Darwin to Saumlaki - Photos

JJMoon Diary
Barry and Margaret Wilmshurst
Sat 5 Sep 2009 10:19
Darwin to Saumlaki - Photo Album
 
 
Boats milling around awaiting the startArriving in Saumlaki - a fishing hut to be avoided
 
1. Boats milling around awaiting the start of the 2009 Sail Indonesia Rally
2. We are warned that one of the main hazards in Asia is unlit small fishing vessels and other such fishing craft.  As we approached Saumlaki there were a series of these fishing huts to dodge round.
 
Saumlaki, from the waterA house in a small village we visited
 
1. A view of Saumlaki from the water.  The sea is calm in the photo but the long dinghy ride ashore was usually very wet and quite eventful with fishing nets to dodge and shallows to work round when the tide was low.
2. We took a trip round the island and visited a village known for its wood carving.  This is the first house in the village, quite primitive but with a splendid view!
 
Children from the village.
 
Children from the wood carving village.  This was our initiation into the delights of visiting with the accompaniament of the village children.
 
Collecting the juice from the palm tree to create arak.The still
 
1. A lad up a palm tree preparing to collect the liquid for making arak.
2. A photo of the still.  The palm liquid was heated over a fire and the vapour condensed through bamboo pipes running back to the hut for collecting and bottling.
 
An amazing monument at the large Catholic open air centre.
 
Our last stop on the tour was to the major Catholic centre.  We were almost forced to visit there.  The options were, lunch or the Catholic centre.  We all chose lunch but instead found ourselves at the centre marvelling at the enormous monument shown in the picture along with several other statues, still large but not quite so spectacular, built around a concrete forum.  Many villages join together to celebrate specific Catholic church festivals at this venue.