TRAVELLERS RETURN

9th February 2010

Back to reality! We returned on 23rd January and since we've been back, there have been several bouts of no electricity, no water and most distressingly, the phone lines are down, which means we were unable to let the family know we were back safely. Apparently phone lines had been down for several days, with no indication of when things will be fixed. The one man and his dog outfit jokingly called a telecommunications service, just can't cope. We complain regularly and every time we get a different explanation, 'landslide', 'the switchboard in Goroka' and the latest, 'you've been cut off for non payment of bills', whereupon John nearly flipped!! Hence this blog has had to wait until connection happens.

However, we've had a lovely long and very enjoyable holiday, which will make getting back to work very tough. It began with the arrival of Richard, Jo and Mollie and a week on Doini, an island off the south east tip of PNG. We were the only guests on the island until our last day, which was magic, so we had the full attention of the manager who couldn't do enough for us, plus our own private chef!

One of the highlights of the trip was the sighting of a dugong (sea cow) just off the coast and finding a squid when snorkelling. He didn't like being followed and tried a manner of disguises to try and put us off, from frequently changing colour to altering his shape as well! Mollie adapted incredibly well to the heat, the travelling and change in routine and of course charmed the whole place, so that we had to prise her away from the staff when we left!

We rented a different house in Kundiawa while they were with us, deeming our little box too small to accommodate all of us comfortably, much to the amusement of the locals, who seem to be able to cram huge numbers of bodies into their tiny abodes. The house worked well for us on the whole, having an orange tree in the garden, dogs, kittens and chickens. The down side was that there was an ugly rooster we christened 'Scraggy Neck' who drove us all mad with his crowing, which started around 4am each morning. We went prepared with a water pistol, which sat on the balcony and he provided target practise for anyone in range when he crowed. He got wise to it fairly quickly though and after one crow, which alerted the pistol shooter, he scuttled behind the chicken shed and continued his raucous racket in the knowledge that we couldn't reach him. However, other than that, we enjoyed our Christmas together and Ric and Jo made a very creative Christmas tree from banana leaves and crowned it with a gold star - very effective!!

The locals were fascinated by Mollie of course and every time we took her out in the push chair, men and women alike couldn't resist her chubby arms, legs and cheeks and kept pinching them!! Mollie took all this in her stride and when some of the locals over stepped the mark and asked her to shake hands, Mollie's response was an emphatic 'no'!

It all passed too quickly and too soon it was time to go, Ric, Jo and Mollie to a freezing UK and John and I to NZ, where a very kind cousin and his wife offered to lend us their motor home to enable us to tour round the South Island. We had a wonderful time, indifferent weather apart. The highlights, particularly for John the geographer, were getting up close to two glaciers and cruising up a fijord. What I don't now know about glaciation isn't worth knowing, from glacial striation and terminal moraines to hanging valleys!! We were able to get close up to fur seals who inhabit some areas of the coast and are enormous, and we watched the pups frolicking in the waves.

The best thing of all was whale watching, as we were very lucky and sighted 5 sperm whales, three of which treated us to their tail flukes when they dived into the depths - it was awesome! We really enjoyed the nomadic way of life and found the camp site facilities amazing, spotlessly clean with every amenity imaginable. The driving was easy, as the roads were quiet, so we found the whole experience immensely enjoyable and would have been quite happy to have continued for many more months, but alas work calls and we returned reluctantly to a very wet and hot PNG.

We've had some bizarre conversations lately. J&J stopping to talk to a teacher who was idling at the bottom of the road as we returned from a meeting.

J&J - "Hello Jonas, have you had a good day?"
Jonas - "Not really"
J&J - "Oh sorry - what was wrong with it?"
Jonas - "I've had to sort out a problem in my village."
J&J - "Oh"
Jonas - "My nephew had a SMALL argument with his wife and killed her."
J&J - "Ah"
Jonas - "The wife's tribe have burnt down a few houses and killed a few pigs in retaliation, but I have told my family not to respond."

J meets Senior Secondary Standards Inspector in town.
J - "Hello Mr Kepa, did you have a good Christmas?"
Mr Kepa - "Not really. One of the members of my tribe was murdered by my wife's tribe, so we've spent Christmas trying to mediate and prevent retaliation"
J - "Ah."

What do you say?

We feel as though we're on the home strait now. However, we got a shock in a staff meeting to-day. The Head teacher welcomed everyone back after the holiday and then us and announced we would be staying for another year!! When we corrected him he said, "Well, we wanted you to stay for another year and hoped you would!" NOGAT!!

There is much still to do, which should mean the time passes quickly. We are busy planning conferences and school visits and at the end of February we hope a new volunteer will arrive, so we have an induction and hand over job.

We are aiming to finish here at the end of June and are trying to make arrangements to visit a child we sponsor through World Vision in Cambodia on the way home. Then we hope to meet up to have a holiday with Lisa and Simon at a destination yet to be decided, though diving opportunities are paramount for John and Simon. Maybe Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia or even Africa - who knows?

Hope you have all survived the big freeze without mishap.

A very belated Happy New Year to you all from us both

XXX