Eruption of Bali's Mt Agung clouds end of Kiwi couple's honeymoon

Ironically, Aucklanders Courtney and Jamie Armstrong chose Lombok as a honeymoon destination as they wanted to climb another volcano, Mt Rinjani. Photo / Supplied

Clouds of ash created by Bali's Mt Agung rumbling to life are throwing travel into disarray, leaving one honeymooning couple from New Zealand stranded on a neighbouring island.

Mt Agung erupted four times over the weekend, each eruption lighting the volcano's cone with an orange glow and sending ash 4000m into the atmosphere.

The ash clouds coming out of Bali's highest peak have forced the closure of the island's Ngurah Rai International Airport for at least another 18 hours. The airport on Lombok Island was also closed on Sunday due to the rising volcanic threat.

Courtney and Jamie Armstrong were among crowds of travellers stuck on Lombok after their flight was cancelled yesterday.

The pair had been on their honeymoon on Lombok for the past two weeks, which Armstrong said was "amazing". They had hiked Mt Rinjani and enjoyed cocktails on the beach - while watching the cloud surrounding Mt Agung on neighbouring island Bali get darker and darker.

"From our resort, we were staying in a spot called Mangsit on the west coast of Lombok, you can see straight across to Mt Agung when it's fine. So we've been watching it over the last week just puffing away", she said.

"It's certainly added to the story log."

Armstrong, who was a geologist, said they hadn't been too worried, but it was frustrating not knowing when they would be able to leave.

"I've been watching the volcano thinking, 'this is a geologist's dream'... but not when it's delaying my flight."

After their Sunday afternoon flight had been scrapped they were rebooked on to another flight to Singapore on Monday. They had missed their connecting flight to New Zealand but this second flight had also been rescheduled.

Then there were more delays.

"We were rescheduled on to a flight at 12pm. Then we got another email last night around 12 to say there's been another delay and we'd be leaving around 3pm."

When speaking to the Herald on Monday Armstrong wasn't sure whether their flight would be leaving.

They had been put up by the airline Silk Air, which was owned by Singapore Airlines, in a hotel on Sunday night. The airline was also providing the couple with updates as they came in.

Another New Zealander holidaying in Bali had a streak of luck and was able to get out of Bali last night, after his first flight was cancelled.

Auckland-based pilot Jesse Lindsay had been stranded, along with hundreds of others, at the international airport for 24 hours.

He'd spent the past week island hopping in Bali and arrived at the airport on Sunday to find his flight had been cancelled.

Lindsay managed to get on another flight last night, saying it was lucky he had even managed to get away that soon.

Around 1pm today authorities raised the volcano alert to the highest level, and ordered people within 10km to leave.

Disaster officials said ash up to half a centimetre thick settled on villages around the volcano and soldiers and police had distributed masks.

Back in New Zealand, Flight Centre said the company had been working with customers travelling to the region to provide support and advice.

General manager Sean Berenson said some flights had been cancelled over the weekend as aircrafts took precautionary measures following the eruption.

"The ash cloud it produces can pose a threat to aircraft flying in the area. This is because volcanic ash is hard and abrasive, and can damage propellers and turbocompressor blades, as well as scratching cockpit windows which impairs visibility", he said.

However, Berenson said Kiwis shouldn't assume their flight was cancelled but instead check the status of their flight or contact the carrier.

If the cancellations continued, Berenson said there would be thousands affected.

"Flight Centre currently has around 1000 customers in Bali at the moment or due to travel over the next couple of weeks."