Battles and Beaches

On By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Biak Island & Rusbasbedas Island, Indonesia

October 2022

Our last few days in Indonesia where to be more about the culture – albeit of Western Papua (which is distinctly different to what most visitors to Indonesia see in Bali).  So, on a moody morning and now apparently being covid free (🥴🤔). We headed out with the group at 6.30am to visit Biak.  

We were welcomed to the island of Biak in the manner to which we have become accustomed, with a colourful dance as we landed.  This time, the local Yospan dance, from a group that had been practicing for 3 days and they put on a performance for every zodiac arrival!   This dance is a traditional dance from this northern coastal region of Papua which they performance for welcomes and cultural events.  I have read that overtime; the dance has been developed with variations in movement and customs whilst still maintaining its authenticity.   The group even waited around and gave another performance as we departed.  

Biak City is the main town on the island of Biak off the coast of Papua.  As of the 2020 census, the island itself had a population of around 122,000 people, most of whom live in Biak City. The people of this area are mostly native Papuan (Melanesians) or a mix of Chinese/Papuan (locally called Cina-Biak) and although Indonesian is the official language, many speak the local language of Biak – and, like most of the other islands we have visited, the use of English is pretty limited.   

One thing we noticed here again (after seeing it in Manokwari for the first time), was the massive queues at petrol stations.  It seems to be a problem unique to this part of the country and we were determined to find out what the issue was and why it was unique to Papua.  We did ask a few people and many were of the view that fuel rationing was a way the government were keeping them under control!!  I also tried googling the issue but only found a few fleeting references to ‘false news’ and no issues with fuel supplies so not sure we will ever know the truth.  

It started raining just as we bordered our buses, but it was not enough to stop our exploration.    Sitting on the edge of Cenderawaish Bay, the area of Biak Island is known not only for its nature beauty and marine life, but also for the tragedy that affected thousands during the Battle of Biak and the role that it played in the War in the Pacific, particularly between May and August 1944.    This area of the Pacific, islands that are now form part of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu saw many brutal battles as the War in the Pacific raged. 

Considered part of the New Guinea campaign (Western Papua did not become part of Indonesia until 1969) the Battle of Biak was fought between the USA and Japanese armies in an attempt for the Americans to clear the area for a drive to liberate the Philippines and remove the Japanese army from the area.   The island was held by up to 11,000 Japanese and it was one of the first battles where they employed the tactic of allowing the enemy troops to land unchallenged, only to create an inland kill zone that they were not prepared for.  The Japanese utilised the honeycomb of caves as ambush points to attack the advancing US troops.  

After months of heavy battle on land (with the Americans landed 12,000 troops and 500 vehicles on the island), control of Biak almost became a critical battle in the war and on June 22 the Americans finally broke through Japanese defenses leaving around 3-4,000 Japan soldiers to make a final stand.

We were here to visit the Binsari Caves (also known as Japanese Cave).  For the local Biak people, the caves are a place to get in touch with their ancestors, but during the Battle of Biak it became a battleground and was used as a hideout, by the Japanese army, housing up to 5,000 soldiers at one time. On June 7, 1944 the Allied Forces dropped bombs and fuel drums on the caves, killing at least 3,000 Japanese soldiers who had taken refuge in the caves rather than surrender.  Those who were not killed outright were buried alive.

Today, the site is a monument to WWII, attracting tourists from around the world, including many from Japan who come to pray for relatives who died on the island.  It covers a large area including a collection of old mortars, bullets and weapons and you can walk down in to the remaining open areas of the caves.  Today it is hard to imagine the horror that happened here as we walked through the caves, along the boardwalks looking up at the tangled tree roots that reach down from the surface.

Back on the surface we visited the small museum which houses further weapons, clothing and other bits and pieces recovered from the caves including a collection of bones and skulls from some of the victims.  It was a sobering moment reflecting on the human tragedy of war.

Back in the ‘city’ we stopped at a local market – it was clean and tidy and all the products (mainly fruit, vegetables and fresh fish) were beautifully arranged in geometrical patterns.  Surprisingly, even the fish part of the market did not smell bad – I guess the fish were just that fresh.  It was nothing like the market we visited back on Flores which was completely chaotic!  We had time to wander around the stalls and chat to a few of the vendors who were all happy to entertain our photo requests. 

I noticed here, that so many products come in little sachets, similar to what I have seen in places like Ghana – soap powders, shampoo, coffee, drink powder and here, also milkshake mix powder in some interesting flavours, including Choco Cheese, Cream Cheese and durian.

Back on the waterfront, waiting for our zodiac pick up, our welcome dancers continued to entertain us and our naturalist friend Rod explored the small park area to see what bugs he could find (which turned out to be an Janovpholus wevill bug).  With him around, waiting time can always be occupied.

Back on the ship we sailed a short distance to our next destination, Rusbasbedas Island (I actually can’t even find it on a map) being joined by a small pod of dolphins as we travelled (they were far too quick for photos on this occasion).  The seldom visited Rusbasbedas Island was spectacular – a small island with pristine soft, white sand beaches and a shear drop off, just offshore which means the ship can get very close to the island. Yet another perfect paradise island with warm waters perfect for snorkeling in the turquoise shallows and out over the edge of the drop off to explore the reef edge and its inhabitants.

After an action-packed morning, we were back on the ship for lunch and another afternoon at sea – there were a couple of lectures, but I decided just to chill, read and watch the world go by. It was disappointing to hear (via rumours amongst the passengers rather than being told by the expedition crew) that we were going to miss another whole day of the itinerary as we were still playing catch up for our delayed start.    I am definitely seeing some amazing places and meeting some lovely people but the lack of information and missing big chunks of the trip is very disappointing. 

I sat at the back of the of ship watching another beautiful sunset before heading inside for the briefing, dinner and quiz night.  We had a great team with people from German, Russia, Australia and New Zealand (so the teams name was GRANZ) and we came 3rd which was pretty good.  We won 2 bottles of red wine which we planned to enjoy tomorrow night.

A whale of a sharky time

On By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesia

October 2022

Today I woke thinking “today is going to be a good day”.  There was a beautiful sunrise, and it was the first day we actually had a number of different activities planned which meant more than just 2-3 hours off the ship! 

Our first outing was to be the most exciting, swimming with Whale Sharks in Cenderawasih Bay.  Whale Sharks are slow moving filter feeds and are the largest fish species, growing up to 18m in length!  They are incredibly mobile and can be found throughout the world in warm tropical waters. 

Cenderawasih Bay is in north-eastern Indonesia and around half of the bay is in the Cenderawasih Bay National Marine Park.  Locals in the area have reported seeing Whale Sharks in the area since the 1940s and today they are attracted by the Bagan’s, or local lift-net fishing platforms which have been used since the early 2000s.  Fisherman use the platforms to cast their nets and, in the area where we were visiting, they were in water around 60-70m deep, but they can be in water 1000’s of metres deep – apparently still tethered to the ocean floor.  The fisherman have a love/hate relationship with the whale sharks as they do sometimes make holes in the fishing nets and suck all the fish out! 

The fact that whale sharks often hang around the bagans, has meant that this area has become popular with tourists as you have a near-certain chance of encountering whale sharks (mostly juvenile males) and having a lengthy encounter with them.  They are also here all year round which is unique to this area as in most other places popular for whale shark encounters e.g. Ningaloo in Western Australia) they are highly seasonal.

Sometimes they do get caught in the net and they are normally released without harm, but this has presented opportunities for the sharks to be tagged with fin-mounted tags so their journeys can be tracked.  Some of these have long life batteries which should last up to two years, transmitting data around every 3-4 days (when they sharks are on the surface). The sharks from this area tend to not travel far (hence why there are always whale sharks to see in the area), but some have been tracked travelling down the coast of Western Papua and into Papua New Guinean waters near the Sepik River (exactly the same route we are travelling).  The tracker also tracked horizontal movements which has shown some of the sharks diving to a depth of more than 1000m!!  It is thought this behaviour is food related and the hunt for deeper plankton.

In his talk on a previous day, our local guide Abraham, had talked to us about some of these conservation efforts he was involved in with the Whale Sharks in Indonesia and it was great to hear his first hand experiences.

The day really started off well as for the first day ever, they had enough zodiacs in the water so everyone could be out on the water at once.   On a negative note, it meant everyone was out at once lol – the fisherman on the bagan were basically feeding the whale (by dropping fish into the water) and around 20-25 people were in the water at one time crowding around it as it hung, vertically in the water feeding.  It was all a bit too much of a circus show for me. 

DCIM\100GOPRO\GOPR0381.JPG
DCIM\100GOPRO\GOPR0392.JPG

Thankfully, on our second turn in the water the shark was moving around a bit so I managed to get so better views of it’s natural behaviour … and then a second one turned up, smaller than the first but it was amazing to see. They are truly such beautiful animals, who appeared to be unbothered by our presence in the water with them, either hanging out eating the fish been dropped in the water, or swimming around under our feet. By the time of our last swim, the water was pretty murky with all the fish bits that had been dropped in (now that sounds gross! lol).

Abraham used photos taken to check the whale shark database and identify the individual sharks we were swimming with. 

All in all, we had 3 turns in the water with the sharks, in between which we sat on the zodiacs watching dozens of Greater and Lesser Frigatebirds fly around us, diving in to catch the fish missed by the whale sharks.  It was a wonderful morning.

DCIM\100GOPRO\GOPR0415.JPG
DCIM\100GOPRO\GOPR0389.JPG

Back on the ship and it all turned to custard. I had had a little bit of a cough overnight and as I had rigorously told someone off the day before that they were being responsible by having Covid symptoms and not getting tested … you know where this is going … I decided to take a test just so I could say I had … and guess what, it was positive 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ 

Firstly, I was really annoyed as I clearly got it on the ship, and it is so irresponsible of them not to tell people it is on the ship!!! I probably caught it from the irresponsible person I had berated the day before lol!!  Secondly, what the f*** do I do now🤔🤔

After no interest from the expedition crew, my roommate finally tracked down the ship’s doctor who came and took another test – oddly, but thankfully, this was negative (though it was the least invasive test I have had) and I decided to relax for the day and avoid people before resuming activities the following day.  I was also grateful that my roommate had had covid just a few weeks before we came away, so she was negative all along thank goodness.

And so, instead of all the activities, the rest of the day was spent on the deck reading while everyone else was off the ship and in the room when people were back!!  Oh what fun lol!

Arfak exploring

On By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Manokwari/Arfak Mountains, Western Papua, Indonesia

October 2022

We had another very early wake up this morning, but our departure was delayed as we had not yet reached our destination of Manokwari – our first landing on the mainland of Western Papua, on the north side of Birds Head peninsula.  So instead of departing at 4.30am for land, we did not depart till 5.30am! 

Manokwari is the capital of the Indonesian province of Western Papua and is also the administrative centre for the Manokwari Regency.  Despites it’s grand titles, it only has a population of around 110,000 people.  It is also worth noting, we have now moved from the predominately Hindu Bali, through some of the Muslim dominated central island groups, and now, in Western Papua, the majority of the population are Christian.  The people here are also predominately Melanesian and those living in the area are made up of over 20 different tribal groups, each having their own culture and language.

Despite being late, the sun was just coming up as we disembarked and finally on land, we jumped into our 4WD transport, driving through the town and then climbing into the Arfak mountains.  These mountains rise steeply from the sea to a height of almost 3,000m at their highest point and are a mecca for birders who come to see various species of birds of paradise and the infamous Vogelkop Bowerbird. 

The positive side of the delay was that we were travelling through the town in daylight rather than darkness (like the morning before) and it was nice to see the locals going about their early morning routines.  It reminded me of rural Fiji.  The negative side of the delay was that we would miss peak bird viewing time – that time being dawn.

After around 1.5 hour drive and 1500m up in the mountains it was much cooler (pleasantly so), and the views were amazing.  It was if we had gone back in time as we passed a guy with a bow and arrow!   Unfortunately, when we arrived at the village, it was disorganised mayhem yet again.  No one knew what was going on.  We finally managed to glean that between this village and the next one, there were various sites with hides in the jungle with opportunities to see Birds of Paradise or the bowerbirds, but as I mentioned we had already missed prime viewing time!

People started walking off in groups with local guides before we even knew what was going on, and to avoid any more wasted time we just asked our guide if we could just keep going to an area further down the road, to which he agreed.  The road between the villages was terrible (in contrast to the road up to the first village which was great), but it was fun as we were allowed to stand in the back of the truck, terrible in regard to health & safety but so much fun lol. 

Still not really knowing where we were going or what we were going to see, we spotted a small fantail like bird flittering along the roadside and then a nightjar (a nocturnal owl-like bird), before starting a trek up in to the bush for around 15 minutes’ walk – I was almost sweating as much as yesterday despite the cooler temperature).  We arrived at a small, corrugated iron hide where we were to sit and wait in the hope a bird would appear.  Our local guide closed the corrugated iron door and propped it closed with a piece of wood – he said, “bye, see you later”.  (FYI he never came back, though we did seem him later back in the village and had a laugh with him about it 😂).

I think our local guide was paying us a compliment when he said Indonesian women were not strong to do these hikes, but he sees western women are much stronger 🥴🤔😂

They had put out some pandan fruit (which I had never seen before) out in front of the hide but despite that, it was already 8.15am so after about 30 minutes waiting, we were ready to give up – thankfully I was in good company, so we had some fun sitting in this random little shed in the bush lol. Oh, and we did see a bird high up in the canopy, but as we did not have our local guide with us, I am not sure we know what it was.

As we walked back down to the road it started to rain but it was a nice break from the heat and humidity we experienced most days.  Unfortunately, there were already groups at the bowerbird hides which meant there was to be more waiting around, this time in the rain lol.   With no real idea of how long we were going to have to wait, we managed to convince a driver to take us back down to the wharf where a large group of locals were waiting for us.

It was a shame not to see the Vogelkop bowerbirds as they are incredibly unique and endemic to this area.  They are not spectacular to look at, but they are renown for the incredible ‘bowers’ that the males build – large cone shaped structures, decorated with colourful items.  Some natural like leaves and flowers, others unnatural such as bottle tops etc.  Each is completely unique, and they are meticulous with their placement and spend much of their time in the pursuit of perfection. 

Not many of the groups had luck in spotting any birds (paradise or bower), but the one group that saw the bowerbird, only had a brief glimpse as he flew in to replace a bright blue bottle top that the group’s guide had moved in an attempt to lure him out lol!

Back on the wharf we had time to look at all the souvenirs that the locals from the surrounding area had brought to sell until some of the other groups arrived back and, as we were about to leave, we received the formal welcome lol!   The head of tourism for the region was there, as well as a group of Biak dancers, lot of children, the ladies with souvenirs, and of course after the dancing and speeches, everyone wanted selfies. (Although I think the English word ‘selfie’ has really just now become their word for ‘photo’!) 

There was a group of students from the local university who were studying tourism who came along to help with translating between us (as most of the local people did not speak English) and it was lovely to be able to chat with them.  They were equally happy to have the opportunity to practice their English and chat about our lives. 

It was nice to see the harbour in the daylight and by then we were back on the ship in time for lunch, in time for another afternoon at sea.

Paradise found – places and birds

On By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Oct 2022

At Sea/Wayag Island, Raja Ampat/ Waisai, Waigeo Island, Indonesia

Today started slowly as the morning was to be spent sailing, and I started the day as I finished the day before, watching brown boobies fly around the trying to catch the flying fish which was pretty amusing.

I also enjoyed another morning coffee with my favourite naturalist Rod, before a couple of interesting lectures.  The first from our local guide Abraham, who gave us an introduction to the “Birds Head Seascape”.  This is located in the West Papua/Papua province which is where we are heading over the next few days and it is one of the most underdeveloped regions in Indonesia, despite it’s mineral, oil and gas wealth. 

This part of Indonesia has over 2,500 islands in a 225,000km2  area which is home to 600 species of hard coral, 1850+ species of fish and around 20 species of marine mammals – it is truly a pretty special place.

Although it was not mentioned in our talk, it is important to note that this region is still part of a territorial dispute stemming from it’s incorporation into Indonesia in the 1960’s.  Many Western Papuan’s believe that the area should not be part of Indonesia but an independent country as it’s neighbour to the south, Papua New Guinea is. 

Next up was a talk about Birds of Paradise which we will hopefully see in a couple of days’ time.  Neil Nightgale gave this talk and let me just remind you that he is the man responsible for many of David Attenborough’s natural history programmes, a few of which are about these incredible birds.   It was great to learn more about these birds, who have evolved due to the lack of mammals (e.g. monkeys, squirrels) in their ecosystem that might share the same food source.

Today was the day we were to cross the equator.  Did you know there is a seafaring tradition that must be followed when you cross the equator by sea for the first time?  King Neptune emerged from the pool to grant permission to cross for those who have never crossed before – our event included being slapped with a fish and then jumping into the small pool on the top deck.  I had crossed before (in the Galapagos Islands), so was grateful not to have to be slapped by the fish but did enjoy the celebratory spicy rum shot as the captain did a countdown and sounded the ship’s horn as we crossed from the southern to northern hemisphere.

After lunch we finally arrived at our destination, Wayag, in the Raja Ampat Regency of West Papua.  Words can barely describe the tropical paradise that awaited us when we disembarked and headed into the lagoons, surrounded by jungle clam limestone pinnacles.  In all my travels, this has to be one of the most beautiful tropical locations I have been to (and that is saying something)!

I decided not to scale one of the limestone pinnacles so just enjoying the snorkeling from the beautiful white sand beach, but I have included one of the photos from a friend who braved the climb as it really shows just how stunning the place was. 

After some beach and snorkeling time, we set off on a zodiac cruise around nooks and crannies around the incredible landscape.  I had unfortunately found my way on to the ‘birders’ zodiac.  Now, I like birds and used to consider myself a bit of a bird spotter, but I am nothing compared to some of these people … I had to remind our zodiac driver (also the ‘bird guide’) that we were supposed to be ‘cruising’, not stopped in one spot for an hour lol. (I must note, as great as the photos look, I honestly don’t think they do this place justice – it was paradise!)

I had a terrible night’s sleep, partly because the room was so hot, but I also think partly in anticipation for the early rise the next day – 3:45am to be exact, which gave us time for some food before jumping in the zodiacs and heading to shores of Waigeo Island under the stars.  

When we arrived on the shore in the town of Waisai,  capital of the Raja Ampat Regency and home to just over 8,000 people and were greeted by a line up of 15+ SUVs which we jumped in and drove through the town as the early morning call to pray echoed around.  It seemed like we must have had at least half of the decent cars in the town lol. We quickly left the town and headed into the hills to start our walk through the jungle in search of the elusive bird of paradise.  Again we were greeted by a large welcome banner than had clearly been set up and prepared well ahead of our arrival.

Today I had had to make a really difficult decision – whether to head to search for the Wilson’s Bird of Paradise or the Red Bird of Paradise, both endemic to two islands in Indonesia.  Although both were in a similar area, with the time we had, and the fact that dawn was the peak display time for both species, it was only going to be possible to see one of the two.   I had decided in the end to look for the Red. 

The walk to both birds started along the same track and although it was not particularly challenging as far as tracks go, it was made more challenging by walking it in the dark and many people did not have torches and our local guide quickly disappeared into the darkness so I had to keep stopping to ensure people behind me without torches could see the way.  We final got to the hide around 5.45am and despite the early hour it was so hot and humid – I am not sure I have ever sweated so much in my life 🥵🥵.

The male red birds of paradise can be up to 72cm long, including their ornamental red plumes and black corkscrew shaped tail wires – those wonderful plumes that distinguish them from other birds. 

The 3 story hide gave us a great view of the birds display area, or lek, and fortunately for us (and the people who built the hide lol), they display at the same place most days and it was not long before we started to hear their calls, and see the birds appear, three males in total.  Two of the three put on a short but impressive display, shaking their colourful plumage and jumping around – just want we had come to see.  Unfortunately for them, no females appeared but it was such a special thing to see. 

Annoyingly, I had my camera on the wrong setting (somehow it had flicked from automatic focus to manual) so I got no decent photos of the event, just a poor quality video on my phone, but I was thrilled to see it.  (The terrible photo is mine, next to someone else’s good one so you can actually see what it we were looking at.)

The walk back down in the light seemed much shorter than the walk up and it was a nice surprise to be greeted by tea and freshly fried banana fritters brought by a number of local families.  Sometimes the simplest of foods in the most amazing locations are the best!

We were back on the ship by 9.30am and although we had hoped for another activity, the day was to be spent sailing across the Pacific Ocean, along the northern coast of the Birds Head Peninsula on Western Papua.    The rest of the day was spent relaxing, reading, napping and a lecture on Indonesian Conservation by one of our local experts. 

Across the Banda Sea to Palau Buru

On By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Buru Island, Indonesia

Oct 2022

Having crossed the Banda Sea over night, I had another self-inflicted early morning, but this time even earlier due to the time change 🤔.   It was a beautiful morning as we travelled towards Buru Island as the sun rose from behind it. Buru Island lies between the Banda Sea and the Pacific Ocean and is the third largest island Maluku Island group.  It is not a big island, at 130km long and 90km wide, but it soars from the sea to 2,700m at its highest point. Around 210,000 people live here.

As well as being between two seas, Buru is located right on the boundary between the biogeographic zones and its flora and fauna is quite unique – there are 4 endemic mammal species, 14 endemic birds and a number of endemic butterflies (not sure if we will actually see any of these lol).

To look at the island today, you can never imagine the tragic past that Buru has had.   Between 1969 and 1979, Buru was the site of Indonesia’s most infamous prison camp, where approximately 12,000 political prisoners (mostly academics, artists, teachers, journalists) were held without formal charge or trial.  They were forced to do hard labour without adequate food or clothing and hundreds died.

We were the first expedition ship to visit Pasir Putih, and I believe even Buru Island and as such it appeared to be a pretty big occasion.  The ship was greeted by officials in their small ‘official’ boat with a flag and a video camera recording the event – maybe we made the local news lol.  There were also a number of locals coming out in their small boats to look at the odd foreigners.  I was pleasantly surprised to see them all taking photos of themselves with the ship behind (I did try to photo bomb a few of them lol).

Despite the momentous occasion, the plan for the day all seemed a bit disorganised. There would be nature walks, there might be snorkeling, they did not know till our local guide went over for a reccie – had they not done this before they put the island on the itinerary?? 🤔 Because of this disorganisation, those of us who chose to go on the nature walks, missed the grand welcome which apparently consisted of 1000 villagers from 6 villages, including the Chief of the Regency who had apparently travelled for 6 hours to greet us.  There was local food and dancing and it sounded like a wonderful occasion.  It was the kind of event that everyone should have had the opportunity to experience especially given everything we are missing due to the delays!  To say I was disappointed is a bit of an understatement. 

My disappointment at the disorganisation could not take away the beauty of the island, it was stunning, beautiful turquoise water lapping upon small palm covered beaches, leading up to lush rolling hills and spectacular jungle covered mountains behind.   We were dropped off on land and after a short scramble up a bush covered incline, we made it to an old logging road where we proceeded to wander, stopping to spot the local wildlife.   

We spotted Red cheeked parrots, black eagles, sunbirds, red lorikeets along with some very cool spiders and insects (describing them as cool is a matter of opinion I guess lol).  It was an easy walk but so very hot (it had already been 31C at 8am!).

Unfortunately, we then had to wait over an hour on a small gravel beach area to be picked up by the zodiacs!    Thankfully the area turned out to be a washing area for the locals – washing the bottom of their boats as well as their clothes so it was interesting to watch their techniques. It was not long before other locals turned up to take selfies with us – now pretty much everyone has smart phones, I love that they want to take our photos, and more importantly selfies with us.

When we finally got picked up, we got a chance for a short snorkel from the beach where the grand welcome was held.  It was a nice snorkel, but it was low tide again, and there was still a rather large crowd of locals on the beach and in boats so was a little embarrassing having to wade out in front of all the spectators lol.    They were definitely as fascinated with us as we were with them. They did not know much English, but they knew ‘selfie’ 😂

The afternoon was spent at sea, with a great lecture from guest lecturer, Neil Nightingale and another from our resident historian.  His lecture was cut a little short as the call went out that there were sperm whales in the distance.  There was great excitement around the ship, and we made a short detour to get closer to the pod of sperm whales that had been spotted. 

Of course, I was out on deck trying to get the perfect photos (another failure lol) and from whales I moved on to trying to photograph the birds – today there were more boobies as well as a large flock of red-necked phalaropes (over 700 of them apparently).

It was a lovely end to the day

On board and bound for Wakatobi

On By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

At Sea/Hoga Island, Wakatobi, Indonesia

Oct 2022

Finally, the day had come when we were to board our expedition ship, Heritage Adventurer on her somewhat reduced maiden voyage for Heritage Expeditions.  The ship had just finished being refurbished and rebranded for the company, but the 1A Super Ice class ship started life in a shipyard in Finland in 1991.  Since then, she has an impressive history of polar exploration, so this trip through the tropics is a little change of scenery for her.

Though she was designed for over 180 passengers, the current configuration accommodates 140 guests, and we only have around 100 on board on this trip.  She is 124 metres long, with a beam of 18 metres and she is certainly far more luxurious than I had expected.

From the hotel, we drove back down to town and on to the main wharf where officials checked our passports and vaccine certificates, took temperatures and took photos of us on their phones (all rather odd things to do at this point as we were just about to leave lol) 🤔🤔🤦🏻‍♀️ Then, finally, we could board a zodiac and head out to the ship and get settled into our cabins.  I was glad to see I was still sharing with Harriet and even better, my booking for a triple cabin on the 5th deck, ended up being a twin cabin on the 6th deck.  Same cabin really but much more spacious with only 2 of us in it (and believe me, we quickly spread out to occupy all the space).

We asked our Zodiac driver (one of the senior ship crew who had been with the ship since it’s refurbishment in Turkey) about the net that delayed out departure.  He seemed surprised by the question and said there was no net, they were in dry dock in Singapore to clean the hull (a requirement for entry into New Zealand in November)!!!! 🤔🤔 I am not sure if we will ever know the truth but was now pretty dubious about what we were being told!

This day was always going to be a day at sea as we had a distance of over 500 kms to travel which would take almost 24 hours despite travelling 16 knots (accordingly to the info about the ship, the top speed is 15 knots and cruising speed 12 knots) lol.  For much of the day there was not much to see (or sea lol) – just the odd container ship in the distance and a few small local fishing boats and of course the beautiful wide blue ocean and sky.

It was really just a day to get set up on the ship, starting with a rather disorganised lifeboat drill (not sure we would we have survived a real evacuation) and getting set up with our snorkelling gear for the trip. We took some time to explore the ship, which in my opinion is pretty flash, much more so than the old Russian ship I explored Fiordland on a couple of years.  (They can no longer use that ship as it was leased from the Russian government.)

We had a huge ‘welcome’ morning tea just about an hour or so before lunch 🤦🏻‍♀️, which was also huge.  Every day lunch was to include a massive salad bar with cold meats, a cold soup (often fruity and more like a smoothy really but always delicious) and also an a la carte menu option.  This day like most I just had the salad and soup, but I can see I am definitely not going to go hungry.

I spent ages trying to take photos of little flying fish that were ‘flying’ around the ship in the beautiful deep blue ocean (I managed to get an ok one – if you look closely lol) and I found a nice little spot at the back of the ship where I could sit in the shade to read (I was already sure this would be a favourite spot).   There are a few hard core ‘birders’ on board and it was useful to the names of the birds we saw and throughout the day we saw Red-necked Phalaropes, Bulwer’s Petrel, Red-footed Boobies and Brown Boobies (although my decent photos come later in the trip).

Our first presentation on the ship was about our activities for the next day (I was so excited for the trip to truly start) before welcome drinks and introduction to the captain and the ship’s crew.   We were all closed up inside in this briefing and almost missed a stunning sunset, but I made sure I ran outside for it lol.

Dinner was (and will be every night) a 4 course meal if you want it – entrée, soup, main and dessert, and a course of 2 or 3 options for each course!  So much food and always really good.

I did not have a great first night’s sleep – the cabin was very hot and woke up a number of times, so ended up getting up at 5 am.  Not to watch sunrise but to watch an amazing electrical storm in the distance before sailing through a heavy downpour of rain – I love tropical rain! 

The previous afternoon we had had a lecture about Wakatobi archipelago, the location of Hoga Island where we were to visit.  Apparently it has been described by Jacques Cousteau as a marine nirvana 🎉🎉🎉.  The name Wakatobi is a combination of the main island names – Wa (Wangi Wangi) ka (Kaledupa) to (Tomia) bi (Binonko) and one of our guest lectures is part of a team working for with the World Bank on an integrated tourism master plan for the region and therefore had a lot of really interesting information about the area.  (It may be worth noting he is another one of these over achievers and as well as being an expert in this region, he has a PHD in Antarctic tourism!)

Situated in Southeast Sulawesi, with approximately 150 islands and a population of 115,000, Wakatobi National Park was listed as a UNESCO biosphere reserve 10 years ago – it is also the largest barrier reef in Indonesia (apparently second only to the Great Barrier Reef).  Unfortunately, a few years ago, the Indonesian government excluded all inhabited islands from the national park so now, only when you are at sea are in the national park. 🤔🤔

Early this year, flights to Wakatobi were stopped (with no explanation), so the Wakatobi Dive Resort have their own airstrip to fly their guests in.  They also pay the locals not in fish in front of resort to ensure their guests have a great marine experience. It can take up to 30 hours to travel from Jakarta!  (As you can imagine, our lecturer who is working on a tourism plan for the region had lots of thoughts about all of this.) 

The people of Wakatobi are all Muslim and many are considered ‘sea gypsies’.  In areas such as Bajo Mola, their stilt houses (bajo sampela) once were in the sea, but the Government have reclaimed land so now, during low tide, they are actually on land.   Though some do still live/work in fishing structures/houses, some far out to sea.

After sailing all the previous day and night, we finally arrived near Hoga island around 9am and our first real landing was a wet landing which means wading from the zodiac to shore – in this instance, about 50m through warm water ranging from a few cms deep to 30-40 cm deep, often without warning 🥴.

When everyone was finally on land, we headed off in different directions for various walks.  The short walk that I went on took us in to the forest just off the beach and pass the rundown remains of old resorts – as we had our wonderful naturalist Rod with us, we managed to spot a few birds and insects.

Back on the beach, it was time for some snorkelling. Unfortunately, it was low tide, so it was a fair walk through the sea grass meadow before actually being able to swim … it was worth the effort though.  We snorkelled through the continuing sea grass meadows, before heading out into an area of hard and soft coral clusters.  There were so many fish – hundreds and thousands of small brightly coloured fish, and I can’t forget the starfish and giant clams.

We waded back out to the zodiacs before zipping around to see the Bajo houses on stilts.  Unfortunately, as it was low tide, it meant we could not get close, but it was fun zipping around in the zodiacs getting wet again 😂

Back on the ship, dripping wet, just in time to hear the call for lunch so ran to the room to put on dry clothes before heading to the restaurant for lunch. It only took us a day to turn our cabin in to a laundry with wet clothes hanging all around it lol.  I guess it was only a matter of time!

I had bought a local sim card when I arrived in Bali in the hope that I would be able to keep in touch with home as we went in and out of coverage.  Surprisingly, we had pretty good reception here on Hoga Island, but apparently, it was only good because the Government knew we were there and did something to improve.  Normally it is terrible!!

The rest of the day was spent on the ship, setting sail across the Banda Sea for our next destination.  We had a couple of interesting lectures, firstly from my favourite naturalist Rod, on Wallacea and the Wallace line, between Sunda (Asia) and Sahul (Australia), followed by one on the Spice trade in the region (did you know the islands used to be known as the Spice Islands) where clove, nutmeg, pepper and cinnamon are all indigenous to a handful of the islands in the Banda Sea – where we were now travelling.

Apparently, nutmeg was thought to have fought off the plague and was so valuable, that the British traded a small island in the Banda islands (Run Island) for the island that now houses New York in the 1600’s!

As we travelled east, we had the first of a number of time zone changes overnight, losing an hour’s sleep 🤦🏻‍♀️.

Dragons and coral …

On By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Flores/Komodo, Indonesia

Oct 2022

Did you know the Indonesian archipelago is made up of over 17,000 islands extending over 5,000 kilometres west to east and crossing from the Indian to the Pacific Oceans.  When I finally board the ship, I will be travelling from Flores right across to the eastern most islands in the archipelago, but in the last couple of days, I have only travelled as far as Flores and Komodo.

The island of Komodo is part of the Lesser Sunda chain and is, not surprisingly, part of the Komodo National Park – and, more importantly, home to the Komodo Dragons, the largest lizards in the world and my main reason for visiting. This island group sits near the Wallace line – a faunal boundary that is a transitional zone between Asia and Australia.  In simple terms, this means it is an area where you can find fauna from Asia and Australia living together which makes it really rather unique.

Endemic to 5 islands in Komodo National Park, Komodo dragons are part of the monitor lizard family (with ancestors from Australia) and can grow up to 3 metres in length.  There are approximately 6,000 dragons left and around 1,700 of those call Komodo Island home.  Our guest naturalist and film makers had some wonderful stories of filming these amazing creatures and the lengths that film makers went to create some of the amazing programmes there are about them. 

There are pretty amazing and can eat up to 80% of their body weight (around 70kg) in one sitting and they can be incredibly patient.  They can attack prey as large as water buffalo and then follow it and wait for it to die from infection that starts around the wound!

And with that preamble, I find myself getting up at 5am (again) for a quick breakfast before being taken by bus 4 minutes down the road (yes, literally 4 minutes) to another hotel with a large wharf where we board 3 large launches, apparently the “best available transport”.  I must say, they were pretty impressive, each with 3 or 4 250 HP outboard motors on the back of them. 

I would like to call the boarding “orgainsed chaos” but really there was not a lot of organisation as we clambered from one boat to the other (as the wharf was only big enough for one boat to moor against it) and then back again when it was decided there was too many people on one of the boats. 

Finally, all divided up between the boats, the safety briefing tells us the capacity is 24 … we had closer to 30 🥴, despite that, we covered the 35km between the islands in around an hour, arriving on Komodo just after another large group despite the early hour.  Komodo is 390 Sq km in size and the dragons who live there have no particular territories.  Also probably worth noting, around 2,000 people share the island with the dragons. 

I had decided to go on the ‘medium’ walk but our first dragon encounter was right in the compound area, not far from the wharf.  In fact, there were two dragons, one of which was a big male which was amazing to see.    As we continued the walk we saw no more dragons but quite a few beautiful birds including a Green Imperial-Pigeon, Yellow-crested Cockatoo, a small raptor (not sure what), Barred Doves, Wallacean Drongos, Black-naped Oriole and a very cool little flying lizard with little yellow throat pouch.

Returning to the compound near the wharf we came across a couple more dragons – this time babies, just 2-3 years old.  Probably about the size of their normal monitor lizard cousins. 

Although seeing the dragons was great, it was sadly not the experience I remembered. In reality, it was never going to be the same with so much development and so many people now coming.  As all the dragons I saw were around the compound, I wonder if they get food from there as there was rubbish everywhere and always large groups of people surrounding them which was not ideal.  There were also a number of shops set up with pretty aggressive sales people who were not happy to take no for an answer which always detracts from any situation, more so when it is supposed to be a remote wildlife experience. Despite all of that, if you are interested in wildlife, I would highly recommend going to see the dragons as they truly are incredible.

From the dragons, we got back on the boat and moved around the island to the Pink Beach –  named for its beautiful pinkish sand … and don’t forget its beautiful turquoise water.  It really was beautiful.  The beach gets its unique colour from Forminifera, microscopic organisms that produce red pigments on coral reefs.  Here on Pink Beach, small pieces of coral mix with the white sand creating the soft pink hue that you see.

It was beautiful, particularly so when the other large group left, leaving just my group to enjoy the beach and waters.  The snorkeling wasn’t amazing but the water was a perfect temperature, and it was great to get a chance to cool down before heading back to Labuan Bajo.

The only scheduled activity for the rest of the afternoon, was the first of a number of talks by Conrad, an expedition staff member who was an history expert, not just of Indonesia but also of the war in the Pacific.  He had such an incredible knowledge and great way of sharing what could be somewhat boring lol.  He was even more impressive as this was only a side gig for him – his day job is Oncology surgeon!!

To end the day, we had been invited to dinner at the rooftop restaurant of a new government built hotel (as we were the first large group to visit the island since covid).  Dining at the Meruorah was like being in Singapore with a beautiful rooftop restaurant and pool overlooking the harbour.  The evening was topped off by us seeing our ship finally arrive in the harbour.    We could still see it from the beach at our hotel – it was so close we all just wanted to get on it now and get moving but no, it was to be another night before we can do that.

Delays and departures

On By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Bali/Flores, Indonesia

Oct 2020

On what should have been day 1 of my boat trip, I woke up early again so when down to see if there was a sunrise again – no really sunshine as it was too cloudy, but it was beautiful with the clouds reflected in the low tide.  What was particularly cool was that the sun was rising one side as the full moon set on other.  It was a great start to the day.

I spent the morning relaxing by the pool (different pool view this morning but still in the shade – no sunburn for me 😂), before checking out and taking a taxi the short distance to the hotel next door to check in for the boat that is not happening.   To kill some time, Harriet and I ended up back at the bar with my new favourite cocktail – the ‘C Cup’ by the pool.

At 2.30 the group of approximately 100 people boarded a bus, not for the boat, but to transfer us to a new hotel in Sanur, a different area of Bali, around 45 minutes away and by happy coincident, Harriet and I were sharing a room. We had plenty of time to kill, so we went off for a quick walk along the waterfront. This area is not as fancy as Nusa Dua but it was still nice with a number of independent bars and restaurants along the waterfront and not just those attached to a fancy hotel.

After a shower and changing in to my ‘first night dress’ we had a quick cocktail before meeting the group for the welcome meeting where we were introduced to some of the expedition staff who will be joining us on the trip.  The company is a family company and in based out of Christchurch and almost the entire family including children are on this trip! But I am most excited about 3 of the staff – Neil Nightingale and Karen Bass, both used to hold senior positions within the BBC Natural History department and who count Sir David Attenborough as a close friend and are responsible for some of his most popular programmes, and Rod Morris, a Kiwi naturalist who is a well-known wildlife photographer and filmmaker – I want to be them when I grow up 😂!

I was lucky enough to sit next to Rod at dinner and enjoyed reminiscing about our previous trips to Komodo – mine was 15 years ago and his was around 25 years ago when he was making a documentary there.    

It was disappointing to be waking up the next morning in another hotel room on Bali rather than on a ship, but my early morning walk had a lovely surprise of a volcano in the distance through the haze – we couldn’t see it at all the day before.

Today’s alternative activity was my idea of hell … 100 + people getting on buses to go on a day trip 🤦🏻‍♀️.  The trip was taking us back to Ubud where Harriet and I had gone the day before and the first stop was the temple we had already been to, so we decided just to wander around the streets and buy more snake fruit (which I had become obsessed with the day before). 

Next stop was a local village which may have been called St Asti Suweta Yowana or perhaps Dusun Lantangidung according to the sign.  We were told that hardly any tourists come to this particular village and although we may have been the only people here at this time, it was clearly set up for tourists!! As with the old Balinese family compound we saw the previous day, these were more modern but set up in the same way and each compound had different artisans doing different crafts – weaving, silver making, rice cakes etc.  More often than not I was distracted by the insects, plants, rice fields etc 🥴

For me, the highlight of the day was the beautiful lunch spot, at the Royal Pita Maha hotel, overlooking the spectacular Ayung river gorge.  Surrounded by jungle and waterfalls, watching white water rafts coming down the river. The food was ok, but the setting was stunning.  Each villa here had a view and its own pool – perhaps a nice spot for another trip lol.

From here we stopped in Ubud town and joined the throngs of tourists walking around the main street.  I decided to avoid the tourist market and headed straight to the main sites in the area.   Firstly, the Saraswati temple dedicated to honour the Hindu Goddess Saraswati – the goddess of learning, literature and art.   It had a beautiful lotus pond and was a peaceful oasis despite being right on the Ubud main drag.

Just down the road, also on the main road was the Ubud Palace (Puri Saren Agung).  Built in the 18th century by some of the finest artists in the country it used to be the official resident of the Ubud royal family.  Today it is a very busy tourist attraction, but it is still definitely worth exploring. 

Both sites were lovely but oh so hot, so I hit the most glorious of tourist spots, Starbucks (yes, they are everywhere) for iced coffee before we headed back to the hotel for a swim, pack bags, dinner and find out what we are doing tomorrow …

Day 3 of my Expedition cruise dawned with us still in Bali but finally about to leave.  Not by boat but by plane …. With a 4.45am wake up, and breakfast before taking a bus to the airport.  It was a surprisingly nice domestic terminal, and it was all very easy, cool and clean.

Apparently, the company had arranged a charter flight, but it fell through at the last minute as there were already two scheduled flights going to Flores during the day that were not full, so we had to use those.  I was luckily on the first Batik Air flight (as were most people) and we almost took over the plane.   I was also lucky enough to get a window seat, so I got the views I missed arriving the dark. I was so glad to be leaving Bali and was finally feeling like the trip was starting. I definitely did not pay all this money to sit in a fancy hotel in Bali – I could actually have done that for much cheaper if I had wanted that kind of holiday.

The flight from Bali to Labuan Bajo in Flores, took us over a number of islands and a spectacular volcano and its crater lake which accordingly to maps.me was Ranjani (Offline maps.me working wonders to identify landmarks).  We also flew over Komodo island – which appeared much larger than I remembered from the air.  It was also very arid and almost treeless, such a contrast from lush Ubud/Bali.  Also in contrast to Bali is the culture – people here on Flores are predominately Catholic and Muslim which also lends to different architecture (not that we saw much of it).

Komodo International Airport in Labuan Bajo was much bigger than first time I was here over 15 years ago, as was the town itself.  We had a couple of stops on the way to the hotel, firstly a 20 minute stop at the local fruit and vegetable market.  Not surprisingly it was smelly and hot, but the inside part was much cooler and posher.  Despite the whistlestop visit (and the 100 other people with me), it is always interesting to see the local markets and what is for sale. This was followed by lunch at a restaurant with beautiful harbour views.

Sadly, there were no activities scheduled for the afternoon and those we suggested (having done brief google searches) were knocked back.  So instead of exploring some of the island of Flores, I spent the afternoon chilling by the ocean front pool and then joined Rod, my new favourite naturalist on a short nature walk around the hotel gardens.  Not a terrible way to spend the afternoon, but I would have preferred to have been out exploring the island.

On a brighter note, the day ended with a lovely dinner on the beach, with the backdrop of an amazing sky as the sunset – and volcanos in the distance – photos just don’t do it justice. After a briefing about the upcoming days, I had high hopes for things to come.

The great escape

On By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Bali/Indonesia – October 2022 

It was with great excitement and trepidation that I left for my trip – the first time I’ve had this feeling in a few years.  Adding to the trepidation was the unreliable flights and the continually changing covid requirements which are still making travelling challenging.  And of course, there were no direct flights to Bali yet and it didn’t help that my direct flight from Christchurch to Melbourne was cancelled. The alternative options were a short transfer time or overnight in Auckland and as I am not one to take too many risks, particularly at the beginning of a holiday I took the overnight option.  I was glad I did as I had a fairly easy and relaxed transition through flights. 

I had a few hours to kill in Melbourne and it was great to take the time to meet up with a friend for lunch before my last flight from Melbourne to Bali.   The constant faffing through check in and boarding reminded me why I do not normally choose to travel on Jetstar!

I loved that first hit of tropical air as we disembarked the plan – it was raining, 28C and oh so humid🥴.  I had thought the whole arrival process would be a mess, but it was all pretty organised and quick for most part. First a health check, although all they did was look at my passport and vaccination certificate (luckily, they did not take temperatures as I am sure I was already hot and sweaty despite the aircon).

Next queue was to buy my visa on arrival (IDR500,000 or approximately NZ$60) before moving on to the longest queue, to get through immigration and finally on to luggage collection and customs.  All up, about an hour in total to get through and out.

I had arranged a pickup and finding my name on a board was easy enough, but the actual car pickup area was mayhem – I was worried I would not recognise the driver I had just meet when he finally came around with the car.  Thankfully he could recognise me.  I am not ashamed to say I was a hot mess by the time I got in the air conditioner car.

It was a short 15-20 minute ride to my hotel, including two security checks.  One to get into the area and then again to get into the hotel and I was grateful for the cool towel at check in.  I finally arrived at the hotel almost 24 hours after getting up, with only a couple of hours sleep in between and I was ready for a bed!

Despite a lack of sleep, I still woke up early and so got up for a walk (just missing a downpour).  There were frangipanis everywhere (my favourite flowers) and a slight aroma of incenses in the air as I walked down a lovely jogging track along the beach front (I did not jog of course) passed lots of beautiful hotels and some abandoned ones (though I am not sure if that is covid related as they look like they have been abandoned for much more than 2.5 yrs).

Of course, I realise this is NOT the real Bali and I feel like that in some way I am cheating on it by staying in this fancy hotel area, but it is what I need for a couple of days to relax before the proper trip starts.

I had found a nearby coffee shop on the map but didn’t check opening hours 🤦🏻‍♀️ so ended up back in a nearby hotel for my coffee fix and to read my emails … to see that my trip had all changed … Apparently, the ship I was supposed to be boarding in 3 days’ time had been damaged on its journey to Bali so whilst it was being repaired we are going to have to stay 2 extra nights in Bali (not what I wanted) — then flying to Flores (which I have done before) and then 2 days in a hotel there visiting Komodo.  Finally, then we can hopefully get on the ship – I was sitting there wondering what else we are going to miss out on 🥲 but I guess time will tell.

As I walked back to the hotel to check out the itinerary and I bumped into my friend who was going on the same trip (and who I had caught up with in April on Great Barrier Island) and I ended walking back down the pathway with her to see a local tourist attraction, the Peninsula Nusa Dua Blowhole.  It cost IRD25,000 (NZ$3) to get through the gate to see the odd volcanic (I guess) rock formations and see the blow hole, with scantily clad local tourists posing in front it lol.  It was pretty cool if you managed to catch a big one!

It was hot hot hot by this time, so we walked back towards our hotels, said goodbye to Harriet (she is staying in the hotel next door) and quickly changed and set up under an umbrella by the pool … From some chill time by the pool and some chill time in the room (read nap time) I headed down to the beach and enjoyed a fresh coconut 🤤 and fresh ocean breeze, cutting through the heat of the day.

I met Harriet at her hotel next door for dinner, were we had a beautiful salad and a vodka coconut sorbet cocktails served in coconuts!  (The kind of cocktail I will dream about.)  We asked for knives to eat the coconut and the waitress advised us against eating them as they were old and hard – she could not comprehend it when we tried to explain that that’s how coconuts come in New Zealand.   She was probably horrified when she saw how much we ate 🤤. It was a beautiful evening and the hotels were lovely lit up for the night.

For what should have been my last full day in Bali, I woke up around 2am, but thankfully managed to get back to sleep.  I finally got up around 6am and went for a walk in the opposite direction to the first day.  Passed a few more fancy hotels and then the juxtaposition of an old temple sitting between the hotels and a few locals putting out offerings and praying on the beach.  

For the rest of the day, I had arranged a day trip with Harriet and a driver recommended by a friend.  We had said to her that we were not interested in going to the normal ‘instagram’ spots but left the rest of it up to her.  Of course, I had arrived at the hotel in the dark so had not really seems anything outside of the hotel area, so it was nice to finally be out and about, driving through the narrow streets lined by small shops.  I was very glad to not be driving through the mayhem of cars, small trucks and motorbikes.

Denpasar turned in to the Ubud area without seemingly leaving the urban area, it just became a little greener and our first stop was was at the Pura Puseh Batuan temple – a beautiful 11th century Hindu Temple with a five-tiered Candi Bentar gateway. Although we did appreciate the beautiful buildings and carvings, Harriet and I were both fascinated by the old frangipani trees covered in orchids and the most amazing little snowflake water lilies.  

After some time admiring the beautiful temple architecture, we visited a fruit stall to stock up on my old tropical favourite – mangosteens and find what might be my new favourite – snake fruit.  It’s skin looks exactly like snake skin and it tastes somewhat like a non-slimy jackfruit (another one of my favourites).

Our next stop was another temple but a completely different one to the first.  The Pura Gunung Kawi temple – a World Heritage Site. Gunung Kawi sits at the bottom of a river valley so of course that means a lot of stairs down, passed beautiful fields and a gauntlet of souvenir shops to visit the shrines or tombs, 10 in all, carved out of rock in the steep cliff face during the 11th century.  It is believed the shrines were dedicated to members of the ancient Balinese royal family of King Udayana.

There were not a lot of people, and it was not only beautiful but quiet set in the jungle with the noise of waterfalls and the river.   Heading back up, steps and heat and humidity = sun cream infused sweat dripping into my eyes – not fun but definitely worth the walk.

Passing verdant green rice paddies, the next stop was supposed to be the Water Temple but as it was a full moon day, the temple was crazy busy with local people doing their purification, so we decided to give it a miss and moved on to the Salria Luwak Coffee plantation.

As we walked through the gardens, there were lots of different plants such as coffee (or course), ginger, snake fruit plants and dragon fruit plants (both very weird), pineapples of various varieties, vanilla etc, etc.  And let us not forget the Luwaks (or Asian palm civets).  The animals, with whose help, they create the most expensive coffee in the world.  I’m sure most have heard of it.  The civets eat the coffee berries, once they have passed through the animal and passed out the other end, their poop is collected, cleaned and the coffee beans are deshelled and cleaned again before being ground and sold for extortionate prices around the world.  All that said, it is not a particularly good practice as in most cases, the Civets are captured from the wild and kept in small cages. 

This was not a large plantation like those I saw in Colombia, and most of the work was done by hand but they still had lots of different coffees and teas.  My favourites were Mangosteen tea and Coconut coffee (no surprise there).   I also paid the additional IRD 50,000 (or NZ$6) for the real deal – the Luwak coffee. It was very strong with lots of sludge at the bottom, it was nice, but I am not really sure what all the fuss is about. 

Next up on our whistle stop tour was a traditional Balinese house – here we were shown how the traditional houses were set up with the different rooms in different parts of the compound.  They showed us how to make the offerings they put at the temple and around their houses every day (apparently, they have to make 50-75 of them each day) and also about ceremonial cock fighting … yes you heard that right!!!!  The cocks were already in their bamboo cages ready to be taken to the temple later in the day for their fights.   Apparently now, people also bet on them, but this is not part of the religious aspect of the activity!

Our final stop, was the Tegenuguan waterfall, but first some lunch at the amazing Omma restaurant (it was already 2.30) overlooking the waterfall.  We ate in the restaurant, but it also had a bar and a chic day club with a pool.  All very cool and a great way to finish off the day.

Tomorrow is the big day, the start of my boat trip … but without the boat for the first 4 days!!!  So, we will have to see what tomorrow brings.