Flores road trip

Sara did some great planning for our time together. Our first driver, Gusti, took us from Labuan Bajo right across to Ruing. First stop - Ruteng. 

We stopped at Spiderweb rice terrace. Each village has their own web to grow enough rice to live on over the year. 

We stayed in a gorgeous Airbnb with Adi. He took us for a walk round Ruteng in the morning to see the farming and meet some pigs. 

The next day we went to see Hobbit Cave. Twenty years ago they discovered some bones in this cave and they unearthed different animal remains of a Komodo dragon, a big rat and an elephant from 100,000 years ago, as well as a new species of human, Homo floresiensis - a smaller, Hobbit sized human. 

We then did a looong day of driving to get to a traditional thatched village in Gurusina. We stopped off at a distillery where they make kobok, a strong liquor made from the flowers of a local tree. 

The traditional village was quite rustic. We slept in the huts that were open to the elements - a little chilly at night!

We visited a hot springs where a hot and cold river meet. There were loads of mosquitos. We loved messing about in the river. 

We also visited another traditional village called Benne where Olive got to try cracking open the macadamia nuts. 

The kids loved a daft ride in Riung. 

We took a trip to four different island from Riung, enjoying the sight of hundreds of massive bats flying around and snorkelling in beautiful turquoise seas with lots of multi coloured tropical fish. Stunning. We also had a BBQ with some of the best fish I have ever tasted - Jack, barramundi and squid. 

The final piece in our adventure with Sara was visiting the Kelimutu volcano with its three lakes representing a young girl, a ghost spirit and an old man. It gave us some lovely views. The water colour was crazy. Olive also got to ride a horse again which she loved. 

Thanks Sara, Hugo and Harrison for giving us some really memorable days. I think the kids will look back really fondly on the time they have spent together here and back in Peru and Ireland.