The motorcycle bridge in our path
“Let’s take the back road that goes around that amazing inland lake”
“It might be slow going but the scenery will be great and there are supposed to be so many crocodiles here”
“This road is ok, no worse than any other we have driven down”
“Look at all those bufflalo on the open plain, amazing”
“Watch that huge pothole!”
“This is the biggest lake in Timor, there is supposed to be this incredible drowned forest on the southern side of the lake”
“OK, google says we will reach the edge of the lake soon so we might start to see some water”
“Ooo there is a creek up ahead, come on crocodiles!”
“What? That bridge is only wide enough for a motorbike, there is no way we are getting across, and the banks are super steep”
“Maybe we could get down and drive through the creek?”
“No chance, it’s too steep”
“I guess that’s it then, back will have to go back and take the main road”
SQUEEZE
“I really want to drive as much of the coast as possible and Google says we can go straight south from Los Palos to the coast. Lets go!”
TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER…
“We are getting there, slowly. I know its hard but you are doing a great job driving these terrible roads”
“Once we get to the coast we can find somewhere to camp and then keep moving along the coast in the morning”
“This is a lovely village, right on the shore, and look back along the coast, spectacular!”
“The road in getting very small, it’s really just a motorcycle track”
“It’s getting really muddy, I don’t know if I can drive this, it’s really slippy”
“You are doing alright, I can take over if you want”
“Oh god, that tree is so low, I can’t get under it”
“I’ll get out and watch…it’s ok…you have a couple of centimetres”
“It’s getting really tight, the trees are scraping the side of the car”
“On no, that’s it, the road has just ended at this mass of trees, there is no more road and Google says we are in the right spot, Argh!”
“Let’s go back to the village and find somewhere to camp”
LATER THAT EVENING…
“Is that a truck coming up that track, how the hell could a truck fit under that tree, there must be another road!”
AFTER AN HOUR OF SEARCHING THE NEXT MORNING…
“There are no other paths …. no, that is a goat track …. no we can’t fit down there, so the truck definitely didn’t come from there. I guess maybe the truck was at the sand quarry just up from our camp”
“And the dozen motorbikes we heard?”
“And the motorbikes, I don’t know, there’s no way the truck got through, it has to be”
“I guess we had better drive the two and a half hours back to Los Palos and find another route”
Beach view and squeezing under the log
We have to cross this river
“I hope this new south coast road is better than the one we tried yesterday”
“Yes, but I’m a bit worried about this big river up ahead”
“Oh this road is terrible too, but all the potholes suggest that it gets a lot of use”
“It’s been hours, maybe we should camp at the river, I’m stuffed”
“OK, the river should be 200m ahead, should we try left or right?”
“Right”
BUNCH OF KIDS ON THE ROAD SIDE — ‘Go back, go back’
“I wonder why those kids want us to go back?”
“Ah, right. The road ends at a brick wall”
“OK let’s go back and try the left, the kids are laughing at us”
“Let’s ask those adults”
“Can we get to Viqueque through here?”
ADULTS — “Yes this is the right way”
“OK, so it must be the left road”
BUNCH OF KIDS ON THE ROAD SIDE — “Go back, go back”
“Stupid kids, what do they know”
‘Oh no, another bloody motorcycle bridge, how is this possible, we can’t cross that”
“I’ll go and see if we can squeeze over…wait it’s the adults from before, how did the manage to get in front of us? OK, weird”
ADULTS — “Go back, follow us”
“Ok, so this tiny track, not marked on Google, goes dead north and then turns west again”
“It seems like that’s the case; How is this not on Google?”
“%$&#ing google!”
“Its not Google’s fault, it just doesn’t know where the roads are”
“Whoa, that is a huge river, and it has a huge bridge, its fine, we can cross easily, what was all that about?”
“Argh, lets just camp here”
