Wow… it’s been a couple years since I’ve written a blog post. I mean, it’s been a weird couple years.

I might as well do the life update thing since it’s been awhile: in August 2020, after Melbourne had completely shut down for 5 months, I took a full-time job to get myself off Job Keeper (and the couch) and give myself some purpose. Working full-time meant I didn’t have a lot of time for photography, or travel, or event work, or anything else that truly fills my cup, and so in September 2023 I left my ‘Covid job’ and fled to Indonesia with my husband to clear my head and reset.

Jason and I flew to Bali first, and literally did nothing but lay by the pool for 2 days before flying from Denpasar to Labuan Bajo on the Island of Flores. We met up with our friends Arlo & Jessica from Melbourne, and checked into our eclectic hotel, Selini on the Hill. Selini is a collection of slapdash wooden cabins built into a hillside overlooking the port of Labuan Bajo.

We bummed around in Labuan Bajo for a few days, checking out the shops and bars and restaurants and the long boardwalk along the water. We did a day trip from Labuan Bajo to the incredible Rangko Cave, but it involved motorcycles and sketchy boats and I opted to leave my camera at the hotel. Labuan Bajo treated us to a couple of epic sunsets from our hotel balcony, and noisy calls to prayer at 4:00 and 7:00am from the Mosque in the centre of the city, and then it was time to move on.

The next step in our plan was to meet up with Arlo & Jess’ friend Brooke, and to charter a boat for a 3 day/2 night cruise around the Komodo Islands. Her name was Derya, and she came equipped with a crew of 6 to truly spoil us. The first day we spent cruising, boozing, snorkelling and getting to know the boat and her crew.

We had a legendary tour guide aboard with us named Riki, who took us to all the good snorkelling spots, epic lookouts, hikes and sunsets. At the end of day 1, we indulged in a lovely dinner and then went to a small coral island that gets swallowed up by high tide each night at dusk. We got some group photos and frolicked and drank some Bintang on the sand, and then made our way back to the boat.

On day 2, we headed to Komodo National Park to see THE DRAGONS! It was so cool. Right as we got ashore there was this HUGE dragon just chilling under a tree on the beach. We did a little hike and were showed around by a park ranger, saw a couple more dragons in the forest and a Komodo nest, and I don’t even know what else I can say so here’s some photos!

After we left the dragon park we cruised around to Pink Beach for a swim (and some time in the shade - it was HOT) and then we headed to the famous lookout point on Pulau Padar to watch yet another epic sunset. The spot is breathtaking, so much so that the view features on the 50,000Rp note! It was a very steep climb but the views from the top were totally worth it.

Our last day aboard Derya we spent mostly in the water - some of the best snorkelling I’ve ever experienced. We saw sea turtles, manta rays, dolphins, and a rainbow of coral and fish.

The crew dropped us back into the port of Labuan Bajo where we saw Brooke off to the airport and then rest of us retreated to our hotel, exhausted, to prepare for the next part of our adventure - a road trip deep into the island of Flores. We coordinated via WhatsApp with our driver August, who was to pick us up the following morning and begin the long drive to Ruteng.

Flores is a rugged and mountainous island so the drive was time consuming and took us all day to travel approximately 150km to Ruteng. We stopped at a number of places along the way that August wanted to show us, including picturesque rice paddies, mountain lakes and villages.

We asked a lot of questions so August filled us in on the local elections that were happening soon, the public buses blaring loud music (which we were calling ‘party buses’) up and down the rural roads, as well as interesting facts about the way the land is divided up for rice farming, arak distilling from coconut palms, and the different religions across the island.

Eventually we made our way to the city of Ruteng, and we asked August to take us to Liang Bua, a spectacular limestone cave where the bones of Homo florensiensis were discovered in 2003. Homo floresiensis was an early hominoid standing just 1m tall and thought to have died out approximately 12,000 years ago, making them the latest surviving human species other than modern Homo sapiens - us. There are legends in Flores about the ‘small hairy cave dwellers’ and so it’s entirely possible that they lived alongside Homo sapiens for some time.

The cave itself was fascinating and spooky in equal measure, with huge limestone stalactites clinging to the ceiling - we were actually able to climb up into the inner caves and stand where these hominoids likely sheltered in the evenings.

In the second photo below, you can see parts of the cave floor that have been excavated by the archaeologists. If you want to learn more about Liang Bua and the Homo floresiensis you can do so here.

That night Jason and I stayed at a homestay in Ruteng with a lovely young couple, Faldi & Nina. Ruteng is not touristy at all, so there really aren’t many hotels, and most things were shut down by about 8pm. We went for a walk through the streets and were swarmed by loads of teenagers wanting to take photos with us and practice their English. We had dinner at a small cafe and then headed back to Faldi & Nina’s place.

The following morning we got up early and reunited with August, who had stayed with family in Ruteng. We started our journey to Ende along the southern side of the island, through Bajawa and Pigadjawa. Again, we stopped along the way to take in the sights, including Ranamese Lake and Ebulobo, a volcano that was active as recent as 2013.

As we started to get close to Ende, we insisted on stopping at Pantai Batu Biru (or ‘Blue Stone Beach’) to marvel at the combination of black volcanic sand and turquoise stones. The striking colour of the stones is due to various minerals present during volcanic activity and is a source of income for local stone pickers to sell to Indonesian and international markets, primarily for landscaping and decorative stonework.

We made it to Ende by nightfall and checked into our hotel, Flores Passport House, an amazing modern brutalist structure with just 4 rooms and a central pool, kitchen and lounge area. They had a policy about taking photos with professional cameras (thanks, influencers) so I only snapped a couple with my phone while we were staying there.

By the time we made it to Ende we were wrecked. We had packed SO MUCH into 2 weeks and had fully planned to check out Kelimutu but it was another whole day trip and we were pretty ready to spend our last day just lounging by the pool, roaming the city and enjoying the scenery and accommodation.

These are some of the last photos I took in Ende before flying back to Melbourne by way of a short 1 night stay in Seminyak, Bali.

Once we returned to Melbourne, it was back to my new normal and straight into a hectic Christmas season of Awkward Portraits. I’m hoping to do some more travelling this year now that I have some more flexibility and more choice in when and where I work.

I promise, next time it won’t take me 6 months to write about it though…