Cam and Jane in PNG

To New Places...

2007-04-22T23:13:00.000+10:00

Well, we have been in Australia for only 3 weeks, and we find ourselves going on another journey - this time for a bit of a holiday. We want to keep writing and posting pictures about our travels and experiences but want to keep this blog exclusively about PNG. So. We have started a new blog of our adventures...continued. Please keep up to date with us and check it out at
http://camnjanecontinued.blogspot.com

There are also some future plans to post more of our photos and PNG experiences here in the future. When we have a bit more time. So for those of you interested in learning more about the amazing place that is Papua New Guinea (and Milne Bay in particular) - stay tuned!

Goodbye Alotau

2007-04-15T01:04:00.000+10:00

So we’ve been a bit slow with posting about the last days in Alotau – after having left 2 ½ weeks ago – but here it is.

The last week was fairly blurred – parties, books, drama and the rest. Obviously it was a fairly emotional time. Regardless of any negative experiences, or readiness to go home and see family and friends, there is a lot to miss in Milne Bay.

We spent much time packing, and cleaning up, and repacking. We sent most of our stuff home the week before we left only to experience the true generosity of Milne Bayans and receive another bags worth of gifts that we had to find somewhere to put.

Our second last night we had dinner with the missionaries that lived across the road from us – lovely wheat free lasagne and theological and evolutionary discussion into the wee hours of the night. Our last night saw Maxine and Elaine cooking up some delicious farewell food, with Jeannie, Charlie, Joby and of course Kaure all joining in the eating and compulsory farewell drinks (Kaure was strictly on a juice and water mix).

There were a couple of particularly emotive moments. There was a final farewell luncheon at Jane’s work. Nice speeches were said, Jane and Cam were thanked for their contributions, the students sang a song, and certificates were handed out to the drama group. There were gifts from the staff – beautiful gifts such as clay pots (traditional cooking vessels used in PNG), t-shirts, billums etc. And an amazing collage put together by Maxine with help from some of the staff, featuring the drama group. It is such a special gift that will surely take pride of place when we actually have a place to live in where we can hang it.

Later that same afternoon the drama group presented some special pieces they’d been working on – both a traditional story and a song that they’d written. There were many tears, and Jane felt both sad and loved.

On our final day in Milne Bay there was much running around to do, as there always is before a major departure. In the afternoon we eventually left for the airport, and were accompanied by the drama group and assorted friends. Farewelling from the airport seems fairly important in PNG.

So Maxine drove a busload of us there, and we met up with others and hung around for an hour or so after checking in our luggage. It was all a little bit surreal. The plane came, we got on – trying to make the last minutes as happy and positive as possible. As the plane took off we all waved madly through the window at each other. What a great image to leave on – all of our friends waving and reminding us of all the good things, wonderful friends and amazing experiences we have shared this year.

Almost Like Being Santa…

2007-04-03T23:54:00.000+10:00

So, yes, we are back. Back in Australia that is. And it is all a little bit strange to get used to. But more on that later – we still have a few more PNG stories to tell…

In the week before we left we were very busy. One of the things that Jane had been working on during the year was a book drive to collect books for the schools around Milne Bay. While this project had its ups and downs (apologies to those who collected books, but never sent them/had them collected – there were obstacles with everything from storage to transport to communications!), there were a few successful parts. A couple of bigger charities were able to send more than a tonne of books up from Australia to Milne Bay, and we sorted them and started to distribute them last week.

Books are so difficult to get in PNG, and many of the school libraries are pitifully bare and out-of-date. It was great to be able to get books to some of the local high schools,

primary schools and elementary schools,

as well as the local library.

We are sure they will be used well, just as they are appreciated. Hopefully book drives will continue into the future to get more books to more of the schools in Milne Bay.

A weekend of farewells...

2007-03-27T14:27:00.000+10:00

As mentioned in the last post, this weekend we were preparing for, participating in, and cleaning up after our ‘go pinis’ parties (aka go finish, or farewell). We were lucky enough to have two – one at Jane’s work, and another at our place.

So Saturday saw us marketing, shopping and working. Also, Cam spent some three hours trying to find a pig for our own party the next day. We never imagined it to be such an involved process. 7pm rolled around and we went to Jane’s work where the first party was thrown in our honour. The kai kai (food) was delicious as always (thanks to Vero and the kitchen staff), and a good time was had by all.

The Wanigili Theatre Group (that Jane has been working with over the last 6 months) even put on a few performances – including improvisation and mime.

Then the dancing started. Cam begged out with the excuse of documenting the event, while Jane danced to every song until the music stopped. And woke up with very sore feet the next day.

Sunday morning we resisted the tempation of sleeping in as we had lots of preparation to do for our own party. We started cooking and baking, cleaning, and generally preparing everything. Aries came through with a pig for us (yay! A party just isn’t a party in PNG without a pig in some form), and James, Cam and the kids across the road had great fun in helping to stuff it, put it on the pole and roast it over the fire. We were a little bit concerned that James enjoyed the whole process a little bit too much, perhaps he has been taunted by pigs while working out in the village, look at that smile!

James also performed his standard "ruin a perfectly good go pinis photo with a silly face" routine: look carefully between us.

Serina was amazing, and we’re sure once we got distracted with the guests arriving it was her that kept the party running. Thanks Serina! Apart from the food that we cooked, most people brought a dish with them, so we had plenty of food.

But, it wouldn’t be a PNG party without an excess of food. Everyone stuffed themselves, and was happy.

The drama group performed some more pieces, and there was even a bit of audience participation, most notably from local ‘celebrity’ Habona.

We were given some beautiful gifts from our friends (as pictured) – including some traditional jewellery, and baskets. Also a presentation was made to Jane from her drama group – and a few tears may have been shed.

The tears dried up however when Maxine's son with a great sense of comic timing interrupted what was becoming a rather emotional speach with "Mummy, I need to poo poo”... Jane is still laughing about it

So thanks to everyone who made our last weekend in Alotau so memorable. Thanks to Serina and her family for sticking around to the end – including party clean up duty. We’ve had such an amazing time – it’s going to be tough on Thursday when we say our lasts goodbye and fly away, we don't think a poo joke is going to let us get away easily this time.

Into the last two weeks...

2007-03-23T12:12:00.000+10:00

As our time remaining here becomes shorter, we are trying to fit more and more of those 'last things' and 'catch ups' in. Last weekend we went and visited Serina at her village, Porotona, for the last time (at least for a while). We took the new volunteer dutch physio Anita along with us to introduce her to a different aspect of PNG culture, and as usual we had a great time and Serina and her family looked after us very well. We had a bit of a lazy time compared to previous visits (no walking up mountains or anything like that), but we still managed to play in the river with the kids, and Cam went prawn crazy once more.

The next day we went for a spin to Taupota and took Serina and the kids (as many as could fit) with us.

We stopped on this beautiful stony beach and the kids went for a swim while we started a fire and Cam cooked a fairly 'traditional' village meal - bulli beef, noodles and whatever vegetable is around.

Mmmm Bulli...

Needless to say we made for an interesting attraction with the local kids. In the afternoon we made a sad farewell to Serina's family - now the hard goodbye bits are starting, there were too many tears to make taking photos a possibility.

Throughout the week we packed. Oh how we packed. It's amazing how much two people can accumulate over a year - and that's after we've given a significant amount of our stuff away! We tried to send it away yesterday, but as usual it didn't quite work out the way we planned, so we'll have another try again today.

We were also lucky enough to have dinner cooked for us this week as well. The two volunteer/elective student doctors from Oxford wanted to repay us for the dinners Cam had cooked for them, so they came over on their second last night in town and made a delicious meal! Thanks for that Wil & Sandy. Thanks also to Dr Greg who attended and who has looked after us very well this year also, it is difficult to even begin to describe how hardworking and dedicated the medicos are here.

Anyway. We are officially at the one week to go in Alotau mark. It's hard to believe how quickly the time has passed! This weekend will see our go finish parties, and all the last minute catch ups, pack ups and farewells. We are looking forward to going home, but it is certainly going to be hard to say Aihoni!

Another weekend in paradise...

2007-03-15T09:40:00.000+10:00

Weekends in Alotau can vary. As we will be leaving the country soon, we are trying to fit in as much as possible into our spare time. Perhaps this last weekend wasn't the most 'average' or normal one, but we feel it's worth writing about.

On Friday night we went to the local pub for Evonne's 'go finish' party (or farewell, for those who haven't picked it up) and danced the night away. We met some new volunteers working at the hospital, and had some nice company and conversation.

On Saturday Cam and Jane went their separate ways. Cam went with Bryan to see the prime minister speak (as one does) at the 'breaking of the ground' for a new business venture. There was lots of dancing and cultural celebrations. There was also plenty of political rhetoric or what in pidgin is called "mauswara" literally words that flow from the mouth like water, in other words politicans promises or more succintly: "bullshit". As Jane had the camera there were no piccys to record the event.

Jane and Maxine went to visit Rose – one of the drama group members. She lives about 20 minutes walk out of town, and has a very cute pig that almost acts like a dog. They went to visit the pig, and learnt how to cook aigarr (sp?) – which involves heating up rocks in a fire and then putting them in banana leaves filled with coconut milk, chicken (not pig, he was too cute!) and veggies.

Jane also taught the girls how to knit – can't even escape from the knitting in a tropical country!

Everyone here seems to be having birthdays at the moment, so Saturday night saw us joining the small Filipino community in town for one of their numbers birthdays. This of course involved dancing and karaoke which kept Jane happy (even Cam had a sing!), and pig on a spit which fascinated all the boys.

Sunday morning saw us piling into a car to see Evonne off (see previous blog entry) – a sad occasion. And to cheer ourselves up we went to breakfast afterwards at one of the hotels in town. We can't believe it took us this long to discover Sunday morning breakfast there – cappuccinos and everything (look at the smile on Cam's face)!

Jane tired herself out playing with Kaure and slept for part of the day, while Cam went for a dive off the shore at the local dive shop. We'll spare you the photos this time

This weekend we have more in store – going to our friend Serina's village for the last time! Only 15 more days in Alotau, and 18 more days in PNG! It's just going so fast!

Farewell to Evonne...

2007-03-12T13:29:00.000+10:00

... or Etox, or Pun, or the honarary desperate housewife.

Yesterday we saw off one of our housemates and fellow volunteer Evonne. Her stay was shorter than originally anticipated, but she certainly made an impact in the time she was here. And we are sure that Milne Bay will see her again in the not-too-distant future.

We just wanted to say thanks and good luck to Evonne of the many nicknames and talents…Jane will miss having a dancing friend – someone who will get up and boogy to a good song no matter the surroundings or time of day (or nomatter if there is no song even playing).

Cam will miss having a surrogate sister to fight over couch space with.

James will miss having a buddy to hang out with and eat ice cream with. (That's James looking great in the back)

We've just included a few piccies of our time with Evonne – these include her well-known 'rat face', her groovy and fun styles, her artsy side, and a farewell group shot.

Look forward to seeing you in the not-too-distant future Evonne!

The first of the lasts…

2007-03-08T09:32:00.000+10:00

The countdown has started. We now officially have 24 days in PNG, and only 22 of those in lovely little Alotau. Cam and Jane are really starting to feel the pressure of doing everything that a) we haven’t done yet, or b) we want to do one last time.

Obviously, in a place like PNG, there is plenty that we haven’t done. We are coming to terms with the fact that we’d have to come back here on many more trips to do everything we want to. However, there are many places that we have been that we would like to revisit before we leave.

One place you would have seen on this blog before is Waga Waga. Last weekend we went to visit Treetops Lodge again for one last quiet and idyllic retreat. This time we didn’t do any adventure walks, or snorkeling on the shipwreck. We just relaxed, enjoyed the view and soaked up the peaceful surroundings.

This is the place we first visited with Lyn, Stan and Will (the English anthropologist). We told Witch stories at night (very popular in Milne Bay – often considered to be the PNG capital of witchcraft and sorcery), and welcomed Stan back from a traumatic (and smelly) boat trip from Port Moresby.

Next we visited with Alix and Jace when they came to stay. Alix made friends with a fruit bat called Ane, and Jace got busy making kulau cocktails.

Our third visit was with Etox and the Drs. We went on an interesting walk to a nearby waterfall. We quite enjoyed the walk, except for the bit where Jane nearly feel off a mountain. After some time sitting at the waterfall we went back and relaxed some more – except for (hardcore) Scott who decided to get up early the next day and go on another walk.

Last weekend was our last stay, the first of the lasts.

We want to thank Warren for always looking after us; he's always been happy to come and pick up us poor volunteers without a car using his old beast and more importantly he doesn't even mind Cam using the kitchen and occasionally breaking through the floorboards!

If there are any of you who come across this blog researching a trip to Milne Bay or Alotau, we hope that you'll take our recommendation set aside enough time for a few days in the tree tops

Jane's Rant...continued

2007-03-06T10:12:00.000+10:00

So, sorry about the text heavy rants, but please read on. It gives you a very good insight into what it is like to work here. We'll try and find some nice piccies to add (however unrelated) so that there is something pretty to look at. Anyway, here is the second story/rant.

Part Two – Come back tomorrow…

As mentioned before we have managed to record the first episode of our radio plays. We were very happy about this. It was a rocky start with a couple of blackouts, but once we started recording we were finished in 2 days (Wednesday and Thursday). We were told that the editing would only be a one day job (the episodes are only around 45 mins), so were told to come back the next day (Friday) to see how it was going, make comments on sound effects, and so on. We returned on Friday, and not too much had been done, but we were happy to come back on the weekend and give the operator some extra time. We also were told that we had to re-record one a part, so we arranged to do that on Saturday.

Saturday: (morning) Picked up the narrator and re-recorded his part. Were told that there had been a blackout the night before, but that it should be edited soon, and perhaps we could come back that night. I had already arranged to have dinner (it was a Saturday night), but Maxine said she could drop around, so she did. She arrived, but was told there was a party on, and ‘could she come back tomorrow?’

Sunday: Went back after lunch to check on the progress. We were able to listen to a few scenes, but it was fairly obvious that not much had been done. We kept being told that ‘first the voices and scenes needed to be placed, and then sound effects added, and then the whole thing to be mixed’. That’s fine, if that’s what needs to be done, but each time, nothing was happening beyond the first step. From listening ourselves we realized that we needed to re-record a couple more voices as well. So we arranged that for the next day.

Monday: Turned up in the morning and re-recorded a couple of parts (even though one part that had been ‘lost’ actually wasn’t). The operator hadn’t done anything from the previous day ‘I’ve got this headache and backache…’ Were told that it should be fine to ‘come back tomorrow – after lunch’. Needless to say we were becoming more and more skeptical.

Tuesday: Turned up again. The operator had been sick the day before, and also I think there had been more blackouts, as well as organizing something for an important friend (cue name dropping). Hadn’t been done. ‘Come back tomorrow?’ We thought we’d leave it til Thursday, in the hope that something more would get done.

Thursday: (one week has passed since finishing recording – originally we had been quoted one day for editing). Walked in and were told ‘we’ll need to re-record 10 parts’. What!?! Wasn’t this a bit late in the piece to tell us? It can be fairly difficult to get everyone in the same place at the same time to record – some of the talent had already flown out of town! Obviously things still hadn’t been done. Or rather, little bits had been done. But then the operator had decided the quality wasn’t that good so had stopped until we came around, when she told us a big chunk would have to be redone. We weren’t terribly impressed with this. Were told ‘I guess I can work with what we’ve got, but it will take longer coz they’re all at different levels…’ Wasn’t that supposed to be done when we initially recorded into the mics? The operator wasn’t at all apologetic either saying that ‘we are all in the same position’! Not really. Right, so established that we would come back on Saturday.

Saturday: One line had been lost, so we brought one of the kids back to record it. We were actually able to listen to the whole episode (apparently the operator had stayed up all night working on it), but as it was still being worked on there were many different quality levels – something about moving the recordings from one editing program to another (this had caused delays, as had more blackouts, and the rearranging of all of the equipment to get ride of a mysterious buzzing noise). But it was good to get an idea of the episode as a whole. ‘Could we come back tomorrow?’

Sunday: Maxine went back, and the operator had gone to a meeting.

Monday: No one there. Apparently there was another media job on in town, so we went to that and found the operator. ‘I really want to get this out of the way. I’m giving it priority over my own projects. There has just been so much bad luck, and I’ve stayed up all night trying to work to get it finished. So definitely – in the next day or so. Come back tomorrow?’ Sigh. It’s like banging ones head against a brick wall.

Tuesday: Went to the recording studio, but, you guessed it, the operator wasn’t there. By this time we have started our own recordings with our equipment, as we just need to get it all done.

Wednesday: Still no sign of the operator. Maxine decides to go and visit at night on her way back from dropping people home (after recording). It’s dark, and raining, and Maxine knocks on the door only to be told by the operators son ‘oh, we are celebrating a birthday tonight.’ Maxine explains through gritted teeth that it has now been two weeks and she really needs to know what is going on as we have deadlines to meet with this project. He goes back inside to get the operator. Maxine has been shut outside in the rain, and is then made to wait for 20 minutes while the prayers are being said. The operator eventually comes down and says ‘no, I don’t have a problem, but it’s still not ready. I can write a letter to the funding people to let them know about all the blackouts.’ Maxine says that this won’t be necessary, we just want the actual episode completed – when is a realistic timeframe for this to be done? ‘Oh, probably Friday – next week’. We are very glad that we decided to record the final five episodes on our own. We may not really know what we are doing, but it’s better than this powerless frustration and continual inaction on the operators’ part.

So we are going to go back and check today if there is any progress being made. It is nearing three weeks since we first started recording…this is something worse than ‘PNG time’…

Why Is Nothing Easy?

2007-03-04T17:38:00.000+10:00

Well, first of all I want to say that we were warned that working in a developing country isn’t easy, and that there will be cultural differences etc etc. That’s fine, that’s fair enough, all understandable. But the difficulties we have been having with the radio play project are getting beyond a joke. There are two stories to tell here, so I will write them under subtitles…

Part One – Bureaucracy Bites
So when recording sounds, one wants a soundproof space so that we only record the sounds that we want the audience to hear (less cars driving past, kids screaming, hammering from the construction site next door etc.). In town there are only a few such spaces. One is the recording studio where we have already done some of our recording (more to come in part two); another is the current radio station which is only available a couple of hours a day, has archaic equipment (think vinyl and tape decks) and hasn’t been running for the last couple of weeks as they are behind in paying their bills; and the other is the brand new media space that was built through overseas funding, has brand spanking new equipment, and hasn’t been used since it was built due to internal politics.

We have been trying to use the new space, seeing as it was just sitting there, and we thought it might not be such a problem to use it, especially since we had some money in the budget to pay for the use; not to mention the fact that this is a community project and no-one will be profiting from it. Well. We started making enquiries, oh lets see, a few months ago now. We were very aware of going through the right channels. For the purposes of not mentioning names we will use letters of the alphabet to describe the process we’ve been through – hopefully this won’t get too confusing.

We went to the people at department A and they were very supportive – “it’s a community project, very good! Maybe we can give you a discounted price. But you just need to confirm it with big boss B.” So we tried and tried to get in contact with big boss B – eventually ran into him and organized a meeting (as he often seems to be out of the office, and doesn’t tend to return calls). We waited for an hour and a half, and he didn’t turn up. Eventually we got in contact with Big Boss B and he said something along the lines of “Sounds Great! Sure you can use the space. Just go back to department A to get it in writing, figure out rates etc”. Naively we became excited.

Now, the boss in department A (the nice one) has since gone on holidays. So we went and spoke to the acting boss who seems to have a problem with us, or Big Boss B, or just with life. He said “what’s this about? No, you haven’t gone through the right channels. You actually need to go through the boss in department C – he’s in charge of all this stuff. It’s nothing to do with Big Boss B at all!” Of course he said all this in a really nice way, so we just had to keep on smiling as well. Mind you, before he said all of this, he actually made us submit a whole bunch of paperwork. Just to make it seem all official.

We then went to the boss of department C who also made us submit a whole lot of paperwork. He then said “oh, well, it seems good, but well, this studio has never been used before. So no, you can’t use it. And besides the equipment is expensive and it might get damaged.” It didn’t seem to matter that we had a technician who had offered to help us. But then he added “I’ve said all this, but if Big Boss B pulls rank and says that you can use it, then I can’t stop you.” Right. So back to Big Boss B. When he eventually gets back to us he says “Well, the boss from department C does have a point – the equipment is rather expensive. But perhaps you could just use the soundproof room if you have your own equipment.” Ok.

So, then we were waiting for the equipment. There were problems with ordering it, so we had to wait for a couple of weeks for it to come. In the meantime, we had to get Episode One recorded so we went to the other studio, with someone who does all the recording, editing etc (more in part two).

The recording equipment arrived a week around two weeks ago (although we are still waiting on the editing equipment). We tried to get in touch with Big Boss B, but as usual it takes a while. We started recording at my work place as I am leaving in a month and we still have plenty to do, and can’t afford to delay the recording any longer. The recording needs to happen around construction, school kids, rain, cars and general other annoying and distracting noises. We eventually got in touch with Big Boss B who said “yeah, if it’s just the soundproof room, then that should be fine. I’m out of town, so contact my deputy D who will organize it for you”. Or will he?

Next, we contact Deputy D. He doesn’t seem to know much about it, so we have to submit more paperwork. He leaves us hanging for a couple of days as we have sent the fax to another office that is ’20 minutes away’ (You can cross town in 10 minutes!). After many phone calls he says “Ok, should be fine. We will have to charge you though. Get in contact with department A so they can figure out prices and paperwork.” Aarrgghhh! Again, we go back to department A (the nice boss is still away) where we are told “No the boss of department C is in charge of this. Deputy D knows this! You’ll have to talk to department C again.” Maxine very politely explains the situation through gritted teeth and he says in the nicest way possible “Oh sure, I will talk to department C and see what can happen”. We don’t trust him or believe him for a second. We get back in touch with Deputy D who says “No this is definitely something I’m in charge of. I’ll write a letter right now!”

And that’s where we are at with this story line now. I think we’ve inadvertently stirred up some trouble between departments and people who don’t like each other. But we are still waiting on the outcome. Perhaps we will have finished recording by the time it is resolved. But I’ve never experienced so much bureaucratic bullshit in my life!

The Things We'll Miss...

2007-02-26T12:00:00.000+10:00

As we get a little closer to the time when we will have to "go pinis" (no trouser python jokes here... go pinis = go finish = head home), we are going to miss a whole bunch of people, places and things. We'll probably cover a whole lot more of these in the coming weeks (particularly people and places) but for now we'd like to cover some of the things we're likely to miss the most...

The market: The market is something that we've been really able to enjoy (but that other Dim Dims in less safe parts of PNG have to miss out on). The best thing about the market is without doubt the fresh fruit...

Bananas!!! Year round, sweet, savory, ripe and not $13/ kg (for those of you noticing the price tags 1PNGKina ~/= 50c)

Pinapples!!! Sweet, delicious and not chemically ripened which means that they are not at all acidic like the ones we get back in Aus, they are so nice that you can and do eat the core, it is the sweetest part.

Pit Pit & Kalamansis. This young lady is selling Pit Pit (the corn looking green things) which is a sort of fibrous vegetable which is a really lovely with coconut milk, chili, tomato and ginger. She's also got Kalamansis which are a citrus fruit half way between kumquats and oranges, they go bloody well with green coconuts ("Kulau" left of shot) pineapple and just a little Cuban Rum...

There are of course other things that we'll not necessarily miss but which all contribute to making the market such a uniquely PNG experience.

Smoked Marsupial: Yeah see that cute curly little tail, that means it is a Cus Cus, a small possum-esque marsupial distantly related to endangered tree Kangaroos (and for all we know endangered themselves), these guys are taken down with GIANT slingshots, quartered, smoked and delivered to market all for the princely sum of about PNGK 4.00 per chunk...

Coral Lime: no despite the resemblance this photo isn't of a hollywood starlet or movie producers wet dream. It is in fact one of the things that is contributing to the poor dental health and alarming rates of mouth cancer in this country. An integral component to chewing betelnut (or "buai") you add this to the nut and a bit of mustard plus of course your own saliva and get ready for a buzz... of course as it is lime (which mobsters use to help bodies decompose faster) it eats away at any fatty tissue in your mouth, also the chemical reaction with the other ingredients do tend stain your teeth permanently and horribly. To make yourself some baggies simply find a coral reef and destroy it...

Also there are the occasional things that you notice on the ground near the market which make the above little beauties pale in comparison.

This is a beer bottle lid, thats right the more perceptive amongst you readers will have already followed this to its logical conclusion... In a country with poor education and a terrible amount of domestic and sexual violence the major brewery thought that they'd help out the families of PNG by offering drinkers the chance to "win school fees" that's right folks the more you drink the more chances you have of being a good father...

Our first recordings.

2007-02-22T13:06:00.000+10:00

So. Recording has started. We went to the only functional studio in town, waited for 3 hours while there was a black out, and then decided to come back the next day. Luckily the power was back on by that time, and there followed two days of solid and quality recordings. Episode One out of the way. Or so I naively thought. Since then it has been undergoing post-production, something I have heard about many times, but being largely involved in live performances have never really had to deal with. Something which takes twice as long as the actual recording itself.
So hopefully we will have the finished product of Episode One by the end of this week!

Unfortunately it doesn't look like we will be able to use this studio for the recording of our other five episodes (that's right – FIVE MORE), so we will be exploring the land of recording and editing on our own – scary and exciting (thanks Chris for the tips on equipment). We are just hoping we can keep up the same standard and quality as that of Episode One. We are also starting to feel the pressure now as we only have around five and a half weeks in country! We can do it all in that time! That's one episode for each week, and also wanting to hear the first on broadcast on air before we leave. Trying not to feel that we're living the impossible dream!

Big thanks must also go to Cam who is as usual dealing very well with a crazy-busy Jane, making sure she eats properly etc. He is being a fabulous support! Also thanks to the Wanigili theatre group who are being patient and dealing with whatever is thrown at them. We were so busy we only got a few piccies of them recording, the one below is of the team entertaining themselves while waiting for their scene to come up.

Blackouts...

2007-02-14T10:27:00.000+10:00

In most of the world an electrical blackout looks a little something like this...

In Alotau in the non-rainy season a blackout looks a little more like this...

Yeah I know, nice, trust me if you'd lived through 5-months of virtually non-stop rain you'd realize just how much we're owed this sort of weather. Anyhow I digress and all of you back in Australian drought land will get cross at me if I sound ungrateful for rain, so back on target*.

The thing with blackouts here is that by and large they don't mess with the majority of the population, people are still able to go to the market, to go fishing, to cut kernel at their job at the oil palm plantation, etc, etc... Most of the population of the province (~90%) don't have access to electricity anyway so even those in town can hang tough for a little while because it is kind of just like being in the village.

But why the sudden interest in blackouts? Well as it turns out you can't run a recording studio on coconut oil, and so when you have two days of blackouts (unusual here, the power was pretty reliable until the last couple of months) you end up having two days of no recording...

Two days of hair pulling frustration, two days of driving people up and down from top town to bottom town, two days of having nearly a dozen people who have been preparing for months for this waiting, watching, slipping onto ships (ok, ok, I can't back up that last one).

And most importantly two days less recording time... Which as we edge closer to the end of our year makes for an even more anxious time.

There is some good news for Cam though even as he eeks the last dying minutes out of his laptop, and can't boil the kettle for coffee all of the building sites (three) surrounding our house have generators, so they are still able to run their noisy cement mixers...

* Alotau's annual rainfail is somewhere in 3 - 5 metre range most of that falls, well, always, 5 days without rain is virtually unheardof and more than a week has people crying drought. As to the whole "well send some of the rain this way" comments, we'd be pleased to but as we all know thats not the way it works.

Happy Birthday Mr Darwin...

2007-02-13T12:38:00.000+10:00

(Apologies and acknowledgement to Rick for being spurred by his inspiration, I also borrowed your graphic, thanks)...

Well folks late as this may be on the day itself I just wanted to wish a certain English gentleman a happy 198th birthday. Charles Darwin remains arguably the most influentual scientist in history. His work on many levels and his commitment to understanding the world we live in has directly or indrectly brought about a clarity of thought and a grasp of our reality that was impossible before his time.

In many parts of the world to day there is still a problem with understanding his "dangerous idea" PLEASE PEOPLE READ SOME DAWKINS! and there is even more sinister a desire from many people to attempt to discredit what is surely the most clearly outlined and well understood "theory" in science.

Various dissembling organizations around the world argue for equal hearing of Intelligent Design (called by some creationism in a tuxedo) along side Darwinian Evolution. With all due deference to policital correctness etc there are some things that are just plain wrong, to muddy such a clear pool of though with the ID arguments is like suggesting that the world is still flat with the sun revolving around it.

But I digress today is for celebration please look right and take in Rick latest inspirational post (his link is in our sidebar, scroll down through his posts they are awsome) and if you have time go to the Darwin Day website.

http://darwinday.org/

The world that we live in today would certianly be a better place were there more rational thinking and reason. To this end please have a look at the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science link (pictured in the sidebar) when you have the chance. Clear and Free thinking is its own reward.

The Bay Today...

2007-02-06T13:38:00.000+10:00

This is Jane McKenzie...

As many of you may know Jane is the better half of this blogging partnership. She does all the hard work required to ensure that you folks are kept updated (as regularly as is possible over here) with witty, well written and mostly correctly spelt (sp?) adventures about our time over here in PNG.

It is a somewhat thankless task particularly when compared to Cam's contribution which basically amounts to pointing a camera that seems unable to take a bad photo (except perhaps the one above) and trying to remember which button to push.

But contrary to how it may appear on this little page we've both been doing a lot more than just flouncing around taking pictures or having our pictures taken. That's why today unbeknownst to the chief blog editor I'm hoping to give you a little bit of an insight into just what Jane is up to with her volunteer placement... and I'll let you in on a little secret, given how tricky it can be to work over here it is pretty bloody impressive.

The project Jane is working on involves developing and delivering a six-part series of radio plays exploring important social issues (HIV, good governance, domestic violence, alcoholism, gender equity and youth) for the Media for Development Initiative MDI, who have provided a grant for the project. This is and has been what can only be described as a massive effort.

Not only was there all of the paperwork required to actually receive the grant but since then it has been a sort of nineteen-part balancing act which has focused on all the necessary elements that are required to make this sort of thing work.

The principal focus has of course been on the selection and skill development of a core group of performers who will be performing for the series. You may have met some of these performers on "The Bay Today" blog (see sidebar) and you will have certainly come across a few of their performances in other posts here (see World AIDS Day {December}).

What is special about them and the whole situation is that only one of them has had any previous acting experience. For the whole group to have progressed to where they are; recording scripts, improvising and working together as an ensemble is a pretty massive achievement. These folks have varying levels of education and natural talent but their development as actors (which is so impressive given the innate shyness of most people in Milne Bay) can be traced (in my completely unbiased opinion) back to learning from some one who takes such joy in learning herself. Jane has jumped headlong into improvisational theatre workshops stopping only for breath and the occasional glance at a Keith Johnstone book for inspiration.

It probably won't surprise you to hear that that is not such an easy thing to do here. There are cultural barriers about interactions between the sexes (heavily biased towards the uglier hairier half) and there are also very strong (but not necessarily clear) hierarchies established in all situations based on relatedness, station in life and age. There is also a strong directive from pretty much the whole community which could be paraphrased as "Don't show off, don't be a smarty pants and unless you have heaps of money and a good position don't be confident". With this as the case Jane who is not only female but is also the youngest member of the group (a group comprised largely of men and entirely of people who really don't fit the "be confident" category outlined above) has managed to work wonders.

But she has had some help, so just in case you thought that this was just a shout-out for my lady only you must of course remember Jane's counterpart Maxine...

Yeah well, apart from the amazing ability to be caught on camera looking silly these ladies have in common a serious dedication to their work and their group (they are also helped in equal measure by Beatrice from EMB management but I {un?}-fortunately don't have a photo of Bea worthy of this post... sorry.)

At the moment all of the team are super-busy with the writing, rewriting, translating, formating, and recording of scripts not to mention the rehearsing, timetabling and writing of lesson plans, all up it is bloody hectic.

The thing that I want to emphasize here is this huge amount of work is going towards the issues mentioned above that touch almost every single person in this town (and most likely country) on a personal level. The lack of gender equity is enormous and it's natural consequence, domestic violence, quite frankly makes me sick. PNG is amongst the worlds worst in terms of domestic violence and sexual violence against women and children (for more information about this from someone who is working more directly in the field check out our link to our friend Carolyn's blog on the right we've called it "kickass blog from a kickass chick", but it's official title is "Pink Ukelele" it is also good for some great rants and laughs).

With the way that all of these problems are well know and recognized in the public eye (by community members and politicians) it is nothing short of horrible to find that perhaps the most trying problem that the project has faced thus far centers around political / bureaucratic power tripping. Without going into too much detail or dragging this out there is a perfect and I mean PERFECT facility in this town available for recording, editing and broadcasting this program (and many would argue built with development donor aid money for exactly this sort of purpose!). The facility basically sits idle (as it has done for the past 3 years) because of the bureaucratic muscle flexing of whoever decides they are in charge of it when someone asks to use it. The girls are currently as diplomatically as possible trying to explore all the correct channels to secure use of this facility. While they do so the province's one radio station (whose broken down studio would make Guglielmo Marconi's facilities look state of the art) sits in the shadow of this new and basically unused edifice, a testament to both the incredible dedication of some people (Radio Milne Bay) and the incredible short-sightedness of others (the powertrippers).

But I should stop now as this is becoming a rant and if you want a rant you should either go to Carolyn's blog (see right) or bloody email or call me in person and then I'll see what I can do. The thing is that I guess I wanted to dedicate this little post to the Girls and Guys working towards the radio-drama project (particularly to Jane; she's dreeeeamy she's a dream-boat ; ) ). I also wanted to just let you know how bad some of these issues are up here, and to remind all of you out there in sweet-access-to-internet-land (the developed world) how lucky you are to never have to think about, let alone experience many of these issues. So maybe today give to a charity or read up on some of these issues (not just for PNG but for your own country) and also finish up with a look at a photo that I hope the girls are a little more likely to approve of...

P.S. Janey don't get cranky at me for such a text heavy post... It is probably for the best that I didn't put in too many more photos...

Cam Adds a Touch of Class

2007-02-04T16:06:00.000+10:00

Even though it is a small place, Alotau has it’s fair share of social events, and in order to relieve any cabin fever we might get from being in the house too much, we try and get ourselves to these events occasionally. Most recently one of the local establishments advertised a wine tasting night. As we don’t often see that much wine around the idea was intriguing. We were considering attending, when a slip of the tongue found Cam committed to hosting the event. Apparently working in a bottle shop throughout uni made him the most qualified person in town

So of course, we had to go.

As you can see the set up was rather nice (this was taken before the people started to arrive). And this would have to be the most wine bottles we’ve seen in any of the local pubs/establishments in the whole time we’ve been here. PNG would have to be one of the only places where it is socially accepted to serve cask wine at important functions, regardless of who is in attendance. The red wine was even left out of the fridge (as per Cam’s request) so as to be at room temperature for the tasting. A real classy event.

Overall the night was a success. Cam did a great job of hosting, using all those wine words (tannin, oak, residual sugar) and knowing what they meant (more than most of us did). Jane did a great job of heckling and having extra tastings of the wine – just to make up for the small-sips-only approach that Cam had to take given his professional demeanour and after his recent bout with malaria. And she loved dressing up in the dress Maxine gave her for Christmas – we all need a classy event to dress up for occasionally!

Consumer goods...

2007-01-29T14:59:00.000+10:00

Ok so one of the things that we haven't really spoken about a whole lot in the blog so far is, well, stuff. "Stuff" as in the physical things that you can buy with your hard earned Kina, "Stuff" as in consumer goods and trade goods.

Now obviously for those of you out there in the developed world there is a lot of "stuff" that can be considered "nice to have" or even just luxury items but when the chips are down and we are pressed for an opinion most of us all easily acknowledge as unnecessary.

That being said these trappings of wealth are also pretty easy to get used to having and not having them or other things such as a thai restaurants (along with a tendency for the majority of the population to walk around with knives almost as large as themselves), all combine to make living in the developing world somewhat of a challenge.

Anyway wether we like it or not the cheap plastic consumer goods are everywhere (even in the provinces of PNG) and they are here to stay. Most of the "stuff" that we get here comes from the asian markets with Indonesia and Malaysia the primary sources. With this as the case there are occasionally some pretty weird items on the supermarket shelves... We haven't really been keeping a track of these but as of this weekend we have to share this one with the world...

Yeah that's right lollies, but look a little closer and you'll notice that they are lollies with a free gift, a free gift of a Stanley knife, lovely. Can you imagine finding something like this on the shelf in Occupational Health and Safety crazy Australia? Maybe it is the last stop for your international terrorist who needs a sugar hit? (a big part of my enjoyment of the whole package is that fact that the "Orange" lollies are not in fact "Orange" but hit your tongue as the fabulous "Vitamin C Flavoured Fizzy Candy")

The thing is, as crazy as this all seems, there are probably few countries in the world where the general shopping public are as "knife literate" as those in PNG, perhaps the world hasn't gone crazy after all...
.

What We Get Up To With No Restaurants

2007-01-22T21:15:00.000+10:00

One thing we have been missing A LOT while we’ve been in Alotau is the lack of dining out options. There are a few places, but I’m afraid the variety is somewhat lacking. And we don’t really have access to a car so getting to and from these venues at night is not so easy.

So Cam has spent many a night figuring out how to make our eating habits more interesting. Recently he has focused on the lack of Vietnamese cuisine here – as many of you may know one of our favourite restaurants in Sydney is the local Vietnamese one – and has been exploring the supermarkets for any ingredients that can be used in the making of it.

While watching a show on foods of the world we all found ourselves drooling over Vietnamese Pho, and Cam decided it was time to take the step and try his hand at one of his favourite dishes. And boy are we glad that he did! Leanne, a volunteer from Goroka was here to enjoy it with us, and we had a lovely (almost restaurant-ish) evening.

Big thanks to Cam and his constantly improving culinary skills – but now the pressure is on for more yummy food! Unfortunately this week we’ve had to give him a break due to him experiencing his first dose of malaria. He’s been brought back to health and solid foods by lovely Nurse Jane – although on reflection if he had of thought about it, he could have made another big batch of Pho to sustain himself through the fever.

Our Live-Aboard Adventure

2007-01-17T20:59:00.000+10:00

So in the last post we mentioned something about going on a boat. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept of live-aboard boats – apart from what the title implies – these are boats that one lives on in between getting in the water and diving.

Cam has been doing training with various dive operations, and was asked to train on this boat. When the opportunity arose for Jane to join him on a live-aboard adventure she jumped at the chance! What an amazing opportunity! The boat sailed around the Milne Bay Province, taking us to places we had never been before – Kwato Island (where there is a beautiful old church),

the Engineer group of islands, the Amphlete group of islands and Goodenough island – higher than Mount Kosciuszko, but pretty much straight up from sea level. The type of image that takes your breath away to behold (as corny as that sounds). Amazing stuff.

Of course, we also had the chance to do lots of diving.

The average day on a live-aboard is:

6:30am- wake up and eat a (cold) first breakfast. Then dive.
9:00am- get out of the water and eat a (hot) second breakfast – just like a hobbit. Then dive.
12:00pm- get out of the water and eat lunch. Then dive.
3:00pm- get out of the water and eat afternoon tea. Then dive.
5:30pm- get out of the water, chill out, then eat dinner.
Occasionally after dinner there is a night dive on offer.

Phew! Luckily it wasn’t compulsory to do all of the dives as Cam is slightly more of a fish than Jane is, but the regular eating habits suited her just fine! However they both got a little bit obsessive about the underwater photography – it really is a lot of fun. And when you are in such an amazing location there is just so much to see! Such as:
sharks,

mobilas,

lion fish,

ornate ghost pipefish (hard to find),

rhinopias (again hard to find),

frog fish (also hard to find),

clown toby (cute – and Jane is very proud of this picture),

fire sea urchins,

blennies

nudibranchs,

and sea fans galore!

And we couldn't forget the usual clown fish photo either.

Also sometimes one finds a wreck of a plane on the bottom of the ocean – this is a B17 bomber from WWII at 47 metres underwater. Very cool.

Anyway, the point is we had a great time. The fellow guests (Peter,Kathy, Sarah and Chirs) were lots of fun, and provided great conversation and good diving company. We’d like to thank Paul and the crew (Simeon, Connie, Rose, Adrian, Jimi, Freddy and Max) for being wonderful hosts and helpers, and for looking after us so well. A trip we won’t forget – but for all the right reasons.

Our First Garden Harvest...

2007-01-02T07:54:00.001+10:00

Welcome to our first garden harvest! This was a fair while ago, but we've only just managed to obtain the photos. You'll notice in this picture carrots, capsicum, spring onion, cucumber, tomoatoes, ginger - all from our garden in Alotau! Here's hoping some of you will share in the excitement on home grown goods.

We had a great New Years and hope you all did too! There will be pictures of our New Years night coming up soon in a future posting. But for now we will be going away on a boat for a couple of weeks. Very exciting! So we won't really be able to post in that time, but never fear we should have plenty of piccies and stories when we get back! Happy 2007!

An Underwater Christmas

2006-12-27T20:13:00.000+10:00

Well, what a Christmas! We went to a lovely little diving hideaway on the north coast of Papua New Guinea just about an hour outside of Alotau. It’s very beautiful and a pretty special place to visit. Their main market is international guests with a penchant for amazing diving. Luckily, they also have a local rate, which is how we could afford to go.

We only stayed for 3 days – Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. We arrived on the first day just in time for lunch and diving (a perfect combination for Jane and Cam). Our first two dives, at a location called Wahoo Point, were as amazing as promised, and although we missed the hammerhead sharks, we did get to see at least 11 mobila rays, 3 turtles and a multitude of pretty fishes. For those in the diving know, we are talking about 25 m visibility in warm tropical water. Mmmmm.

On Christmas Eve, after a delicious dinner (we’re talking 3 courses, including soup, and pineapple crumble for dessert) and the biggest glass of wine you’ve ever seen, there was a special treat. Some of the local village people came around and sang Christmas carols in local language (Tawala). There must have been around 50 singers, and they filled up the space not only with their voices, but also with talcum powder. Apparently it is traditional to puff talcum powder everywhere when carols are being sung – perhaps it is making reference to the ‘white Christmas’ sung about in so many songs. Or maybe it’s just to make sure people are smelling nice in the sweltering, tropical heat. But it was amusing to see everyone covered in powder, somewhat amusing to be covered in it yourself, and less amusing for the singers who are trying not to choke on it.

We don't need to expain the white spots in the photo any further do we?

So Christmas Day we woke up (still smelling of talcum power despite long showers the night before) and opened some presents from ‘Santa’ (thanks Santa). We also managed to call both our families to wish them a Merry Christmas, which was nice. For the mornings activities we planned to go on two more dives – to Deacon's reef, and Lauadi, two beautiful dive sites.

Deacon's is a beautiful reef overhung by limestone cliffs and trees, so deep water species (those that like less light) settle and grow right up in the shallows,

in the shadows of the trees...absolutely amazing.

Lauadi is one of the most famous areas the home of "Muck diving" in PNG, that's where Jane got this beautiful picture of a nudibranch (especially for Lyn and Stan),

and, of course Cam took more clownfish photos.

Unfortunately he's actually getting pretty good at it, and had started including Jane in some capacity. Sigh.

We also saw a Titain Trigger fish munching on a starfish, maybe because it was full of reproductive goodness...

...as we discovered in the afternoon on a kayak/snorkeling adventure the starfish were all spawning. So those of you who helped out with Cam's honours can imagine just what this little guy was leaking and what we were swimming through...

We also discovered that Cam never really feels at home in or on the water without his fins.

Here he is at a Fish Aggregation Device – about 300m off shore. This sort of thing is built to help take fishing pressure off the reef by giving the small fish an illusion of shelter, they in turn bring the faster growing pelagic fish which is more sustainable than just fishing the reef.

The other highlight of Christmas day was fresh leg ham! Woohoo!!! Well, it is the little things, and ham is one of them in PNG. Which is surprising really, considering how much pig is bred and consumed here.

On our last day at the resort, we decided to take it easy and only go on one dive (Cam was being very restrained), off the front of the resort. It was just as lovely as the other dives, with more Mobila rays and big batfish and hump head wrasse.

Cam managed to get this shot after some serious effort...

Anyway, the point is we had a lovely Christmas and we both got lai..ed...

Please enjoy our fish (and other) pictures. Next stop at the holiday end of the year – New Years! Have a great one!

Merry Christmas!!!

2006-12-23T19:43:00.000+10:00

Just a quick one to wish you all a happy and safe holiday. We hope that Santa treats you well - this Santa and his Mrs Claus are off to have a well-earned break.

Hope you've all enjoyed finding out about our lives in PNG through this blog...Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Carols by Candlelight - PNG Style

2006-12-18T21:43:00.000+10:00

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Only one week until Christmas, and I find myself surprised. Possibly because Alotau, PNG, is fairly removed from all the marketing and consumerism that is usually found in my beloved Sydney. Although I wonder where in the Christmas-celebrating part of the world the shops don’t become somewhat more crowded at this time. But there is the compulsory Santa on the back of the truck, throwing lollies to the kids on the street (sometimes quite literally – the only reason that there haven’t been any kids hit by cars yet is the fact that there aren’t that many around. That and the compensation/payback system).

But don’t get me wrong – I actually love Christmas, and was happy to demonstrate this by helping to organize and stage manage the first Carols by Candlelight to be held at my work.

This was no mean feat, as people here don’t really have the same concept of commitment that we (generally) hold in the Western world. But we only had one drop out, and even though we were still changing the order of the acts during the concert according to when the performers actually turned up, it was judged to be a success.

We overcame our lack of live music facilities and people who could read music by finding an a capella carol singing group. There was also traditional PNG music groups and soloists, dancers (of the contemporary and pacific variety), and the Christmas raffle.

The Wanigili Theatre group performed a PNG-style nativity scene, with the three wise men of Gili Gili, Weimar and Kiriwina. I’m very proud of the group – they’ve come such a long way in the last few months.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Carols by Candlelight if there wasn’t a special guest appearance by one very important Santa Claus. Luckily Cam demonstrated his love of Christmas by helping out in the Santa stakes. He did a great job, and while he narrowly escaped being mobbed by the children who were the recipients of Santa’s lollies (thrown on the grass, not the road), he didn’t escape the ladies so easily.

It must be hard being Santa.

We Have A PHONE!!!!

2006-12-11T17:02:00.000+10:00

So...it may be only a small piece of news for all of you in the developed world, but we now have a phone. See our pretty
picture!!!!

We are now joining the world of communication and technology...no more walking to Jane's work at all hours of the night, and hopefully a bit more loving from the rest of the world. We also have a tv...so much at once! But it means we are the most in touch with the world that we have been in ages. Wheee!!!!