East Timor 2011

Going back to East Timor brought back a lot of memories from our last trip. We did a pretty epic road trip out to the eastern end of Timor. Some of these photos were taken by Jade and some taken by me - it's hard to remember who was pressing the button!

The route we followed was Dili - Baucau - Tutuala - Jaco Island - Com - Dili

Dili to Baucau

Jesus backside beach  

Leaving Dili on the coastal road heading east 

Baucau mercado - an abandoned old Portugese building 

The incredible freshwater pool at the poussada, sadly we were in a hurry and didn't  get to swim here!

Random images from the road

The road was OK heading out of Baucau, except for the small incident when we got stuck in the middle of an armed convoy. The last part from Lospalos to Tutuala was epically bad though - steep, rocky downhills that tested our adrenaline reserves. We passed by countless small villages full of animals and children playing in the dust. We stopped in a couple of schools to distribute books and pens we had brought along, and were struck by the simplicity of Timorese country life.

Jaco island

Jaco island was one of the most magical places I have ever been. The water was so incredibly clear and the reef was just metres from the edge of the sand. A fisherman brought us across the short distance from Tutuala to Jaco and we spent the afternoon with the entire island to ourselves. Namiko managed to convince me to get into the water and see the coral, after which I had a strong desire to learn to swim. That is how, 17 years after I almost drowned in a pool, I started to learn to swim in 2011. In 2017, I really felt like my life came full circle when I went snorkelling in the Timorese ocean again. And it all started on this beautiful island.


Tutuala


We spent the night in Tutuala in tiny thatched huts run by the community initiative. The fisherman had caught our dinner and we had very simply roasted fish - incredibly fresh.

Com 
Com itself was becoming a beach resort town very rapidly, but the ocean near Com was just simply stunning.

We saw this abandoned building which was incredibly beautiful. It had such a strong haunted feeling that we wondered if people had died here.

On the last day we were in Dili, Namiko went for a dive and Jade & I chilled in town. At sunset we walked along the ocean and had some grilled fish. I think this was my last memory of Timor before we went back to Darwin

A few of my favourite faces