Lauren –
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks! In between moving into a new apartment, starting a new job, filling in a thousand forms and practising driving in this crazy town, we have met some fantastic people! We were very lucky that my friend Sarah was having a big birthday bash a few days after we got out of isolation with lots of new cool people for us to meet!
It was the best way to start our adventure here in PNG. We spent the next few week checking out the local supermarkets (which I had severly underestimated – you can pretty much get everything that is avaliable in Australia!), picking up our new car and marvelling at the abundance of fresh fish at dirt cheap prices!
The thing to do here on the weekends is go out and enjoy the water. Since we arrived things have just started easing up here with COVID restrictions, so everyone is keen to get out of the house! We were invited on Joe and Kate’s boat for the day and jumped at the chance to explore!
Things were going so well, we made our way out aross the deep blue sea to ‘Fisherman’s Island’. We anchored off the white sandy beach and enjoyed all the beautiful star fish and sea life! The sun was very strong so after about an hour we decided it was time to head back…
As we tried to depart there was something very clearly wrong with the steering on the boat…it just stopped working! Panic-mode set in as we quickly drifted closer and closer to some very fancy looking speedboats. We resorted to using paddles to change our direction whilst quickly re anchoring. We called in on the radio to the yacht club for emergency assistance and spent the next hour sitting on the floor of the boat eating doritos and marvelling that the situation didn’t end up worse.
Thankfully the rescue boat came and towed us (extremely slowly) back into shore. It was a fantastic day I think made all the better with a bit of drama, and there were definitely worse places to be stranded.
Before we knew it another work week was over and it was time to explore again! We heard a group was going to a place called ‘crystal rapids’ and asked if we could come along. It was about an hour’s drive outside the city and a very scenic one! There had been the first significant rains for months a few days before so everything was very lush and muddy! We set up a bbq and some of us went for a swim in the river. Everyone promised that there were no crocodiles…
We spent a while thinking about what we would go as to a Halloween party that weekend. We are living out of a suitcase at the moment while we wait for our uplift to arrive – so we had to get creative! We spotted some facepaint in the shop and decided to be mime artists!
We were invited on a walking tour of the Bomana War Cemetry and had know idea what to expect. We knew it was going to be very moving as it is the largest single burial site of Australia soldiers in one place, but it was beyond our expectations. The grounds were immaculately kept and the whole place felt immensely peaceful. We made our way through some notable war heros and took it all in. We definitely will be back!
It’s been an amazing first month in PNG and we can’t wait to continue exploring. The next few months will hopefully be very busy in the lead up to Christmas with lots of end of year events and holidays planned. Stay tuned!
Far Away From Home 