As a kid I spend many of my weekend days in my dads garage/workshop. At the back of the house we had a reasonably sized building my parents build themselves. Inside most of the space was taken up by the 5.6 meter long boat my dad sailed around the south of Europe with. An exciting […]
Where did you sleep?
After one month of bike travel through Indonesia it is about time I give its amazing people some credit. In these past weeks I met so many incredibly caring and loving people. Quite a few times now I had the honour of staying with a local family overnight. Without exception, these are all experiences that […]
Pretty places and pretty faces
Travelling can be an eye opening experience. Especially when you leave the tourist tracks. When you look beyond the beauty of the surrounding nature and into the eyes of the people. When you talk to them, when they talk to you, and when you learn from them. It teaches you about other cultures but it […]
Gravel’s life lessons
Some recent stretches of challenging, unsealed roads brought back good memories of riding gravel in Australia. Before starting the trip around Australia I had zero experience in riding on anything else than nicely sealed roads. During the trip around Australia I wanted, and had to, learn to ride on gravel. It made all the difference […]
In the middle of the sea
The idea of island-hopping through Indonesia inevitably involves taking ferries to get from one island to the next. The longest crossing is the first one, from West Timor to Flores. The ferries I took in Europe and New Zealand are all very organised, pre-booked, on time, clean etc etc. None of that applies to their […]
3000 meter and 50 kilometer
Although travelling alone is great, there are certain things you are better off doing with other people. Like climbing Ramelau, the highest mountain in East Timor. Two on the bike is just too heavy so the chook chaser was left to its own devices for a few days and me and Manuele, my Italian fellow […]
A Kiss and a Thank You Miss
Some days ago I lost my GPS locator, it’s a little piece of equipment you can set of if you are in real danger. It can also be used to track your steps, which is why it was attached to my backpack while hitching a ride to Ramelau, the highest mountain in East Timor. In […]
Coastal Beauty
For most people an ordinary Thursday morning, for me the start of exploring East Timor on my own bike. The warm wind touches the parts of my face not covered by my helmet and dust mask. Left of me, the turquoise and deep blue colours of the endless sea. Right of me, the red and […]
It’s the final count down
My last weekend in Australia I spend in Tasmania with someone who became very special to me. Visiting the last state in Australia made me realise that this part of the journey really is about to end. On the bike I visited 6 states (Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the […]
Culture and Waterfalls
The last place to visit on this trip, Kakadu national park. Compared to the Gibb river road the riding isn’t anywhere near as challenging since most of it is sealed. But Kakadu makes up for that ten-fold on other things. It is world heritage listed for both its nature and living Aboriginal culture. It has […]