The emergence of motorbikes....

Times, they are a-changin'

After my first couple of trips to PNG, a few people asked whether or not people rode motorbikes (like in SE Asia). After chuckling, with the slightest hint of condescension, I said no, it’s too dangerous. Besides the roads being of poor quality, the threat of being attacked or ‘bike-jacked’ would be too great.

However, in the past 10 months since arriving in Port Moresby, there has been a change. Little by little I am seeing more and more motorbikes on the roads. At first, it was the odd police motorbike. Then on one occasion, a group of expat guys arrived at the coffee shop I was at on their road-registered trail bikes. It struck me as odd, but figured that they must have felt there was safety in numbers.

And now I see at least two to three motorbikes everyday on the roads around Port Moresby. There’s the Dad that I see each morning taking his child to school on a bike near Boroko (wearing a bicycle helmet and thongs – I’m not even going there). There’s the middle-aged expat I saw yesterday riding some kind of cruiser that was nicely polished up. Not to mention the random nationals that I see around the place riding their bikes around town, too.

There really seems to be a change of atmosphere going on in POM, and the emergence of motorcyclists is just one of a number of minor observations that I’ve been making around town. I'm also seeing more and more expats walking freely on the streets. I’m not sure if this change is due to the recent Pacific Games, or what it is. However, it’s certainly refreshing to see more people (including expats) feeling much more comfortable and secure in what is generally considered an unpredictable environment.

What a difference a few weeks make.....

So, where were we?

I think last post I was talking about living at the Holiday Inn. Well, we've just moved out to a 2br villa out near the airport and are very happy. The sweetener was that we didn't have to pay a bond - awesome.

The downside is that we now have to pay for internet, electricity and gym fees (just like everyone else, really). And the commute to and from work/school is a bit further. However, where we are living is like a little village. We have a private courtyard, there's space for Matt and I to run, the kids can go exploring or bike riding. We've got a little IGA within the grounds, nice cafes and restaurants too. Matt commented to me yesterday that it feels more like a 'home'.

My biggest love of our new place is that we have an oven! Yes, an oven! At the Holiday Inn we only had a tiny microwave/convection oven/grill thingy that didn't perform any of those functions particularly well, and couldn't fit any cookware in it either.

Tonight, the kids are excited that we can make homemade pizzas because we can now fit them in the oven! Woot Woot! I even have a great paleo pizza base recipe that Matt loves, and allows him to eat 'pizza' with us.

It's the little things that make a big difference up here.

The most important and exciting news is that Mum is arriving today! I'm so excited to show her where we live. I'm heading off shortly to pick her up from the airport. Yay!

I will post some pics of our new surroundings soon.

Til next time....

We've hit the half-way point....

Today marks exactly 6 months since we arrived, and 6 months until we come home.

It feels like we’ve been here for a lifetime, and I mean that in a good way. While some of my family may not agree, this has been an amazing 6 months, and something that I never thought would ever be a possibility.

Whether we come home or not in 183 days remains to be seen.

There have already been discussions about the likelihood of a contract extension being offered. I’d love to stay a bit longer. I have suggested to some that the inclusion of school fees in any continuing contract would certainly sweeten the deal. However, our final decision will lie with the family as a whole.

Breanna has put in a request that our next overseas move should be to Fiji or Vanuatu – I like her thinking!

Whatever we decide, I have absolutely no regrets about embarking on this adventure to the ‘land of the unexpected’, or as I like to call it ‘ the land of the WTF’

Til next time…….xx

Sunday Serenity

Sorry for my rant the other day. I was feeling frustrated and torn and just needed to vent.

While our apartment might be tiny, it's still better than how many PNG nationals live. Plus, I can't put a price on the convenience of living so close to school and work. My colleagues that live in town are constantly complaining about the commute to Waigani. The traffic in Port Moresby is really bad. Between the terrible condition of the roads,  dodge cars, generally poor driving skills, and lots of congestion,  driving anywhere is often frustrating a slow.

As I'm sitting here by the pool, in resort style surroundings, I think that this place isn't all that bad. It's modern, clean and secure, with all the facilities that we need. Our apartment might not be spacious on the inside, but it meets most of our requirements, and it's a damn sight better accommodation than many of my colleagues have in the settlement areas.

In good news, my Mum is coming to visit next month. Yay! I can't wait to show her around. Matt is heading to Manila with some friends, so Mum will play 'house-husband' for a few days while I'm a work.

I'm going to try to climb back aboard the blogging wagon and post more regularly.

To finish, this is my view today

Til next time......

What to do?

So this is our dilemma. We’re living in a 2br serviced apartment at the Holiday Inn. It’s new, it’s clean, secure, there’s a pool, big grassed area, restaurant/bar, a gym, free satellite TV and internet.

But….it’s tiny. The apartment is essentially 3 rooms of similar size made up of two bedrooms and a central kitchen, dining a living area. The kitchen doesn’t have an oven, just a combined microwave/convection oven/grill that is about the size of a microwave, and the fridge can barely hold our weekly groceries The boys, because they stay home all day, are feeling isolated and trapped.

So we thought we’d look at other accommodation options. The problem is that anything we like either wants a 12 month lease minimum (I currently only have just over 6 months left of my contract), or they want and excessive amount for a rental bond – 6 weeks rent at K6,000 per week is K36,000 which we don’t have.

Matt is counting down until my contract expires and we can go home. However, Bree and I would love to stay for longer. In our current living arrangements there is no way Matt will budge on this. However I’m hoping he’d be happier if we moved somewhere where we’re not on top of each other, and thus possibly increasing our chances of staying a bit longer.

But we have such a sweet deal at the Holiday Inn – we have everything we need included (except space and other families around), we’re close to school and work, and we’re not having to fork out for expensive internet, electricity etc etc. The boy’s Homeschool meet ups are just across the road, and Matt can go to the gym every day. With the exorbitant cost of Bree’s school fees (just under AU$7,000 per term), we’re struggling to save any money, so getting all the inclusions at the Holiday Inn makes a huge difference.

However, some of these perks are also making life miserable. The unlimited wifi means Bree shuts herself in her room to stream music from YouTube and lives on Instagram. And having 3 TV’s with their own satellite decoder boxes has further fueled Lachie’s love of TV.

 Living up on the 4th floor keeps us fairly secure, but it means the kids can’t just go outside to play on their own. Plus the security guards tend to freak out if they see unaccompanied white kids roaming around the grounds.

It’s really hard when half the family wants to pack up and go home early when the other half want to stay longer.

Having said that, I am missing our beautiful ‘new’ house back home. We weren’t even there for a year before we packed up to take on this adventure.

But I’m genuinely loving it up here. It’s such a great adventure. Things frustrate the hell out of me every day, but its part and parcel of the experience. The official PNG tag line is ‘the land of the unexpected’, but I think that’s the politically correct way to say ‘land of the WTF?’ because I ask myself that question multiple times every single day.

I’m so confused and torn at the moment and there doesn’t seem to be any ‘right’ answer.

Sorry for the vent…….

8 weeks and going strong

I know I say it in almost every post, but I can't believe that we've been living (and thriving) here for 8 weeks. You know what they say - time flies when you're having fun.

We've been settling in nicely. We've almost become Friday night regulars at the Yacht Club, and Saturday lunchtime regulars at Duffy's. Matt & Lachie are having fun attending the parents groups, and Bree is still the social butterfly. She went and saw the latest Hunger Games movie with some friends on Sunday, which made her very happy.

I had been told that movies are quite often released earlier here than in Australia, but I was skeptical. But I've now seen that all the Christmas/Boxing Day releases in Aust will be out here in late Nov to early Dec. For example, the latest Hobbit installment will be released at the movies here on 11 December, rather than Boxing Day in Australia. For Lachie's upcoming birthday, we're planning to go and see The Penguins of Madagascar which is released here on 27/11 (tomorrow), but not is Aust until 1st Jan.

I was expecting that our shipment of 'stuff' would be arriving tomorrow. However, I've just received an email to say that the ship that will be transporting the container only left Sydney yesterday for arrival next Thursday. I'm getting used to things in PNG going slow, but to have our stuff departing Sydney 9 weeks after it was packed and removed is ridiculous. By the time it arrives here, is unloaded, passed through customs and delivered, we'll probably need to pack it all up again to come home.

I haven't got as many interesting pics to share today, but some are better than none:

My boys playing soccer. There aren't a lot of 'green spaces' around the place to do this type of thing. Even most housing estates and compounds don't have a grassed area. We are very lucky to have this space to use at the Holiday Inn

A car on it's roof is not that much of an unusual site here in Port Moresby. What was unusual was where it landed. I have no idea how it managed to get on it's roof. However, the local riff-raff had already stripped it's wheels. The following day, the paper reported that it was still there, waiting to be removed by it's owner (or whoever else removes cars here) Can't say I've ever seen a tow truck here.

The letter of the day is 'T'
While Lachie looks less than impressed, he was actually laughing his head off.
Badly timed photo!

Sometimes the best pillow to fall asleep on is Dad's butt - even if it is a bit smelly.

Counting down 'til Christmas

Flights are booked and we're coming home for Christmas - WooHoo!

There was a bit of conjecture initially as to whether I could fly home without losing my tax-free status. However, I've now confirmed that I will still meet the 91-day foreign engagement obligations, so I can go!

We've been here now for 6 and a half weeks, and it feels normal to be here. Matt flew back to Australia last weekend and said it felt weird. He couldn't believe how good the service was at hotels, restaurants and shops - he's obviously become too accustomed to the crappy service provided in PNG - ha ha.

We got hit up for our first 'scam' on Saturday, but it was admittedly my own fault. When I picked Matt up from the airport on Sat, I parked in a spot that I didn't really think was a car park, but it was shady and there were no signs to say I couldn't park there. When we returned to the car, two of the security guards hit us up to say we couldn't park there and had to pay a 50 Kina fine. They also told me if I didn't pay then and there that they would report me to the governing body and that I'd have to pay 'big money'. While I wasn't bothered by their threat, I put them on the spot by asking them for a receipt (they obviously couldn't give me one because they were scamming me). However, because we had the kids in the car and I had actually done the wrong thing, I just paid the money. If I hadn't done the wrong thing, I would have argued the point, but it wasn't worth it. The big lesson in this was don't make yourself a target.

To finish up, here are a few more pics of life in Moresby:

Miss Bree at 'March Girls' black beach

iPad Style? I don't think so...

Mobile phones have been instrumental in treating childbirth complications and death.
See, mobiles aren't all bad

My gorgeous monkeys

Distance education for my Lachie Bear

Best. Waffles. Ever!

Matt & Bree at the Nature Park

The REAL reason I love it here

Hanging with our new 'besties' at the Yacht Club

Til next time........

Some days you just need to vent.....

While it’s been good to write about all the interesting and fun(ny) stuff, sometimes you just need to vent to get the crappy feelings out. The last 24 hrs have left me feeling deflated and crap.

Yesterday, we went out to a ‘resort’ (I use that term loosely) for a BBQ picnic in a convoy. While it was nice to escape the city, we felt like we were stuck there because we couldn’t leave to come home on our own. We had to wait for other’s to leave with us for security. We were going to go for a swim at the beach, but after finding broken glass and empty food tins, we decided against it. PNG has a real issue with rubbish. There is no infrastructure to cater for household and other waste, so the sides of the road are just lined with garbage. Sometimes they’ll set fire to it, but the sheer amount we saw on the way to the resort was deflating. There seems to be no sense of responsibility or pride in their lands. I have always said that PNG could be so beautiful, but it’s not. It’s such a shame.

I’ve always found it amusing that the national’s like to stare at us ‘whities’, particularly the kids. But yesterday it just got to me. Yes, we’re white, get over it! It also started getting to me that being white meant that market sellers like to (a) eagerly harass you to buy their stuff; and (b) then double or triple the price of their wares. While I like to support the market sellers, it gets to me that I’m seen as a meal ticket.

Having said that, I now have a greater appreciation of what indigenous or new Australian’s must feel in a predominantly ‘white’ society.

Matt is also feeling a bit down. Especially after having to be reliant on the convoy yesterday, he’s feeling isolated and stuck. To his credit, he really has been trying by stepping out of his comfort zone and putting himself in more social situations. But being stuck in a compound, usually without a car, is getting to him.

Last night and this morning I’ve been suffering from my first tummy bug. Together with my first tropical head cold, and the power going on and off several times (making all the appliances ‘ding’) made for a crappy night’s sleep. Having no accrued sick leave yet, meant that I had to drag myself to work this morning. I knew I needed some Sudafed, but found that they don’t stock the ‘good stuff’ here (pseudoephedrine), only the crappy replacement one that doesn’t work (phenylephrine).

The silver lining of my little cloud is that I now, really REALLY truly appreciate and love Canberra and Australia. While I did have some sense of appreciation, being here has really made it clear how wonderful and lucky our life at home is.

Thankfully, tomorrow is another day.
Til next time……

It's been 4 whole weeks!

Can you believe it? We’ve now been living and functioning in a foreign country for 4 entire weeks, and in the world’s 3^rd least liveable city, no less!

What’s it been like? Well, it’s been exciting, terrifying, awesome, interesting, entertaining, humbling, exhausting, stressful, frustrating and amazing all at once.
There are things that I love, things that drive me nuts, and things that make me shake my head a laugh.

I also need to stop making naïve assumptions based on my Australian/First World experience. For example, I made a comment to an Aussie expat about how woeful PNG driving standards are and wondered out loud how some people were able to get their driver’s licence. He shook his head and laughed at my assumption that everyone would have a licence.

On the serious side, we’ve been advised that security incidents and robberies tend to increase here in the lead up to Christmas, so to be extra vigilant. The Port Moresby Nature Park that we visited a couple of weekends ago was held up with makeshift guns on Sunday afternoon, and two people were shot. There was also an armed robbery near the Australian High Commission compound in Town. Having said that, I am still yet to hear any gunshots myself. One of my other colleagues said she hears them from her compound almost every night. There have also been reports of a few riots and political uprisings around the provinces, namely Lae, Mt Hagen and Oro. However, there hasn’t appeared to be any of those in Port Moresby since we’ve been here (touch-wood).

To finish off, we had an awesome weekend last weekend. Saturday was a jam packed day. In the morning we set off to the Ela Beach Markets to check out what they had and to watch a ‘sing-sing’. Afterwards we went and did the grocery shopping then headed to the International Food Day at Bree’s school. Many families brought food from their homelands to share, and it was amazing. It was a great experience to be at an international school, eating homemade international cuisine, surrounded by people from all corners of the globe. After our busy Sat, Sunday was a nice leisurely day, just hanging out and swimming at the pool. Our whole weekend reminded me that these experiences are the reason I took the job and brought the family with me.

I was going to post some more pics, but I'll be here all day waiting for them to upload. I'll try again later.

Finally, is anyone reading this blog? If so, please leave a comment so I know who you are.

Till next time....


Gorgeous dancers from Bougainville



My boys enjoying the international food

International Food Day

Finally, some pics to share...

Today has been a fabulous day. The sun was shining, and we had a great family day together. Things are really starting to feel normal, and today was the first day that I didn't wake up feeling nauseous - it was such a relief.

So, as promised, here are some pics that I took today.

First up, here are some pics that I took from our balcony, this morning:

The grey roofed building is the other side of the complex. In between is the pool. In the bottom left, you can see the craft markets set up

On the 3rd Sat of each month, there are craft markets in our compound:

 We were really surprised to spot this awesome car out the front of our apartment building this morning. Given that car-jackings are a real threat, I would be pretty nervous driving this baby around town...

 Our new favourite coffee shop is called Duffy's. Its just down the road from Bree's school. From the front, it doesn't look like much. However, once you pass through the security gates, it's like a little piece of civilised heaven (and their coffee is the best in town).

 They also make awesome crepes

Grocery shopping is always an adventure - you never know what random stuff you'll find. Today we found scented tealights from IKEA - can't get those in Canberra (yet).

 And while groceries are expensive, they're not as expensive as we had anticipated - except for fresh milk. That stuff is ridiculously expensive compared to home. Most people (and us) just buy UHT milk (K4.95 for Devondale - about $2.30). However, once our coffee machine arrives, we've decided to treat ourselves to fresh milk once a week. You can see the milk below is K23.95 - that's about AUD$11.00 - for 2 litres!

Til next time........

Another week down......

....and things are starting to feel 'normal'. I'm beginning to feel more at ease and settled here.

Last post I talked about my hideous driver's licence photo. Well, Matt had his done, and while it's not as bad as mine, it was still pretty terrible. I don't know why, but they made both of us tuck our chins in, and the results were not attractive - LOL!

On Sunday, Bree & Lachie were hit with a tummy bug and were really unwell. Lachie was sick again on Tuesday, and they've both been a bit washed out from it. Then Matt came down with something similar last night. I'm still trying to work out how a grown man can moan and complain more than his kids did when they were sick together!

On Wednesday, we visited Duffy's, which is supposed to be the best coffee shop in town. I have to say we were pretty impressed. From the outside, it doesn't look like much, but once you pass through the gates, it's like a little oasis. Coffee was good and strong. It's more expensive than anywhere else for coffee, but it was worth it. We're planning to go again on the weekend, and hopefully it will be our replacement café for our usual Saturday family cuppa.

I finally got to open a local bank account on Tuesday, but it will be another fortnight before I get my card. Until then, we're still having to pay a fortune in overseas transaction fees using our Australian Cards.

Tomorrow we're planning on going to the Holiday Inn craft markets. I'm hoping to get myself a good sized billum to use as a cross-body handbag.

I promise to upload some pics soon.

Til next time.......

First week recap

We've survived our first week in Port Moresby - yay!
To say I've been on an emotional roller coaster is the understatement of the year. However, the nagging doubts are slowly fading and life is getting easier.
Bree is so happy with her school that she thanked me for bringing her PNG. That has eased my concerns quite a lot. Matt & Lachie are developing a good routine with Lachie's distance education program. We should receive a parcel in the next week or so with work and reading books for him to use. Having said that, Lachie's missing his best buddy from home. Hopefully we can schedule a Skype call for them in the next couple of days.
On Tuesday I finally got my PNG driver's licence. OMG, it took over two hours and the photo is absolutely hideous. The photographer kept telling me to put my chin down, which made my double chin squish out, and because of that I had to almost look upwards, so my eyes look deranged. The best way to describe it is I looked like the alien guy from Men in Black that wore the people's skin.
We've also been making use if the wonders of iMessage. It's enabling us to text home without the international charges - sweet!

So it's been nearly a month......

Oops. I've well and truly fallen off the blogging bandwagon. My excuse is that the past month has been crazy, which it has.

The biggest news is that we're in Port Moresby (finally).

It felt like such a mammoth effort to get here, and after 3 days in-country, we're starting to feel some level of normality. To say we were feeling the effects of culture shock would be the understatement of the year. I was terrified that we'd made the wrong decision. Both Bree and Matt were freaking out and my protective mothering instincts were in overdrive. Adding to the stress was that our accommodation was pretty average, and my favourite uncle died on the day we arrived.

It really has been a hard week emotionally for all of us.

ON the good side, we've moved into much more suitable accommodation at the Holiday Inn in their brand new apartment building. They also provide free WiFi - sweet! I also got the keys to my car today and have managed to not only drive it, but successfully navigate my way around. We also took Bree to see her new school. The Principal was so lovely and welcoming, and the students all seemed to like her. The girls in Bree's new class all flocked to say high. They were so excited to have a new girl in their class, and a few of them know her friend from her Aussie school who lived in PNG previously.

We're still a little nervous, but the anxiety levels are dropping as time passes on.

Til next time.......

Day 23: If I won the lottery....

We've always wondered and dreamt about what we'd do if we won it big on the lottery, so here's my ideas of what I'd do.

• Invest! Before I went absolutely nutso with my winnings, I'd talk to a financial adviser about creating a diverse investment portfolio to ensure we set ourselves up for the long term.
• Secretly pack our bags and fly Matt & I to Egypt without him knowing where we're going. Matt has always loved ancient Egyptian 'stuff', and I'd love whisk him away to see it in real life.
• Gift some of it to my family - the amount would be dependant on the amount we won, but I'd like to help them all out.
• Donate a fair amount to charity - I'd probably choose smaller, lesser known charities that don't get the support or funding that the big name ones receive. While I think big charities organisations such as the Cancer Council and Breast Cancer foundation are worthwhile, there are many other smaller and lesser known charities that are just as deserving.
• Travel, travel and more travel! Where do I want to go? Everywhere!
• Give up paid work and become a volunteer.

So there you go!

In other news, today was my last official day of work in Australia. I celebrated by taking the whole family to get our travel vaccines. Needless to say, we are all feeling very sore and sorry for ourselves this evening.

Lachie has also been approved for distance education, which is another thing I can check of my to-do list.

Til next time.....

Day 22: My worst habits

Today's topic is a good one, albeit a little confronting. So let's jump into the thick of it!

Procrastination
This really is a bad habit of mine. Even worse is that I always say "next time I won't leave it to the last minute", but I always do. I'm not sure why. A little bit of laziness combined with an ability to do my best work under pressure is probably what drives this habit to continue.

Swearing
I know it's bad, but I often blurt out obscenities if I do something by mistake. My word of choice is 'sh*t', and it's spoken almost as a reflexive action without any conscious thought. It can also be embarrassing, especially when I'm playing sport and I miss or drop a ball, or step (in netball).

Pimples
I know it's gross, but if I have a pimple it MUST be squeezed. No ifs, no buts, no coconuts, it has to go!

OK, that's enough honesty for one day.

Til next time.....

Day 21 - What makes me sad?

There are lots of things that make me sad. The number one thing being seeing my kids or husband sad and down. However, my sadness about the world in general all comes down to one thing - ignorance.

Ignorance is what fuels intolerance, fear, racism, and discrimination (to name a few). Not only does it make me sad, it makes me angry, particularly when used to oppress and deny people of their basic human rights.

I don't like thinking about things that make me sad. However, I acknowledge that 'brushing it under the carpet' for my own happiness does not make the issue go away, and to be honest, probably diminishes the issue somewhat.

What makes you sad?

Til next time.....

Day 20: What makes me happy

Today's topic is easy - my kids and husband being happy is what makes me my happiest!
What was my happiest moment today? Watching Lachie score his first ever goal in soccer! So much pride and happiness abound!

Short and sweet today. So til next time......

Day 19: My Favourite Movie

Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. I did remember, however I wasn't feeling too well so I took a day off from blogging.

Today's topic is my favourite movie. That's easy: The Sound of Music. I love love love the Sound of Music. IT is my all time favourite. Some other faves are:

• The Wedding Singer
• Reality Bites
• The Blues Brothers

In PNG news, The highschool Bree was enrolled to attend next year will allow us to defer her enrolment rather than withdraw. We're so relieved. Today I had me employment medical, had two removal companies come to give quotes and mailed off Lachie's distance education application.

I've also started looking at rental accommodation in Port Moresby. I think we'll probably look at staying in serviced apartments initially until our container arrives, then move into our own place.

If everything goes to plan (visas etc) I'll be leaving Australia to start our adventure in 3 weeks, with Matt and the kids joining me at the end of term 3.

Things are getting exciting (and busy) So, til next time.....

Day 18: A picture of me

Do I really need to share a pic of me? Really? Crap, I really don't like pictures of myself.

OK, so here's a selfie that I snapped of Lachie and I at the ANU on Sunday while we were waiting to see Col. Chris Hadfield (Canadian Astronaut).

Now that that's over with, I was given awesome news the Bree has been given a placement at our preferred international school in Port Moresby. It feels like a (small) weight has been lifted of my shoulders, and removed some uncertainty about our relocation.

Til next time......

Day 17: My favourite blogs

I've never really followed any blogs. However, I have been reading a few about expat life in PNG since applying for my new role up there.

A couple that have been really informative are:

• http://kiwiexpat.com/ 
• http://expatsinpng.wordpress.com/ 
• http://hotstrongcoffee.com/

In other news, the kids school had a teachers strike for half of the day, today. So I decided to take the day off and keep the kids home. I managed to speak with another real estate agent today, organised 2 removalist companies to come around to quote for the uplift and storage and sold off Lachie's loft bed - i need a good lie down, now.

Not much else to report. So, til next time......