DAY 7 of 7 – 10 SEPTEMBER 2023 – 258KM TOTALLING 1,206KM: North West Coast, Balibo, Dili. LAST POST OF TIMOROLAND !!!

 

Welcome to the last post of Timoroland.

 

I was up at 6am with great anticipation of the drive to Balibo today. My 630am meeting time with Felipe came and went. I managed to phone him and wake him up – he had not set his alarm. He spoilt an otherwise perfect record to date being on time or early every time. He arrived and 7am and first stop was the Santa Cruz Massacre Monument downtown to launch Mini over Dili. Morning was the best time and this was the right opportunity since I would be too tired to fly after Balibo. The flight was flawless and the city looked great – wait until you see it in the film !!!

 

The 122km, 3hr drive to Balibo takes in most of the north coast from Dili to the westernmost point only 5km from the Indonesian border. I visited the following attractions along the north coast before turning inland to head to up the rugged border mountains into Balibo: St John Paul II Fataluku Monument, Prisao de Aipelo (Abandoned Portuguese Jail), Maubara Portuguese Fort. The north west coast is awash with white sand beaches greeting blue-green clear water. There are several tree-covered villages along these beaches selling “Ican Saboko” which is whiting barbequed inside a string-like palm leaf wrapped around the fish.

 

Form the coast you ascend 630m to reach Balibo 17km inland from the coast. This ascent takes ages given the poor condition of the road here. Balibo is a small village on top of a long rugged tree covered ridge and it is very hot and humid and only 10km from the Indonesian border. It sits at 630m with only 3,300 people but it is a very important place.

 

Balibo achieved notoriety as the site of the killing of five Australian-based journalists, now known as the Balibo Five, by Indonesian forces in 1975.

 

Australian reporters from Channels 7, 9 and ABC were covering an incursion by Indonesia into what was then Portuguese Timor. They were: Australians Greg Shackleton 29, Tony Stewart 21, New Zealander Gary Cunningham 27 and two Britons Brian Peters 24 and Malcolm Rennie 29. While the men were aware that Indonesian troops were to mount an attack on the town of Balibo, they believed that, as journalists, they would not be considered military targets. Greg Shackleton was filmed painting an Australian flag and the word 'AUSTRALIA' on the wall of a house in the town square were the reporters stayed so they would not be attacked. On 16 October 1975 Balibo was attacked by the Indonesian Special Forces. The five reporters came out of the house with their hands in the air and were dragged to a nearby house and four were summarily shot and one stabbed in the back. The five corpses were dressed in the captured military uniforms of the Timor-Leste Fretelin resistance fighters and guns placed in their hands. They were then photographed. Videotape was then placed on the bodies and used to light a fire to incinerate the remains. The ashes were later taken to Jakarta where they were buried in an unknown cemetery on 7 December 1975 with no family or friends invited.

 

Another Australian reporter, Roger East 53, came to Dili much earlier on at the invitation of Jose Ramos-Horta who was then a trusted government official to run the press agency of Portuguese Timor. Roger travelled to Balibo to investigate the disappearance of the five journalists on the official Indonesian invasion day of 7 December 1975 and was captured, tortured and then executed the following day in front of many witnesses at the Dili Port and his body was dumped into the sea.

 

The Australian Government held three investigations, under severe pressure from the press and public, in the decades that followed with no outcome. The Indonesian Government used the photos of the five to claim they were attacking them and sadly there were no civilian witnesses of their deaths. One of the reporters mother was so distressed with this negative outcome that she took her own life.

 

I visited the house where the five stayed and the house in which they were killed. Balibo House Trust, established in 2003 with seed funding from the Victorian Government and television stations 7 and 9, now owns this house and preserves it as a community learning centre, crèche, library and dental clinic. I had the amazing good fortune to meet Michelle Rankin from Brisbane and locally born Marios who run the centre and they took me on a detailed tour, which you will see in the film. Michelle lives in a small house next to the centre on a voluntary two-year rotating basis and has done an amazing job there. The Rotary Club of Australia and a number of Australian TV Stations and companies also donate to the Trust.

 

Balibo is also home to a 400-year-old fort, which was the scene of several battles during the Indonesian invasion in 1975. The Balibo Five were also filming from the fort when Indonesian forces landed in Balibo on the day they died. In 2016 the fort was converted into a hotel by the Balibo House Trust, with support from the Rotary Club of Port Melbourne. The Balibo Veterans Museum was added inside the fort and is the best summary of the history and conflicts of Portuguese Timor.

 

During the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) mission after the Indonesian withdrawal, the fort was used as a base for approximately one thousand United Nations (UN) troops, as part of Operation Lavarack. Kylie Minogue performed an unplugged concert in Balibo to entertain UN troops in 1999, as part of the Tour of Duty series of concerts.

 

Balibo is visited by many Australians including serving members of the Australian Defence Forces and the RSL just like Kokoda and Gallipoli. It is definitely a must-visit place for any Australian and was easily the highlight of my visit to Timor-Leste.

 

From Balibo I returned to Dili in time for afternoon wine and olives with Maureen who skipped today because of a chesty cough that she wanted to sleep off because she would be travelling several weeks through India two days after this trip. I explained the events of Balibo to Maureen over dinner. Maureen and I lifted off from Dili for Darwin at 8am the next day and then flew to Brisbane where I farewelled her and flew onto Sydney.

 

Timor-Leste is in its infancy of tourism but the sheer beauty of landscape and people and food make it the tourist destination of tomorrow – Timor Tomorrow – truly worthy of Timoroland !!! 

BELOW: Inside the Balibo Five House

DAY 6 – 9 SEPTEMBER 2023 – 185KM TOTALLING 948KM: Mt Ramelau Climb, Same, Dili.

 

I did not have to get up at 230am. Felipe had told me that it would take 50min to drive to the entrance of the Mt Ramelau track and another 2-3hrs to trek the 4km to the top. Felipe, my guide Umberto and I left our accommodations at 3am and arrived at the entrance at 330am. I then did some calculations of my own based on how high we would climb and the 4km distance and worked out that I could do it in 60-90min so I decided to get everyone to sleep in the car for another 90min and set off at 5am so we could catch the sunrise at precisely 636am. I did not want to arrive at the summit and have to wait 60-90min in the wind, dark and cold for the sunrise. I was spot on. I took 75min to climb 688m over 4.11km from the bottom at 2,298m to reach the top at 2,986m arriving at a spooky 635am, just as the sun was about to break through the clouds below. The trek up was easy. Wide, easy to see path even in the dark using only the light of my Galaxy S23 Ultra !!! Our average gradient was 17 degrees and our average speed 2.8 km/h. A walk in the park compared to Tasmania. I did not see much going up since it was dark and I figured the temp was around 10C. The top was another story. It was windy with a wind chill of 5C. There were a bunch of visiting Portuguese leaving since these set off at 330am and were obviously chilled out given their wait in the dark – so lucky that I avoided this. The view from the summit is simply stunning, especially in the first orange glow of the rising sun – the photos below tell the story. I am so glad I was alone at the top with my guide, which gave me the awe of peace and a chance to do all my crazy filming. Going down was also stunning since the sun was up and I could now appreciate the incredible size and height of this mountain compared to its surrounding peers. A huge blanket of cloud was coming in from the west, which was lit up in red, orange and yellow hews. Another lucky strike that I summited with no cloud. Anyone coming up in the next few hours would not be able to see anything from the summit. I arrived at the car with my knees intact and fine given Kokoda had put a fine tear in each knee meniscus. There is only one thing worse than otherwise sore legs and that is a cold shower !!! The heater was busted so no warming reward for my legs. Mt Ramelau and Hato-Builico were my favourite so far and reminded me so much of my dad’s village in Greece. It was also very unusual to be in South East Asia and be wearing jumpers in a cold climate with complete mountain scenery.

 

Today’s post-climb breakfast in Hato-Builico at 830am acted as mini-conference to make alternate plans for today and tomorrow. We were scheduled to travel to and overnight in Suai and then travel to Balibo tomorrow and back to Dili for our last sleep in Timor-Leste. Felipe confirmed that the road between Suai and Balibo was badly damaged by the monsoon rains of earlier this year. We all decided to head to Same (before Suai) today as per itinerary on a good road and then head back to Dili for overnight tonight. We would then make a day-trip to Balibo tomorrow returning to Dili for our last sleep. A good plan since the road from Dili to Balibo along the north coast is fully sealed and sound. SO off we went to Same.

 

Same (Pop 7,413) is strange in its layout. Instead of being square or rectangular or circle or oval shaped like most towns it is one long thin town on both side of the main road that continues to Suai. The town features the following attractions, which we saw: Indonesian Tank and the Dom Boaventura Monument. Dom Boaventura was the King of the Manufahi tribe during the Portuguese colonial period in Timor. He led a rebellion from 1895 to 1912, for their freedom from colonial rule. His story was harrowing. He fought until he was trapped on a mountaintop, then captured and tortured to death.

 

We finished up in Same with a nice strong Timorese coffee, given my lack of sleep, and headed straight back to Dili arriving early evening. Given tomorrow was a long day I prepared this post and the one before in the car and simply uploaded it in Dili and could not wait to hit my pillow.

 

Enjoy the magnificent views of Mt Ramelau...

DAY 5 – 8 SEPTEMBER 2023 – 105KM TOTALLING 763KM: Dare, Aileu (Vila General Carmona), Maubisse, Hato-Builico.

 

Today was mountain day. I had no idea Timor-Leste was so mountainous !!! It may as well be the Balkans !!! The area beyond Maubisse looks like Greece or Montenegro or Romania.

 

This day began at 6am with my second 10km run along the scenic coastline of Dili. Lots of walkers and quite a few joggers. We headed off at 9am going inland with a spectacular mountain rise above Dili with sweeping views. The Catholics built a huge Cathedral at the top of this rise. On the way up is a little village called Dare and it is important. It contains a Memorial built jointly by the Australian and Timorese Governments to comemorate the co-operation, comradery and soldiers lost during WWII when the Australians came to Portuguese Timor to fight the Japanese. This Memorial is a huge exposed balcony overlooking Dili way down below. Several huge banners explain Australia’s involvement and a TV plays s short documentary on the same. The most moving account concerns the so-called “Creados” meaning “Servants” who were in fact 13yr old Timorese boys who helped the Australian Soldiers find their way through the jungle, led them to water and ran errands. This reminded me immediately of the “Fuzzy Wuzzies of Kokoda, the only difference being their ages – the Fuzzies were adult men.

 

Our next stop was Aileu (Pop 2,788m, Elev 1,122m), which is on a high plateau surrounded by mountains with a huge river flowing through the centre. This place has many fertile fields of cabbage, beans, corn and grazing cattle. The road leading here often looked like parts of the Blue Mountains outside Sydney given there are many gum trees. In 1903, a rebellion staged in Aileu against the colonial rulers failed. In January 1912, it served as a Portuguese base against the rebellion of Manufahi. On August 31, 1942, the town was invaded by Colunas Negras, the Timorese allies of the Japanese invaders. Five Portuguese soldiers, as well as several civil servants and missionaries, were killed. A memorial in Aileu commemorates the massacre today. Indonesian soldiers set up a relocation camp in Aileu for the East Timorese at the end of 1979. At the end of 1999, there were temporary plans to make Aileu the new capital of an independent East Timor. These were rejected in favour of Dili.

 

Maubisse (Pop 6,229) has no history. We stopped over here for lunch and I purchased a hooded fleecy top for my hike up Mt Ramelau (the highest peak in Timor-Leste) tomorrow early morning.

 

The road from Maubisse to Hato-Builico is terrible but the journey is simply breathtaking – easily the best drive so far. Huge treeless mountains with craggy rocks towering over green valleys. This area look like many countries in the Balkans !!! After shaking around on this bad road for well over 2hrs just to travel 15km we finally arrived in Hato-Builico, a tiny little village surrounded by majestic mountains, the King of which being Mt Ramelau, the tallest mountain in Timor-Leste at 2,986m. Hato-Builico itself is 2,000m above sea level and it was actually cold. I went for a quick walk to the nearby Catholic Cathedral and then let off Mini (my light, quiet drone) to the delight of 12 primary school aged kids who had followed me back to where we were staying. This often happened in the smaller villages since not many funny looking tourists visit and when they do, they are a real novelty. When kids see you passing in the car or on the street and you wave to them, there faces completely light up – it is not just a token wave but genuine joy. As I was flying my drone above Hato-Builico I lowered the controller so the kids could form a circle around me and see what the drone camera was recording. They yelled with delight and amazement in Portuguese “there’s our school”, “there’s our church” and even the houses of individual people that they knew since one of my flights was a low pass over town. It reminded me of Kokoda when I placed the virtual reality mask of my other drone on the faces of 20 kids which absolutely delighted them. I quickly discovered that drones are a great way to entertain the local kids and there is nothing more satisfying than to see those huge smiles on the faces. There is no internet in Hato-Builico so after eating it was straight to bed for me to get enough sleep for my 230am rise to climb Mt Ramelau the next day.

 

Enjoy the mountainous highlands of Timor-Leste…