New Britain

As I'm still trying to learn the different landmarks around the country, I sat in on a aeroplane flight over to New Britain. We were taking some translators out to meet up with another mission's helicopter so it could transfer them into their village.

There are some pretty amazing colours in the waters off PNG

 Unfortunately, whilst we could get within 2 miles of the airstrip, low cloud prevented us from being able to land. So went to a nearby airstrip to wait and see if the weather would improve.

To get mobile phone reception you had to go and stand on the other side of the 'haus win' where the guy in the blue shirt can just be spotted!

Being coastal, the weather here was better that day

 Typically, the cloud and rain had set in for the day, so we flew to the nearest town for the night. Moving meant we had better communications, a guesthouse to sleep in and fuel for the aircraft. Going home would have meant 4 hours of wasted flying.

I was a bit surprised to see this Land Rover, complete with British number plate, at the place we stayed

 The next morning the weather was lovely and we got into the airstrip without any problems.

Transferring the people and cargo between the 2 aircraft at the landing strip

 Apart from when Eyjafjallajökull erupted spectacularly on Iceland in 2010, I've not really had to worry much about volcanoes before. New Britain has a number of them that are active. Thankfully we get information from Australia about their status.

This photo was taken from the airstrip we landed at. The volcano is venting gas, but not emitting any ash.

We then headed home, enjoying some more of PNG's amazing scenery on the way.

An amazing blue river (the colour comes from the minerals in the hills that the river flows out of)

One of the many valleys that run through New Britain