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 my stuff and and already hot and bothered. Luckily at 7.30 they were open, but they too could find no record of my flight - disaster. They sent me up to find a computer to check my emails - 2 more heart attacks as first I couldn't find change for the internet and then I couldn't find the email - gmail had helpfully put it in spam.... I got the reference and sped back to the office to discover that I hadn't told them my return flight was to Cairns - which was why they couldn't find it! Doh! So already feeling like an idiot I headed back to check in, paid the excess baggage and managed to board my flight to Port Moresby. The plane was the emptiest I'd ever been on, maybe a quarter full and we were very well looked after by the bored air crew!

As I emerged from the plane I was met by a group of men playing welcome music, much Like we had in Fiji, before heading to immigration to pay my visa. I had been looking around for people who might be in my Trekforce group but had no luck, so instead I wandered round Port Moresby airport by myself for about half an hour before finding Alice and Christine who were from the TPA and were there to meet us. The other 5 arriving shortly after me took ages to come out from the arrivals gate, so I had to entertain myself and the "National" journalist who was waiting for a photo of us all, whilst trying not to say anything too much he might quote me on, since I didn't really know enough about what we'd be doing to comment to the Press! Finally they arrived and I was instantly aware - and a bit concerned - of how young they all were! Tom was 20, Angus, Claire and Paul 19 and Callum only 18! They seemed to all know each other and I (stupidly) started to worry I wouldn't fit in and would feel old! They were friendly enough though and by the time we had been taken down to the domestic terminal, being stared at by hundreds of locals who were sitting around outside the airport building on the way, I had started to get excited. Luckily Alice and Christine managed to sort out our check in for the Airlines PNG flight to Lae as the terminal was heaving with people and we would have had no idea where to queue. We just piled up our massive heap of luggage on the scales and left them to it. We then boarded the most rickety looking plane ever and set off for Lae where we were to be met by Adam, Alex and Heni. The plane journey was an experience in itself, and the scenery we flew over was absolutely breathtaking and very wild looking. On arrival in intense heat we were bundled into a PMV, complete with cracked windows and falling apart seats, and were driven out of the city along incredibly pot holed roads with all the passing locals staring at us. We were driven up to the village of Gabensis, where we'd be doing our week of jungle training, where we unloaded our stuff, got kitted up in jungle gear and dumped the stuff we didn't need (such a relief!) before heading into Sam's garden where he had cleared and set up an awesome camp for us. We hung our hammocks and mossie nets all together under a makeshift shelter - no such thing as being eased in gently! - which was a bit cramped and left me knocking into either Paul or Angus if I turned over in the night, which inevitably, for the first night in a hammock, I did a lot! After sorting ourselves out we were introduced to our new method of washing - communal bathing in the stream! Theres nothing like a semi-naked bath to help you get to know people you are about to spend 2 months living with! It was a pretty complicated process trying to negotiate the mud when you were trying to get out without getting muddy or getting clothes wet, but we soon realised jungle cleanliness was all relative!

Sam's family had cooked for us on the first night so we feasted on chicken, rice, noodles and some local veg and potatoes - things that we were to become very familiar with. The next couple of days were spent being taught jungle skills such as fire lighting, machete use and how to not lose yourself. In the evening on day 2 Justine arrived which increased the number of girls to 3 and the number of over 20's to 4 which was a relief! It was weird seeing her reactions as we realised how much we'd already adapted after 24 hours in the "jungle", but after we'd known her a while we realised she would always have reacted more than us, even if we arrived together!! On day 3 we were presented with 3 chickens that needed killing and after Adam demonstrated with chicken no. 1 - Gertrude? the boys got stuck in and tackled the other two. I now understand the meaning of the term "running round like a headless chicken" it was pretty horrible. We (the girls) got involved in plucking and gutting the chickens, but managed to avoid the actual deed. Our last night at Sam's we encountered our first heavy rain, which resulted in several of the group having to move their hammocks and me spending the entire night getting wetter and wetter as the water soaked down my hammock - not pleasant!

We then trekked deeper into more jungly jungle for a bit more training. We set up camp, this time each clearing a space for our own individual bashas, Justine and I having to soak a tree in DEET to try and remove an ants nest in the process. We spent the next two days learning about surviving in the jungle from Sam and being shown how to build shelters, cook food like spiders and how to make traps for bandicoots and pigs! I managed to scare myself to death whilst heading to the long drop in the dark and coming across a pig rummaging in the slops pit. I then speared myself on the edge of the bamboo table whilst sprinting back to camp to escape it! ouch! No one else caught sight of the "phantom" pig but I insist to this day it was real!

We finished off in the jungle after five days, feeling pretty dirty, damp and slightly bored of eating tuna or 'mystery fish" and navy beef crackers and looking forward to some familiar food in Lae. We headed back to Sam's house where we met the latest and last 2 arrivals, Alicia and Andre - the team medic. After a last lesson from Sam on medicinal plants we jumped on the PMV and headed back to Lae en route to Salamaua, this time able to enjoy the scenery and local villages we past more than on the trip out, It already like I'd known these people forever!