HomeInTheAir

When you travel over 12 hours on any one flight, I highly recommend using your frequent flyer miles to upgrade to business class. The seat goes all the way down to make a bed and you have your own little cubby hole to snooze away. On May 7 I will be taking my ninth Los Angeles to Sydney flight, and the fold down bed makes the trip a pleasure. Unfortunately they couln't do anything about the circles under my eyes from lack of sleep and sadness that the adventure is over, at least for now. I will be heading off again in 6 days; this time to visit good friends scattered throughout the east coast of America. I then come home to Santa Fe with a week to pack and get ready for the next month long trip to Timor. I invite you to join me for my continuing travels. Happy Trails from Ramblin Me

JacquiAndMoi

Almost a decade ago I met Jacqui on a flight from Los Angeles to Sydney. She is a film producer who lives in Sydney. I am still awed by the fact that, after we met on the plane, she took a day off to show me my first tour of Sydney. My perception of Sydney will forever be colored by the wonderful hospitality she showed a perfect stranger on my first trip to her city. On this trip, Doug and I met with Jacqui in Sydney's China Town for Dim Sum. I'm still trying to figure out how she keeps getting younger looking.

AnotherSuccessfulFlight

SydneyFlightSimulation

I am betting that Doug's favorite experience in Sydney was spending an hour in a flight simulator. You can pick out the airports, weather conditions and other added bits of excitement as an instructor guides you through the take off and landing of a passenger jet in the Flight Experience at a shopping center in Sydney's Darling Harbour.

GettingAroundInDarlingHarbour

MakeAWish

A lovely little statue in a secluded nook in Sydney's Botanical Gardens.

MillionDollarView

From the Botanical Gardens you have this spectacular view of the Sydney Opera House and bridge, where Australia's world famous New Year's Eve celebration is held each year.

ExoticPlantAtBontanicalGardens

Didn't I see this in a science fiction movie?

DougHidingBehindElephantEar

IdeasForTreeDecorating

From a distance the flying foxes hanging in the trees at the Botanical Gardens look like Christmas decorations. Once you notice them, you see that they are EVERYWHERE throughout the park.

TheyAreFoxesNotBats

I know, I know, they look like bats, but they are actually flying foxes and they are hanging everywhere throughout the Botanical Gardens. They sometimes get restless and spread thir wings to move to another branch. During most of our visit they seemed happy to hang upside down in the trees. I wish that I could say that this is a photo of live foxes (that I actually moved close enough), but these are stuffed foxes at the ranger station.

SydneysBotanicalGardens

This was the biggest surprise of the trip to Sydney. The Botanical Gardens are on the harbor overlooking both the Opera House and the Sydney bridge. It consists of acres of beautiful exotic plants, trees, and birds, as well as perfectly maintained lawns for family picnics overlooking the harbor.

AmericanMeatPieEndorsement

The outside of the meat pie stand in the next photo is covered in photos of famous people eating said pies. This one of Colonel Sanders chowing down caught my eye.

WhereToFindMeatPiesInSydney

CondosInSydneyHarborArea

You can imagine how expensive these harborside condos are, especially with a view of the city skyline. The entire first floor consists of back to back gourmet restaurants. The condo on the very end belongs to Mel Gibson.

TouchingWarMemorialAtTheHarborArea

AustralianBirds

One of the striking differences about being in Australia was that the most exotic birds can be seen almost everywhere. The cockatiels and parrots that we see only in cages in America, are actually considered pests in the city because of their large numbers and constant loud bickering with each other. Sitting in an open air cafe in Adelaide I was stunned by the noise and the beautiful colors of the red,green, and blue parrots fighting in the tree beside me. In Sydney, this Ibis was casually wandering around an open air market.

SydneyAndTheBigBus

After visiting Adelaide and the beach town of Rogue's Point, we headed to Sydney, probably the best known city in Australia. My favorite way of visiting a new city is a "Big Bus" tour. It is usually a British double decker bus with an open top. Your all day ticket allows you to get on and off at the various tourist attractions. It is a perfect way to get a quick overview of a city on your first day there, and Sydney was no exception.

YabbieInMemorium

MyFirstYabbie

It is not as rique as it sounds!!A yabbie is a freshwater crustacean that is a bit bigger than a crayfish but smaller than a lobster. They are yummy! They cannot be sold in Australia but thank goodness Doug's best friend knows someone who knows someone. He surprised us with a bag of yabbies and an exquisite bottle of local wine to welcome me to Adelaide.I couldn't have asked for a better welcome.

AdelaideWineCountryTour

The city is surrounded by some of the best wine growing regions in Australia. Doug took me on a tour of some of the gorgeous wine growing areas. We discovered this lovely Hotel called Thorngrove. It is one of a world wide network of "small luxury hotels;" all of which provide maximum pampering at a price of many thousands of dollars a night. This is as close as we got to the actual hotel!

HouseInTheAdelaideCountryside

While visiting Adelaide, a local paper reported that real estate values in Australia are the highest in the world and are roughly 3 times what you pay in the US. This is inspiring more Australians to look at American real estate as an investment opportunity

ASignThatYouAreInAustralia

NewerLookOfDowntownAdelaide

OlderLookOfDowntownAdelaide

AdelaideFromTheAir

Flying into the airport, the red roofs of the Adelaide neighborhoods near the airport reminded me of the red roofs of Santa Fe.

MyFirstTripToAdelaide

On the last trip to Timor, I invited myself to Doug's home town of Adelaide, South Australia, on the return trip home. It was a beautiful pristine city with a blend of old and new architecture. This is the view flying into Adelaide

DarwinGatewayToTimor

When we travel to Timor, we have to spend a day or more before catching a plane to Dili. Doug worked in Darwin many years ago and gave me the tour of the city and one of the famous watering holes (very much like the bar in the Crocodile Dundee movie.) Here he is trouncing me at pool.

TimorMemories

On May 7 I will be heading back to Timor for my third trip but here are a few more photos of trip two. I managed to go through 2 cameras on the trip and it required a search to find all the photos. This photo should come with sound. Doug and I watched these Timor goats butting heads for over half an hour and the crack of skull against skull was amazingly loud.

WeCleanUpRealGood

In Sydney we saw each other dressed up for the first time as we prepared to attend a production of Carmen at the Sydney Opera House. It was an amazing experience finally visiting this gorgeous architectural landmark.

QuickVisitToRoguesPointAustralia

On the way home to America I was fortunate to be able to visit Doug's home in Adelaide in Soutern Australia, as well as his beach house in Rogue's Point. After the blazing heat in Timor, it took a bit of adjustment to the cooler beach air.

BeachHomes

During the last month we were there, structures like these seemed to spring up on the beach across from all the permanent shacks on the other side of the road. It is getting close to the end of the rainy season so perhaps people are arranging shade on the beach for the better weather conditions coming soon.

CreativeHomeExpansion

Every day returning to the hotel, we pass this hut on the left that is almost sitting on the road. One day we noticed that the area across the road from the home had been set up with filled bags and other things to accomodate company. The owners basically use the street as a hallway to their expanded home. We have to be careful at night to avoid hitting people sitting in the street conversing with folks sitting in the new expansion.

TypicalDayAtStMichaels

The school has about 2000 students with almost 30 girls living there full time. Even scheduling the students to go in half days, there are sometimes almost 60 students crammed into a tiny classroom, with no fans, or lights, or electricity.

FarewellToUsAsWell

The ceremony St Michael's held to say farwell to Daryl, turned into a farewell to Doug and me as well. We were leaving in two days to return to our respective countries and I was touched that we would receive an "official" farewell as part of the ceremony. Doug impressed us all by giving a farewell speech in Tetun no less! The crowd loved it!

FarewellToDaryl

Sadly Daryl is leaving his job as the leader of the Rotary Club in Timor-Leste. This is devastating news to everyone at St Micheal's School as he has championed the cause of St Michael's for years. The school held a touching ceremony acknowledging his efforts and thanking him for his support of the school.

AHeroAmongUsInTimorLeste

Working at St Michaels School, we kept running into a quiet unassuming Timorese guy named Juliao Dos Reis (Jules) who always seemed to be there when we were there. He spoke perfect English and you could tell that Mr. Crisna, the principal, treated him like a second in command. More and more we became dependent on Jules for translation, advice, support, and help walking through the cultural and political complexities of working at the school and understanding the culture of Timor-Leste. Little did we know that this 29 year old unassuming guy had lived through 10 lifetimes and survived and thrived against unbelievable odds. He was a young boy when his father left home to become a freedom fighter to help rid the country of the Indonesian Army that was systematically killing the locals by the thousands.
Because his Father was a freedom fighter, Jules' family was threatened and he was almost killed twice. At the age of 10 Jules was forced to leave his Mother, Brother, and Sister because he "looked too much like his Father." Without a penny, he took a bus far from home. A family, seeing a lonely little boy at the bus station, took him in. Today Jules has both an undergraduate and Master's Degree in Health Management from prestigious Australian Universities and a high Level job with Catholic Relief Services in Dili.He spends every free minute working at St Michaels and helping his family and relatives.
After 11 years apart, he was reuntied with his Father, the freedon fighter, who told him, "It was my duty to take the girl back from the enemy, now it's your turn to dress her up." Jules' Dad gave him this charge to take the newly freed Timor-Leste to the next level. I can't imagine placing the country in more capable hands.
If you want to hear a profoundly moving radio interview with Jules by the Australian Broadcasting Company, cut and paste this address

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/04/16/2219929.htm?site=conversations

Both Doug and I feel privileged to call Jules a friend. Doug took this photo of Jules and his Mom.

DiliBound

A final look at Ateuro Island before the much too exciting trip back to Dili and our work at St. Michael's School. I still think they're "gonna need a much bigger boat!"

FarewellToParadise

A day on Ateuro Island was far too short, but I'm afraid the boat trip over from Dili is so harrowing that it may be our last visit there. It was time to go back to sorting books and building book shelves for the library at St Michael's School.

ASurpriseTourGuideInAteuro

Ambling along the trails through the island of Ateuro, we discovered a neat small village of about 12 houses as well as a school and church. We met a young man who spoke English and found that he taught English on the island to both school kids and adults for free. We later sent supplies to him to support his teaching efforts and hope to stay in touch whenever we are in Timor.

TheFreshestCoconutsYouWillEverHave

On Artuero Island we discovered a family grinding fresh coconuts to extract the oil for cooking. Doug mentioned that he loved fresh coconut milk and, before we knew it, folding chairs were pulled out for us and a young man with a massive machete was wrapped around a coconut tree, saying a prayer, before climbing up to hack down coconuts for Doug. I think it would be fair to say that it will never get any fresher than having someone climb up and chop them down for you. We convinced one kid to carry five back for us and Doug was in heaven.

TheStressOfIslandLiving

Getting into a hammock is actually harder than it looks - but once you are there - you just don't want to get out!

OceanSleepingOnArteuroIsland

This is where we spent the night, looking over the ocean and horizon. You wake to the sounds of the local fisherman going out.

PickingAnIslandHome

There were about 8 thatched houses from which to choose as well as 6 small open air pavillions directly on the beach where you could sleep overlooking the ocean and stars. We picked one of each, which I am sure drove the staff crazy. They worked overtime putting in mosquito nets in both the hut and pavillion.

ArtueroIslandAndParadiseFound

The travel agent who arranged our trip and stay on Artuero Island told us that if we went on a weekend we would probably have to share accomodations with folks who work in Dili during the week and vacation there on the weekend. We decided to go on a week day and a smart decision it was. We had the entire place to ourselves and could pick any or all the cabins and sleeping accomodations that we wanted. Even Barry was gone to return for a visit to his homeland Australia. For me it was paradise. Doug is more sociable than I am and I'm sure he missed having fellow travelers. For me, it was like owning a private island.

WeAreGonnaNeedABiggerBoat

This phrase from "Jaws" has a significant meaning for me, now that Doug and I took a boat to visit the Island of Artuero. You can see the island from the shoreline of Dili and we finally scheduled a boat to take us for an overnight visit. You don't hit the big waves until you are quite a distance from the shore and then it is too late. The waves were so large that when the boat hit a trough it felt like the boat had been dropped onto a concrete driveway. We white knuckled all the way to the island and were completely soaked upon arrival. My camera is history, so many of the photos in the blog dealing with the second trip to Timor-Leste are thanks to Doug.
It is not a good sign when you arrive at the island and four men are carrying the island's only generator to meet your boat. While we were there no one had any electricity, which meant the only cold drinks were a few beers left in the hotel cooler. Worked for me!

TheAmazingPrincipalOfStMichaelsSchool

The school where we work, St Michaels, was founded and is lead by Mr. Crisna, one of the hardest working men I have met. He rises at 4 am and is at the school until 11 pm. He seemes to be everywhere at once, organzing the kids, counseling one on one, taking the marching band through its drills, working with contractors to build a wing on the school, encouraging the builders, meeting with the Rotary club that supports the schools efforts, etc. And yet, he always seems to have time to welcome Doug and me to the school.It is exhausting just watching him in action.
Mr Crisna is in the photo on the right. He is with one of the teachers, waiting for the body of St. Bosco to arrive at the Dili Airport.

WaitingForTheBodyOfStDomBoscoToArrive

During our last visit to Timor-Leste, the Pope (or "Papa" as he is called by the locals) decided that the body of St. Dom Bosco should be flown around the world to visit local schools that have been named for him. St Bosco was famous for helping needy kids receive an education and the visit was a way of recognizing the efforts of schools named after him. St Michael's, the school where we are working, was selected to be one of the schools participating in the ceremony to welcome the body when it arrived at the airport in Dili. Mr Crisna, the principal,took this honor very seriously and had the students in the various marching groups (band, drum majorettes, etc.) practicing in the streets around the school every day for weeks. Just as a reminder - it is a million degrees there every day and almost all of the uniforms have long trousers, long sleeves, and various layers of very hot clothing. Even the girls with short skirts have to wear pantyhose
On the day of the scheduled arrival Doug and I were invited to be there so that I could cover the arrival in my blog. We arrived late, but fortunately the body was late also. The 50+ kids in hot uniforms, waited along with us for hours in the blazing heat until we were told that St Bosco's plane was delayed for several hours in Indonesia. We took advantage of the delay to go somewhere to get cool, but the kids waited. When we returned we were told about another delay. At some point, with all the delays, we gave up the quest to see the arrival of St Bosco and called it a day. We learned later that the body arrived after 7 pm. The kids (and Mr. Crisna) had been waiting out in the sun for over 10 hours. The body lay in state in Dili for one day before being transported to a small town several hours drive out of Dili. The kids were transported in open air trucks to be with the body during its three day stay there.
Having been raised Lutheran and not Catholic, I wanted to understand the rationale for St Bosco's world wide trip. "It is because Papa wanted it," I was told by a local.

TheTrulyScareyBeaurocracyOfTimor

Not being able to find butter is an annoyance, but we found out how truly frightening the Island's beaurocracy can be when we visited our local favorite restaurant, the Ocean View. It is a five minute walk to our favorite restaurant from the Arbiru where we live. It is a huge open air pavillion on the beach, with excellent food and drinks and a good chance to run into someone we know. It sometimes has live entertainment or we may find ourselves invited to a private fundction there. In the dark with no street lights, we usually wind our way through the herds of goats lying on the pavement of the road, the baby pigs running around, and the locals sitting on the road peering into the shack that has a local soap opera playing on the cable TV inside.
One day we walked down to the restaurant for lunch as usual. As we were sitting there eating, we noticed that an entire side of the building was missing! Actually, it wasn't just missing - it was completely demolished as if a cyclone had hit it. We later found out that the government had come in and completely demolished it becuase the owner had not had all of the paperwork approved correctly. Yikes!
The owner was trying to add a kitchen and bathrooms to the pavillion. To add insult to injury he was also told that he would have to tear down the entire retaurant in 10 days. When we left, negotiations were looking good and we are hoping that our favorite restaurant will be there when we return.

TheManWhoMadeItAllPossible

This is Daisy aka Daryl, the leader of the Dili Hash House Harriers who opened the door for Doug and I to survive and actually contribute during our stay in Dili. Daryl is also the leader of the Rotary Club in Dili. Through Doug's Brother-in-Law in Sydney, Australia, we made the connection with Daryl, and on our second day in Dili, we found ourselves working at St. Michael's School. Equally important was that he invited us to the Harriers where we immediately became part of the 50+ members of the group. It opened the door to a social network, but in a third world country it also gives you an important network needed for basic survival. The Hashers look out for each other in every way possible. Doug and I feel lucky to be a part of this incredible support network, thanks to Daryl. Daryl wears this red outfit only for the yearly Red Dress Run to raise money for the local Red Cross, (at least as far as I know!) PS Go Pies!