, this side. Hang on a minute.
Whoa-oa-oa!A hair's breadth.
ALEX LAUGHS That was lovely.
Oh, no, there's more!Oh, my God!
We can't get through there! Yeah, you can.
How am I your side? As far as I can see, OK.
Should get my head out. That's what they do.
Well, no, I don't want you hitting your head on a tree!
No, you're fine.Am I?Yeah.
Nice work!Thank you very much.
I like a little bit of praise.
The previous eruption spewed rocks and debris
all over this so-called road.
Ooh!
God, there's a big rock.Ooh! Sorry!
Shit! Shit!
Sorry. Did you just bang...?
I need a helmet! Argh!
HE LAUGHS I'm so sorry.
It's all right. I can see three of everything, but it's fine.
I can't believe how much that tickled you. You're such a child!
I'm so...This is not World's Most Dangerous Drive.
This is World's Most Dangerous Drivers.Oh, Jeez!
Finally clear of the trees, we move on to the lava field itself.
It's quite bleak, this bit.Yeah.
It's like the moon or something. Yeah, it's really spooky.
And I can't help thinking about that level three,
75% of the way towards our doom.
It's mad to think of all the lava flowing down there.Mm.
All the way from there. And cos it looks so sort of dry...
Yeah...you can't, you just can't picture it, like, molten lava.
Look at the state of it. It's just basically destroyed everything.
I wonder, if it went off, how much time we'd have to get out.
I don't know.
I think this is our... Oh, yeah, this is it. The sign.
..our endpoint. Can't get any closer.
"Caution"."Caution. Do not enter". "Do not enter".
Well, that doesn't leave much room for negotiation.
Looks like we've reached the end of the road.
"You are entering Merapi volcano".
Shit!
Ah! There's no bloody volcano, mate.No!
For God's sake! The cloud has thwarted us again.
We know, in our hearts...
We drove to the most active volcano in the world.
That's very shy.It's shy.
Maybe it's changed.Yeah.
Oh, my God, there's a monkey! Oh, my God!
There's a couple of monkeys. There's one up on the hill.Oh, my God!
I don't care about volcano any more. There's a family of monkeys.
SQUEALS: There's a baby monkey! Look, there's loads of them.
I don't want to grass on them, but they are in the exclusion zone,
so...We will have to report them.
What a way to end!Yeah.
We've driven halfway across Java. Yeah.Crikey!
And on the first day, I wasn't sure how it was going to end.
I was shitting myself about these roads.
That's as nervous as I've been doing anything for a long time.
And the fact that we've laughed a lot...
Yeah.We've had such a good time.
I've enjoyed the roads, and I've really...
And I've really enjoyed hanging out with you. I've had so much fun.
I've loved it. It's been such a laugh.
It's been awesome. It's been so much fun.
This is completely different to anything I've ever done before,
anything I will ever do again.
I just think "adventure" is the word.
And this has been just a week of doing things
that I would never normally get the chance to do,
in a country I would never normally come to,
so what an opportunity. It's been brilliant.
It has been amazing. Loved it. Really enjoyed it.
Apart from some of the sights. Apart from some of your jokes.
HE LAUGHS
I think I'm a better driver than what I was at the start.
When you see someone else deal with something so differently
and just so chill, you're like,
"Actually, why am I getting the hump about this?"
We've really... We've really got to know each other
and we really have really enjoyed each other's company, I think.
We've talked about everything in the world, from silly things
to, you know, serious things, and I've definitely sort of learned
more about him and seen a different side of him
than perhaps I sort of knew existed before.
I'd like to consider us friends now, definitely.
I think we've kind of shared a lot together in the car,
got to know each other loads better, known about each other's lives
and childhoods and life now and family life, and stuff like that.
But more importantly, I've just laughed loads.
HE LAUGHS Oh, God!
Imagine if the ground started rumbling and she said that now.
That would be a really good ending for the show.
I tell you the mad thing about it, it's how calm it is here.
It's so calm.
Just one hour later, I get some mind-blowing news.
Mount Merapi's just erupted. Wait, it erupted an hour after we left.
That's insane!
I cannot believe it.That looks like something from a movie.
From Dante's Peak.
Look at all the lava! It's come pretty far down as well.
Yeah, it has, look.
Wowsers! Yeah, that is an end. End show!
Subtitles by Red Bee Media