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!!!!

World AIDS Day

2006-12-04T09:55:00.000+10:00

Well. We're back. Sorry about the delay in blogging, but we’ve been busy settling back in and sorting ourselves out. You’ll be glad to know that it’s obscenely hot (unlike our 8 degree day in Sydney), and there are plenty of bananas, mangos and pineapples to satisfy any fruit cravings we may have (photos of fruit to be posted soon). We arrived back to discover that we now have a television and dvd player (Thanks Mike!), as well as a tv connection! So we can now keep up to date on the happenings in the world, and Funniest Home Videos and other similarly crap tv shows. Also the Ashes, which has had the male half of our household glued to the tv for the last few days. We are also half way to having a phone, in that there are lines mysteriously connected up to the outside of the house, but unfortunately none on the inside of the house yet, and no actual phone. But we are getting closer.

As has been mentioned before Alotau is a rather sleepy little town. But this was not so when we arrived back on Tuesday afternoon. I (Jane) discovered that not only was World AIDS Day on Friday 1st December (as usual), but there would be a march in town, and my group had been asked to perform for the day. So we spent Wednesday and Thursday getting our piece together.

World AIDS Day was great. While the march was only small, I think we caught everyone’s attention, and the first step is raising awareness. There were speeches and performances from various doctors, school groups and other groups such as Igat Hope, a HIV/AIDS support group started by HIV infected (and affected) persons. Some pretty inspirational stuff. The Wanigili Theatre group put on a great performance focusing on educating about the virus (e.g. It’s ok to use the same toilet as someone who is HIV positive, but people generally shouldn’t share needles when tattooing etc.). The crowd seemed to enjoy the piece, the group was happy and confident, and Maxine and I were so proud of them! Please enjoy the first piccies we’ve posted of my group on this blog (for more information about the Wanigili Theatre Group, see their blog http://wanigilitheatre.blogspot.com).

The day was incredibly hot, so we opted not to stay for the whole thing, but thankfully we heard later that the debate “That condoms should be abolished in PNG as it is a Christian country” was won by the negative team. Phew.

The Canoe Festival

2006-11-13T16:46:00.000+10:00

There are a few big events in Milne Bay each year – the Yam Festival on the Trobriand Islands, Independence Day (country wide), the Kula Cup (a soccer event – Milne Bayans are mad on soccer), and, of course, the Canoe Festival. This year was only the third year of the festival, but you would never have guessed from the familiarity with which it is discussed.

The basic idea is that each year, people from all over Milne Bay (and some other provinces as well, such as the Western Province) bring themselves, their families and their canoes together for a festival. Sure, there is a bit more to it than that. Stalls are set up everywhere selling food (yum, lamb flaps!) and handcrafts. Many different cultures dress in traditional dress, dance and exchange food (not always traditional food – it is rather funny to see someone in a grass skirt carrying a box of tinned fish on their shoulders).

In terms of the events, some sail on their sailaos, basically a canoe with sails, from the outer islands and have distance races. These are pretty amazing water crafts, as when they want any significant change in direction they simply swing the whole sail and boom around with the boat stationary in order to head in the other direction. Rather like a push-pull Manly ferry. It’s a pretty amazing operation, and looks quite difficult. (In this long shot you can see various craft at various stages in the process)

But we were particularly impressed with the war canoes and thier races. The canoes themselves are beautifully painted and show a real cultural pride.

The races involve groups of 18 or 22 (depending on the event) men in traditional dress paddling their hearts out and looking fairly intimidating. They blow the conch shell a lot, bang their paddles (which are very pointy and double as spears) on the boat at every stroke and occasionally sing. As I said. War canoes. Being war-like. We’ve heard that in the past there have been some punch ups after the races, but (much to my relief) not this year.

Unfortunately the weather was wet and drizzly, but the festival was still awesome, and everyone seemed to have a good time. Cam and I figured we probably wouldn’t get to the Western Province any time soon, so it was great to be able to see such a demonstration of their crafts and culture. Cam ended up making friends with these guys as well. It was from them that we bought some paddles (featured in one of the pictures from our last entry hanging on our wall), and a kundu drum, which is the frequent accompaniment to anything happening in our house at the moment.

We also used the festival as a kind of a stage. As you may have read at some point before, I (Jane) am in the midst of training a drama group. And we held our first performance at the Canoe Festival. Of course, it was an Invisible Theatre piece, so no-one actually knew it was happening except the group members. But some good conversations were started, and it was a good experience for the members of the group. And the whole idea of this type of theatre is to make people think about their society without knowing that they are being manipulated (in the positive sense of the word) to do so.

The other event worthy of some small attention was the Crazy Raft competition. Evonne and Rebecca were part of the team that won this event, due to the fact that there was only one entry. The team, named the Desperate Housewives (all women), were accompanied by ‘the Plumber’ who was blowing the conch shell, and dancing Trobriand style in his arse-grass. What a sight (left off the blog to protect the innocent)!

Almost Like Being a Socialite

2006-11-06T17:14:00.000+10:00

There’s been lots going on in the small town of Alotau, and so something needs to be written about it (while Cam gets his thoughts together on part two of his work trip)! Us volunteers have almost been living the life of socialites, going to 2 social functions in one week!

Last Wednesday there was an unofficial opening to the Milne Bay Canoe Festival (soon to be written about) held at Jane’s workplace. We were hob-nobbing with (or serving drinks to) the main business owners in town, and there were Trobriand dancers performing for the occasion as well. Since there was dancing, Jane couldn’t help herself, and cheered on by the Trobriand girls she works with she tried her hands, feet and hips at the traditional dances. Thankfully her skirt wasn’t quite as short as the traditional Trobriand grass skirts.

We all had a great night (thanks Vero for the great food)!

The second event of the week was the Madhatters party at the Cameron Club. This was raising funds for the transport of books in the Milne Bay Province, so we could honestly say that we were helping by being there : ) As the name suggests, we had to wear hats to the party, and so the house got creative. Scott with his beer train-drivers hat,

Rebecca with her traditional cassowary feather head piece, Cam with his toilet bowl (inspired by the saying “Go shit in your hat”),

Evonne with her flower and bee hat, and Jane…well, she didn’t have a hat, but tried her hand at being a blonde for the night (thanks Stan for the wig!).

Another good night where we had a dance, met some interesting people, and had a general good time – and all for a good cause!

A serious trip...

2006-11-03T13:32:00.000+10:00

OK, sorry about the delay but as some of you folks may know Cam's new job requires him to work with many of the diving and tourism operators around PNG. Recently this bought one of his bosses from San Francisco to the wilds of PNG in order to show Cam the ropes of the training he had to deliver and to suffer the agony of a slipped disc in true developing world style.

So after a brief introduction in Alotau, Cam and Rick were off to West New Britain to conduct some training: sure there may have been a little bit of a cancelled flight, an overnight in Moresby with a 4am start, a very scary landing and a very nervous wait for our connecting flight in pretty much the only non-diving coastal city (Lae) in the country and a group of highlands Huli wigmen (pictured) but we got there in the end...with about 2 hours to spare before the training. The location was Mahonia Na Dari a local ngo based near Walindi Plantation Dive Resort, just as Walindi does great diving Mahonia does some seriously great marine conservation education.

As a testament to the professionalism of our two protagonists (and despite all of these prior setbacks) the training went very well. Over two nights people were schooled and tooled with the basics of: coral reef ecology, the economics of coastal and diving tourism, sustainability and marketing and they also got into some serious practical work on threats to the local reef environment (and solutions to counter these threats) as well as some practical tips on minimizing the impacts of diving on the reef environment. I think in particular people throughly enjoyed having some practice delivering environmental dive briefs (even those who haven't been in the water for a long time).

Now this training and workshop seemed to go down well with the shore-based dive team from Walinidi pictured...

However something that Cam managed to see with these guys while out on the water between the two nights of training made him a little less popular with some of his old acquaintances on the live aboard "FeBrina"...

Yeah that's right although it is admittedly a crappy picture, Cam's second Whale-shark sighting for the year made some folks who spend a lot of their time in the water up there and who have never seen one just an incy-wincy bit jealous... but what can you do? I guess they'll just have to be content with these little couple who they apparently see quite regularly.

Unfortunately for Rick whilst Cam was out spotting spotties, Rick's lower lumbar region was going into spasms. Given that the next leg of the trip (Kavieng) is a small provincial town which neither of us had visited before, an executive decision was made that perhaps taking a serious back injury to a unknown, unvisited and lets face it quite remote location was not the best idea. Following some hurried, pained and productive medium term planning (as well as another 4 am airport run!) Rick and Cam went their separate ways one towards physiotherapy and the other into the wild blue unknown.

So having passed Rabaul and its associated erupting volcano Mt. Tavurvur, (yeah look really that's all your gunna get about the volcano). Cam made it into Kavieng bumping into surfers / divers from of all places Maroubra and Bronte on his flight, it really is a small and freaky little world.

A warm welcome to a beautiful place was given by a number of the folkies based in Kavieng, they were as disappointed as Cam was nervous that Rick couldn't make it, but once he assured them that he was much more handsome then Rick anyway they seemed to be somewhat mollified (sorry Rick just checking if your reading all of this).

After a lovely sunset and an introductory dinner at the beautiful Nusa Island, meeting staff and management of a few of the tourism operations in town, Cam was abed and nervous about what the next day would hold.

As is turned out it was to hold a deep dive on WWII aircraft wreck... and with decompression schedules to worry about Cam didn't really have a chance to "bugger up" the workshop by worrying about it too much.

But before we pass the wreck by that easily Cam has to go into this one a in a little more detail: as many of the family and folks may know Cam was a serious plane and military history buff during childhood, making all of the plastic models etc. This dive was the first chance he has had to see a plane wreck underwater, though again the photos aren't great (deep, little light, strong current and generally I need a nicer camera...) it was pretty exciting to see the Mitsubishi "Pete" float-biplane on its back in 38m of the bluest water I've ever seen. It was one of many sunk / wrecked when the Americans attacked the Japanese forces (~22,000 strong) who had been garrisoned in Kavieng. There are heaps of interesting stories about this place (both about the war and local legends) and there are also plenty of wrecks and reefs to dive in beautiful clear blue water. Is it necessary to say that Cam enjoyed himself?

As to the workshop it went (and this may be a slightly biased opinion) very well.

The same content with another active and interesting group of people was brought about some really positive learning for all, even the teacher. What was disturbing however was learning about the problems associated with unsustainable fishing practices in New Ireland Province. Many of these problems unfortunately stem from fisheries "development" projects with big aid money behind them being diverted from their planned course by factors which were not apparent to the consultants who flew in set them up and then flew out... leaving a trail of destruction... but anyway Cam played (and is playing) his part to try to get things happening in a sustainable manner. Still a little unsure about how we are going to get around the turtle's in commercial quantities that had been caught and were being loaded into a Police Vehicle...

After some more meetings including one with this cute little lady...

Cam was on his way out of Kavieng and heading back towards port moresby... but this post is already long enough and we'll have to save Port Moresby, and its wreck and reef dives for a little later... In the mean time Cam's big thanks to Rick, the crew in Kimbe and the crew in Kavieng you are all awsome.

Three Little Pigs

2006-10-26T11:03:00.000+10:00

So, I’m in PNG, and I’m feeling a little extra bit of pig love. I usually like pigs anyway, but I don’t usually have the opportunity of seeing them as much in Sydney as I do here (somehow they don’t seem to be wandering around peoples yards as often). This may or may not have started another collection/obsession of mine. Carved pigs. So far there are only three (one from Port Moresby, one from Kavieng, and one from Milne Bay), but I can’t promise there won’t be more…

Sadly, many Papua New Guineans don’t seem to understand how I could think these animals are so cute. Except the carver. He knows I think they’re cute, and this may cause some problems in the future.

New Arrivals

2006-10-19T12:22:00.000+10:00

I know, we’ve been slack, but there’s been a lot going on. Mostly to do with new arrivals. This week we have four of them in one sense or another. Last Sunday, the ‘doctors’ moved in. Rebecca and Scott are medical students spending 2 months in Alotau on their elective – the last thing they have to do before they officially do become doctors. Due to the exorbitant rent of the last place they were staying they have decided to spend the next 5 weeks with us. And in the meantime they will keep us entertained with the strange and the bizarre – stories from the hospital. It’s already become a nightly event.

Today a new volunteer, James, arrived. He will be working out at Fergusson and Normanby Islands (where we first visited all those months ago) as a carpenter. Sounds like an awesome assignment. Someone we will definitely have to visit sometime in the next 6 months.

On Friday there will also be another volunteer, Evonne, arriving. So we certainly will have a full house, but also lots of company. Which is rather nice. And we can’t forget that Cam will be coming back tomorrow as well! Yay!

In other news there are rumours of a phone line being installed in the next couple of weeks. Of course I’m not holding my breath, but it would be fantastic if it were true!

Photo below: Evonne, Rebecca and Scott - our lovely new housemates!

Farewell to the Hippies

2006-10-09T12:31:00.000+10:00

So many of you will probably have heard of our housemates Lyn and Stan – affectionately known as the hippies due to their Environmental Law degrees, and general hippie nature. They have been our housemates, friends, support system and fellow adventurers for the last 6 months, and today they departed Milne Bay.

Just to put you a bit more in the picture…on our first weekend in Milne Bay Lyn and Stan arranged for us to accompany them on a trip to Fergusson, Normanby and Dobu islands. We walked up a (dormant) volcano with them, visited some hot springs, snorkeled a lot, and shared a rather hairy boat trip with them. This adventure was a great start to our life in PNG, and they taught us much in the space of a few days.

Since then we have been hanging out with them a lot, sharing everything from delicious meals (thanks to Stan and Cam!), to problems and worries, to diving and village experiences. Without them our time (so far) would have been much more difficult, to say the least. They will be sorely missed by us, and the many friends they have made here (and helped us to make here).

I think it worth mentioning that one thing they will be remembered for is their passion for climbing big mountains and the like. Here is an example of a mountain they climbed...

...and how they looked afterwards (not too bad actually).

They will also be remembered by all here for their sense of fun, generosity, hard work and determination.

So thanks guys for all of the good times – and we look forward to more when we catch up with you back in Australia. Sunny Milne Bay sends it’s love!

Our Friends Visit...

2006-10-04T16:01:00.000+10:00

Yes, that’s right, we had some visitors last week and it was lovely. Meet Alix and Jace.

They made their way all the way to the wilds of PNG just to see us (and get in some dives too I suppose), so we decided we had to try and make it worthwhile for them. And they weren’t too “PNGed” in that things went surprisingly smoothly while they were here.

The first place we took them was to visit our friend Serina’s village, Porotona (see past blog entry). This is where they were introduced to (and Jace developed a slight obsession with) prawning and kulaus (young coconuts which you drink from).

As usual Serina and her kids Desmond and Garube (pitured) looked after us very well, as of course did the extended family. We watched her netball team make it to through the semi-finals, and went on a walk where we saw snakes, waterfalls and lovely views.

There was also a funny moment when we were having a water fight in the river and Alix’s contact slipped. There aren’t really the words in tok ples (local language) or tok pisin to explain a contact lens. So they all excitedly told Serina later that Alix’s eye had fallen out.

On Monday, Wednesday and Thursday we organized some diving. Monday was a truly glorious day (sun shining on white sandy beaches), and a perfect diving day. We went out to the Manta Cleaning Station at Guna Bara Bara, and actually saw a manta ray, and many other fish, including a lion fish family, and an awesome cuttle fish. We also ate lunch on Samarai island (the old provincial capital and now resembling a bit of a ghost town), then went for a dive off one of the wharves there.

All of these photos are curtesy of Hiro from the dive shop (that is why they are so GOOD! thankyou Hiro)

These ones which are obviously not so good are from us... we hope you still like them.

Thursday was pretty much the opposite to Monday weather wise, and was one of the most painful boat trips I’ve had yet (both in terms of the sea-sickness, and in the amount of water I had consumed before getting on the boat). But we did see both dolphins and mantas jumping out of the water – truly spectacular. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the plane wreck we were looking for as the water was too choppy, and the visibility not quite good enough, but we still ended up going on two lovely dives. We even happened to stumble across a landing barge from the second world war that we think is previously undiscovered in a diving sense. Very exciting.

Weather & Swell YUCK!

This is Jane swimming through the front door or landing ramp of the barge.

Oh yeah and of course there were Anemone fish how do you like this shot?

Many thanks to Hiro, Vinz, Dangerous Dave, Eddie, Diane, and the rest of you at the Alotau dive shop for the great days of diving, and looking after us all so well.

Unfortunately the time Alix and Jace were here passed by too quickly. But they also managed to fit in a Milne Bay war history tour (which was apparently quite good), and we went to one of our favourite places: Waga Waga. Here we met Ane (pronounced Annee) the fruit bat – who quickly made friends with Alix. Considering how much the animals, reptiles and insects around Milne Bay seemed to like Alix, I’m fairly sure she will always be welcome here as our resident wild-life expert! : )

I’m sure we’ve missed out on some things, but we’d like to thank Alix and Jace for coming to see us – and for the cooking, gifts (and the gifts others sent via them), company, laughter and general good times. It was great!

Independence Weekend

2006-09-26T16:32:00.000+10:00

Historical fact: on September 16th 31 years ago Papua New Guinea became independent from Australia.
Other fact: on September the 16th 2006, we helped to celebrate Independence Day by going into town to see what celebrating was happening.

So after a rather excessive, but glorious, sleep-in Cam and I braved the wet and wild weather, and headed to the sports oval to check out Alotau’s Independence Day. The field was littered with stalls selling all types of food (yummy – lamb chops…so good), meri blouses, weavings and other assorted knick knacks…it was also covered in mud. It wasn’t the sort of mud that unobtrusively stays in patches, it was the sort of mud that enjoyed spreading everywhere. And due to the fact that lots of people wear thongs here, it well and truly was spread all over peoples clothing – got to love thong splatter.

We wandered around for a bit, grimaced over the sign that announced that “Jesus is the only Immunisation for AIDS you will ever need”, and said hello to our friends. I bought a meri blouse and we watched the greasy pole competition. Wow. The pole would have been at least 6 body lengths and slathered in grease of some sort. It is common in PNG to see someone or other shimmying up a coconut tree as easy as you please, but no-one could climb this. So the hours of getting grease off the pole started. First just at ground level, then a kid standing on someone’s shoulders…we couldn’t stay the whole time, but by the time we left there were 4 levels of people standing on each others shoulders, heads and faces trying to get the grease off enough to get to the top of the pole. And what was at the top? Just a couple of t-shirts, bags, and the reward of K100 for the first one up. It actually looked quite dangerous, and not worth the prizes, but I guess the kudos is a big part of it too.

It was an interesting and amusing day, but the weather was just too crap to want to stay for a long time. I don’t know if we missed the greasy pig, or if the event didn’t happen…disappointing, I know.

The next day we decided to go for a dive down at East Cape (about 1 ½ hours drive from town). It was a pleasant drive, and we did it in true PNG style – in a single cab ute with 3 people on the tray. Once we got there the water was flat and clear (20-25m vis), and we had a lovely dive, with a highlight of seeing a school of HUGE hump-headed parrot fish (it was kind of like being surrounded by a heard of coral eating suitcases)

My other highlight was actually managing to take this picture of Cam – pulling the moves underwater – it just cracks me up!

Monday was a public holiday, and was carried out in true public-holiday tradition by not doing much. Lovely. This week highlights will include: Jane starting driving lessons (we are hoping that I can get my PNG license in the next two weeks or so), call backs for the radio-play drama group, and Alix and Jace coming to visit us! How very exciting!

Our Town

2006-09-15T13:59:00.000+10:00

So we've been very slack in sending pictures of our current home-town, Alotau. Last weekend Jane wasn't feeling great so we had a quiet day and spent some time walking around town, going to the markets and watching the soccer...and we took a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

This picture is of the market place where we buy lots of locally grown fresh fruit and veggies such as bananas, cucumber, tomatoes, yams, pineapples etc. This is one of my favourite places to go - depending on what's in season you can get some great buys! Pineapples for K4 (under $2 AUS) in season. And bananas!!! well you can get a whole bunch for between K1.50 and K2 - the only banana crisis here is which bananas to choose.

The market is at the bottom of one of the main streets of town in this street there are 3 supermarkets, 3 general/department stores, 2 banks, the post office - almost sounds like the big smoke, but infact that's about it. There are also lots of people chewing betel nuts, and hence lovely red blobs in the gutters from the spit. Something one gets used to quite quickly in PNG.

On the way home from the markets there is always something happening on the sports field. On weekday afternoons plenty of people will be practicing and fooling around, and on the weekends there are soccer games all day with crowds and people selling food from popcorn, to banana chips. It's actually quite a nice view.

The other permanent fixture in town is Habona. Habona is probably the only person known to the whole of the Milne Bay Province (and some people in other provinces) apart from the governor. He's a little bit long long (tok pisin for crazy), but he's also alot of good fun. He always in the know about what's going on in town, and doesn't miss out on a social occasion - in fact we think he might have teleporting abilities as he always seems to be everywhere. He also likes to help out where he can, some days you're likely to see him packing shelves at the supermarket, another working as security at one of the local dances, or even helping to direct traditional dancers at the Hagita Show. The photo here is from Kaure's 2nd birthday party where Habona happened to turn up... A party in Alotau isn't really an occasion unless he does.

More coming soon we might post some photos of Jane and Cam's workplaces. Also Independence Day this Saturday, so no doubt there will be plenty going on in town. Rumour has is they have both a "greased pig" for you to try to catch and a "greasy pole" with prizes at the top if you manage to climb it! Fun times in Alotau.

Before finishing Cam needs to add a brief note about fish...did everybody notice that there was not one single clownfish in the last post...such self control is remarkable, but unfortunately Jane does not have it. Here is one that she took on her latest dive.

Quite good actually, oh and just in case you were wondering what she looked like with her new BCD, (or what a BCD actually is... {Bouancy Control Device: the vest thingy that hold the tank on and helps you float and sink}) her she is...

Cam’s new job and a trip to New Britain

2006-09-07T11:29:00.000+10:00

Ok. So many of you may have heard that there has been a new volunteer position on the cards for Cam. As you may have noticed we’ve been a bit cautious about putting it out there for various reasons, but most of all because we didn’t want to jinx it.

So. It turns out that he’s got it, and it’s pretty good. He’s working with a reef protection NGO and this country’s diving industry body (see links to the right for further information). His position is In-Country Representative for the NGO and Marine Environmental and Education Officer for the Industry body. If all works out this position may see him with volunteer work in PNG for an additional 18 months or so. It is literally the perfect job for Cam – if only he was getting paid. Sigh.

Anyhow so one of the things he’s going to have to be involved with is putting in moorings. The idea of using a mooring is that it prevents boats from damaging the fragile reefs with their anchors. It was thought that it would be good to give Cam some practical experience in using the equipment to do this. That’s right. His new reef protection job involves him going to pristine, untouched coral reefs and drilling holes in them (for their own good of course). In order to do this a trip was planned for him to meet a live-aboard boat in Rabaul (of Volcano fame, see Mt Tuvaru's ash cloud below),

East New Britain and move down the north coast of the island (drilling where necessary) over the course of 7-8 days, until they reached Kimbe in West New Britain. But, this is PNG…and things will go ‘buggerup’.

So. With the drill out of action for mechanical reasons, but the live-aboard dive boat otherwise fully functional, Cam had little else to do but make good friends with the crew, and get in a cheeky dive or two...or twenty three. In six days. Of course, for professional reasons, Cam took our under-water camera and here are some of the results.

Here is what a perfect mooring looks like png style, Cam go to see lots of these but not to put any in.

Fish out in the blue water:

Schooling barracuda

Batfish, apprently they LOVE ripe bannana

Fish closer to the reef:

Fire dart Gobies

A juvinile grouper

A very beatiful Lionfish

A mature grouper

A Spotted Sweetlips with a Cleaner Wrasse friend

Some other reef critters:

A beautiful Featherstar

A not so beautiful Moray eel

The always cute Hawksbill turtle

A really teensy tiny little anemone shrimp

And an EVEN SMALLER pygmy sea horse, I'm serious think "two grains of rice"... small grains, and you might realise why this photo is good but not great. You'd need a whole lot of these little fish to make even one half decent seafood stick.

But now for the really exciting stuff: the sharks. We basically saw two types, Grey Reefs the faster meaner, "sharkier"looking sharks, like these two...

and also the slightly smaller White Tip reef sharks that came in a lot closer and let us get shots like these...

Which was, as you can imagine, was pretty bloody cool.

In additon to the awsome crew Cam also had the company of a holiday making couple, Martin & Jo. Martin and Jo actually work on a boat (skipper and chef) but still love the water enough to take thier holidays on one (Well Martin does anyway, I seem to rember Jo saying someting about thier next holiday being very much on dry land.) Martin is the one staring through the seawhip and Jo is posing by the sea fan. These guys were heaps of fun and helped call in sharks on more than one occasion.

Here is a recording of the one afternoon with a sunset that we actually managed to see, the weather was not so great, but this one kept up going through the grey days.

But perhaps what helped us going most of all were the crew of the boat who were simply amazing I can't begin to thank them enough nor do I have what could be called "flattering" photos of them all... but here are a couple that I hope they'll like

This is a great demonstration of Jonahs trade mark bubble rings.

And this is the man himself (looking a little lost without his scuba gear, left) with Joe, Agnes and Pauline.

Once back on land Cam met up with a lot of important people that he's going to have to work with and amongst other things got a chance to help put one of the dive resorts day boats back in the water, with what can only be described as "a crane that was JUST big enough" thankyou to all the crew at the resort who also made Cam feel welcome.

Anyway we'll leave you with this final jem form Walindi which make us think that Cam might only have to keep implimenting the current policy to ensure that PNG's reefs are well protected.

Garden Update

2006-08-30T09:31:00.000+10:00

I know not everyone will be as thrilled about this as me, but I just had to share with the world how lovely our garden is. I am particularly enamored with the tomatoes, of which (at the latest count) there are 9.

Our capsicums are also growing rapidly, as are the chillies, carrots, radishes and our first pumpkin.

I can’t tell you how exciting it is to see everything growing so quickly! Maybe some of you will understand my obsession…

Note: all photos courtesy of Cam, who had to take the bloody things at 7 o'clock in the morning.

What Jane is doing...

2006-08-20T16:42:00.000+10:00

Well, I figure that as Cam is going to write soon and tell you all about his work, so I thought it would be a good time to update on my stuff (that and Cam has taken his computer and the camera away with him, so I don't have any good pictures to upload at the moment).

So. The book drive has almost taken over my life. Just a small side project - yeah right. People have been quite supportive and generous, but getting anything to happen is slow progress. It must be the PNG field of 'things happen when they happen' extending to Australia as well. I'm still trying to figure out storage and transport for all the books that are being donated. Maxine and I are also wanting to run some fundraisers (both in PNG, and in Australia) to raise money for the shipping and customs etc. Hmm, due to my lack of ability in being two places at once, I might have to convince someone else to run the fundraiser...anyone?

Drama wise things are slow going as well. I think people are enthusiastic, but it is hard to get them to commit. Also I have to remember that this drama caper is very foreign to many of them. But I'm hoping to run teacher workshops soon, as well as going to some schools to run classes. I think we will hold auditions soon for a core group of people to do radio dramas in the next 6 months. So we'll be researching, writing, recording and hopefully doing some on-stage stuff all before my year is up! Whew - sounds busy.

Other things in the cooking pot include: writing childrens books, knitting bags, fundraisers, making t-shirts, baking, gardening...whatever and whenever the inspiration arises!

Hope all is well with everyone back home! Please don't forget to write e-mails occasionally - we miss them. And I promise that I'll take the time to write personalised e-mails back!

Kaure-Muala’s 2nd Birthday

2006-08-15T13:23:00.000+10:00

Let me introduce you all to Maxine’s son, Kuare-Muala (Kaure for short). Maxine is Jane’s counterpart for those of you not in the know, and Kaure is an example of the reason that cluckiness can be a problem here.

Jane & Max...

On the weekend we celebrated his 2nd birthday. So in the usual way of children’s birthday parties there were children, loud noises, party games and short attention spans. But none of that mattered coz the kids were all having a good time, and we only get to have a birthday once a year.

Party games included the favourites of pass the parcel, egg and spoon race, treasure hunt, and the dance off. The dance off was particularly good in getting the kids to burn off all the excess sugar they had eaten throughout the day – I quite liked it. There were of course the compulsory tears, but they were short-lived and forgotten as soon as they were finished.

So many cute children in the one room! Now I’m not one that usually gets clucky, but when you look at these kids, how could you not? Kaure is here with his friend Lani and his new prized possession – the wheelbarrow. And one of Lani as well.

You’ll all be glad to know that in my tradition of scarves and birthdays I stayed up until 2am the night before finishing off Kaure’s. Yes it’s Papua New Guinea, and scarves are probably not that essential – but who am I to break a tradition?

To finish off this post I’ll leave you with some pictures of Kaure dressed up in Trobriand Island traditional dress. How cute!

By the way Cam is going to be away until about the 27th of August for the new placement that he has. We're sorry to be so circumspect about all of that but now it is pretty offical and he'll let you all know about it... in detail... when he gets back, in the mean time have a look at the two links to the right of screen (not google or gutenburg) and if you are lucky you might even find a cheesy bio of him on the CORAL site.

Hagita Cultural Show

2006-08-09T10:01:00.000+10:00

One thing that you might not realize about PNG is just how many cultural groups there are. I mean, we are talking about a country with over 800 distinct languages (that’s right, there are even more dialects). So when there is a chance to see a cultural show, it’s an amazing opportunity not to be missed (especially when this one is free!).

So Friday and Saturday saw us driving out past the airport to the Hagita Sacred Heart School. The school consists of approximately 750 students who come from all over the province; most are boarders as it could take them many days just to get home (the other thing you may not realize about the Milne Bay Province is just how many remote islands make it up). Friday was a quiet day where each cultural group prepared for the next day and demonstrated some traditional methods of food preparation and arts and crafts. Each cultural group had to build their own house for the show, as well as any feasting platforms – pretty impressive if you ask me.

Our appetites were whetted, and Saturday morning we were ready and raring to go out to the school again. We were not disappointed. The first thing that we notice was the amzing array of traditional coustumes and the huge amount of effort that they must have taken to prepare.

The second thing you notice are the pigs!. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many pigs in my life! One group had ten to exchange…I found myself feeling a mixture of awe and disgust. Awe in that pigs here are pretty expensive and prized – this was a very generous food offer. Disgust in that the poor pigs were alive and tied to a pole – it can’t have been a comfortable or happy place for them.

We started by going around to all the cultural groups to look at all the food they were preparing to exchange.
Anyway, after the official start to the day of boring and political speeches (elections are coming up next year…) the good stuff started. Each group had to exchange food with another cultural group in their traditional way. This doesn’t mean strolling over with the food, shaking hands and genial conversation. Rather, depending on the group, it involves traditional dress, dancing, drums and various methods of passing the food. In one case the situation almost became violent when the Tawala group started lobbing taros (huge yam-like things, weighing quite a few kilos) into the house of the Kiriwina group. Also spears were thrown into the roof of the house. Apparently this is all traditional, but perhaps a bit more…enthusiastic…than usual.

There were also King and Queen parades and dances from each group. But I’d have to say that the highlight for me was sitting with the GoodEnough Island cultural group. I was sitting down by myself while Cam went and took photos. I must have looked lonely or something because the woman near me handed me a bunch of bananas, and then a little girl sat next to me and put an umbrella over my head (to protect my dim dim skin from the sun). After this some of the students offered to paint my face. We were basically ‘adopted’ into the GoodEnough group, and I now have 2 penpals in Grade 9.

All round it was an amazing (and exhasting) day. It’s great to see how enthusiastic the students were, and how they all embrace their culture so thoroughly.

A Weekend in Moresby

2006-08-04T08:25:00.000+10:00

Well it was more than a weekend, and less than a week. But it was in Moresby and that's what matters.

Cam and I recently attended a volunteers conference at the lovely Loloata Dive Resort on an island out of Port Moresby. How did Cam manage to score a conference at a dive resort you ask? Well, pure luck. And there was no time for diving, so it wasn't THAT lucky. Still it is a beautiful place and quite relaxing - no tense feelings one usually associates with Port Moresby. That is why I suspect they had it there.

We were there for 3 days in which we learnt, listened, discussed, networked and bonded with our fellow volunteers and VSP's (Volunteer Service Providers, it's all about getting up with the development and aid lingo). We were also inspired with talks from Dame Carol Kidu and one of the founders from I Gat Hope, a group which supports and fights for the rights of those who are HIV positive (and do much more than that, but I can't remember all the details sorry!).

Some of the other highlights included the view from our balcony...

(it's a hard life as a volunteer, we have to get some perks), catching up with our friends, the delicious food and of course the duty free alcohol that a certain inbound person had so generously donated. For both of us it was a really affirming and pleasent experience to catch up with the other volunteers. All have had similar trials and tribulations and we guess that it just goes to show that you need more than just good looks to make development aid stick. Nevertheless have you ever, ever seen such a freshfaced, windswept good-looking group of people in your life? We didn't think so. Cam says this is one of his favorite photos from the trip.

To round up the week there was a Friday night Sing Sing, performed by the members of a local Motu village from just across the water from the Island. The performance was great with ages ranging from very little to normal adult; needless to say this made for some cute watching (it was in fact very difficult not to laugh when the littlest pikinnini danced straight into one of the kundu drums...sooo cute). There is nothing quite like the singing and dancing of traditional PNG culture (of which there are many), I hope the people don't lose their traditional knowledge and pride - it is just so amazing.

So after the conference part of our trip finished we spent two days exploring Port Moresby proper. We were lucky enough to be in town on the last Saturday of the month which means that we were there for the Ela Beach Craft Market. Wow. So much craft. Everything from bilums, to baskets, to penis gourds (quite funny to see a tourist ask quite loudly what they are and then see them squirm as the explanation comes), to local art. We acquired some bilums (I love mine!), and Cam was excited by the real life Indian food that was being sold there (there aren't really any takeaway food outlets in little Alotau). Cam also bought me a little carved pig which I have now named "Gutpela Pig" (literal translation would be Goodfellow Pig, or just Good Pig). I definitely think we will have to arrange to go back to the craft market before we go back home.

We also spent some time at the local supermarkets - so much food. More than 3 types of cheese, so much chocolate, so much meat...quite an experience. We tried to stop drooling for long enough to stock up on supplies to take back with us to Alotau.

The nights were also full. We were invited to an engagement party for one of the other volunteers on one night (the house where it was held was amazing; there was a magnificent view, carved pigs everywhere and awesome hand painted bathrooms), and we had a bbq on the other night. The Moresby volunteers looked after us very well, thanks guys! Here's some special photos of all the ladieees (and one for the ladies).

So anyway, we're both back home now. Cam stayed on for a few extra days to try and sort out details for his position, but more on that soon. Port Moresby was fun, but I think we are both happy to be living in quiet little old Alotau.

A Fishy Weekend

2006-07-25T14:54:00.000+10:00

Well, another weekend arrived (3 day weekend for some), and so did the need to get out of town for a bit. We had been talking about going for another dive for a while, and Cam and Lyn spent the better part of the week organizing it. The rain on Saturday morning didn’t look promising, but we hoped for the best and set off for East Cape and a little guest house run by Bernard (about a 1 ½ hour drive from Alotau).

We had a pleasant enough drive out, and stopped off at one of our favourite spots, Bewa, along the way. We arrived at East Cape in the afternoon, bumped into the Baptist Missionaries who live across the road from us (or the ‘Missio’s’, as they call themselves), and looked around the market. Lyn and I felt that the conditions were perfect for a lazy afternoon, so we retreated to the guest house for some reading and knitting time (yes, I still knit here – I think it is in my blood!), while Stan and Cam went for a snorkel. They had a good snorkel, and we found it quite enjoyable when they got out of the water and showed us the ‘treasures’ that they had acquired in the water – an old umbrella, and what can only be described as a vintage hat.

We had an interesting night with strange bumps and flapping sounds. The only other thing worth mentioning is the deep animosity I am developing towards roosters in the early hours of the morning.

The weather was a bit grey and the sea a bit choppy, but the decision was made to pile our extreme amount of stuff (including 9 dive tanks) into a 23 foot dinghy and head off. I think I’m still a bit new to things here, because I found the boat ride a little bit…adventurous. But those who are more experienced in the ways of boat trips in PNG didn’t seem to mind it. Thankfully the dinghy operator was really good, and we arrived at our destination – Hanakubakuba – in one piece. We went on our first dive and saw a sleeping turtle and lots of lovely and colourful coral. I was also using my new BCD for the first time, and that was very exciting! We surfaced to the sun peeking out from behind the clouds and the prospect of lunch. Needless to say we were all feeling much better by this point. Our second dive presented cuttlefish and blue-spotted stingrays, as well as too many different species of fish to write about here. So, good diving in a relatively untouched reef. It was pretty good.

And to add to the general fishiness, Cam and Stan both caught some. Cam left his run to late, and pulled in a Spanish Mackeral just as we were pulling into the bay to unload ourselves and our stuff from the boat.

Apart from the doxycycline (antimalairial) induced sunburn that we received, I’d have to say that we were pretty happy with how the whole weekend and diving went. To top it all off Cam, Stan and Lyn got to do another 2 dives with the local dive instructor on Monday (which was a public holiday – Rememberance Day). Due to an influx of children at EMB, aka a school camp, I had to work. But plenty more dives in the future I am sure! Anyway. Cam was happy coz he got to take plenty more photos of clown fish. Sigh.

Anyway. We are going to a volunteers conference in Port Moresby for a few days, so we probably won’t be blogging again until next week. But I’m sure we’ll have plenty more stories and photos to share then!

On Book Week

2006-07-21T14:36:00.000+10:00

Well, we’ve been a little remiss in our writing duties, but things are getting quite busy. Jane is helping to organise a school camp for 55 Grade 5 children happening next week, as well as the usual drama stuff. Cam is busy with work stuff to be written about in a future post…Oh, and there’s also Book Week.

As some of you may know a large (OK well largish) part of the approximately 200kgs of luggag that Cam & I brought over when we arrived was books that we donated to the local library. The Photo is of Cam's boss Noel handing these over on our behalf. The thing is that the 30kg of books we brought is just drop in the ocean... enter book week...

Book Week was a simple plan cooked up between Jane and her counterpart Maxine. It’s a great idea which involves making contact with Australian people and companies that are willing to donate books. Well, it is a great idea, and many others seem to think so as well. To everyone’s surprise publishing companies, book stores and schools are replying and many of the replies are positive. Which is just as well really. There are over 300 schools in the Milne Bay Province alone – many of which are in remote locations. So there really are a lot of places that could do with a few books.

So, it’s a great project, and one which takes up a lot of time – so apologies for any lack of communication! But on the up side – you can help too if you so desire. We are looking for new or second hand book donations. Does cleaning out your old book shelf sound like something you’d be interested in doing? If so, please let Jane know and she will get back to you with details of where the books can be sent (address is still to be confirmed) – or you can send them straight to PNG, but that’s probably not the least expensive option. Also, if anyone happens to be hiding a shipping connection up their sleeve, now would be a good time to let us know.

Anyway, Book Week is happening on the 7th of August, and the launch is going to be in Milne Bay (the first time outside of Port Moresby). Jane has even been asked to be a debating judge for one of the Book Week events! Any book donations are officially ‘for Book Week’, but we are hoping to get regular donations happening for the future.

It’s definitely nice to be ‘doing something’.

Serina's Place...

2006-07-13T13:59:00.000+10:00

We’ve had limited experience with village life in Milne Bay, but what experience we’ve had was thoroughly enjoyed. A couple of weeks ago we not only had the chance to experience more of this village life, but also to see where our friend Serina lives. To save any confusion, Serina lives with us in the ‘Volunteer House’ (everyone in town seems to know which one it is) during the week as it is too difficult to get back to the village every night…

We left on Saturday morning in what can only be described as the most uncomfortable car trip I’ve ever been on. Lyn had her family over, so there were 10 of us in a rented toyota troop carrier as well as a whole lot of food, dive gear, and anything else considered essential for our trip. It was almost worth it for all the strange looks the locals gave us – we even started yelling out “Here comes the Dim Dim PMV!” (PMV is a Public Motor Vehicle – the equivalent of a bus in Australia – for those of you not in the know). Nothing like providing a bit of entertainment for the locals.

So we arrived at Serina’s place to be greeted by a special surprise that Lyn and Serina had organized for the family. All the local school children were in traditional dress, and performing a traditional welcome dance for us. It was a fantastic performance and a very special treat. The cutest thing was every time the beat from the kundu drum (local percussion) stopped, the kids would stop and look around, until they were told to keep going by the adults – and then they just didn’t want to stop! We were also allowed to have a turn of the kundu drums (they seem to be made from local wood – I presume some sort of palm – and the drum part is a stretched snake or lizard skin) – and Steve and I had a bit of a jam session.

The afternoon was spent in being shown around the place. We walked through beautiful bush/forest/jungle and river beds, and visited the closest local market (about 6 ladies and a dog sitting on the side of a river with some yams, greens, pineapples and paw paws). Serina then took us for a swim and taught us how to use the prawning spears that we would be using for a spot of night prawning. It was just so beautiful there. Standing in the river you could have been in almost any country in the world.

Serina and her family cooked us a lovely meal (I have to admit that I am enjoying yams more each time I have them – especially when they are cooked well), and then we got ready to go night prawning (or what we would call in Australia ‘yabbying’).

The idea behind this is that the little critters come out at night and are easier to see (especially with a great big torch) and therefore to catch. Well, I’m sure you’ve all heard Cam rant about prawns (and if you haven’t you are missing out – it’s a pretty good rant), but he became prawn obsessed, and even picked up a prawn related nickname. He thoroughly enjoyed hunting and catching them, and true to his word he actually ate them according to two of his rules 1) he knew how they were caught and where they came from, and 2) he caught them himself. PNG is full of new experiences for us!

Anyway, we took over Serina’s house for the night (10 people is a lot to fit into your house), and then the next morning we went for a walk. It started off deceptively easy. We went to Serina’s brothers house and were greeted by family (including a child with no pants – quite usual here) and a baby pig. I particularly liked the pig, and the pig particularly liked tasting peoples shoes – this made for creative footwork on behalf of the dim dim visitors.

We then went to see the pet cassowary – it shed light on why you wouldn’t want to meet an angry full grown cassowary in the wild – a small angry cassowary is scary enough.

The thing that impressed Cam the most though, was the crocodile jaw. Yes, it was estimated at about 2 months dead. We knew this because Serina’s brother (blue shirt background) was one of the men that killed this fearsome creature, and it didn’t look like it would have been a small one either…gives me the shivers. Apparently it got a little too curious about a village, and so the men all got together and tried to kill it. Repeatedly. Obviously they were successful in the end, but I definitely wouldn’t want to come up against one of these critters in the wild. (Based on the jaw size it was probably about a 9 ft croc).

We then continued our ‘walk’ to see a waterfall. This was very pleasant. We then continued on to see another one, and another – all up. Serina then took us on top of a ridge where her old garden was – no wonder Papua New Guineans are so fit – they walk to their garden every day, and they are all incredibly high up and hard to get to. I don’t at all blame them for thinking we are soft. Because we are. A bit more than we had bargained for, but enjoyable all the same.

In the afternoon we went to watch Serina play netball with all the local teams. Her team was called the Baby Giants and they were really very good.

Afterwards we went to the big markets and had a look around, buying some contributions for dinner, and plenty of fruit. By the end of the day we slept more than soundly. Serina looked after us so well – she’s such a good friend, and it was great to meet her family. And once the wet season is over she has said she will take us night diving to look at the dugong. That’s something to look forward too! To finish up here is a photo of us with Serina, her son Desmond and daughter Garube and the one thing Jane didn't mention the cat called GABI!!!

The Three Month Mark

2006-07-10T12:43:00.000+10:00

Just thought We’d point out that Sunday was our three month mark. That’s right – yesterday we have been in PNG for three months. Hasn’t that gone fast?

We hope that all of you back at home and around the global traps are safe, well and happy. Lots of love Jane & Cam

Waga Waga PNG style…

2006-07-05T13:54:00.000+10:00

So, saying Wagga Wagga to an Australian (specifically a NSWite) will invoke a certain feeling/idea. But in Alotau Waga Waga (I’m sure you have noted the different spelling – no extra letters needed here thank you very much) is not a country town, with all the typical Aussie country town traps and dressings, it is a small village around the bay from Alotau. Indeed we have mentioned it before in one of our weekend posts. And it is fast becoming one of our favourite spots in Milne Bay (from what we’ve seen of the province anyway).

There is a lovely guesthouse there called ‘Treetops’ and it’s backpacker style accommodation with the added extras of not one, but two flushing toilets, a shower (with hot water system to boot), a biggish kitchen, mozzie nets, and a spectacular view.

It has the added benefit of not being expensive, which is always popular with us volunteer lot.

It is better if you have your own car (and even better if that car is a 4WD) to get there – the hill leading up to the guesthouse is rather steep. But if you don’t the guesthouse owner Warren, will pick you up and drop you off. Warren is a lovely man who is very tuned in to what dim dim’s want (e.g. mozzie nets on the beds, mosquito coils on the balcony – one would argue that there would be no guests left if these weren’t provided), and will provide bread and fruit (or meals for extra price) with the accommodation. I think we liked Warren even more when we walked down to his house which is host to a menagerie of animals including dogs, chickens, geese (I thought of you Mum!), a flying fox and a cassowary. Even better my doggy friends didn’t shy away when you went to pat them, and I think they were the first dogs in PNG that I’ve seen actually wag their tails – I think this suggests they are treated with kindness, which is rare here.

Apparently there are several walks that Warren can take visitors on (including one to the ‘Moon Rock’), and we would be interested in exploring these at some point in the future (just not when it’s too hot). The other attraction has something to do with water (how unusual), and we’ve mentioned it before – the wreck of the ‘Muscoota’. So far we’ve only been on one dive there, in conditions that weren’t the best…but even that was a pretty cool dive. The dive is only about 20-25 metres deep, but the ship is pretty big, and there is lots to look at – plenty of soft corals growing on it, and the little fish that like to live in the corals. Cam also became slightly obsessed about the miniature crabs that were hiding in some of the coral.

The good thing about PNG is that even when the water is cool, it’s still not cold, and even when the visibility isn’t good, it’s still a pretty good dive (listen to me – dive expert now!).

And of course here is Cam's obligatory aneomone fish photo

Anyhow I’m sure we’ll have plenty more trips out to Waga Waga – only an hour or so out of town, and so much nice stuff to look at. I’ve now got a new BCD that I need to try out too (thanks to Lyn’s family and Giac)! But keep your eyes peeled for our adventures at Porotona – aka our friend Serina’s village.

Welcome to Mashed Yam!

2006-06-26T09:51:00.000+10:00

Yes that’s right, it’s purple – something I know will freak some people out, but will be a truly exciting phenomena to others. I can tell you it made the whole dinner making experience much more fun.

The next step of inclusion…

2006-06-23T14:37:00.000+10:00

It’s been pointed out that we haven’t really talked about work much yet, so I’m going to rectify that now. But before I start there is a reason work hasn’t featured much until now – it’s because there hasn’t been much to talk about. I’ve been working, but the drama workshops have only just started, and the organization of workshops etc. is not nearly as interesting as actually doing them. I’ve also been working on a proposal for a Media grant which we sent off last week – if that is successful we’ll be doing radio plays with a drama group as well. But I’ve mostly been feeling my way around processes and politics etc, and also doing any research and talking to people to find out the most effective way to do things.

Poor Cam has been in a frustrating position with his Host Organisation in the middle of changing funding bodies as well as going through reviews etc. There hasn’t been an awful lot of marine stuff going on – well lots of report writing and management plans about marine stuff, but no field trips as such. Which is why we are making such a point of getting out and about (especially in the water) on weekends.

So, the response from the local population to the idea of my drama workshops has been fantastic. I think there is a real need for accessible creative activities (for both kids and the local youth – many of whom are unable to find work). I’ve started off with 2 afternoon impro classes for school kids and 2 evening classes for youths. Wow – are Tuesdays and Thursdays tiring! But it’s fun and inspiring when people react positively to a game that’s being taught – people here have never done anything like it! It’s too early to see where it’s going to go, but I think we’ve made a positive start.

It’s also amazing talking to people about the sort of things they want to do. Some people have asked after dance classes, music nights, productions…the list goes on. My role is shifting from Performing Arts Trainer, to Community Arts Development Co-ordinator (that second one sounds much more impressive). I’m also overwhelmed by the amount of people that have asked me to help train drama at youth conferences, schools, different provinces even! Everyone wants a part of me! Apart from drama and possible radio plays I think I’m going to have to source someone to teach dance classes (although apparently I can do everything and I’ve been asked not only to teach belly dancing, but to do a solo on stage…me, I’ve never even done belly dancing, only talked about it), look at a monthly music night and perhaps help to organize some school productions. I’d certainly like the chance to pass on some stage management and technical skills before I go.

The main frustration with work is how long it takes to organise things. The pace of life is slower here and people don’t understand your impatience to get things going. I’m especially glad we were warned not to expect anything to happen in the first 3 months, but am also seeing the merit of assignments longer than a year. Of course once things start, they might not always go as planned, but there’s bound to be something worthwhile to come out of it. I’ll never be a true local here but working with local kids and youths is kind of the next step of inclusion for me.

Oh and as an afterthought here's a photo of the WWII wreck the Muscoota we talked about earlier. More on our wet'nwild'weekend'@wagawaga to follow.

You know you’re a local when…

2006-06-13T12:09:00.000+10:00

*You’ve both won, and presented trivia at your local drinking hole
*You are unfazed when you open your dive bag and a cane toad jumps out
*People start saying hello and calling you by name, and you swear you’ve never met them before
*You no longer care about what you wear as everyone seems to wear their clothes a) 25 days in a row and b) until they literally fall off
*You don't get uptight when after waiting all day for a vehicle you find that the vehicle you are relying on to take you back to town is now without not just a wheel but in fact without all structures for attaching that wheel to the car i.e. barings, struts, shock absorbers
*You start getting called Aunty by those younger than you (it’s a term of respect – really)
*You eat your food ants or no, as you know you’ll never get them all out
*Colleagues start approaching you the same time everyday asking if you’d like a tea
*You’ve started your very own fire with refuse from around the house (although we steered away from plastics and stuck to garden rubbish).
*You become used to picking up items in your house (e.g. a banana) and having a gecko jump on you
*Naked children no longer surprise you. (If you are female) You also start getting clucky – in PNG I don’t think they’ve heard of ugly children, or at least I’ve not seen one yet
*You are starting a collection of macro photographs of wierd lookin bugs that you found whilst going about your daily tasks(Yeah thats right for those of you scared of spiders please note that this wasp is not. It has paralyzed it and is layin eggs in it so that they have fresh food for when they hatch cool huh?)

*Using the excuse “I couldn’t come to work because I had no dry clothes” actually seems feasible after the nth day in a row of rainy weather.

What a weekend!

2006-06-05T16:20:00.000+10:00

I know that all we seem to write about are our weekend adventures, but some of them really are worth writing about…

Cam’s been hard at work sourcing all the dive possibilities in town, and on Saturday we went out with Hiro, a Japanese dive instructor who runs the local dive shop. It was our first real dive in PNG (I say real, because we went diving off the shore of my work, but it was short, uncomfortable, and not terribly worth mentioning), and the fact that Cam had to wait that long is indeed a terrible thing.

Saturday morning was a grey and rainy day, we got ready and the taxi didn’t come to pick us up. It is my belief that all the bad things happened to make way for all the good things that followed. We got on the boat for the one hour trip to the dive site, Sullivan’s Patches, which was just sitting in a patch of sun when we got there. We got geared up as Hiro told us we would see “plenty fish and lots of pretty coral”, and then got into the water which was (as promised) absolutely teaming with underwater life. I got myself ready to be in ‘spotter’ mode which was just as well seeing as the first thing I did was look up and spot a Whale shark.

That’s right, a Whale shark. It wasn’t a very old one seeing as it was only 4 - 4.5 metres long, but it was impressive enough. Cam and Lyn both got very excited and started taking pictures until Cam realized that the professional underwater photographer hadn’t seen it yet. Very soon there were about 6 of us swimming as fast as we could to keep up with this amazing creature, and Lyn was close enough that she actually patted it. The rest of the dive was spectacular, but I don’t know if anyone noticed it after the Whale shark encounter. We surfaced and I checked to make sure that it was indeed a Whale shark ( as it wasn’t quite as big as a bus like Cam had previously explained them to be {which is of course full adult size: Cam}) amid the general elation of the dive crew. Cam and Lyn tell me I don’t know how lucky I am – this dive was only number 15 for me (sorry Rowan).

Anyway, we had a second dive for the day in which we actually noticed the multitude of fish and very pretty coral – I’ve never seen anything like it (considering my lack of dives this isn’t much of a surprise, but Cam hasn’t seen anything like it either)! There were reef sharks, fish of every shape, size and colour (parrot fish, mackerel, sweetlips [I especially like the spotty ones],antheas, barracuda), nudibranchs…the list would go further if I actually knew more of the names. Except for the danger of running out of gas I could’ve stayed down there for hours. Anyway we eventually got back on the boat and had a sleepy and satisfied trip back to Alotau, where more excitement awaited us.

That night we went to a dinner that Maxine (my counterpart) had planned. When I say dinner, I actually mean feast as she doesn’t really do anything by halves (feast photos soon from Cam). There was food everywhere – all traditional dishes, or variations on traditional dishes – and that’s where I found out that I was the reason for all the food. The feast was so that I could experience the traditional dishes of PNG – and oh was it lovely!

But on to the rest of the weekend…on Sunday we had planned to go with our friend Jeanie and her kids to a place called Waga Waga. It’s in the same bay that Alotau is, but it is approx. an hours drive around the bay. The drive was lovely – through bits of forest and villages, and also included speed humps (some logs covered with dirt lying across the road)!

Waga Waga has a picnic spot and also a wreck of an old ship the Muscoota (which although it was a coal ship when it sank was originally a 4 masted steel hulled clipper ship launched by Queen Victoria), part of which sticks up out of the water. We got to the picnic spot and went for a swim with Jeanie and her kids, then headed off to snorkel at the wreck (unfortunately without the camera). It was a great snorkeling spot, and we can’t wait to go back and dive it when we have the chance! The wreck was covered with coral and fish, and goes quite deep, so a snorkel just whets the appetite. We even saw our first PNG cuttlefish!

We also got to snorkel around the bow which would have been where Queenie broke the champagne bottle... cool huh.

So, anyway. I’m exhausted just thinking about it all! The moral of this post – the underwater stuff here is pretty damn amazing. And this can be an advertisement for any of you who might be thinking about coming! But we do other things apart from snorkel at great places and I promise we’ll write about those soon.

State of Origin…

2006-06-02T15:25:00.000+10:00

One of the main events in any part of Papua New Guinea is a sporting event – The State of Origin. People here are mad about their rugby – some to the point of religious fervour. League players are used to promote everything from products, to encouraging parents to vaccinate their children, and are used in the “Stop Domestic Violence” campaign. As you can imagine they are pretty influential.

Leading up to the State of Origin people start making it clear what team they support – the hype around it is similar to that of the Soccer World Cup in Australia. Seeing as very few people in PNG have been to Australia it is interesting to see how they choose the team they wish to support, but it is usually based on the NRL team their favourite player comes from (how they pick whether they like the Bulldogs or the Roosters etc. I’m not quite sure of either).

So when there is an event of this magnitude on in sleepy little Alotau, you must participate in the proper manner. Recognising this fact we donned any blue clothes we could find (Cam, Lyn, our visitor Anthony and I are all from NSW and Stan who is French, became a blues supporter by default through his relationship with Lyn. Serena was the odd one out in her support of the Maroons.)Note: Photo to follow soon*** and set off for the ‘local’ where the first game of the series was projected for the patrons viewing pleasure.

The first game of the series was a good one to watch seeing as the final score was 17-16 (Go the Blues!). As you can imagine the tension was quite high at times and there were a few harsh words exchanged, but no fights broke out, and that was nice. The patrons seemed peaceful enough at the end of the game, but even so we were more than happy to get a lift home waving the little blue “I support New South Wales” flags all the way.

N.B Is it just my imagination, or are there more pretty boy footballers these days then there used to be? Maybe it’s just the lack of the 80’s moustaches…

Bewa and the sea...

2006-05-25T12:30:00.000+10:00

So we managed to get away again last weekend and I think we’ve found a destination that we will return to again in the future. Many times if possible seeing as the sea life is beautiful and amazing.

We stayed at a guesthouse in Bewa (a little place near East Cape) which is run by our friends uncle. It’s a quaint little place, right on the beach.

It also seems to be right on a mosquito breeding ground, but as long as you stay covered up and dipped in repellant you’re fine. Either that, or you take bait with you as Stan and Cam seem to have done with Lyn and I.

So we arrived on Saturday afternoon, set up our beds (nothing like being tired and going to a bed that’s already made up), and got straight into the water.

Cam could describe it in more detail and scientific names than I could, but for those of us less marine biology inclined it was beautiful. There were plenty of tropical fishies, lots of different coral, and lots of colour for the eyes. My favourite was the little Anthia fish – purpley-orange in colour and very cute.

We got out when it was getting dark and we were getting hungry and the boys set about making the fire for dinner. It’s funny how much boys love to do that.

We feasted on Cam’s Thai Green Chicken Curry (in capitals coz it’s so good), and chatted around the fire for a bit before going to bed. While the new thermarests are surprisingly comfie, the walls of the guest house aren’t particularly soundproof, and the wet season rain was quite loud. So we had a dry night, but a noisy one.

The good thing about tropical sea water is that it’s so warm, and so snorkels can go for a couple of hours as they did on both days of our visit. Some of the local kids joined us on the Sunday, and we took a million photos (I got a bit snap happy) – I’m relying on Cam to post the best ones here. We’ll let the pictures do the talking.

The other thing worth mentioning about our trip, or any trip that involves driving to your destination, is the prevalence of dogs, chickens and pigs on the road. Because of the payback system here, if you were to hit something on the road it could cost quite a bit, so apart from the fact that you don’t want to kill anything, you also don’t want to spend all your money on a dead animal. Pigs are especially expensive and so a common warning from whoever is in the passenger seat (or anyone in the car) is “Watch out, Pig”, or just “PIG!” – it can sound rather amusing.

On unwellness and associated boredom....

2006-05-21T20:09:00.000+10:00

One thing I am happy about is that the first case of boredom I can well and truly report is when I was home sick for two days. No phone and no tv connection are all the more noticeable at times like this. Although there is a tv and dvd player, so I wasn’t at a total loss – I watched Shirley Temple movies and anything I could find around the house. My knitting needles mocked me as I had no wool with which to knit! Luckily we are at the beginning of our year so we have not exhausted our book supply yet, and the crossword book I bought is relatively new and unused. Cam tried his best to be nice and keep me somewhat entertained.

The problem with being sick here is that no matter what you have, it’s probably malaria. There are so many health books/sites etc that have great information on illnesses, but malaria seems to be one of those ones that can incorporate any symptom, and seems to be highly personal in what symptoms are displayed. So have I had malaria? Who knows, it’s hard to say. If I did it was only a mild dose. The blood test came back negative, and while I should have probably gone back for more blood tests the nurse thought it sounded quite like “that culprit, malaria” and so told me to take the drugs for it anyway. I’m not complaining either as they seem to be working. Also it is ridiculously easy to get medicine here (if they have it, which is not a problem with malaria treatments), so treatment is not a problem. Self-treatment is the word of the day in PNG, especially for those that live in remote places, or who have to travel to remote places. Should Cam or I have to travel I am extra glad that malaria treatments are easily available over the counter, as the only way you could get those medicines on some islands would be if you brought them yourself.

In other news I’m just as obsessed with the garden as ever. I’ve now got more containers to grow herbs in, and Stan put a border on our veggie-patch-to-be today. Now we just need more soil and we’ll plant the fruit and veggie seeds! Yay! Cam laughs at me with my gardening, but his latest fishing and whittling craze makes me think he would do just fine playing the harmonica on his front porch beside the river down South. Last night he started to whittle a fishing lure – very cute! I’m sure he’ll make me eat my words when he catches something with it.

p.s. Emma - notice how much bigger and better the banana bread looks that was cooked in the silicon bake ware! : )

Spot the crocs...

2006-05-15T11:43:00.000+10:00

Yes, well PNG is known to have crocodiles, but this is not what I’m referring to. In fact anyone who’s had a conversation with Cam since Christmas will know what this is referring to. You’ll all be glad to know that he is just as obsessed with his beloved crocs here as he ever was. Indeed they go everywhere with him. You’ll be admiring the scenery (in water or on land), and suddenly some crocs will arrive, and then you’ll realize that they are attached to Cam in some fashion (doesn’t necessarily have to be footwear either, as Cam demonstrates in the photo below).

We’ve been trying to keep active here to take the edge off waiting at work for things to happen. On the weekend we went for a dive off the shore in front of my workplace. While it was only a short dive (in both senses of the word – only 15 mins and 9 metres), we still saw some interesting things, including a huge trevally which came to check out the strange bubbling underwater creatures in front of it. We will be going in search of more interesting and adventurous dives in the not-too-distant future!

On Saturday night we went on a Hash walk. Hash can be found in some parts of the world (I think the full name is Hash House Harrys), and it consists mostly of ex-pats who meet up, do some stuff (like going for a run in the bush), then drink. In our case the group meets once a week, somebody sets a trail in a new location that they know, everyone else follows the trail and tries not to get lost in the false trails set, and then everyone meets up at the end for ‘the circle’. The circle is reminiscent of drinking games circles at university, including the sculling song “Here’s to Jane, she’s true blue…”. Quite juvenile and everyone seems to love it. I think it’s pretty easy not to drink too much if you don’t draw attention to yourself. Our walk was a great introduction – it wasn’t too hard, but we still had to cross rivers and walk past little villages, so it was pretty interesting.

We also managed to get out of town on Sunday for some more snorkeling adventures. It seems to me that you could step off the coast anywhere in PNG and manage to see something good, pretty etc. Cam takes the opportunity to take lots of fish photos, and is getting quite a good collection (I think they’re rather good, even though he gets all perfectionist about them).

We also saw a canoe in the making which was interesting. People are so versatile in their talents here, although they would see them less as talents and more as necessary skills.

Otherwise we are trying to get out and about during the week. Cam’s new bike looks pretty, but not long after this photo was taken the pedal & whole crank arm fell off while Cam was riding it to work (he says I cursed him by taking the photo). Seeing as he had only ridden it 3 times he is considering taking it back. It may have been a cheap bike, but one hopes the bike wouldn’t fall apart after three short journeys.

Maybe we should canoe to work?

Humanity vs the Mosquitoes (and why I sometimes hate both)

2006-05-11T15:27:00.000+10:00

The day to day tasks in PNG take as much getting used to as the obvious things (language, culture etc.). Going to the bank takes at least an hour, nothing special, just the run-of-the-mill transactions. Walking past someone in the street (unless it is busy or crowded) it is polite to smile and say hello or “Goode” – the general niceties of a small town. It’s strange how pressured one can feel to be nice, it is almost confronting.

The sounds are different – geckos are continually making their clicking/chirping sound (but you can never see them when they do it), birds twittering away, animals yelping (that one is certainly taking a lot of getting used to. Stray animals abound, and there’s not such a big emphasis on treating them nicely. Milne Bay doesn’t seem to be too bad, but dogs especially aren’t afforded the respect that they are in Australia or other countries). Kids are noisier here – it’s quite nice. Kids are allowed to be kids and run around and be loud without parents shushing them all the time, and nobody really cares because kids are just being kids.

Bush knives are everywhere. Someone walking along the side of the road with a big machete/bush knife is a common sight. Kids play with them all the time (which makes me nervous for their own safety), and they mostly seem quite competent with them. I guess they are taught to use them at a young age for around the house/garden chores. Cam wasn’t happy until he had bought his very own bush knife.

The smell of smoke continuously permeates the air. Papua New Guineans love to burn things. Most houses have a pit or black spot outside where they regularly burn their rubbish. This may be something they have done for a long time, however the nature of rubbish is changing and I can’t say I love it when I see plastics being burnt. Dirty feet are common as most people where no shoes, or thongs and when it’s not dusty, it’s raining and muddy. Still it’s nice to be somewhere that no matter how hard it’s raining it’s still warm and rather pleasant and refreshing to walk in.

Mosquitoes are not my favourite. While I never see them swarming, they turn up at random and sneaky times. So far not too many bites (random yukky skin thing may or may not have started with a mosquito bite), but am sleeping in a room with insect netting and a mosquito net, so hopefully we’ll be as safe from the little buggers as can be. Spiders occasionally like to hide under things, but they usually run away when they see you – not so tough after all.

People here are as strange and confusing here as anywhere else, just in different ways. Most people are quite pleasant, but when you walk somewhere they can look at you fairly fiercely until you smile and greet them; after that they are all smiles. While we haven’t encountered much of it yet, black magic and sorcery abounds. One of our housemates was asked to wash with special herbs his local girlfriend gave him – apparently he had been dealing with witches that didn’t like her family. We are also seeing all the politics that a small town will have. If you make an appointment with someone here don’t expect them to come when they say, and expect the event to either be much shorter, or twice as long as it is meant to be.

One of the most frustrating things I’ve encountered here is a brand new media centre that has been built and furnished for 3 years, but has not been used. The current radio station is next door, working on equipment that must have been second hand in the 80’s, and it’s only able to broadcast for a limited time each day so that they can prerecord other material in the one studio that they have to work in. In the media centre there are 2 studios and a recording room equipped with new and state of the art gadgetry – just makes me sad. Not sure about the politics behind that situation, but it just seems such a waste.

But this is all part of the experience. Photo description: the water scene is 50m from our house - where we go for swims and paddles on the canoe. The next photo is of the view from our house and some nice cloud formation - also shows how close the mountains are. Last photo at the bottom is of our house - Cam and I live downstairs!

On Birthdays and Farewells…

2006-05-09T11:41:00.000+10:00

Jane here. Well, as weekends go this one was jam packed. As many of you may know it was my birthday on Saturday and so celebrations were called for. Having not been in PNG for very long, we decided not to have a huge party to invite everyone we know, because, well, we don’t know that many people. But we had a nice bbq at EMB (my work).

People were very generous with their gifts and as a result I now have a woven bag, some traditional dresses (as attractive as they are – I like to say ‘matronly’), a cap and t-shirt, some wooden jewellery with carved jewellery box, a radio; and the pride and joy, a piano accordion. You might well be wondering what a piano accordion is doing in Alotau, PNG, and indeed we were wondering too. But I’ve learnt not to question the good things in life. This is only a learners accordion, and I hope the neighbors don’t get too cranky with me over the next 11 months.

I was lucky enough to have some special people to share the day with, and to be able to speak to people from home. The group photo is of some of our housemates – back row: Cam and I, Lyn and Stan, and front row: Serena and Tori. While Serena is not a volunteer, she often stays with us and is a workmate of Lyn’s. The other photo is of Maxine (my counterpart) and me. Stan baked a birthday cake for me and a farewell cake for Tori, which was pretty special and soo yummy – must get the recipe!

On a sadder note we said goodbye to Tori on the weekend as she has decided to go home and finish her Masters and perhaps become a volunteer again in the future. We drove to the airport early on Sunday morning and watched her get on the plane, then went back to the house for a feel better greasy bacon and eggs breakfast. Tori – the house seems empty without you!

We also said goodbye to another volunteer Bec on Monday morning as she has finished her stint here and is going back to Australia. On Sunday the boys bought and roasted a pig in traditional style as a final farewell for her. While I felt sorry for the pig, the gesture was a touching one. But I’m noticing that the number of females is dropping, the level of testosterone is almost a tangible thing!

So a pretty eventful and exhausting weekend. So much for the ‘quiet’ life in PNG!

Moses and the Dance Off...

2006-04-30T17:00:00.000+10:00

Well, one of the telling factors about any society is how they party…so obviously I was curious as to what our ‘first night out in Alotau’ would hold for us. Well, I can’t say we were disappointed. First let me give some background…

Moses Tau is one of the top recording artists in Papua New Guinea. He/She performs in male and female clothes, but probably identifies more with the female side. Moses is a very talented singer and is widely admired, and won some awards at the Sydney Mardi Gras in 2006 (I think).

He/She was at Education Milne Bay (Jane’s workplace) the other day recording some film clips for his new songs. Tori and I (Jane) were sitting there chatting and watching the proceedings when Moses asked for us to be in his film clip. The song was one promoting Milne Bay – a song with a tourism undertone – and some ‘dim dims’ were needed. So we had to sit there with flowers in our hair, drinking from coconuts in our daggy work clothes and ‘follow Moses to paradise’. So the first taste of stardom in PNG was fairly hilarious, and we are hoping it will come on EMTV (PNG’s music channel)…if we can possibly tape it we will.

So Moses was hosting a karaoke/Phillipino night at Masurina (one of the local drinking holes) last Saturday night – we decided this event was too good to miss and hence arrived at our first night out in Alotau. The night was proceeding with just a little bit of cask wine and traditional dancing when the dancers were asked to pick members of the audience as partners. Now most people reading this will know that I’m not at all averse to dancing, but I wasn’t sure about this traditional dancing, and so tried not to be picked. In the way of all things, when you want to be ignored, you aren’t, and so before I knew it I was up on the dance floor, with my dance partner Bosco. Bosco was wearing a loin cloth, creatively placed plant product and gold paint.

We were all dancing away when Moses decided that we should dance in groups, and the audience would eliminate couples until the winner was decided. Not knowing much about traditional dancing I did the age old “When in doubt, just wiggle your hips”, and that seemed to work quite well. It worked well enough that Bosco and I made it to the last two couples, and while we didn’t win, we lost to one of the well known local bosses. Not being the ‘favourite’, number two didn’t seem too bad, so I thought the evening was quite successful. Even better, Cam actually got up and danced at some point too, and photos were taken as proof.

So sleepy little Alotau can really let her hair down at times (especially when there are large groups of vocal women and alcohol combined!). Now we just have to test out the other drinking holes in town.

Coming Soon: our house, our life, our Alotau…

Some more shots...

2006-04-24T13:38:00.000+10:00

Hello folkies as we struggle to unravel the intericacies of our new jobs we've still found time to upload a few more photos for your viewing pleasure. This set basically involves some of the beauty of the hotsprings and gysers that we visited at Dei Dei on Fergusson Island, the cool flowery type thingys are shapes made by the minerals that seep out of the thermal vents... sometimes when the minerals encounter biological matter they do wonderous things like fossilizing the leaves that are held in Charlie the boat operators hand...very cool.

Just case you'd like to know how we did our travelling around we've included a photo of the boat that carried seven of us plus provisions into the teeth of the Cyclone, also included is a photo of the man who made sure we made it out the other side... Resident hand model and general all round good guy Charlie Graham the boat operator is also one of the original Village Engagement Trainers who has been with the project that Cam is working with from the start. He enjoys demonstrating coconut disection techniques on deserted beaches and driving boats into the teeth of tropical squalls.

The second type of underwater camera...

2006-04-22T16:30:00.000+10:00

It has long been the wisdom of those that dive that there are infact only two types of underwater camera...
Type 1. Those that have flooded with saltwater, rendering them horribly ruined beyond repair.
Type 2. Those that are going to flood with salt water, soon to be rendered horribly ruined beyond repair.

Given that we currently own one of the second type of underwater camera we thought it might be nice to share with you some of the shots that we got with it whilst clambering about in the Islands to the North of Milne Bay (Normanby, Fergusson & Dobu).

Not an overly long detailed description of each because we're still trying to establish the best way to upload the bloody things but hope that you enjoy them those taken underwater are only from a snorkel depth no scuba so those of you in colder and murkier waters eat your hearts out...

or just come and visit...

The joys of tropical tiredness...

2006-04-20T14:18:00.000+10:00

Well. We're here, we're safe and we're exhausted! First chance we've had to use the internet since we've been here. Partly from being busy, and partly because of the lack of internet services around the place.

So. Some good things about Alotau.
*The local beer SP is good. Very good. And seeing as wine and spirits are expensive here this has made me happy.
*There is red meat here, and we had spaghetti bolognese for dinner last night.
*Our house and housemates are all lovely. There is plenty of gardening potential as well, so all the seeds I bought will come in handy.
*Work is about a one minute walk away from the house for Jane, and a short drive for Cam.
*Lots of inexpensive fresh food from the markets. Also, lots of favourite foods can be found in the supermarket for varying prices.

Some not-so-good things.
*Alcohol is not able to be purchased from Friday to Monday.
*Lots of bugs and Cane Toads - there was an unfortunate incident yesterday where Cam found two living in is dive fins.
*Betel nut eveywhere - but then that is all over PNG. It's a nut that people chew with mustard and lime, which goes red, and people spit it everywhere. I saw a dog with betel nut spit on it yesterday :(
*No salt and vinegar chips.

But we've been having a great time so far. We spent a few days in Port Moresby for Orientation where we waited. A lot. Nothing happens quickly in PNG.
Highlights included the Mumu welcome feast, bamboo band, getting my PNG drivers license :), hanging out with all the other AYADs. Wasn't as impressed with our flight to Alotau being cancelled on Thursday, and then arriving at the airport at 4am on Easter Friday (as we had been told),only to have our flight leave at 11:30. Nothing like hanging around the departure lounge of an airport.

We arrived in Alotau and went straight out to Fergusson and Normanby Islands. We stayed in some great little guest houses, and got to see a bit of village life. It's pretty humbling to see how people are living without electricity or running water, and yet they are happy and making the most of life. It's not everywhere in the world that you can be woken up in the middle of the night because a pig is under your bedroom snuffling around and hitting the floor.

Over 4 days we went snorkelling in some of the most amazing reefs (I'm sure Cam will post some piccies soon), climbed a dormant volcanoe, went to some hot springs, and travelled around on a boat a fair bit - it can take a few hours to get between places.

We've been at Alotau a few days now, and we're starting to settle in. We'll add some photos soon, and perhaps I'll write a bit more about our first adventure. I've been very good (so far) and am keeping a journal, so I won't forget what happened.
So back to tropical life. Another disadvantage is the sweat, but something to get used to I suppose. We're really enjoying it here, but it is nothing like Australia.

The reassurance of the physical visa

2006-04-06T22:50:00.000+10:00

Ok. So it's one thing to know that you are theoretically going overseas. It's entirely more comforting and realistic once the passports and visas arrive in your hot little hands...and that's what happened today. Thank God!

So yes. After a weeks delay in departing the country, as a result of our passports being in transit, it's really nice to know that we will actually get to go this Sunday (it's also interesting to note that both our passports and luggage have been to PNG while we have not). We are still waiting on our airline tickets, but the passports will at least let us out of the country.

Now we actually have to clean up the clothes and various other travel items that have been scattered over the lounge room floor for the last few weeks (here our families breath a huge sigh of relief), get all our shit together and get out of here! We have a what we hope is a years supply of mosquito repellant, suncream and anything else we are not sure we can get in our small, Pacific town for the next year (care packages are always welcome!). But then hopefully the 10 bags/boxes we've already sent over will contain almost anything we could possibly need.

The exciting news is that after our orientation week in Port Moresby, we get some more Orientation in Alotau. Some of this will include visiting some islands in the province, going snorkeling (including in near underwater thermal vents), looking at dormant volcanoes, meeting villagers etc. So very exciting! And the volunteers over there are going to show us around (I'm kind of relying on them for any pigeon-english required). But we'll be sure to post the great pictures that we will get!

Signing off for now. Must get to fitting everything into our bags : /

Ok, so this isn't PNG...

2006-04-03T12:32:00.000+10:00

But it is Cam's graduation. And that's happy!

Cam graduated last Thursday. 6 years of uni, with 2 degrees and a first class honours year. The ceremony had two fantastic speakers - Ian Kiernan(from clean up Australia) and Robyn Williams(from ABC radio's "science show"). They were both awarded honorary doctorates of Science. Inspiring speeches and then dinner with good company - quite a nice night really.

This is also a picture of the cast of this blog Jane and Cam (hint Cam is wearing the graduation hat/trencher/mortar board thingy).

Day 1 of not being in PNG

2006-04-03T12:20:00.000+10:00

So. To get something on the page.

Was hoping to have some sort of plane trip by now, but unfortunately there was a delay in visas and so we are enjoying another week in Australia. Just as well really, seeing as we hadn't finished moving out of our houses...but also another week in which to enjoy all those culinary delights we aren't sure we will be able to have for another year.

So probably better get back to all that packing stuff. Might try and add some piccies soon.