Alive and Well

Hi All

PHOTOS: http://picasaweb.google.com/snailhugger/PNG?feat=directlink
Please let me know if you have trouble accessing

I have returned from Papua New Guinea and i am currently enjoying the luxury of being in Australia. I am visiting a couple of friends who are back at University of Queensland where I went to school in 2002 (yes that was a very long time and all the young students sitting next to me as I type are making me feel very very old!).

Should you wish to give me a call (It might be expensive I have no idea) my phone number here is +61 0419189266. 61 is the country code.

Oh where to begin about Papua New Guinea? It was great fun and full of excitement and wonder. I saw so much wildlife! The surveys consisted of bouts of hard work followed by lots of rest, card games, and tea. My co-workers (Jeff/Jefe, Chris, Oscar, and Martin) were fantastic. All were from the UK except Oscar who is from Kimbe Province in PNG. Martin joined us for my last few weeks in Waria Valley.

There are so many stories I could tell you that I don't know where to start. I also don't think I could sit still long enough. I hope you like the latest PNG Slideshow. I really enjoyed running about through the rainforest searching for these critters but subsequently having many of the village children show up at our house with them. The kids were really great. They would always great me with "Sista Cara ('Kawa'), you go now?" when I walked by.

Since my last blog we basically did a few more surveys. One was in Wiwo, a site about 2 hours up river by banana boat and up a rather steep rainforest covered mountain. It was picturesque and a bit cooler (it got down to around 23 degrees celsius one night). We got to ride back from the site on Buai Palm rafts. The little girl in the slideshow with the very long machete was our helper for the week at Wiwo. We also returned to Bowe for surveys. In my last weekend in the Waria, we all travelled down the coast to near Bau to a small school to teach about basic ecology for the day. I taught three classes (grades 6, 7, and 8). The kids were so well behaved, but not very interactive, so I found it quite different from here. A few of them asked me really interesting questions about what it is like in California....like what our houses looked like and what sports we play. Their world is so far removed from there and many of them would have rarely encountered television.

Chris and I ran out of time on our visas, our three months was up on Sunday March 1, the day we arrived in Brisbane. Due to transportation logistical difficulties, we left Waria on Monday, spent a night in Lae, then took a crazy PMV (dodgey van) ride over the mountains to Madang where we snorkled, relaxed, and ate and drank the kinds of things we didn't have in the valley. It was great! We also did an immense amount of shopping too. Chris joined me for a day in Brisbane before heading back to blighty. He should be back by now, freezing his tits off.

Brisbane is warm and glorious. Cheese abounds and I am having a great time catching up with friends.

Hope to catch up with you soon.... not sure how my next steps will align but I hope our paths will cross. Drop me an email or a comment here and say Hi.
-c