Gobsmacked by nature

After having eaten up a day at the homestay in Denge, I had two days left to get back to Labuan Bajo for my Friday ferry. I decided to go visit a little place called Sano Ngoang, and check out another waterfall. I didn't have any expectations, as there was limited information about these destinations in the tourist brochures, but I'd been informed that the road was OK, so off I went.

Back along the highway again, but this time it was a wonderfully blue sunny day with nary a cloud in sight. Quite a change after the last few days, when afternoon showers put paid to doing much outdoor activity, or else getting absolutely drenched in a downpour. I climbed the hill at Cancar to see the spider web rice fields, the colours not so pretty once the rice has been harvested, but still worth the climb. Then it was further along the highway for an early lunch before heading south on the road to Werang.

There are two roads from the highway to Werang, and neither of them are particularly good roads. They are narrow, winding, and frequently the asphalt has washed away and it's only stones or mud beneath. Given how steep some of the descents are, it's pretty challenging riding, but I took my time, applied my brakes evenly, and arrived at Werang unscathed. From Werang, once you are through the village, the road is pretty smooth all the way down to the crater lake of Sano Ngoang.

The area is surrounded by forests, and is a popular spot for twitchers, so Burung Indonesia (the national birding association) has helped set up a number of homestays in the village of Nunang, which is on the southern aspect of the lake, where there are also hot springs. I just turned up, and an English speaking lady called Anna sorted me out somewhere to stay, then offered to take me for a little walk around. What she didn't explain was that she was offering me a guide service...

It was a pleasant couple of hours spent with Anna and a few kids, some hers, some just neighbours'. We went down to the lake, skimmed a few stones, then went for a swim in the mildly sulphurous water (no fish live in the lake). Later we went to the hot springs, where we picked the young shoots from a bush which only grows on the gravelly ground nearby and cooked them in the hot water bubbling up. They tasted a little like asparagus.

Then we hopped in to a small pool for a soak, and Anna gave my legs a massage, then we used clay to defoliate our skin and washed it off in the gloriously hot water. When I later discovered that these pleasant few hours would be charged to me as guide services, I was a little annoyed at the lack of transparency, but as the price quoted was very reasonable, I didn't mind.

The overnight stay in the homestay was comfortable, the food simple but adequate, and the next morning I headed back to Werang because I was off to see another waterfall.

Cunca Rami isn't heavily publicised in the tourist brochures, because the road from the highway is pretty dodgy. But from Sano Ngoang to Werang it's fine, and from the turnoff it's a pretty easy ride through another village or two to the end of the track where it crosses a river. I parked the bike and continued on by foot.

The walk takes less than 30 minutes, and involves crossing 3 rivers to get there. well the same river twice, and then a smaller feeder river is the third crossing. I really had no idea what I was going to see, so after crossing the smaller river I turned right on the foot track because it would join me up again with the main river. I noticed that the left fork seemed a slightly more used track, but it's difficult when walking along in the countryside, as these tracks are often also used for getting to farms and rice paddies. In fact, right in front of me were some beautiful rice terraces, with a man spraying some chemical over them. I was about to ask him which way the waterfall was when I just so happened to spy my quarry…

By far the most spectacular waterfall I'd seen in Flores, or anywhere for some time. It had a gorgeous pool for swimming in, and the spray formed beautiful rainbows.

After the waterfall I retraced my steps back to the bike, and took the road back to the highway. This road is closer to Labuan Bajo, and was in even worse condition than the road I'd taken yesterday, with large sections being just stones. I was glad to be going uphill rather than down, as braking on uneven slippery ground is much scarier than controlling one's speed going uphill. I made it unscathed, and was soon whizzing along the highway and back in to Labuan Bajo.

I met one other tourist on my walk back from the waterfall, but otherwise, in the two days in the area, I was the only tourist. It's an incredibly rich area for flora and birds, and natural beauty like the crater lake and waterfall, but because of bad roads, it doesn't get much tourism. I was so happy I'd gone.

But now I was back in Labuan Bajo, it was Thursday afternoon, and on Friday I was taking a ferry to Sumba. But first I had to buy a ticket.

That's next….

Summer wasteland

As usually happens this time of year I ask myself why I bother to try and grow anything in the vege patch, because the dry winds and heat make it a difficult job for plants to survive. Slowly my soil has improved, but it remains somewhat hydrophobic still, meaning daily watering continues to be a necessity.

Shade makes a huge difference, but because there are lots of gaps and overlaps, some plants still manage to get fried within the couple of hours of direct sunlight they receive each day. Greenhouses just encourage pest epidemics, I'd rather have my many feathered visitors helping out thank you.

So what's made it? Well not a lot.

All the cucumbers succumbed pretty quickly, as did the snow peas, but some hardier beans are growing in their place. The baby corn refused to ripen, and what did ripen was tasteless.

The eggplant seedlings are all just hanging in there or dying. The one plant that I grew from seed over a year ago produced fruit that stopped growing at somewhere between golf ball and tennis ball size. It actually makes a handy single serve portion, but I'd prefer they grew a bit bigger given the effort that's gone in to producing them. But now, even that plant has lost its leaves and is looking like dying.

None of the pumpkins did much. I managed to pick a few tiny fruits which made single serve portions in the kitchen, but the heat and powdery mildew meant few survived. I still have a couple of vines struggling, but no fruiting going on.

Neither passionfruit shows any sign of fruiting. I've noticed the occasional flower, but no fruit. I might try some potash...

Tomato plants grown from seed are doing well so far. They are all in the shade and well protected. My older tomato plants are all finished, so there's a bit of a gap. Never mind, I cooked and bottled most of the excess of a couple of months ago, so I've not been without so far.

The asparagus has been good this year, and I've managed to eke out a steady crop until now. Once their growth accelerates with the heat you just can't catch them in time before they unfurl their little ferny foliage.

I had another go at Okra. Again, the results were shabby. All the seeds sprouted, but then shrivelled up and died at the 2-4 leaf stage. I've bought some more seed of a different variety so might have another go. You've got to be an optimist to be a gardener...

The kumara is doing well though. I regularly snip the trailing new growth as it makes a good spinach alternative in stir fries. Gotta use what you've got, especially when the perpetual spinach my house sitters put in just shrivelled up and died.

Talking about using what you've got, I've discovered a new superfood. It's called papaya. Not only can you eat it when it's golden and ripe, but it's also perfectly edible when unripe as well.

I was first introduced to green papaya salad at the Rapid Creek Market in Darwin when I lived there. Rapid Creek Market is the closest thing to an authentic Asian market outside Asia. Seriously, rock up there at 7am on a Sunday morning and you'd be excused for thinking you'd been teleported to Thailand. I wonder if anyone grows durian up the top-end? Anyway, Som Tam is a classic Thai salad from the Isaan region of Thailand, and it's crunchy, spicy and delicious. It uses grated raw green papaya, chilli, lime juice, garlic, tomatoes, dried prawns and peanuts to make a simultaneously refreshing and perspiration inducing experience. I love Asian cuisine.

I got a little sick and tired of making green papaya salad with the many green fruits from my trees that drop before they ripen. It's fiddly, and requires quite a few ingredients on hand in the pantry. And sometimes I don't feel like salad. So I started using it in different ways. Like roasting it.

It turns out that green papaya behaves somewhat like potato, in that it's a starch that softens with cooking and will take on the flavours of things added to it. I often add it with other veg like pumpkin and eggplant in a roast, and recently I made spicy papaya wedges. Yes, it was freaking delicious.

Now papaya grows like a weed in my garden. Until recently I had four female trees all fruiting, but one has fallen over due to the trunk rotting out and will be in the compost bin pretty soon. I'm jusr waiting for the final fruits to either ripen or drop. I also have 2 male trees, whose flowers I use to manually pollinate the lady flowers, just in case nature doesn't do its job.

A month or so ago I threw some chia seed into a box of home made compost to grow some chia plants and harvest my own chia seeds. Instead I ended up with a huge amount of papaya plants germinated from the compost! I figure I might as well plant a few more trees, and pull out any that end up being male, because it's such a versatile fruit for the kitchen, and it grows here so easily. I mean why fight nature right?

As mentioned, I also have many ripening papayas. So far I've made papaya ice-cream, dried papaya, and frozen yoghurt. Not yet tiring of this amazing fruit.

In other fruit news, the dragonfruit is fruiting. The main big red plant had at least a dozen flower spikes though some of them dropped before flowering, and the white put out a solitary flower, which, because there is nothing for it to cross-pollinate with, then dropped its fruit before it developed. I'm not that fussed, as the white dragonfruit doesn't have much taste compared to the red. Sometimes its OK to grow something just for the aesthetics...

The mango tree looks magnificent. There will be fruit, in another 5 years....

I completely forgot about the water chestnuts last year. They've multiplied and are currently growing well in the small pond next to my green rainwater tank. Must remember to harvest them in June. The watercress and kangkung are also happy in there, along with a resident frog or two.

I've been working on the pond and waterfall, trying to make it waterproof and also mortaring the stone surrounds to hide the tyres. Getting it to a waterproof state was quite an effort, involving lots of silicone and a number of efforts at getting the water to not run off in the wrong direction. I did get a little help moving the rocks, but mostly I did it myself. Yes, NOT what I should be doing just before a ski trip. I know.....

I purchased some goldfish to eat the mosquito larvae breeding in the pond. Then some predator went and ate them. One day there were six fish, next morning there were none! I need to give them some good hidey holes before I get any more me thinks.

Here's a little video of the pond and waterfall before I fixed the latest leak....

The chooks, by the way, are just gloriously healthy. They are fat and happy, very sociable, and laying well, despite the heat. I've been giving them a bit of extra meat meal in their feed and they just look absolutely luscious at the moment. I've never owned such happy healthy chooks before. They are still confined to the upper pen, which has heaps of shade and easy access to the water tank, so I'm not planning on moving them down into the other run any time soon. Besides, I haven't fox proofed it yet.

So, that's about it. Next: Japan....

More backyard shenanigans

I have been absolutely amazed at how quickly the last few months have flown by, but with only a couple of days until Retirement Day, I can tell you this month has been excruciatingly slow.

I think because I am all planned. The money is sorted, assuming my Sydney house will sell but there's really no doubt on that one, and I've been gleefully giving away and throwing out stuff pertaining to my professional life. For an habitual hoarder, I'm loving the liberating feeling.

I met my house sitters last weekend, and they are absolutely lovely people. Relaxed, love gardening, not into chemicals, my kind of people.

Then I found out I've been demoted in my wwoofing job at the Bakpaka in Wanaka. Having arranged it last year I'm a little miffed, as I was hoping to work enough to cover my accommodation. But it's still a very good deal for $70 a week including laundry, WiFi and only cleaning 2 mornings a week. No evening shifts at all.

Meanwhile at home I have been working on the backyard, in fact I have built the pond!

First I dug a big hole, created a foundation of tyres to stabilise the wall, filled them in, made another tier of tyres, filled them in, then infilled the centre so the pond depth stays less than 30cm. This way I fit within the local guidelines and don't need to erect a pool fence around it to keep kids out.

Then I lay down an old rag rug that is ready for the trash can but makes a protective layer for the pond lining, kindly donated to me by my friend Kate. Then rocks get strategically placed, and the pond is ready for filling.

In a fit of laziness I erected a dry stone wall around the tyres. This is a wee bit flimsy, and in later months I'll apply mortar so it doesn't fall down every time a stray foot comes in contact with it.

Then more strategic rock placing, add river stones and bits of coral and shells collected from the beach, throw a pond plant in and it's looking pretty good.

Finally, connect the pump, which along with the waterfall was a donation from my friends Sally and Sheridan. In the end I've decided just to stick with the one waterfall down one wall, rather than having cascades down both walls, which was my original plan. The logistics of the extra ponds and creating the falls just got too much for me. Maybe a project for another time.

Unfortunately, the whole system isn't yet waterproof. The pond isn't leaking, but the waterfall is, probably where it falls into the pond. So still a little work to do, but in the meantime, here's a video of the waterfall in action.

No more projects till I get back from NZ.

A walk in the woods

Carita has a beach to the west, and a forest reserve behind it. Huge mahogany trees and other tropical giants form a canopy for palms, rattans, bamboo, ferns and creepers to create a wet steamy jungle not far from the sea.

I left early to beat the heat, not that that's actually possible when the humidity sits in the mid 90s. Under the canopy it's fine, but once the sun shines through it's a sweat bath.

One of the things I have to get used to pretty quickly here in the tropics is the humidity. It isn't going away and no form of clothing can prevent the feeling of hot stickiness that envelops you within minutes of being without a breeze. It's not like I'm alone, everyone else is also sweating away, they just accept it, and take lots of showers. This really is a mindset, embracing the reality of sweaty clothes and moderate discomfort on a daily basis means I just live with it, and yes, take lots of showers. If I give in to the discomfort, then I can't possibly achieve the things I want to do, so the sooner I get used to my trousers sticking to my legs and that general ickiness around my neckline the better. And the trade off? Cold showers are looked forward to as enjoyable moments of refreshing coolness!!

So, back to the forest. I whipped out my trekking pole and began the ascent from the coast up the road which is also the tsunami evacuation route for the village. Just in case the water starts receding again!! The forest begins immediately, many of the trees actually being labelled with their names. It's quite the arboretum.

At the end of the road is a resort and camping site looking out over the bay. It's deserted this early in the morning mid week so I check out the uninspiring view then head back down the hill, past the mustering point for the tsunami evacuees, and turn onto the track to the waterfall. Initially it's a carefully constructed track of stones placed to prevent erosion but after a kilometre or two it finishes at a parking spot and the walk along a narrow jungle path begins. Insects and birds make a cacophony of sound, skinks dash from the path where they are sunning themselves, and I see an absolutely enormous millipede. Later I see a second one, which I manage to photograph, but the first one I saw was at least twice as big again!

I make some detours down to the river and begin playing with taking photographs of the moving water on long exposure. I've brought along a variable neutral density filter, as well my 9 stop ND filter, so I spend some time experimenting with exposure times and trying to get that elusive dreamy shot. The sun kept coming in and out from behind clouds, creating a lot of high contrast on the water, so I needed to wait for the diffused light of a clouded sun. Taking my photography more seriously is one of my aims for this trip, so it means taking my time doing so.

Back on the main track it's a few more scrambles across mini streams and waterfalls to the main attraction. The waterfall is called Curug Gendang, which in Sundanese language (what the locals speak around here) means Drum waterfall. This is because the sound of the 7m cascade hitting the pool below sounds like drums being beaten.

Unfortunately there isn't a good vantage point to get a decent shot of the falls from below. Unless I swim there! This place is pretty spectacular though, and there are numerous cascades above the main falls, and some serene pools below it, with sheer walls covered in tropical greenery. And best of all I have the entire spot to myself!!

Only as I leave do I pass others coming to enjoy the falls, the benefit of leaving early I guess. On the walk back I manage to sneak up on some skinks to get some shots, and also find a few colourful insects.

I walk back along the beach, a sandy expanse shaded by tropical giants and lined with some pretty uninspiring accommodation options. The locals have a holiday today, as it's voting day for the legislature (presidential elections are in September). Many are enjoying the beach, floating along on inflated car tyres and occasionally being dumped by the small shore break. No bikinis here peeps, everyone wears their clothes into the water, including the men.

Back at my hotel I have a refreshing cold shower, wash my muddy sweat encrusted clothes and take time out to review my photos. You can find them all here.

I also recorded some audio from the forest and waterfall which you can find here. I haven't yet worked out how to embed the audio into the blog, so you need to download the files to play them on your device. Enjoy!