I’m in East Timor this week to visit the bakery at the convent there. This is my fourth trip here. It is different this time because my wife Christine is with me, plus our good Melbourne friends Ralph and Margaret. Ralph has been there with me each of the four times but his wife, just like Christine, hadn’t. This time we are doing some sightseeing, while on past visits we were pretty busy working in the bakery.

One of the nuns is going to take us to the end of the island to go snorkelling. They say it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. It’s at least a full day of driving, as far as I understand. Maybe more. We’ve done a fair bit of driving over here already and the roads aren’t great, let me tell you!

This time we don’t have to do much in the bakery because they are running it so well. These East Timorese are great bakers. They are doing a great job. I’m really looking forward to catching up with our two young lady bakers, who we had out last year in Beechworth and Ballarat and our other Beechworth Bakeries. They were terrific. They loved seeing – and working in – our bakeries, and our staff loved having them.

It’s great catching up with the nuns again too. They’re real characters.

East Timor is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia, so our wives are a little bit shocked, to say the least. But, look, it’s also a great experience.