Originally, we had planned to take the water taxi back to Dili at 9.30am. However, yesterday night Barry told us that the water taxi is booked for a diving trip and thus will only make a trip at 3pm. Since we had nothing planned except for waiting for the bike, it didn’t bother us too much. Almost another full day on Ataúro with time to read and chill sounds promising.

Breakfast was lovely again, this time with pancakes. The usual eating room was booked for a full day workshop so we sat outside in the shade, having a lovely conversation with two German travellers, Lüder and Renate.

Afterwards, we occupied one of the “platforms” to read and write to our heart’s content. We watched as one of the huts at the beach got a new roof in the traditional manner and a veranda was added to the hut. Since not a lot happened, I’ll use the space to describe Barry’s place some more.

Heading over to Ataúro, Flo and I were almost certain that we would have no reception and no power so we left the laptop in Dili. As soon as we were in Beloi, it turned out that ‘no reception’ is a first world problem. Even in Adara, on the other side of the island, Flo’s mobile phone had a full signal. I am unsure about the power situation but Barry’s place at least had solar panels so we could have charged the phone or our laptop if we had brought either with us.

There is no sewer system on Ataúro so a long drop served as that. It must be quite good and efficient version, as despite a temperature of 30 degrees, the smell was minimal. I particularly liked the shower: A generous room with a basin full of water and two ladles to fill water into a pot with tiny holes above you and have it rain down on you. It is particularly nice if you have someone there who refills the pot constantly while you have a nice long shower. 🙂

Since we had to stay till 3pm, we had a last lunch on the island. Barry gave us the lunch for free, which was very lovely. Having fresh salad is always a treat but especially if it is prepared for you. Makes it feel more like a holiday.

At 3pm Tony’s water taxi and the dive crew arrived. They then had to unload all the air bottles so that we set out at 3.30pm. The taxi was rather small for crossing 35km of open sea and (at least in my humble opinion) the ride was rough. It was all I could do to hold on to the handrails and stare at the horizon…otherwise I’d probably been seasick. Flo enjoyed the ride way more than I did, looking out for flying fish (apparently there were many) and later for the Darwin trader. The ANL Darwin trader is the ship on which Rocinante is supposed to come over to Dili. It was scheduled to arrive at 9am this morning so Flo had his fingers crossed that he might see it in the harbour or, if we are lucky, already docked.

We were lucky: The Darwin trader was docked in the wharf and looked as if it was half empty already. Flo just stopped short of jumping for joy. 😉

Having land back under your feet is an amazing feeling, I can tell you. The ride over had taken 1 ½ hours so it started to get late in Dili. I will never really get used to the fact that near the equator, the sun simply sets at 6.30pm, no matter if it is summer or winter. It really cuts your daylight time quite short.

We had one last thing to do today: Walk past the backpacker in Dili and see if we can find any more motorcycle travellers. Chantal had told us about two more guys riding BMWs who are supposed to be staying there. It didn’t take us long to find them as they were out in the yard taking their bikes apart to clean them for the Australian biosecurity check. Hubert, a German traveller, and Alex, an Italian guy, took their work pretty seriously. There was even some scrubbing of a tire with a toothbrush. We had a chat and decided to have a drink together tomorrow night, once Chantal is back from Ataúro island as well.