7th August - Rote tour

Wednesday 7^th August

No monkeys…but a fascinating and exhausting day of touring – all courtesy of the government of Indonesia, which is putting megabucks (or rupiyah…) into promoting Sail Indonesia.

I took a photo of this tall waterfront house on the way to meet our group – John Cornelius (our surfie hitchhiker) and I had been fascinated by it on our way in to Ba'a harbour the other day – so tall!  So narrow!  And WHY??   It seems that the waterfront is not prime real estate the way it is in Western countries…

We all piled into our bus, a shabby but sturdy Mitsubishi with a most excellent driver.  (Thank God!)  Our group comprised about five boatloads of Sail Indonesia people and…oooh I reckon about THIRTY guides/official/hangers-on… It was all GO!!!  Pete, Jan (from Avanta), John and I sat in the front row of seats and had the full benefit of a guide in our ears at all times. They were SO eager to please, so full of information, so very polite… One of them, mercifully, burst into song quite a lot, and that was very pleasant – folk songs from Rote; mostly the theme was mothers saying Come back to this beautiful island!!

I think Pete liked this man best…the one with what he refers to as a very fine beard indeed!

But really our tour could not have been conducted with more consideration and love…

Our first stop was at some beautiful rocks – Husband and Wife of legend, on a lovely beach.

I took a photo – SO lovely:

But my current guide was a bit distressed and said the photo would be MUCH improved if I stood in front of the rock formation with my arms outstretched, à la Maria, in the Sound of Music.  (He was wrong.)  But he also took a photo of Mercedes (from Forty Two) and me…

which made me happy – I am very fond of this girl.

So is Pete:

Our next stop was quite a long l-o-n-g way on a bumpy narrow road…to see…long-necked turtles. Or so I thought… It turned out to be a (ie. only one…) long-necked turtle, living in a well, and very disgruntled to be hauled out to be photographed.  This is what I saw:

Although it was of course passed around and I VERY reluctantly took this photo:

But…there was a dear little thatched hut nearby…

We went through some beautiful little villages, with huts like these.  So authentic and lovely… But NOT like the Louisiades… Nearly all of them had…motor-bikes outside, and big aerial dishes, for capturing TV…

Pete found another Tilley hat man, Doug. 

(Actually I pointed this out to Pete, another Tiller hat aficionado.  Pete sighed deeply and said, Well I think I will ask him to put it on his wife, for the hug!) 

Next stop - a beautiful pool…NOBODY had told us there would be swimming opportunities!  Mercedes and I sat, disgruntled, dipping our legs in the very inviting water.

And look at this dear little girl, on the edge of the pool, in her flannelette PJs!  These were her swimming gear!

We simply could NOT go into the water in our underwear, or naked, much as Mercedes assured me that Germans are quite happy to do this at any time.  But…not with our crowd of modest Indonesians around us…

So…next stop lunch!  Also – many thanks to the Indonesian government!  Fish, boiled rice, hot and spicy salad!  In an a sort of concrete bunker

 on the edge of a beautiful beach with fabulous rock formations:

After this Pete felt the need for a nap…

He found a hollow between some sharp and spiky rocks, on sharp and spiky coral sand and tried to entice me to join him… ummmm…. NO!!  (I love him but not THAT much…)  We found a similar hollow for John, and they were both very happy catching a few ZZZZs until it was time for our next stop…

An opportunity to BUY BUY BUY weavings…

Pete bought from this lady…

Look how desperate, how thrilled…it breaks my heart…

And I bought this.  And was bundled into it, by some cheeky girls on the sidelines…much to the amusement of my friends Mercedes, Robyn, Karinna…

We are now back at home, on 2XS,rocking gently… Potatoes are boiling away, ready to be mashed…Leftovers ready to be heated and placed on top of said mash…

All is well!

Tomorrow we are going to Nembrella, maybe to meet up with Surfer John?

Today’s birthday…

my darling daughter Claire, born in 1975…

Claire is very special in our family.  We are uncommonly fond of one another; I don’t think there are any favourites, coming or going, although Michael (born 1981) says HE IS THE FAVOURITE CHILD!!  But Claire is the most elusive one…we are all thrilled to bits when we have managed to catch up with her – You had coffee with Claire??? Oh how wonderful!!  

She is so much fun, so clever, so amusing, so popular, so loved…and a tiny bit complicated… Poor Claire inherited from me (direct)…The Worry Gene.  
And…The Guilt Gene…

But…she is so wonderful… 

A brief anecdote, from Grade Three.  Anna Wooley was describing to her mother (my friend Inette) what a trendsetter is:  You know, somebody like Claire Sasser.  She wears legwarmers – I want some!!  And yes indeed…Claire still knows what is The Thing to wear, or listen to…

And…she is a wonderful mother to our lovely Jemima and Felix, and a most devoted wife to Stuart.

We are so lucky to have her in our family…