Timor where the sun rises

The place where i be calling home for this moment, and daniellas sexy bike!

our beautiful neighbour

Drawing times on the verandah that can get quite out of control

The beauties i have met, Daniella and Sarah who have been kind enough to share their casa with me.

Mr. Toki our alarm clock and friend.

Presidents guard with traditional head dress on.

Some lovely women i met in there clothes shop.

Leo with his beautiful daughter in Los Palos

Strange fruits, crazy goats

I have now been in Timor Lorosae for a little over a month, and the longer im here, the more im falling in love with this place.

Learning to slow down- I have been enjoying extending my patience and trying to abandon any possibility of experiencing frustration in Baucau, some slippery tests include.. Blackouts, all the time, usually while your half way through washing/showering. Or cooking or eating. Or writing a massive email or blog entry.... and gone.

Learning Timor Time- The hilarious lack of timetable, the morning bus to Los Palos will leave at 7,8,9,10 or 2pm as I discovered.

Learning Communication- I am beginning to profess my “Travelers English” this includes much sign language. At times I picture a reflection of myself, lunatic like, explaining a story in gestures and a stammering of English, similar to that of a 3 year old. Im very interested in learning the Timor language of Tetum one day though, it’s very beautiful in its simplicity of description.

Learning that I am a ‘tom boy’- I have been teaching at the local Canossian sisters girl college here in Baucau. My students, mostly older than me enjoy pointing out that my hair is no good! My spoon earring, no good! Hairy legs, no good! Big boots, no good, nose rings no good. I walk like a boy, talk too loud but am lucky to have “beautiful skin and a very pretty girls face”  They have have cheekily given me the name, Mana Ellie Bulack (sister ellie crazy) or Bibi Bulack (crazy goat!)

The weeks in Baucau have been laced with Heavenly dinners with friends, Indulgent Timor coffee, Gardening, Painting, Teaching, Swimming, Reading, Walking, Sweating.

NATERRA- Permaculture NGO run by Andrea and Fernando from Maucau, inspirational people.
Andrea has an absolute heart of gold and is a cooking machine!

AFALYCA ART FARM- A place to creat, to workshop teach and learn, Marqi runs this place and is a Super cool and talented dude. Ive been enjoying spending time here, learning guitar, singing, eating drinking coffee and painting of course!

This is a painting i did at Afalyca while marqi and boys played music.


The weekends have been spent away adventuring.

Jaco Island- a few days spent with a fellow traveler Joao from Portugal. To get to Jaco Island it is almost essential to have some form of transport, your own car or motorbike, but we tried our luck at bussing it. Waited from 8am till 2pm for the bus that never came and ended up hopping in the back of a Ute that was heading to Los Palos, destination one. The drivers turned out to be the ministers for education in Timor and we had a delicious lunch of fresh fish and rice as they invited us to open a school with them. We made it to Los Palos very late so stayed at an inspiring Womens co-op with some friends Emily and Meg, drank tuac (palm wine.. paint stripper) and listened to 10 or so local boys serenade the night with some of the most beautiful guitar playing and vocals I’ve heard in a while. Very special. We woke up early and managed to get a lift to Valu beach opposite Jaco Island with an Egyptian UN officer who had nothing better to do. Usually you can get a bus to Tutuwala and then walk the 8km bumpy road to Valu beach. No one is allowed to camp on Jaco Island as it is seen as a sacred island with a strong spiritual presence. We were the only visitors there and could camp on the beach for free (if you ask permission). Caught  a boat over to Jaco and we spent a day snorkeling, swimming and lazing about, this place is that tropical oasis you dream of, and the reef is just littered with fluorescent fish and coral. I got scared when Joao saw 2 sharks though so I hopped out after that.. You cant believe how special this place is, Valu beach is a co-operative style run place so all money goes back into the national park, and to the people looking after it.They have a small coffee hut, but be sure to bring food if you go there, the fishermen don’t always feel like fishing so we dined on packaged Mi Goreng for 3 days as that’s all they had, I felt like I was a Uni student again! Ha.

Mt. Matabian- Weekend adventure with Sarah, Skyla and Mark. Matabian is one of the highest mountains in Timor (2315m), and is meant to be an epic climb. We stayed at a guest house in a small village low in the mountain. Matabian played an important role with the resistance during the fight for Timor Leste’s independence, strong Fretlin supporters, a lot of the guerillas fled to these mountains during war times. The villages of Matabian exude this passion for independence, the women and men stand tall but wander so calmly, and live such a beautifully simplistic lifestyle. We awoke at 4am to start the walk with our guide, after about an hour we were to meet the chief of the area and ask if we could climb to the top. Turns out that unfortunately on this day it was time to celebrate a certain saints, something… maybe birthday? Saint hood? It was in Tetun and I couldn’t understand properly, but they were praying, and if we climbed something bad would happen to the village. We were allowed to watch sunrise and we could explore other parts of the mountain but not this specific part. So instead we walked a new route to a lower peak via a school that was built by an Australian organization and through many intimate villages that were only feet accessible. We reached the high peak for brunch and sat with some crazy red mouthed ladies stoned from chewing beetle nut, and adored there carefully manicured permaculture-esq cabbage, corn and bean plantations that lined the cliff face. We gave them some of our lunch and they loaded us up with some cabbage. What a trade! We made it back to Baucau in time for friend Marqis young students art exhibition, and had a bit of a dance with the hyperactive children.

HAU HADOMI

Walking Timor

Tour De Timor

“Viva Timor Leste”

The race begins and my volunteer position is THE LAST CAR, passenger not driver, phew!

The last of the last of the last, and this became more and more embedded in my mind as we slowly followed the bike riders 600km around the island.

Day 1. Dili to Laclubar.

Lost straight away, the position of last car seems like a simple job, until of course you lose sight of the car infront of you, and find yourself bamboozled in a city on a Sunday where you don’t know if the crowds are walking home from watching the race or going home from church. In our case they were going home from church, but somehow we managed to bump into the race after an hour, we just went the wrong way. Lucky. This 85km stretch was treacherous the roads are awesomely pot holed and splintered with pig, chicken, rooster, goat, buffalo, cow obstacles. FUN, I love piglets.

After this day, I seriously question the sanity of the organizers of this race and those competing in it, the landscape surrounding the race however makes it worthwhile.

A tour de torture set in an oasis.

Day 2. Laclubar to Beacu.

What a MASSIVE day. 12 hours in the car to cross 130km. impossible! Even after 12 hours or more of a passing parade there are still locals cheering us on in an overly excited manner as we pass through their villages. Yelling “Viva Timor Leste!” waving and yelling “malai” as if I was the white person they had ever seen. I come to the realisation today that this would be an extremely rare and unimaginable sight for the villagers, a convoy of 100 cars and 450 bicycled riders, id say it would have stretched for 40km or more through the mountains. It felt like we were the circus coming to town.. We were. My car comrades and new friends, Clint (Aus) Alvero and Bernardo (Portuguese) and I were greeted at camp with a bottle of champagne on the hush, and then discovered our abandoned, bullet hole decorated cement casa to sleep in for the night as all tent spots were taken.

Day 3.Beacu to Lliomar.

Hangover, 5am wakeup. Shorter car trip today 8 hours, and we arrived at the camp ground in sunlight WOOOO. The trip here and destination was truly beautiful. The villages compiled of raised bamboo housing and palm thatched roofs, swarming with uniquely charactered children and animals, is giving me a saw jaw, I don’t think I have ever smiled this much in my life.

Day 4.Lliomar to Com.

On camp site crew, a well deserved break from last car, helped out with merchandising, went for swims and wandered around Com, this place is truly special, im scared to see what it will be like in 5-10 years from now when tourism takes over.

Day 5.Com to Manatutu.

1^st water station. Handing out water to the thirsty insane bike riders. You can smell the sweat on the wind before you even see them, it overpowers the smell of burning plastic (the waste disposal scheme imposed in Timor Leste) Today was a long coastal drive, that I got to actually drive some of, this was fun! 4WD action time, woooo.  

Day 6.Manatutu to Dili.

Arrive in Dili, abort the last car position and came with the morning crew to help direct the bikers to the bike drop point at the finish line. The crowds were CRAZEH!!! Bells bells bells, screaming, pushing, high energy. Sweaty back. Sweaty everything, id forgotten how hot Dili is. All bikers arrived and the closing ceremony was to follow, at 4pm, presentations of awards, drinks and dinner. Me new mate Donna and I take advantage of this and drink a lot. I think the booze may have affected me as I vaguely remember dancing and singing into a microphone at a pub later on. Oh no.

Overall: This experience was an absolute adventure, an 800 people convoy travelling around a 3^rd world new nation, mountain biking for peace. What an interesting concept. All in all, it achieves its goal of letting those villages we pass realise that we know they exist and we care for them and their country. However at the same time, it feels a little ambiguous, to travel so quickly, stay a night, leave a couple hundred tone of rubbish wherever we went, and a shy passing wave. I just don’t really understand the whole situation in Timor Leste yet to whole heartedly compile my own view on this. The people seem to be really craving a western lifestyle, and this scares me. There is still so much to learn about this place.

Timor Leste

East of east

I arrive at the backpackers hot and sweaty as expected, greeted with “malai malai” from the children that swarmed to greet me, guessing that malai, was similar to the term gringo in Latin America, and yes later finding out it means cream or white.

I was overwhelmed at the amount of vehicles that display the sticker UN or some other type of aid organization, the majority of cars here are either driven by expats or are local taxis/ micro lets (city busses)

The first people that I have a conversation with on this adventure I discover have all arrived here via the overland route. A couple from Switzerland, France and another Swiss man. The couple have rode bicycles all the way from Switzerland to here and are now in Australia, this journey took them 2 years, learning they ventured through Iran, the stans and china. I was blown away! My first night in Timor and immediately drawn in wide eyed and jaw dropped till the early hours listening to stories and getting advice from these highly inspiring people. It was great to hear that the overland journey is still well and truly alive and well in all its glory!

Dili itself is an interesting city, very dusty and overcrowded, rubbish everywhere, so much so that it becomes a part of the natural environment. This place is so full of character. I rode a bicycle around the city for the day went to Cristo Rei (Jesus statue) at the tip of the coast and walked up to view the escarpment.

Arte Moris, is a local organization run by Timorese guys. It is one of the most interesting art houses I have been to! These boys live in an old building, they create, teach and experiment with art everyday, live and breathe art, and are all extremely talented. Walking around the place there are sculptures everywhere created out of recycled materials, bamboo, and mangrove roots. Im in heaven ( I think I will be saying this a lot throughout this blog) All the guys here have dreadlocks and I now realize that I am distinguished as an artist because of this, not a day goes by without someone approaching me and saying “Arte Moris”

Up and away

So the travels have begun, in a different land that is.
I found it very hard to leave Australia, all of my beautiful family and friends and the many adventures that seem to continually unfold when im there, not only adventures but artistic endevours! so many things to do! And the land, ohhhhhh beautiful special places and people!

I am content concentrating and enjoying living in the moment and taking things in one at a time, but often when i sit and observe, think, and make mental lists, i have an overwhelming energy to be doing and learning 100 things at once which is great, but impossible.
I want to be a jack of all trades, and a master of many. And to do so, this takes time.

So travelling.... this will be interesting.
This pilgrimage i am about to embark on, has no set time length or destination, it is purely about being on the road. And the things that you learn when your on the road, they are endless and suprising.
I am looking forward to accidentally falling into these lessons. Not knowing when or where or what i am going to learn, discover, appreciate.

I left all expectations under my pillow in Coffs harbour, they are much to heavy to carry.
But took with me 13kg of belongings, as well as two feet to get around, open eyes to see all the pot holes, interested mind to keep me entertained, well looked after hands to touch, draw, sculpt and write to you guys so you can enjoy my experiences via the interweb!
I dont know how often ill be writing, im not the kind of person who is going to tell you of every meal i ate and every km i crossed. i will keep it special, the entertaining stories, and helpful hints incase any of you chickens decide to come along for the ride!
Much love to all and thankyou for supporting me on my trip.