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Published: December 15th 2011
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After skipping coffee with the President of the United States upon our arrival in Bali it seems he managed to get his own back the following morning as we began our journey to the island of Flores, 2 hours east of Bali. We made our way across the shimmering tarmac to our tiny plane, our weary bodies cooled only by the shade of Air Force One, and took our seats. We sat through all the usual inflight spiel about safety and waited for the Captain to fire up the engines. After 45 minutes or so we were told that due to security precautions the Airport had been temporarily closed, and we would have to wait a while longer. Evidently Mr President was due to depart, and his flight would take priority. Sure enough, 5 or 10 minutes later a couple of fighter jets landed at the airport ready to form his escort no doubt. Still we waited. Another announcement apologised again, and this time asked us to return to the terminal to await further instruction. By now we were over an hour late leaving Bali.
But, no sooner had we boarded the bus to take us back than we were
ushered back onto the plane. 10 minutes later we were taxiing down the runway. Either our pilot had got bored of waiting, or else Mr President had been delayed. I guess we will never know!
Two hours later we arrived at the tiny provincial airport of Maumere, in eastern Flores ready to begin our next adventure.
The plan was to make our way slowly west, taking in a couple of sights along the way. Flores is a one-street island, where the main road rises, falls, twists and turns to navigate the stunning volcanic scenery, and as a result travelling is a laborious process, taking around 3 hours on day one to cover 50 miles.
We arranged some transport and set off, our first destination was the tiny village of Moni, from where we would visit the volcanic lakes of Kelimutu. Along the way we made various stops at small villages, beaches, and random spots along the road to admire the view, before arriving in the early evening. The trip to the volcano was scheduled for 4am the next morning to catch the sunrise.
The lakes of Kelimutu sit in the craters of extinct (I
think) volcanoes, and are unique for their bright colours, which have changed over the years. At the time of our visit one lake was as black as coffee, one a pale turquoise and one a slightly emerald shade of green. The colours are caused by the mix of chemicals and minerals that have escaped (and still escape) from the volcanoes over the years. Until recently the black lake was white and the green lake was red! At 4.30am sipping a cup of the local ginger coffee the effect is magical,as the sunlight slowly illuminates the caldera and the sulphur-tinged water. We spent a couple of hours simply staring into the water somewhat dumbstruck. This was the first of many such moments in Flores.
From Moni we headed south to Ende to grab some lunch and sit on a beach. Lunch was grilled fish and the beach was famous for its multi-cloured stones. Indeed it is littered with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of green and blue stones, which are bagged up and shipped to Jakarta to be exported. Apparently they are used for ornamental purposes in Japan and Korea, and this particular beach is the only
place they can be found in such numbers. It was a faintly Alice in Wonderland type experience to wander along the beach and see the sheer number of blue and green stones twinkling in the sunlight. Nobdoy knows why they only wash ashore here, but I imagine it cannot be coincidence that their colours match those of the lakes.
The rest of our trip was spent either on tiny paradise islands, swimming in clear water as warm as bathwater, or trekking up lush hillsides to view yet more volcanic lakes, or in many cases we simply stared out over the amazing scenery. If you were tasked with designing paradise, you would come up with something like Flores. Perfect white beaches, volcanic peaks, lush vegetation, searing heat and palm trees everywhere.
Our final stop was Labuanbajo, the only place we saw other tourists really and the only minor blot on an otherwise stunning landscape. It is not ugly at all, but having spent a week as the only people in paradise, it was a shock to the senses to see hotels and restaurants and other people! It is busy for one reason, it is the main place to arrange
trips to see Komodo Dragons, which is why we had come to FLores in the first place.
Most people fly to Labuanbajo, book a day trip to see the dragons and fly out again. We had chosen to spend longer here as a way of justifying the expense of the flight - which cannot be booked in advance and was bought on the morning of the flight - and also to see a bit more of the island. We are very glad we did.
Rather than book a simple day trip we decided to combine our visit to see the dragons with our return journey to western Indonesia, and booked a 4 day boat journey to Lombok that would stop at the National Park twice along the way. Although we bought the tickets from a man sipping beer at 8.30 am and were told that we would be sleeping on deck, it was one of the best things we have done so far.
Anyway, that is enough from me, I am sure that by now most of you have stopped reading to look at the pictures!! The next blog will be about the Dragons, our journey, more
paradise beaches and even more volcanoes!!
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Paul
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RE: fantastic blog & pics
Hi Tom & Anja I am really enjoying your blog and pictures. Very envious!!! When you're back you'll have to come up to Newcastle and we can catch a match and you can tell me all about your travels. In Oz, make sure you go to Manly beach in Sydney - thats where to learn to surf! Catching the ferry there on a Sunny morning is magical. Bondi isn't up to much. Wish we'd gone into Blue Mountains but didn't have time. If you are venturing up the East coast we found the following great and worth a visit: Noosa north of Brisbane was great, especially the food in the surf club on Hastings street with a great view over the beach. It was also a great base to travel to Fraser Island (a must!) roaming dingos, freshwater lakes, the famous Maheno shipwreck etc... Byron Bay was a bit bohemian but well worth the visit to see the lighthouse on the penninsula and a photo at Australia's most easterly point. The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane is brilliant if you can find it - get a hire car with a sat nav!!! Bar that we went to Airlie Beach as a base to explore the Whitsunday Islands. We caught the force of the Cyclone that wrecked devastation along much of the East coast so pick your day for boat trips carefully!!! Anyways, keep the blogs rolling. Hope to catch you on your return to hear all about it! Take care the both of you Paul