You have just landed on the home page of my blog of our travels "down-under" to New Zealand and
Australia in 2014 with stop-overs in Singapore and Borneo in transit to and from London.
If Orang-utans are your thing then read on. The nightlife along the Kinabatangan River in Sabah where saltwater crocodiles lurk to catch the unwary, and fire-flies dart around your head, is truly amazing.
If you are a fan of Tolkien and were amazed by the filming locations used by Peter Jackson in The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings then you will recognise some of the stunning locations we visited in New Zealand. The experience of swimming with dolphins, not one, but twice, was unforgettable.
Ever wondered what Tasmania has to offer? How do you turn a former penal colony or a copper mining town into a top tourist attraction? The answers are here.
If you are a student of Architecture you will be inspired by the designs of some of Singapore's iconic landmarks, or the bold audacity of Sydney Opera House. You will be amazed by the engineering achievement that is the Manapouri Hydro-electric Power station in Doubtful Sound.
If this is your first visit here then this is your alighting page to join our journey. I hope you enjoy it, and maybe you will be inspired to start your own Adventure. If you have been following us in real-time then thanks for being with us. We hope we have managed to share some of the beauty and excitement of the experience with you.
Our evening flight from Sarawak took us to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, where we spent the next day, awaiting an onwards flight to Sandakan. There is not a lot to recommend here. The city was totally rebuilt after the Second World War, has no history, and is an urban sprawl that is particularly
smelly along the waterfront! So we did what we normally do when the weather is inclement or the city uninteresting, and visited the cinema: a modern 8 screen cinema where the seats cost £1.40 each and popcorn is £1!
We rose at 5.30am next morning to catch the 45 minute flight to Sandakan, and then the coach to
Sepilok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre. This Centre cares for orphaned orang-utans, teaching them the skills to live independently in the jungle. It takes up to 8 years for them to lose their dependence upon humans. 686 orphans have passed through the centre since it was established in 1964. We were fortunate to see 2 semi-independent juveniles at the morning feed station, and another wild adult male who had come in from the jungle for a free meal.
After lunch we took a fast boat for 90km up the Kinabatangan River into the depths of the Borneo
jungle and Sukau Rainforest Lodge. This was Sir David Attenborough's base whilst filming in 2011, and was to be ours for the next 3 days. In fact the river and the rainforest either side, provide an essential wildlife corridor between extensive palm oil plantations. The routine here is to be up and on the river before sunrise, and then again at dusk. The primates tend to sleep in trees with their backs to the river at night for safety, and then venture into the forest at daybreak. We made one 6am boat trip, two at 4pm, and one night trip using powerful flashlights. During the day we saw proboscis
monkeys, silver leaf monkeys, and long-tailed macaques, as well as monitor lizards and salt-water crocodiles. Amongst the prolific bird life here we saw kingfishers, hornbills, a Storm's stork and Oriental darters. The night trip was amazing! We used a local guide whose spotting skills were exceptional. He pointed out owls, several species of kingfishers, a flying fox, and a large orange and black snake in the branches less than two feet above our heads.
After breakfast on the third day we retraced our steps by fast boat to Sandakan and after lunch made the return flight to Kota Kinabalu, relishing the prospect of another night at the cinema!
We travelled 45 minutes out of the city to Bako Bazaar, the jumping off point for the transfer by small boat to the peninsula that is Bako National Park. In the river estuary fishermen had constructed scaffolding structures from which to hang their nets to catch shrimp on the incoming tide. The coastline around the peninsula, jutting out in to the South China Sea was dotted with mangrove swamps, 2 million trees having been planted by the authorities within the last 5 years to attract marine life.
Bako is notable for its incredible biodiversity, which includes almost every vegetation type in Borneo, and our guide proved to be an authority on the plants and their uses, whether medicinal, for cooking, for building materials, or even for making poisoned darts! He was also an expert in spotting the wildlife. Amongst others we saw hermit crabs, fiddler crabs, monitor lizards and mudskippers
(fish with lungs), in the mangrove swamps. Around the boardwalks bearded pigs were rooting through the undergrowth in search of edible roots. On the jungle trail, which was possibly the hottest, sweatiness thing I have ever done in my life, we saw proboscis monkeys, silver-leaf monkeys, palm squirrels, and a nocturnal flying lemur almost perfectly camouflaged against the tree trunk where it
was sleeping. Oh, and of course snakes, including two bright green vipers, whose venom kills in 3 hours, long enough the guide assured us to return to the city for treatment since no antidote is kept at the Park HQ!
Back at our hotel we enjoyed a couple of whiskey-sours whilst sitting at the terrace roof-bar before transferring to the airport for our evening flight to Sabah.
We said goodbye to Tasmania and flew to Sydney, then onwards to Singapore. A day spent travelling.
Next morning we flew to the Malaysian State of Sarawak, arriving at the capital, Kuching, in time to stroll through the city and along the waterfront. The heat (32 degrees) and humidity were in stark contrast to the early Autumn climate in Tasmania.
Next day we joined a tour visiting first the Semenggoh Nature Reserve, a 642 hectare unfenced reserve where 27 semi-wild orang-utans live in their natural jungle habitat. Twice a day Rangers put out food on to platforms in the hope that the orang-utans will visit, but as this was still the fruiting season when plenty of food is available in the rainforest there were no guarantees they would arrive. Sadly no orang-utans came to visit.
We drove for another 30 minutes to a small village deep in the jungle where along with one other couple, and a guide, we started an 11km trip kayaking downriver. Water levels were low and
occasionally the kayak scraped the bottom, but at other times the river flowed across rapids and care had to be taken to avoid the rocks. We stopped briefly to trek a short distance to a waterfall, and later for a delicious lunch of typical Malay foods that the guide and driver had provided. After lunch we
travelled downriver for a further 7km of sometimes strenuous, sometimes exciting, but always enjoyable kayaking. At times the trees of the jungle hung out over the river and creepers fell from the upper branches almost to water level. At other times the limestone rocks along the river banks had been sculpted into fantastic shapes by years of erosion. Mountains covered in trees rose up all around us. Bamboo grew to heights of 10-15 metres along the banks. By the end of the journey our arms ached, our backs ached, and we were tired. But we hadn't capsized as others had been known to.
Our guide had pushed us so that we had time to revisit the Nature Reserve for the afternoon feeding. After the disappointment of the morning we were not optimistic, but we were to be surprised. As soon as we arrived there was a disturbance in the trees and a pair of orang-utans came swinging in,
using ropes and creepers, to a landing platform where bananas had been put out by the Rangers. The animals were magnificent - long-haired shaggy chests, powerful limbs, and almost human-like expressions on their faces. It got better! Another pair appeared in the trees to our left and these were joined by a youngster. Finally the dominant male appeared and impressed us with his abilities by crossing at speed from tree to tree by "walking" the ropes like some efficient tightrope walker but without the use of a balancing pole. He passed over our heads oblivious to our presence, then paused
to smash a coconut against a branch in order to get to the flesh. One of the females had a tiny baby clinging tightly to her chest; another walked past us with a youngster in tow, the youngster walking upright with it's arms draped around it's mother's neck, providing an almost comical sight. It had been an amazing experience, and a privilege to observe these animals in the wild.
Australia in 2014 with stop-overs in Singapore and Borneo in transit to and from London.
