The Mighty Rajang River

After a 4am start (groan) we reached the mouth of the Rejang just catching the beginning of the ebb tide. Moving at walking pace into the river we anchored ASAP. The following morning at the far more civilized hour of 8.30am the tide began to flood and off we went to Sarekei, the first of our riverside towns.

This friendly bustling little town had all we hoped for, me getting a new pair of sandals incase I have to climb Mount Kinabalu and Amanda finding both Internet and a steamboat restaurant. Beer at 4RM almost made us stay another day but the tide was turning and our next stop Bintangor beckoned.

After visiting the local market where your chicken starts off alive at the beginning of the purchase process, we got a few supplies (biscuits for the kids)and headed up to the Rumah Lidam Longhouse.


The longhouse is off the main river, and was recommended to us by Crystal Blues, another Ganley cruising boat who had first explored here in 2006 and made regular visits since.



They invited us over for dinner so we thought we could maybe take something a bit different. After some serious thought we hit on the idea of pizzas and bloody Marys. Bet they don’t have that often! I can’t say it was a huge success; especially as it turns out they don’t really like spicy food. They at first thought the bloody Mary was sauce, and it almost ended up on the pizza at one point. I think maybe 1 out of every 20 people thought it was drinkable (it made the baby cry). The pizza topping was fairly popular but the base was only a means of getting the topping to your plate. It was a good night, lots of laughs.



We made plans to come over the following day for a look around. The monkey pot, a type of pitcher plant was worth a look.



The kids made plans to come out to the boat and demonstrate the Iban bomb technique.

Bugs, Turtles & Monkeys - Setang Besar to Bako

Much to the disappointment of the local mosquito population I’m sure, it was time to leave our safe haven in the river to start moving north again.

Not getting to carried away for a start we decided to do the 10 miles to Palau Setang Besar, an island where they have a breeding program for turtles. The idea is to wait for the turtles to come up the beach at night and start laying their eggs. The Park Rangers then tag the turtle, measure it and remove barnacles etc. Once the turtle has gone, the eggs are dug up and relocated to a fenced area out of harms way. After anchoring and lunch (Jungle fern – the local specialty) we headed over to find out what the deal was.




The Rangers informed us that the previous night 3 turtles had come ashore and after encountering problems during the hole digging process had headed back to sea without laying. We were welcome to come over at 10pm - high tide. By the time 10pm rolled around it was raining and the waves made it feel like we were trying to sleep on the back of a rocking horse. After discussing the pros and cons we bit the bullet and went over anyway.

The ranger greeted us on the shore with the news that a group of Hawks Bill turtle eggs had just hatched and we were welcome to take them down to the shore and set them free.

The rain then stopped and 2 Green turtles came ashore and started digging. One hit a log in it’s first hole and roots in the second, so went back to sea however the second one laid its eggs.




The laying went smoothly after a long and protracted hole digging. After being tagged, etc it headed back to sea.




After a sleep in we donned our snorkeling gear for some barnacle removing of our own on Thyme’s hull. A last stop at the beach revealed our Green Turtle had laid 114 eggs which were now safely buried in a chamber under the sand. In 60 days from now hopefully these baby Green Turtles will scurry down the beach to start their life at sea!




Next on our nature hit list was to find the Proboscis monkey, so we headed further north to the Bako national park. Once anchored we could see them in the treetops on the mainland. The following morning we set out on our search but surprise, surprise it rained forcing us back to the boat.




The next plan was to try our luck on Palau Lekei, the island we were anchored next to. Again the Proboscis could be seen in the treetops but we couldn’t get close. The island did have some nice short walks through different varieties of Pitcher plants and down to a creek. Here the myth has it that an ancient warrior engraved the script in the creek bed with his finger 100’s of years ago. Nobody has been able to translate the writing.




Our next stop will be the mouth of the mighty Rejang, Borneo’s jugular, and the main trade artery for all of central and southern Sarawak.

National Parks - Sarawak

We decided Gunung Gading National park, home of the Rafflesia was to be our first visit being the furtherest away, a 2.5 hour scooter trip.

The endangered Rafflesia is the worlds largest flower found only in this area, takes 9 months to mature and can be over a meter in diameter. It flowers for 4-5 days and gives off a smell similar to rotting meat to attract fly’s and other insects for pollination.

After the flower we found a near by waterfall to wash off the road grime. Some of the local inhabitants considered us possible food, nipping at our feet if we stood still for too long.

Absorbed in all the wild life living around the stream we didn’t notice the clouds rolling over until it was to late. It appears to be called RAIN forest for a good reason. It pissed down leaving us with no choice but to ride back to the village to purchase raincoats for our trip home. Maybe an early start would be a wiser move tomorrow when a visit to Semenggoh Nature Reserve to see the Orang utans was planned. It’s not guaranteed that you will see them, but if there is not much food in the jungle they will come to the park for an easy meal.
We were in luck.

We were told that it’s best to only stay in the feeding area for a short time as the Orangutans get annoyed and have been known to throw sticks and snakes at the tourists. With that advice, and having seen the pictures of some of the wounds inflicted by bites we were only too happy to move along when told.

Detouring through town to pick up some charts for the Rejang River system and lunch we slowly made our way back to the boat before the afternoon rain.

Belitung

After just beating a large squall into Belitung we found a nice beach bar and celebrated our arrival safe arrival apparently missing the Tsunami and eruptions down south. I had some great tails of the Sailfish and Spanish mackerel I caught along the way.

Unfortunately that was not the only thing we caught. Somewhere along the way we hooked up a fish trap, the rope first catching on the depth Sounder before tangling and being chopped up by the prop. The Sounder has suffered a little, pulling away from the hull but still working and not leaking. Phew.

The following day was spent traveling to town to complete our exit Indonesia paperwork. We did however go via a pepper plantation, market, and shops in between our visits to Immigration, Customs, Quarantine, and the Harbor Master who we had to come back for as he was having his afternoon nap.


With all the formalities out of the way the next day the 8 of us formed our very own bikey gang. The Whitey’s. We let Trevor (crew from Gladfy) come being from NZ.

We visited some local hot spots after riding all over the Island sort of lost. The fresh water pools were a must, followed by lunch in town.

Still with a long way to go it was time to leave. The beer is too cheap here.

Maguk to Gunlom, Barramundi Gorge to Waterfall Creek

Well we survived! I'll post some tales of our trip over the next few days.

Mum arrived Monday afternoon, just in time to stuff her pack full of goodies for the next 6 days. Despite her brave face, secretly I think it was heavier than she expected… An early night and we hit the road the following morning. As we were walking from one creek and gorge system, over a ridge to the next before coming out at Gunlom we did a bit of running around dropping cars off, before finally setting up camp by the side of the road for night one. Mum seemed a little shocked at the mud underfoot, “are we camping here?” We managed to set up a 5 star camp and have a bit of shut eye before farewelling the car and civilization for the next 5 days.


As it was still the wet season the road was closed so we started our hike on the road. It’s been a good wet season, the end of May and we had the boots off for a crossing before we even hit the bush! Not wanting to risk crocs, we had a steep climb before breaking for lunch and a swim. Our swimming pool was a cliff top pool looking back over the waterfall and gully we had just ascended. It was just like the horizon pools you see in 5 star resorts only so much better! You could swim further on, flanked either side by steep red walls and more pools. I’ve got a great feeling about this trip.

We dragged ourselves away from the pools and continued following Barramundi Gorge. It was pretty rough going so mum and Kristin had donned some gators. Just skirting a ledge before arriving at camp we had a near miss. Mum slipped and almost plunged down the bank. Needless to say, we all slept with visions of the moment skirting our dreams. Camp Day 1 was a perfect spot by the side of the creek with a waterfall spa on one side and a large swimming pool on the other. After setting up camp, Kristin and I headed up stream exploring some caves with aboriginal art.

Day 2 started with a relatively steep climb, before we followed the creek upstream. At times the going was so rough we left the creek and headed to higher ground. Unfortunately there was no escaping the long grass, pushing through this was like bending into gale force wind, and with a heavy pack your legs soon start to burn. This day was filled with long grass. At one point a helicopter dropped some incendiaries to burn it out but unfortunately for us this was too late.

Camp Day 2 was a small sandy strip beside a beautiful crystal clear pool fed by two falls. A scramble up a scree hill behind camp led to the most beautiful horizon pool where we enjoyed our precious store of cocktails watching the sun set.

What a top start – we are all getting along brilliantly, enjoying the countryside. Stay tuned for the rest of the hike.

Careening Bay – early October

After reading all the shipwreck and early discovery books we traded with Barra B I was keen to stop at Careening Bay where the ship ‘Mermaid’ careened to carry out repairs in the 1800’s while surveying the area. While here they carved the ships name into a Boab tree that still remains today. They must have been brave as it is still a tough place even with all our mod cons – and funnily enough heaps of the sea area is still unsurveyed today.

We are still experiencing huge tides and needed 2 lengths of rope to anchor to dinghy for a 30minute stop! Seeing a sand beach instead of mud banks and crocs, Sloop expressed more than a passing interest in going ashore and insisted that he too must see the mermaid Boab.




On the supply front all is going well although dried beans are making a frequent appearance in our meals. I’m dying to talk to my parents and let them know I’m ok but I can’t even get out on the HF radio. Theo is not doing so well having relapsed into not eating again. His coat is all rough and dull and he is little more the skin and bone. In desperation we’re going to try human laxative in small doses and see if that helps.

We’re thinking of heading around to Prince Frederick Harbour where our friends on Barra B will probably be – looking forward to the company.