THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN!

February 3rd 2008

The packing is horrendous - only 23kg!! John is charging around, keeping on the move in fear of being packed! I have this dastardly plan to remove some of his stuff from his case when he's asleep and slot in a few more of my shoes and face creams etc. He'll never notice until we arrive and it's too late - I'm not sure how divorce is viewed in PNG!!

We heard yesterday that we have a house to go to. On stilts, (is that in case of tsunamis or to keep out nasty beasties I wonder?) with a veranda overlooking a valley. Very old and in need of some repair, but apparently the villagers are all mucking in to paint and undertake repairs, which sounds promising.Quite large apparently (to what is it being compared I wonder?) but with no hot water. I believe there may be a fridge - ah well, one can't have everything and at least it's a step up from a mud hut!!

The children have been here for the week-end, and we've had a great time, though saying 'goodbye' wasn't easy.

Oops, John's stopped moving, so had better prod him into more packing. He's coming to the hairdressers with me tomorrow, to learn how to cut my hair - yikes!!

Will be back in touch from the other side of the world when we have internet connection, which may only be once a week.

Toodle pip for now from John and Jacquie