SupaWallace escapades

Some shots of the recent trip ( not my photos ) started out with devil winds but came good after 3 days and most mornings and late afternoons were offshore. The last 9 days were pretty special and one day looked like cartoon drawings on the paddle back out , direction was perfect and 350 meter rides were being had that day . Didn’t take a lot of photos in prime conditions as was averaging 7 hours a day .

Wow.. epic stuff!

Yep it’s a special place

Supafreak wrote:

Yep it’s a special place

Supafreak. Hi mate.

Loved all your updates , stories and footage. If I’m not wrong, I think that’s you charging the left on ya backhand. Good stuff, very happy to hear you had a great time. May it continue. AW

The eagle landed 65 minutes ago , I’m guessing he’s waiting for surfboards. Dropping him at a close hotel as he heads to Jakarta tomorrow. The boat ride back to NL should be exciting this afternoon as swell will be peaking , taking kia koa for safety and convenience. A mate was surfing large wreck by himself earlier today , ugly wipeout, got his leg bent up his back with foot tapping his head , may have torn his hammy and unfortunately his surf holiday is over .

X2^

basesix wrote:

got that whiff of fragrant-rotting-two-stoke-vegetation up ya yet, @AW..?
burnt-banana-leaves-rising-damp-dog-dust-gudang-bamboo-chicken..?
poor-set-concrete-temple-pong-sweaty-namaste-babiguling-salt-sea-air..?

Basesix. Hi mate.

Yep all of the above, pretty knackered got picked up at my front gate at 2.30am this morning by an airport shuttle guy, 1deg.c on the dial, freezing cold.
I can thoroughly recommend Batik Airlines, clean, cheap, comfortable, cheap on board hot meals, friendly staff with a sense of humour. Unlike some Aussie carriers.

Alas, I’m here, it’s definitely not cold, just had an Indo feed and saw a few birds in the gardens, met Supafreak and his daughter at the airport, great guy, I’m sure we will hit it off. An hours wait to get boards and the whole of the planes luggage off, looked like the ground crew were at smoko, they love a ciggie as we all know.

Haven’t been here since 1989, wow what a change. Way overcrowded on Bali now. Traffic is a nightmare, but in essence, us visitors have created it.

Supa reckons all the town planners need a kick up the arse.

Jakarta tomorrow to meet the other four bird nerds from other parts of the globe , following day fly to Ternate up in the Maluku Islands group up near SE Phillipines and NW New Guinea. AW

Enjoy lads, and yes please, share with us still living in the coldrums so we can live vicariously.

Good shit incoming!
Plenty of pics please.
How did you meet these other avian nutters AW? Meeting up with fellow enthusiasts in a far flung place would be interesting in of itself.

Great stuff @AW

seeds wrote:

Good shit incoming!
Plenty of pics please.
How did you meet these other avian nutters AW? Meeting up with fellow enthusiasts in a far flung place would be interesting in of itself.

Seeds, GuySmiley and Basesix.

I have it on good authority, my mate and colleague and I will observe birds, he will take the photos and I’ll log the bird data into the eBird system app (spatial, temporal, numbers of and species identified).

Seeds , we received an invite from Rockjumper World Bird Tours out of Mauritius , one of the best nature travel companies known in January 2023.

Easy as to fund, just like a surf boat trip, $80 a week out of your account for 100 weeks (2 years) before you know it you’ve paid in full by 2025, without even trying.
We waste that amount in our daily lives. You can fund any kind of trip easily, it’s just application.

Three from Australia, one from the UK, US and Switzerland plus the guide from the company who is from South Africa whom myself and my mate know.

Tour Title : : Wallacean Endemics 2025 ( small group)
Six paying customers and a very experienced bird guide, 7 all up.
This was the attraction, the group size, not often do you get a small group offer.

Sir Alfred Russel Wallace was the first person to ‘devise’ the theory of Natural Selection and transmutational change, he was publishing frequently in the elite stiff and noble Linnaean Society in London in the mid 1850’s, Charles Darwin was the first to ‘publish’ the same theory with his seminal work On The Origin of Species.
Both credited as the co- founders, but really it was Wallace, but he was way too polite to take the praise

This bird expedition takes us firstly up into the NE region of the Maluku Islands near West Papua.
It’s here that Wallace identified an incredible amount of endemic bird species amongst all these large, medium and tiny islands, including Birds of Paradise.

Fly 3.5 hours NE from Jakarta to the stratovolcanic island of Ternate, boat it south to Sofiffi on Halmahera and travel by road to Subaim to start it all off, after days spent in the jungle, fly across to Nth Sulawesi and it’s right arm geology to the city of Manado (reputed to be one of the most beautiful places on earth), many days will be spent here.
Then a long flight south to the SW corner of Sulawesi to Makassar, a few days here, note, it’s here within its human gene pool that some shared genes are in Australia’s aboriginal ancestors, solidifying the theory that ocean voyages between the two land mass did contribute to how Australia gots its first occupants.

After days here, fly up to NE Palu still on Sulawesi for more bird treats and finally terminate the trip back in Jakarta .16 days all up.

Basically visiting just some of the places Wallace visited in his 11 years in the Malay Archipelago.

Next stop will be Supafreaks joint for about ten days surfing before we head to Lances Right for fourteen days surfing. Home to Oz around August 5th.

There’s nothing like sharing vicarious pleasures.

That’ll make for a great trip. AW

It should be awesome.
That company payment plan sounds a no brainer.
Travels with like minded people in an organised trip like that also a no brainer. Just enjoying without having to worry about the details.