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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 20 October 2008 |
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Rote (or Roti) IslandRote Island is off the western end of Timor and is the southern most part of Indonesia. The first Google Earth Image shows it in the context of other eastern Indonesian islands, and north-west Australia. The distance from Rote Island the the eastern tip of Timor Leste is about 500 Km, and the distance to Australia is also about 500 Km. The second Google earth image shows the ferry route (about 80 Km) and then the cross island path to Nembrala (about 40 Km). |  Timor between Australia and other Indo islands |  Rote Island off west of Timor | You get ot Rote on a fast boat that covers the 80 Km in 2.5 hours. In January 2006 a boat (similar to this) sank with loss of about 30 lives (from a total of about 160 on the boat). Apparently the seas were heavy, then the motor failed, the boat swung helplessly until side on to the swell, then tipped over and sank. When crossing the Rote Strait between Timor and Rote, the full force of the Indian Ocean swell comes through.
|  Bahari Express - boat to Rote |  Executive Class on Bahari Express | The boat arrives at Ba'a, and you cross to Nembrala by road - about 1.5 hr for the 40 Km. You can rent a car, if available, or else a bemo - both are Rp250,000 but the car can only take 4 while the bemo can take 6 or more. We found a German couple who had secured a bemo but needed more passengers so we joined them. The bemo turned out to be old and sick, and before we had climbed the hill out of Ba'a it got a flat tyre. They changed to the spare which turned out to be in poor condition, so half way across the island we got a second flat. This time another bemo stopped and lent us their very bald spare. On a couple of steep hills, the driver messed up his change to 1st gear so we stopped, and then he could not manage the hill start unless we got out and pushed - then he would go to the crest of the hill and let us in again.
|  Our Bemo - first flat tyre |  Our Bemo - second flat tyre | Nembrala has a beautiful white sand beach, and is protected from the surf by a reef. Surfers go beond the reef, and get good left breaks from about March till October. Being the west end of the island, the sunsets into the ocean - unless there is a cloud bank for it to sink in.
|  Nembrala Beach looking north |  Sunset at Nembrala | There are pigs along the beach, and the use their long snouts to gouge furrows along the sand. Every now and then they dig more - I guess it is crabs that they want. The homestays here run like surf camps and provide 3 meals a day as well as the bed. We stayed at Anugerah which is a bit more expensive than others - but seemed to have better dining facilites.
|  Nembrala - pigmakes a furrow with snout |  Anugerah homestay - dining room |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 22 October 2008 )
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