The Work Begins

So today I actually started that whole work thing. With Martin heading off in 2 weeks, I’ll be spending (plans, plans, plans) nights working to understand as much as possible. As usual with not-for-profits, the accounting is somehow more complicated than it would otherwise be – and there are varying acquittal requirements across the world from different funding sources. Should be fun.

For those that haven’t heard, there’s a fair amount going on about whether the new General Secretary will actually start or not (Father Tennyson)… so all adds to the fun and games, and the hand-over possibly being larger than expected.

To Lae

Flight to Lae is 45 minutes. Drive from the airport to centre of Lae is about 45 minutes – depending on your suspension. The potholes are of gargantuan proportions. They’re potholes that you wouldn’t so much as ‘hurt your car’ as sometimes you may not ‘be able to get your car out again’…

The actual flight is the tropical equivalent of flying over the Swiss Alps. Wow. Winding rivers through huge ranges. Ocassionally you'll see an airstrip and a small village/town. About 2/3 of the population of PNG is concentrated through the 'highlands' region - the centre of the country there.

Met up with Martin (current boss for 2 weeks) at the airport and Gai - one of the people who work in the National Office, and back to the compound... which is lovely, but more on that another time.

Arrival & Orientation in Port Moresby. Sunday. Sometime in the Afternoon.

Usual Customs/lines/immigration fun and games. Met by a couple of other Australian Volunteers – Rick Steele, Director of Anglicare for PNG, and Marian – working with the Ministry for Community Development. Very, very nice of them to truck to the Airport on our arrival – considering the van for the Comfort Inn was there anyways etc. Very nice. Anyhoo’s – off to a mid-range Inn. The Lonely planet describes the place as “the rooms are uninspiring” – which is usually code for “watch out”. However this place was fantastic really. The rooms were certainly bare – but the place was great. Green as you like throughout the compound, secure (as with all places in Moresby I saw which weren’t a village), small pool, meals provided each day… friendly staff who were happy to help us with our pidgin… So – next time you’re in Moresby - stop off at the Comfort Inn – pick up and drop off from the airport and all.

The next 5 days, with us 4 volunteers and 4 vols from JICA (Japanese equivalent of AVI) was with the National Volunteer Service. This included daily lessons in pidgin (half of each day) – and lots of extras. Traditional (well, for one region) learning of cooking on the first day (I am now looking forward to the market and buying fresh fish and cooking. Sure I’ve said this sometime before in my past, but we’ll see in Lae.) Involved heating up the rocks for about 20 minutes and cooking big pots with the hot rocks.

The for the rest of the week – (each of these is a story) National Cultural Commissions, parliament house, National Museum, Botanical Gardens, Anglicare-STOP AIDS program, visits to the market, Ombudsman Commission, University PNG (where they’d organized all the deans to line up and meet us, then, as usual, we were horrifically late and they all went to their next meetings ). So it was pretty good, if alllll on Islander/PNG time and organization. James, our Pidgin teacher, was particularly good value, and was full of stories. So… I’m starting to get the rudimentary bits of Tok Pisin. My longest sentences to date involve me walking down to a beach and catching fish in a canoe – but it’s sure to improve in Lae.

We met a number of fascinating ex-pats at the Comfort Inn. One German anthropologist couple had just spent (in x2 separate villages) 1 year living up in the Sepik region. Full immersion to learn the family trees, way of life, music, cultural norms etc. The lady loved the bettlenut, the guy told me where to get Benson & Hedges Lights in Boroko-Moresby down the street.

There were new stories every day in Moresby – some of them I’ve scrawled into another journal and/or written by hand to certain peoples – so I wont double up too much. I tried Bui (Bettlenut), bought a sim-card, met and then got a lift to the nearest ATM (10 min drive) from the PNG National Head of the ANZ bank (thanks Margaret :->) outside a burnt-down building in Boroko – port Moresby. Finally, after getting sick, re-packing, and watching us kick the Irish in the international rules, I didn’t get charged for overweight baggage on the way to Lae. Happy Nathan.

Getting to Moresby

I’ve arrived and been in PNG for a week+ now – in Lae – about 45 minutes flight north of Port Moresby. For those I didn’t bombard with information prior to leaving, it’s on the northern coast of PNG – and is the second largest town in the country.

But I’m ahead of myself.

For those that didn’t see me after the going away party @ Flor, there was a few delays on the way to Moresby – Visa’s being a tricky business in PNG. So there were a few extra weeks tacked onto an already ‘extended’ application process with Austtralian Vols International. Having chatted to a lot of volunteers since, I wonder whether this is by some strange design meant to weed out people who aren’t really sure they want to go – but it’s just the nature of the game.

So after a spectacularly large amount of food and drink at a nice place down in St.Kilda on Fri., and more than a few tears on the way through for me vis a vis good friends and the lovely lady on Sat./Sun., I jumped a plane for Brisbane with slightly puffy eyes at 5am on a Sunday morning, 23rd of October. Good work Ben on being up that early. The Qantas man took to my tale of volunteering for 2 years with a quick ‘don’t worry about that overweight baggage’ – and all was well.

Brisbane airport has a train running between the domestic and int. terminals… that’s about the most exciting thing about Brisbane airport. Tho I was grateful to get some smaller Kina notes changed before entering PNG. Plenty of flights daily between Bris/Moresby– but still a packed flight. Hooked up with the other 4 AVI’ers at the airport, almost all of us having oversized baggage… of course.

It’s a 3.5hr leg to Moresby is all from Brisbane. Not so far to visit! . The leg to Brisbane was quiet – me being the emotional equivalent of pulped kai kai in the Lae sun – but no such respite for the Bris-Moresby Leg.

This dude next to me had a slightly wild-eyed look about him after the first ‘New Guinea Ice’ beer. Nice enough, but with a few twitches in the eyes and a difficult to explain attitude. Turns out he manages a bit of a road building company out of Mt Hagen called Global Constructions (based out of Moresby so he says). So I was straight into the ‘how much do you pay the labourers per hour’ sorta questions, and asking about how life was in the company. Didn’t take much for him to get started on the stories (and for each of us to start another beer). So, this guy has ended up, a few years ago, marrying a local girl. This dude is 40+…, and the girl he’s married is in the PNG National Soccer team this year. Anyhoo’s – so he’s been fully adopted by the village/Wantok and they’ve adopted him. They’ve built a house for him, and he’s still flown back by the company to Australia every 2 months, so he bring back lots of presents also. Laboring rates round Mt Hagen are 1 Kina per hour – normally 10-12 hour working days. [Remember that it’s $1AUD = 2.2Kina. The comparisons aren’t necessarily valid – not because of the cost of living, but because 70-80% of the population don’t participate (or can’t – depending on your view) in the employment/cash economy].

The stories then degenerated into stories about ex-pat workers who got into trouble with local women – married or un-married back home… and continued to degenerate.

DELAYED!!

Yes, yes - I've been delayed.

Original Estimated date of departure-: October 9th

New Estimated date of departure-: October 23rd

So... the current General Secretary of the Anglican Church (UK accent, not sur eof rest of background) who's been there for 25yrs+ and doing the majority of the accounts is leaving in November... which meand this delay makes it (maybe) a weeks hand-over as opposed to a months hand-over! Nasty, nasty.

On the plus side, I get to hang out in Melbourne town with the girlfriend for a bit longer and see the family/friends a lil more... one can't complain really! :-). A friend asked me if I'll 'have another going away' - No! But maybe a quiet drink at Stu's on the 21st...

A Quick Syd-a-ney Trip

Went to Sydney for a bit last week with Bec - it was a bit warmer up there!

Managed to catch-up with Bec's brother-in-law (Jorsta), eat at a speshial Czech restaraunt, get some ferry action, amble around the rocks, buy me some comfy sandals and cheap shorts for O/S, and do a little sleeping in in-between...

Ahhh... Syd-aney. So touristy in the centre that it's not really worth your sitting and eating there (I'll be avoiding the rocks and darling harbour from now on methinks), but in many other ways alot 'more' than Melbourne in the city surrounds and variety. Don't think I'll ever be a full Sydney convert (too many good friends in Melbourne!), but I could be tempted up there for a stint.

It was a lovely trip down memory lane from kidddy visits to Melb., and a relaxing week all-up. Thanks to Grandma& Grandpa & Uncle Bruce & Aunty Anne and Michelle & Stephen & Uncle Greg for making it to lunch!