We all needed a break after 3 weeks in Kamiatum, and were happier than ever to return to our rooms in the Salamaua Guest house. Mittie was there to welcome us and we were soon de-jungled with (cold) showers and dry clothes and after about an hour of foot surgery on my part and a quick lunch, Claire and I both went and slept for 2 hours on our beds, bliss! The first day was very much focused on relaxing and enjoying small luxuries like chairs and tables and not...

After just 5 days of jungle living it already felt like we were living off a very restricted diet, so when Adam suggested we visit the yacht club, the only decent ex-pat food serving establishment, we jumped at the chance. The "lot" burger then became the topic of many conversations for the next 2 months and was, in fact, what dreams were made of! After this brief taste of familiarity and an epic and slightly desperate sweep of the supermarket, we load...

I could see from waking up on the morning of my trip to PNG that nothing was going to be straight forward. After lugging my (excess) baggage on the train to Brisbane airport and arriving fairly early at check in I encountered my first problem. Pacific blue would not let me check in without proof of a return ticket - which I hadn't booked with them. For some strange reason they sent me to Qantas, who re-directed me down two floors to Air Nuigini - still lugging...

I'd spent too long getting here, which meant I only had 8 days to do the whole of Western australia - over half the country! Perth is the most isolated city in the world, so everything I did meant long coach trips on hot dusty roads! I started off spending two whole days trying to get my kit together ready for PNG. I still did not manage to do this but I did get most of it and could probably detail the exact loaction of every surplus/camping/trekking shop in Per...

I've run out of time - I'm hitting the jungle tomorrow and have not caught up with my blog, so am going to do a summary - as much for myself as you and will fill in the gaps when I'm back in the land of internet cafes! So I arrived at the scummiest hostel so far - in St Kilda, Melbourne. I was given the choice of 2 rooms - a mixed or a girls only. The girls only had a really strong smell of french soft cheese - yuk! my choice was made for me, but as it turned out...