Kupang, Indonesian Timor, Saturday July 26

We arrived nearly a week ago at Dili from Darwin on the Kathryn Bay, enjoying a memorable ride on a freight ship. Captain Lino and crew made us more than welcome and it was with some new friends that we arrived in Dili.

After an hour of paperwork, we drove our first tentative k's on Timor Lestes chaotic roads.

Sunday afternoon in Dili and everyone goes to the cockfights.

We were quite nervous as we were told foreigners may not be welcome. Well, as the photo shows, they treated us as special guests and insisted that Jack take his photos from INSIDE the ring. See his photo essay on www.MelbourneToLondon.com

Then we drove the potholed and winding road to Balibo, Maliana and the Indonesian border. Balibo is where five Australian journalists were killed in 1975 by the Indonesian Army. The memorial to them made me cry.

Now we wait in Kupang for the weather to improve so we can take the ferry to the next island, the famously volcanic Flores. All being well, and if communications improve, we may be able to file a report form there. So far, we have had to rely on internet cafes, as our own laptop will not reliably connect anywhere to the internet.

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