Road trip from Noumea to Poe

A road trip  is such a great way of traveling, another kind of freedom, stopping in places whenever you want and for how long you want. The distance between Noumea (the capital of New Caledonia) and Poe (a small town in the north which was my destination) is 170 km, a road of changing landscapes; the rolling plains of the bush, lush river valleys, rugged mountains and wide beaches. And everywhere so green after all that rain that fell recently. This mix of greenery, cool air, rainy clouds and cattle grazing on plains felt very refreshing.

Great to see how good life these cows have. I have not expected to see so many cows and horses on the plains of the western coast, a surprising mix of a tropical island and European style agriculture. Most of the cattle are on European ranches. 

 My little Twingo taking one of many stops.

Passerelle Margeurite bridge designed by two students of Gustave Eiffel.

Stunning trees.

Bay of Teremba.

Another surprising sight, pastures under coconuts.

Summer love.

La Roche Percee beach is a surfing spot. 

On a beautiful beach of the "Bay of Turtles" (Baie des Tortues). It is a small and intimate beach with characteristic caledonian pine trees.

Connected to nature

In the clutter and noise of the modern life nature is a place I always return to. It is the central place of my life. Being close connected to nature means a space where we can heal naturally and gain energy and power to love, live and thrive. It does something good for your brain and your heart to experience a view like this.

Connecting to the natural world, the world I come from, makes me feel healthy, balanced and at peace within myself. Nature makes me a better and more grounded person, just because I need less of everything else.

Though it might be easy for many people to forget while they're busy living a modern, urbanized life - we human beings are grown out of, and we're part of the natural world. The nature which is made up of energies and natural molecular constellations; interconnection of water, soil, air and all living beings.  We don’t own and control this natural world as many might think but we are a part of the natural cycle; and we always get a chance to go back to the natural world where we come from and it will always give us a chance to heal and lead a better, more meaningful life.

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

― Albert Einstein

Back to Nature - eco lodge

While I was writing about places in Sumatra these last few weeks I could not wait to write about this beautiful Eco Lodge “Back to Nature.” It does not happen often to come upon such a unique and mesmerizing space. And if you forgot how inspiring, powerful and nurturing nature is and are looking for a place to reconnect with it, and if you happen to be in this corner of the world  this is a place where you will fall in love with nature again. While staying here you become an integral element of this ecosystem, of this natural cycle, you live in the midst of it with the constant sound of the river, monkeys swinging over your head while you are taking a shower in an open air, you tune in to weather changes with clear sky and sun that welcomes you in the morning and tropical rain and thunder storms that will make your heart beating faster. And after the heavy rainfall the jungle comes back to life in front of your eyes with hundreds animals, birds and other species sticking out their heads and making the forest to vibrate again; with clouds of steam evaporating from the trees and soil and traveling into the sky. To create such a special place you need a very special soul and mind to do that and I will speak about this person in the next article. He built this Lodge with his own hands and help of a few people, the rooms are very large, filled with natural light, furnished with beautiful hand made pieces. There are comfortable seats on the terrace with the views over the jungle and the river. The food is vegetarian and the staff simply wonderful people. Do you I need to convince you more?

Getting there: “Back to Nature” sits right on the river bank on the border of  Gunung Leuser National Park. Your destination is so known Bukit Lawang, the place to watch the famous Sumatran orangutans. While there is plenty of accommodation in the village, “Back to Nature” is deeper in the jungle and it takes around 30 minutes of a hike along the river. You can call the lodge to reserve a room and they will come to pick you up in Bukit Lawang (tel: 0813 756 57004).

Activities: Wildlife/ orangutans watching, jungle treks, river rafting.