Today is the first of two days at sea. For reasons of a political nature, since 2010 Orion has to clear immigration internationally. This means that the nearest place to do this is Com in East Timor, but means a day travelling to there and a day travelling back. Should be some good R & R though!
No slacking to start with – the first lecture of the day is at 9.30am with Mick, which is on the history of Australia called “Footprints on a Forgotten Land”. As most of the guests are Australian, I was surprised at how many were in the theatre – it was virtually full. It may be the way that Mick presents as well, as he is so knowledgeable, needs no notes, and very slick in his delivery. And I learnt some history that I was unaware of – I thought it was Great Britain that found Australia and colonised it. The Spanish and the Portuguese and the Dutch had all been there before us – but never actually laid claim to it. It was only when James Cook landed, he claimed it as part of the British Colonies. We didn’t come out of it as such baddies as I thought we would!
After a short spell on the sunbed with the kindle, the Bridge was opened up for an hour for all who wanted to visit. The Captain was at the helm, and he actually entertained everyone for nearly two hours with his stories and explanations of how things worked. This was a really informal chat, with stories of breaking ice, near misses and polar bears. What a lovely man he is – no standing on ceremony, no feeling of grandeur, just a good natured, normal gentleman. He had everyone hanging on his every word.
After lunch, there were various activities throughout the afternoon, but I passed as this was really the first day that we have been able to unwind. And doesn’t doing nothing make you tired!
There was one more lecture in the afternoon that I went to – Paul elected to give it a miss. Again, it was really interesting. It was about the history of East Timor – the place that we are going to get to at 3.00am tomorrow morning. By the way, we will only be docking for an hour – just enough time to get the paperwork done. Anyone that wants to get off can do – but most certainly wasn’t encouraged to do so. You are only allowed on the jetty, if you go off your shoes have to be sanitised before getting back on board, and they really did their best to make you not put your name on the sign up sheet. I don’t think anyone is going to bother. Harry put together a presentation called “East Timor; The Declassified Truth” and it was quite shocking. I can remember an event ten years or so back when East Timor hit the news in the UK, but couldn’t really remember what for.
It has had a very violent past, and really hasn’t had any time of stability. Between the Indonesians, the Portuguese, the Military and the Police there has been war and killings for the past 300 years or so. Even as recent as ten years ago, there was a genocide where a third of the population were killed. A third of the population have been driven over the border into West Timor, which leaves just a third of the people there should be – 50% of them under fifteen. They had elections in April 2012, and so hopefully the new president will help to educate the young people to allow them to become self sufficient. They are a fairly rich nation because of oil and gas income, but have no core of skilled people to get the country on its feet. A very sad story.
The ship is certainly swaying a lot more on the open seas – I actually had to lean against the wall in the shower to wash my hair, otherwise I would have toppled over. Walking down the corridor in a straight line is not an option – must be better for you to travel twice as far to get to the same place! Paul is now regretting deciding to come with me I think – he is not a good traveller. Oh well – he can’t get off! He had one course only for dinner – that won’t do him any harm. I didn’t – I had it all. Will take more than that to put me off my food!
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