Travel Inspired

26/11/2024

traditional TIMORESE WELCOME at Darufu village & huge Dokomali waterfall in Ainaro, Timor LestePlease subscribe...

24/11/2024

A little insight into our food shopping in Pulau Weh, Indonesia. 🇮🇩

For the past month, we have traveled from Iboih on a motorcycle and sidecar to Sabang on Pulau Weh to do our grocery shopping for the week.

It's about a 45 min trip, following the coastline, through the forest, and up and down plenty of steep hills, hence the motorcycle, rather than our usual mode of transport on bicycles.

Once in Sabang, we have a handful of small shops, vegetable stalls, a fruit market, and the pharmacy, that we visit, to get everything we might need, hopping from place to place, which takes us about an hour to complete, plus the 1.5 hours of travel there and back.

Our shopping haul usually includes a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, which aren't readily available in Iboih, plus we stock up on staples, and if possible a few luxury items too.

We've always managed to find a range of vegetables including aubergine, green beans, broccoli, sweet potato, tomatoes, garlic, and ginger, which we use for a stir fry or two throughout the week.

At the fruit market we typically buy a stalk of bananas, probably about 30-40 bananas, and we freeze most of them for smoothies, plus there are plenty of fresh mangoes, guava, and mandarins readily available right now, so we stock up on those too.

We've also regularly found pasta, spaghetti, tomato paste, cereal, peanut butter, baked beans, and bags of Indonesian coffee.

And then the luxuries, a case or two of soda water is essential, mozerella cheese, and butter as and when we need them or can justify the expense!

Throughout the week, we top up on things that we can get locally in Iboih, which includes eggs (sold individually), loaves of bread, UHT milk, biscuits, and ice cream.

We tend to eat lunches out 2-3 times a week to mix things up, and get some more vegetables and protein into our diet, and we've had a few very tasty vegetable burgers, fish burgers, and a wide selection of fish, chicken, and vegetable curries too.

Our favorite dish is most definitely a delicious fresh tuna wrap with salad at a restaurant called Barracudas in nearby Gapang, a 15-minute cycle ride away which has a wonderful view over the ocean with a glimpse of Sabang in the far distance. And thankfully there are no really steep hills between us and this restaurant either, relativity speaking! 😉

09/11/2024

We recently paid a visit to Kilometer Zero on Weh Island in Sumatra, Aceh Indonesia 🇮🇩

This is the northernmost and westernmost point of Indonesia and this monument marks the spot.

It's one of the landmarks that people have mentioned to us in Pulau Weh, so we hopped on the bicycles and tackled the steep, extremely undulating road from the nearby village of Iboih.

Thankfully, it was only a 14 km round trip, which combined with the steepness of the road, heat, and humidity levels, was plenty enough to get a good sweat on.

We stopped off en route for a 2 hour snorkel at a very inviting white sand beach known as Long Beach, which has some amazing looking coral reef, and heaps of fish, and a respite from the heat.

Back on the bicycles, we made our way to Kilometer Zero, and spent about 1.5 hours taking photos of the monument, wandering the short street of market stalls and food vendors, watching the monkeys, and enjoying the cooling wind and views of the Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Before getting back on the bicycles we sat at one of the local cafes with a coconut, a bottle of coke, and a fried vegetable snack, to rehydrate and refuel for the short but somewhat challenging ride (and occasional pushing of the bicycles) back to Iboih.

04/11/2024

Today was a food shopping day which involves a scenic and extremely hilly 45 minute trip from Iboih to Sabang on Pulau Weh on a motorcycle and sidecar, a bajaj in Indonesia.

With the help of our fantastic bajaj driver Mr Beng Beng, we navigated the various small shops and local fruit and vegetable markets finding most of what we had on our shopping list including bananas (by the stork!), mangoes, broccoli, pasta, baked beans, coffee, and fresh bread.

As a huge bonus we even found cans of soda water sold by the case and some mozerella cheese too, so I'm a happy chap! 🙂

02/11/2024

We've touched down in Banda Aceh on Sumatra Island in Indonesia! 🇮🇩

And we've ticked off quite the list of activities in what's been a hectic first morning of buying bicycles for our trip, getting them transported to the ferry terminal, getting us to the ferry terminal (I'm loving the ease of Grab for our trips back and forth - not sponsored!), and buying tickets for both us and our bicycles on the Express Bahari ferry.

Now we get to wait for a couple of hours until the ferry arrives to take us across to Pulau Weh and the excitement is building!

Have you visited Pulau Weh?

If so, let us know your recommendations of things we would do and see whilst there. 🙂

01/11/2024

📍 Batu Caves in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia. 🇲🇾

After a big 11 hour day of exploring the wonderful sights of Kuala Lumpur on foot yesterday, today we opted to head 13km north of Kuala Lumpur to Batu Caves பத்து மலை.

We hopped out from our Grab taxi about 300 meters from the entrance, in a stand still of other eager visitors, and being Diwali, the driver said it'll be even busier than usual with many people visiting the caves and temples to pray.

As we walked in through the main entrance there is a giant 43 m (141 ft) high gold colored Murugan statue, one of the largest Murugan statues in the world, watching over the throngs of visitors. It's quite the sight.

To the statues left, a large staircase of 272 steep colourful steps, with masses of people slowly making their way up towards the Batu Cave.

We ascended the steps, looking back often for the panorama views back towards Kuala Lumpur, continuing on upwards with the flow of people.

Occasionally we were distracted by a monkey or two who were watching us for any potential snacks. I saw one sn**ch a bag of mangosteen from a lady.

At the top, hidden within the cave systems, there are some beautiful Hindu temples, the most popular of which is a shrine dedicated to Hindu god Murugan.

We dropped down a short flight of steps towards the temple itself, enclosed by the cave, before ascending a shorter flight of steps to the upper, highest level of the cave system.

We were greeted by another wonderful looking temple, surrounded by people and steep cliffs dripping water onto the people below, rising up to reveal a blue sky.

On the cliffs themselves hundreds of monkeys sat, swung, and, once again, eagerly watched for a snack of bananas, apples or anything else potentially edible like cartons of drink or packets of crisp.

After 2 hours of exploring Batu Caves, the temples, people watching, and also watching the monkeys, we wandered to the nearby train station, which was an absolute bargain.

It only took 20 minutes back into Kuala Lumpur and cost 2.20 Malaysian Ringgit, equivalent to $0.84 NZD.

Ok it's time for a well earned coffee! ☕

30/10/2024

It's time for the next adventure, so goodbye to New Zealand for now, and onwards to Indonesia! 🇮🇩

25/10/2024

Is TIMOR-LESTE one of the BEST-KEPT TOURISM SECRETS in Southeast Asia? 🇹🇱WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT?If ...

25/10/2024

We recently visited Mo'orea in French Polynesia. 🇵🇫

My partner and I had a checklist of activities including snorkeling, cycling, hiking and swimming with humpback whales and I'm pleased to say that it by far exceeded our expectations!

During the trip, I went on 2 whale watching tours, and on the first we had the opportunity to swim with a mother and calf humpback for 10-15 minutes, which was somewhat of a surreal experience being in the water with them and simply watching in awe.

On the second tour I photographed half a dozen or so humpback whales from the boat, waiting for them to breach, flip their tails, and occasionally jump out of the water, whilst Ashlee was in the water with her snorkel, mask and fins, with another mother and calf.

She captured this beautiful moment between a mother coming up from the deep to check up on her baby calf who was happily playing and splashing their fins near the surface.

What an incredible moment - thanks and full credit to Ashlee Gross for this wonderful video.

20/10/2024

The Three Coconuts Pass (Col des Trois Cocotiers) was absolutely beautiful. 🌿

We found ourselves hiking through a lush environment of green ferns, fig trees, pine trees, sprawling roots, with flowing freshwater streams and the occasional sighting of chickens and roosters roaming through the forest.

It was one of my favourite hikes on Mo'orea in French Polynesia. 🇵🇫

09/10/2024

Hello,

After a short break from sharing our travel adventures on social media, we’re feeling refreshed and excited to reconnect.

We’ve started posting again, from French Polynesia, so hello—it's great to be back! We’ve missed you! 👋

So, what's been happening? Well, here is a quick summarized update.

After a wonderful 6 years living and working in Timor-Leste, we finished up and left in April and we took a trip to the UK (with our cat Stevie from Timor-Leste) to visit and catch up with friends and family.

We spent a month cycling through the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, which is absolutely beautiful, albeit somewhat cold during May, especially after living in the tropics.

After a stint back in Glastonbury UK with my parents, friends and family, we headed back home to New Zealand, lived in our own house for a month which is a novelty for us, moved onto an Air BnB, and started to seek out and apply for jobs and countries for our next overseas stint.

This process is still ongoing and we will keep you up to date but right now, we're enjoying a holiday in Mo'orea in French Polynesia and loving the cycling, hiking, snorkeling, humpback whales, freshly baked baguettes, and pain au chocolat. 🙂

08/10/2024

One of the deciding factors in choosing to visit Mo'orea in French Polynesia on this occasion was the opportunity to potentially see humpback whales in their natural environment.

Each year from July - November the humpback whales visit the warm waters of French Polynesia to reproduce, give birth, care for their calves, and rest.

As we left the calm lagoon, it wasn't too long, less than 30 minutes, before we had our first sighting.

Within no time at all, we were in the deep blue water with our snorkel, mask and fins and it was simply incredible! Don't get me wrong, I was a little anxious , as I always am in the deep blue ocean, but to swim with a mother and her calf and gaze upon them up close was surreal. The adrenaline was pumping.

After a while, the two whales departed and went on their way, and whilst we were swimming back to the boat, a humpback whale leaped out of the water in the distance with an almighty force and a huge splash. It continued to leap 3 or 4 times as we watched from the water.

Now back in the boat, we continued onwards, finding other humpback whales and calves. Like I say, it was a surreal, beautiful experience.

I captured these photographs from the boat. I've discovered that photographing them isn't easy, especially when you're also sea sick, despite the motion sickness tablets, but I wasn't going to let that stop me.

I also went out on the next day too. I just couldn't resist it and as we saw more humpback whales and their calves, and another session of feeling somewhat queasy, but it was most definitely with it.

My partner Ashlee has captured photographs and videos of the mothers, calves and male humpback, whales underwater, which are simply amazing and I will share some of those too (with her permission of course!).

Enjoy. 💙

04/10/2024

https://youtu.be/qyhtWoTnLwE

Hello from Mo'orea in French Polynesia, it's been a while 🇵🇫WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT?If you found the video use...

03/10/2024

Hi from French Polynesia! 🇵🇫

We're currently on the beautiful island of Mo'orea and yesterday we hiked from Belvedere Point following the Three Coconuts Pass, Col des trois cocotieurs, through a dense forest of greenery, winding roots, shallow streams, lizards, and roosters.

Our destination for the day was the Three Coconuts Lookout.

After enjoying some time in the forest, we initially missed the turning point and the marker up to the lookout, distracted by another lookout, so we backtracked for a while, and this time saw the subtle turning and pushed up the winding back and forth trail.

Eventually we came to a slightly steeper trail with two sections of ropes to hold onto to assist the climb, walked through narrow paths of ferns, turned a corner and arrived at a small clearing, the lookout.

It provided beautiful views of the coastlines both to the north and south of the island, we could see Opunohu Bay and Cook's Bay with yachts dotted here and there, the mountains (the Three Coconuts) rising above us, and the forest stretching out far below.

I sat under a tree in the shade, enjoying the breeze and the views, ate a sandwich, plenty of water, and hung out for 30 minutes. Another half a dozen people came and went whilst we were there.

We headed back down through the forest, down to the turning point we had missed earlier, and followed a different trail, admittedly not as scenic as the trail in, gently heading down towards the northern coastline to meet our taxi.

As a last minute decision, instead of taking our taxi back to our accommodation as planned, we decided to get dropped off at a snack bar, which was en route.

We rewarded ourselves with fruit smoothies and iced coffee to takeaway (they were about to close up for the day in preparation for a cruise ship visiting the island tomorrow) and walked an hour along the coastal road back to our accommodation.

A beautiful walk, which I can be highly recommend! 🌿

24/09/2024

Hiya,

Have you visited Mo'orea in French Polynesia? 🇵🇫

If so, please let us know your recommendations of things we must do and see whilst there! 💙

14/09/2024

A foreigner's perspective: Living, working, tourism & culture shock in TIMOR-LESTE | Q&A session 🇹🇱WOULD YOU LIK...

13/09/2024

These iconic colourful boat sheds along Oriental Bay's waterfront are one of my favorite spots to stroll in Wellington, New Zealand Aotearoa. 🇳🇿

WellingtonNZ Wellington City Council 100% Pure New Zealand

12/09/2024

Anyone who's visited Wellington, New Zealand Aotearoa knows the saying 'you can't beat Wellington on a good day'— and yesterday was one of those perfect days in the Capital. 💙



WellingtonNZ Stuff 100% Pure New Zealand nzherald.co.nz