Flores was immediately so unlike Timor, which had often been quite dry and cleared. Flores, by contrast was incredibly lush and green, an alternating mix of terraced rice fields and beautiful wild jungle areas with towering volcanoes overseeing everything.

Getting there on the Ferry from West Timor was almost an absolute disaster. I woke to a flat tyre in the morning on the day of the ferry, so I had to pull the tube out and repair it on the spot, desperately watching the clock (and knowing if I was late, it was days, if not a week until the next ferry.) Once it was done, I jumped on the bike and rushed to the terminal, hoping I hadn’t missed the boat, literally and figuratively.

Luckily, Mitch had already worked out which terminal it was and found a friendly Indonesian guy who helped us sort out of tickets and timing. When we loaded up onto the boat, cramming the bikes to a rusty corner and then staking a claim on the deck itself, where we slept the night with our camping mats, upsetting the ecosystem of cockroaches that emerged from nearby. The boat got in at 3am to Larantuka and we went in search of the perfect location to watch the sun rise. After a few wrong turns, where we ended up in someone’s backyard, we found the perfect spot looking out over the ocean, and a boat appeared for the perfect photo.

The riding was amazing at first, but then I got another flat tyre. This time I couldn’t find the puncture, even in a bucket of water, so I fitted my spare tube. As I was putting the rear wheel back on, I noticed that there was a lot of movement in the rear wheel bearings. That led to a very precarious ride to our accommodation that night. This is where carrying all the spares immediately paid off though. I already had the bearings, so I just tapped them in, replacing the rear brake pads while I was at it, and Rusty was ready to go again. Carrying spare parts really makes a difference to how quickly and easily you can deal with issues on the road! This could have been a disaster day without spare tubes, bearings and brake pads onboard!

One of the aspects of Flores which stood out the most was the hospitality. When I got the puncture, immediately a dozen people stopped to help, or stand around and smile, or find a bucket of water. The night I changed my bearings we stopped at a guesthouse that was a little too expensive for us, and the lady who owned it said we could just camp in the yard. Later in the evening, before we’d set up our tents (after seeing us working on the bikes for hours), she came to say that no one had booked the guesthouse, so we could stay in there. She said her daughter was studying in Australia and she had received such hospitality there when she visited that she wanted to pay it forward, and wouldn’t take any payment.

A few days later, another lady invited us to come and stay with her family near Kelimutu, and they looked after us with dinner and breakfast and we sat and talked all through the night about Indonesian cuisine, and history. Experiences like this just kept happening and this only scratches the surface, but it’s my overwhelming memory of Flores.

The volcanoes definitely played a part in our travels too. There was an eruption while we were there that threatened to cut the path we were taking off, and we rode through huge areas covered in volcanic ash and saw clouds of it rising in the distance. We climbed Kelimutu and saw the amazing blue lakes at the peak and everywhere we went were day walks or hikes disappearing up steep volcanic slopes to peaks in the clouds.

We also stopped at the cave excavation site where the Homo Florensi was discovered, a missing link human that caused scientists to rethink the time scale of when humans arrived in Asia.

The trip across Flores ended at Labuan Bajo, the port town where trips to Komodo Island and other islands leave from. I also met up with Ben, an Australian bicycle rider who I had crossed paths with already in Timor, who was riding from Perth to the Philippines! Mitch, Ben and I met for beers watching the sun set over the islands and ocean, and it seemed like everything was good in the world [sunset photo]

I have always been obsessed with Komodo dragons, and I was finally in a place where I could see them. I typically have an aversion to tours, but this was the only way to see them, so we booked in for a day trip to the island. This included some beach snorkelling, and hiking as well, and it was one of the most relaxing days of the trip so far. It’s amazing letting someone else take control after having to organise everything. We hiked the islands, saw the Komodo dragons and at the end of the day, snorkelled with Manta rays, which was absolutely surreal!