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...
No comments:
Post a Comment