Coffee Plantation visit - Sunday Lunch

Went for a drive to an old coffee plantation. It is up in the hills behind Liquica, at about 3000 feet in altitude. Old house in the Portuguese colonial style. The whole package rang a lot of bells for me - the feel was not dissimilar to the house in Norton Bridge, Ceylon, where I spent the first six years of my life.

It is owned by an old Portuguese family. This Portuguese family are now landlords to lots of overseas aid agencies. We were treated to roast beef and lobster. In typical Portuguese style, the food was about two hours late. But worth it!

The Coffee Plantation is just a sideline for them now - really it is just a weekender with a whole bunch of woody weeds that they get the locals to pluck.

The drive up was over some roads that had not been cared for for some time. Everything in Timor-Leste washes away over time and thus requires constant upkeep, and if you don't upkeep, or you think the Indonesians are going to come back and do the upkeep for you, then, well, you have problems. We had to stop the cars a few times and go carefully where the road had been washed away.

These pictures are all out of order. I haven't worked out how to upload them in order yet. These are snaps from the digital camera. I have some snaps on film as well.

Neolithic life. Note the betel nut stain on her teeth. Betel nut supresses hunger, and makes childbirth easier because the babies come out smaller. It also makes the betel nut chewer grin. All the time.

Someone should let this old bird in on the facts about tobacco use. The owners are confident that she is 105 years old - at least.

A fine Portuguese residence.

More of same.

Hasta la vista.

More hasta vista. Can you see the coral sea?

The gravel river bed down the bottom must be 2km wide in places. So that is where the road goes when it rains!

More view.

My kinda place. Note the the shedding.

The caretaker's grandchildren nod in agreement.

A bit of mud and a bit of a dip. But the driver is handling it well (for a chick).

A narrow part of the road.

Another wash away needs to be checked out. Note the little mini-pajero up the front, owned by Porto in white pants and boat shoes. He got a flat tyre about 60 seconds later from driving too far to the left, and over some jagged rocks.

Sunny Saturday

The long awaited Battle of the Reserve - Thunderbolts vs Limes. A fast, free flowing game with good work on both sides, excellent game from the Thunderbolts wing attack, in particular good catching and passing. However the game was won by the Limes goal attack, who scored most of their 11 goals. The Thunderbolts scored 5 and played very well as a team. An excellent morning on the courts (especially as the Shooting Stars finally had a win!).

Getting ready

We're getting ready... can you tell?

Learning to read part two

Weekend

A sunny autumn weekend in Canberra, with home baked bread, autumn leaves, netball (imagine this pic) and playing around on the climbing wall at Birrigai.

Choir camp

Rosemary went on choir camp and had a great time. She is really enjoying her music and coming along well.

Very serious while singing, you will notice.

Unless she's dancing.

Learning Tetun

I learn to speak Tetun twice a week.

Drive to Liquica

It is pronounced "Lick-EE-saa". Like most Tetun words, the emphasis is on the second-last syllable.

Actually, we went beyond Liquica to "Maubara" where there is an old Portuguese fort. Really just a walled compound, except the walls are about 50 cm thick and are about 4m high. With a pair of old rusty cannons.

Inside the fort and around the front are craft markets set up to snare dollars from the malaye.

On the drive there I could see how infertile this country can be. Most of the flat land between the mountains and the sea is rock strewn causeway. After heavy rain, you could be washed away just about anywhere. What soil there is is made up of gravel and dust.

On the way back we stopped in at Roses Cafe. Sorry, no Coke. Sorry, no water. Sorry, no Lime juice. Ladiak! Well, there was coffee. And it was only 50 cents.

Here are some snaps:

Federal Agent Wayne Poulter surveys the outside of the premises.

Mr. Mitch Andersson with a pillow. Mitch, do you reckon that that the "pattern" might make more sense when you look at it the mirror?

Are we there yet? Commander Quade at the wheel of her Prado.

Advisor Irvine squints towards the Coral Sea.

A self portrait down the well. Don't drop your phone!

Driving back to Dili.