Indonesia  September  to October  2006

Indonesia

We cleared  Australian customs on August 28 the. and squared away to the North with a fine  breeze helping us drop the land well below the horizon in a few hours. Good bye Aus. our base for the last 10 months. How the hour glass of time runs faster when every day is different and brings new thoughts, sights and challenges.

Unfortunately the wind died along with the daylight and left us searching for wind for the remainder of the passage. After a tiring five days of light, fickle winds and many sail changes later (and where our new spinnaker proved it's worth), we arrived at Kupang, in West Timor, Indonesia and came to anchor just off the town walls.

What an overload of the senses, sounds, the smell and the colours. Talk about a  culture shock after Australia. First go ashore to clear in, quarantine, customs, immigration and Ports. All in one place, no not that easy,  we have never seen so many people doing one job in so many different places for a long long time!!  It was noisy, colourful, dirty, disorganized, but very interesting. In the end we had to 'buy' a local who spoke English to help us through the chaos. Mucho Fun. Four hours later and we were checked in, well almost, still had to complete Port clearance the following day. Scuttled back on board ,like a snail into it's shell to recover from shell shock. We would brave the hoards again the next day.

Trivia

Indonesia spreads over a 5,200 km area between the Asian Mainland and Australia and it comprises of about 15,000 islands. There are about 500 languages and dialects spoken by the 200 million people.  Many tourists have been put off coming to visit because of the bombings in Kuta in Bali (Bali is the Island not the town), which has left the countries tourist industry in tatters.  The peak tourist season is between mid June and mid September. We arrived at the beginning of September and  left at the end of October and everywhere we went there were hotels, restaurants, and beaches empty.  The Indonesian economy still survives but it seems only barely in some  of the previous tourist areas..   Despite this, the country has sights and experiences that we found to be colourful and fascinating and really enjoyed our two months cruising around West Timor, Rinca, Komodo, Lombok, Bali, the Java sea, and the Riau Islands. The people were polite ,friendly and welcoming and , only occasionally , a little pushy on the vendor front. Local food was so inexpensive at tines it was as if they were paying you to eat it. Beer a dollar a can, cold.

The Dutch who dominated Indonesia for about 400 years until 1960 when Indonesia became Independent has left its mark with the Colonial Architecture and some infrastructure.  The local architecture with their temples is mixed in everywhere. The  beautifully carved stone arches, walls and gates are quite a sight. This, along with the juxaposition of grunge and colour, thousands of motor bikes, smoke and noise all against a green jungle backdrop, well it's a blast to the senses. 

            motorbikes lining up to fill up                                                                 Beautiful carved doorway

Indonesia is a predominately Muslim country and is the largest Muslim nation in the world but  in contrast, the Island of Bali is the only Hindu society in all of Southeast Asia.
 

After 3 days we left Kupang for Rinca Island to see the Komodo dragons.  The passage was 250 miles a two and half day sail with light winds . We motor sailed  most of the way and anchored at Nosa Kuda which was a beautiful anchorage tucked in behind an island at the southern end of  Rinca. We stopped there just for one night, such a wonderful, tranquil sleep after the arduous night watches on passage, dodging the numerous lit and unlit local  fish boats, bamboo fishing platforms, unlit one man outrigger canoes and miles of floating nets. Next day  we made our way up the west coast of Rinca to the Lehok Buaya in Komdo National Park and picked up a mooring provided by the parks dept.. We went ashore and were given permission to move down the narrow inlet and anchor near to the entrance of the Park.  Organized a 'dragon hunt' in the Park for the next morning.

On going ashore there were about 3 enormous dragons just lolling around the jetty.  It almost looked like they were drugged and placed there for the tourists to whet their appetite for more.

Our hike took about 2 hours with a 6 km hike through  bush, scrub, waterless streams and up to a high point on the island. We were not disappointed, saw quite a few large dragons, wild pigs, water buffalo, deer and monkeys, Quite the place and our local guide was great.

We organized a sunset hike to see the magnificent sunset at the western end of the Island.  Really enjoyed that. Peter went on a wild horse hike the next day right into the middle of the Island. He set off at 6 a.m. for an  early start and was back by 10:30 a.m. quite knackered, fortunately having found the elusive horses in the next valley over.

    Rinca Anchorage  Parks Jetty is at top Right                                             The infamous dragon - just a little guy!!

     of lagoon

We left Rinca for Lombok Island and after another 3 day sail arrived at Gilli Air just off the north western part of the Island. The village was great but sadly as in most tourists areas we have been to in Indonesia there were hotel after hotel empty or with very few tourists.  We treated ourselves to beers and good food that was so cheap we felt they were almost giving it away. The islanders were wonderful and we were able to get our laundry done by one of the locals on the beach. had a great two days resting and eating out which was a change for us both.

This anchorage was the first time we had seen other sailboats and it was quite good to meet old friends again From Canada, US,  Australia, New Zealand and England.

 Getting to the beach at Gilli Air.  Lombok in the distance                                 A small tourist homestay - with no visitors, such a shame!!

After a few days of cheep beer we moved the six miles over to anchor off the Island of Lombok where we both  wanted to organize hiking trips  on Mount Rinjani.  I wanted to go on a wild flower trek whereas Peter , like his usual over ambitious self wanted to climb the mountain.  His trip was quite well known and needed  very little organization , just a couple of phone calls from the tout on the beach, whereas mine was not quite so popular and I had to tavel about 30 km to Mataram,  the nearest town, and visited the Mount Rinjani National Park trek office.  They served us tea and cakes whilst we ( myself and Glynda from 'Nero) organized the hike for two days later.

After all was organized, two days later we dinghied to the beach to catch the transport to the Park for our wee hiking trip.  A three hour bouncy car ride took us to Sembalum Lawang Park H.Q. in the foot hills where we spent the night in a charming traditional ( read rustic) home stay. Good local food though, and we were treated like royalty. After a 6 am. breakfast we met our guide and two porters. Yes, they carried our tents and sleeping bags as well as the food, water and cooking gear. After the first half hour I knew I was in for a grueling up hill hike that would test my endurance (I am not as fit as Peter) The trek took us up to 2,200 meters.  We saw the rare black ebony monkey, lots of indigenous trees, wild orchids, but unfortunately the organizers failed to tell us that the wild flowers were not in bloom until January or February. I was bitterly disappointed but "enjoyed" the hike nevertheless. It was very hot during the  day and I ran with sweat, like hiking in a sauna. The guide and  Porters who cooked for us with fantastic and managed to provide interesting meals all achieved with a couple of pots and a wood fire. No 'facilities' here, we're in the bush. After carrying our gear all day they pitched tents and made camp for us for our night out on the mountain and generally looked after us, producing yet another great bush meal. Meanwhile we wrung out our clothes and crashed into the tent wiped out.  More cups of hot tea.

Not long after the sun went down so did the temperature. It got really cold. We huddled in our sleeping bags while the porters cooked , made more tea and the guide seranaded us with love songs in Indonesian as we gazed into the fire. The night was long, cold and the ground hard. I'm to old for playing girl guides.

Breakfast watching the sun rise and off again cold and sore. On the way down the mountain we ended up at the foothills where the villagers had wonderful  terraced gardens which they proudly showed us. The poinsettas and bouganvillea hedges were magnificent.  Arrived back very tired and gladly bundled ourselves into the luxurious air conditioned car back to the boat which took us about 3 hours.  Thank you to our wonderful porters and guide for a great trek. Cost for two days and two nights, food guides and transport - $100 aprox. What a deal! 

     Joyce's Porter and Cook

Peter's trip.......

Well let see, ---- talk about an early start, left the boat at 3 a.m. and dinghied to the beach in time for a 4 a.m. rendeavough with the transport, flashlights winking on the beach, it felt like the Cornish smugglers. 

Just like Joyce, bounced about for about 3 hours, head lolling, tongue out, trying to sleep.  Arrived in the village for a dawn breakfast got introduced to my guide and two porters and we were off through the foothills by 8 a.m.. These guys don't mess around and we had a long way to go, by noon I was knackered and was glad of the hours rest stop as they lit a fire and cooked lunch. Another four hours of steep uphill brought us to the rim camp, perched on a ridge overlooking the huge crater lake - really wiped by this time.  Boat legs just don't cut it. These guys made camp, cooked a great supper and provided hot tea while I took photos. Then it got cold, really cold. I was glad I had packed my own fleece jacket and windproof. Spent a few hours huddling by the fire and then crawled into bed and shivered all night.  My water bottle froze.  Did I say all night, well we were up again at 2:30 a.m. with hot tea,  me squatting by the fire and then off  up the summit ridge by 3 a.m. following the guide by headlamps. The idea was to be on the summit by just after sunrise and back down to camp before the clouds and wind roll in at mid morning.

It's a volcano and you would have thought I would have guessed that the ridge would be steep cinders and ash.  Thank goodness I didn't, for if I had known it would have been four hours of two steps up and one step back I would have probably stayed on the boat. As it was, I just kept on gasping, sliding back grovelling up again and trying to keep my heart from bouncing out of my chest.  Finally the angle eased for the final half mile traverse to the summit and I managed to stagger to the top just as the sun was lifting out of the sea way to east.  Beautiful.  It was still cold and I was glad of my fleece and windproof again.  We hung around on the summit and watched the shadow of the mountain hit the high clouds in the west and slowly slide down the face of the crater and disapear into the emerald pool of the crater lake 5,000 feet below - awesome. 

Time to head back down to the rim camp.  What a blast, this I could do.  A wonderful cinder scree run  most of the way, back in camp for 10 a.m. and breakfast.

There were 8 other guided parties at the rim camp and twenty people plus guides started for the summit that morning.  Only myself and two other couples, serious trekkers in their thirties plus one of the guides made it to the summit so I felt pretty privileged.

After an hour eating breakfast and lounging around the camp it was off again, down the really steep 2,000 foot descent to the crater lake and hot springs. Lunch stop by the lake and a flop in the hot springs and it was off again for the 2,500 foot  ascent out of the crater up the other side.  By now I was really really wiped.  Managed to keep putting one foot in front of the other and staggered out onto the opposite rim in the early afternoon.  More tea on the woodfire. Our guide thought we were doing really well and suggested we might desend to a lower camping spot at the start of the jungle where it would be a lot warmer than it was the previous night. So, on we go again and we made camp spot in the trees by about 4 o'clock.  That was a long day!!  13 hours of hard travelling.  Supper was great, nee goren with an egg on top followed by fruit and more tea.  These guys were really great  bush cooks.

Next day was a fairly easy 8 mile walk out followed by a bouncy car ride to be deposited on the beach mid afternoon.  What a fabulous trip the best three days I have had for a while.

     Peter and his guide on the top at sunrise with the shadow                          

       of the mountain on the lake below

After a wonderful and exhillarating trip and a two day recovery period we were on the go again.  This time we were on our way to Bali.

This was another two day light wind passage, dodging local craft most of the way.

We anchored in a small bay at Lovina Beach on the northern part of Bali.  We decided to travel to Kuta by car for our shopping/ sightseeing expedition.  Kuta was quite a cultural shock, it was busy and it is the brashest, busiest tourist place in Indonesia. It is packed with hundreds of hotels, bars, clubs and lots of shops with very cheap clothes, tailor made clothes, with the usual tourist nicknacks. Even this mecca of tourism was still not as busy as it was before the bombings in 2002.  Kuta is where they had the nightclub bombing in 2002 and there is a memorial to the dead on the site of the old nightclub which they call "ground zero" We stayed a few days and I ordered a tailor made dress which was ready in 24 hours.

The journey across the mountains to Kuta from Lovina Beach was well worth the 3 hour ride.  We saw rice terraces, beautiful temples, and all the villages and towns across the island. And more motorbikes than fleas on a donkeys back.

A few days at Lovina and it was passage time again. This time the course was N.W.  to Kurumjawa in the Java Sea just north of the island of Java.

We did have one rather nasty "incident' about five miles of the NE coast of Java. Two big powered sampans with about ten hollering guys in each decided to do a chicken run with us and came hurtling across our bows at about 15 knots trying to cut us off. They didn't judge the closing vector very well ,or knew nothing about sail boats. We were running down wind at 5 + knots with two big poled out head sails, wheel locked down, wind vane hooked in and not in a position to do much dodging about round speed boats driven by idiots. We creamed the inside boat dead amidships, rode up over their gunwales and generally did a number on their top side planking. Thank god we were not in a modern light weight sled or we would have stove in our bows and lost the rig as the forestay would have been carried away. it takes a lot to stop 14 tons doing 5.5 knots. Fortunately we only suffered some minor dent at the stem and a few scratches which we will fix when we next haul out. Major battle stations as we did a quick damage survey, Nothing amiss. Fired up the engine to motor back round down wind as we were now all aback as the impact had swung us round through 90 degrees. In doing so our big 17 ft. pole raked across the sampans stern and took out its aft mast. Yes ! Score one. The other boat had by now circled round and was closing again. By this time Joyce was up on the foredeck brandishing a boat hook in their  direction and generally playing amazon and looking really angry. Enough to scare anyone. Must have scared them as they went back to check on the wounded boat. We put the peddle down and they disappeared over the horizon. Took me a full day to get the adrenalin levels back down and I got neck ache from looking over my shoulder.. Fun Fun.             

Spent a few days recovering from our nasty incident in the Java sea.  We arrived in Kurimjawa where we met up with some of the Indonesian Sailing Rally boats and had a few relaxing days catching up with friends before we were off again up to Nongsa Point to check in at the Marina.  What a pleasant spot to spend a week.  The Marina and Resort had all the facilities for a pleasant stay.  Pool, air conditioned sailors lounge, restaurants and a even a small gym for Peter. 

We checked out of Indonesia on October 23rd and headed for Singapore where we are now currently enjoying the comforts of Raffles Marina before heading up the Malacca Straits to Malaysia and Thailand.  we will let you know how it goes....