Bridget's MAF Journey: Weekend bike rides

The last two weekends I've joined Catharina, an Australian expat who's been living in Timor for 17 years, for a bike ride. It's been great to venture a bit further afield, get some exercise, get to know her better and learn more about Timor all at the same time!

2 August: Maubara

Maubara lies on the coast about 45 km west of Dili. The road to get there is relatively flat and sealed most of the way. We met at Catharina's house after church and started our ride. Her husband Rob met us at Maubara, where we visited a friend of theirs, and then drove back together.

Stopping for a photo on the way to Maubara

Old Dutch fort at Maubara

Visiting Rob and Catharina's friend for his birthday


We stopped at the Ai Pelo prison near Liquica for me to record a kids talk for church in Atherton. The theme was Jesus as the cornerstone (1 Pet. 2:4-6).

9 August: Gleno

Gleno lies in the next valley over from Dili, at 882 m elevation according to Wikipedia. To get there by road requires about 1700 m of climb! Thankfully Rob drove us to the top of the first big hill, but after that we were on our own.

Near the Gleno lookout we stopped at a kiosk and met a man whose uncle had been killed in a massacre. It turned out that Catharina had known the uncle, who was a priest in Suai when she was based there around the time of the referendum. Although I couldn't understand much of what he said, it was obvious that the memories were still painful, but being able to talk about it was helpful to him.

In Gleno we visited a man called Joseph who is running a boarding house for high school students. He and his wife are from Singapore, however his wife was in Singapore visiting family when the Covid lockdowns happened. She has been unable to return to Timor, so he is running the boarding house (with 33 students) largely by himself. It was great to be able to spend time talking with him to encourage him and pray with him.

The ride took pretty much all day; we got back to Dili about 5:30 pm. It was 68 km all up - not too bad for someone who has hardly touched a bike in over a year!