Half way...

We thought you might like to see the bump!

I am 20 weeks and 3 days. And excited. Very! Praise God for this wonderful gift!

Pizza Hut, Meetings and Magnums

Earlier this month some of my colleagues and I hopped across the border to the Indonesian side of the island. The aim was to visit a sister organisation there and have a reminder of the ‘human’ factors at play when flying and making decisions.

 

We flew up to Vanimo, just on the PNG side of the border, in a Kodiak.

 

From there we travelled to the border by PMV (public motor vehicle).

 

There are lots of beautiful rivers which run under the road and out to the nearby sea.

 

The border itself can only be crossed on foot, but it was a painless process on both sides.

After clearing customs, we were collected by some of our colleagues who work on the Indonesian side.

The Indonesian side has a different feel to it, with lots of rice paddies near the road.

 

There was also a slight change of architecture!
 

But there were still familiar enough roadside markets.
 



However, we didn’t stop for lunch here, we went instead to Pizza Hut. Being roughly the same distance from us as mainland Australia, it’s probably our closest! A treat indeed (but don’t tell Trudie).

 

The next day was a chance to relax and we drove down to the coast for a short hop round to a local beach.

 

 

 

The jetty we launched from, with our transport tied up along side. Looks like we’re in for a rough crossing!

 

The more traditional style of boat (though the outboard may not be totally historically authentic).



Some of the kids were a bit bored – ‘Do we have to go to the same beautiful beach with wonderful snorkelling again?’!

 

 

Eventually, I suppose, we had to get round to doing some work.

 

 

Their new hanger.

 



Out with the old – a Helio Courier waiting to be retired…





 And in with the new – the Pilatus PC6.

 

 

Each evening, as we’d been working so hard, we rewarded ourselves with Magnum ice-creams from the local shop. Mmmm.

 

But it couldn’t all be hard work, and I got the opportunity to go kayaking on the nearby lake with a couple of the pilots; even if it did entail leaving at 5:15AM. Urrgh.

 



The boats were hand-made by the guy who took us – beautiful.

 

And if you’ve been working hard, there’s this appetising drink to refresh you…

 

Maybe not the name I would have gone with.

 

But don’t worry, buying it won’t break the bank, even if it might seem like it at first glance…

 

 

Who wants to be a millionaire?

Eventually it had to be over, though, I guess.

 

So we reversed our route back to Vanimo.

 

 

The Vanimo beach.

 

And flew back home.

 





Marmalade Cordial and the Queen

Duncan has been away this week, so I have had to get used to being here on my own. He will be home in about two hours and my conclusion for the week is that I prefer it when he is here. Obviously. However and somewhat surprisingly, I have still had a good week.

I won't bore you with all the details, but it seems that life has suddenly got busy. Let's take yesterday as an example.

I was up at 6.15 in order to go to market. Local people come onto the centre and sell fruit and vegetables to the community three mornings a week. The biggest thing I noticed about it when I first went, was how quiet it was. There is no bartering, so you just choose and pay. Juggling all the bags is the biggest challenge for me! Having entertained some local ladies with my antics in past visits, I was determined to do better this week. Experience has taught me that the best equipment is a large bucket and a large string bilum (bag) filled with plastic bags for keeping small, squishy things (like strawberries, which you buy in piles) from going everywhere (not that that has happened to me...well, maybe it has, MUCH to the amusement of those around.) As long you buy your pineapples and heavy veg before your tomatoes all goes well - obvious you might think, but I have learned the hard way. In my defence, it is difficult to be organised when you are half asleep and easily distracted...but, I am happy to report that I survived market without incident yesterday, which makes for fewer entertaining stories, but made me happy. Pride goes before a fall, so clearly I will have a story to tell next week!

I struggled back up the hill with my purchases and began the process of bleaching, washing and zip-lock bagging. It's a bit tedious, but I must say that it is quite pleasing to behold your fridge full of neatly (well ok, maybe not that neatly) stacked bags full of clean food, all ready to undergo the undoubtedly exciting process of being cooked/chopped/manhandled by me.

Then I walked back down the hill for school. I have Grade 8 first thing and we started work on 'Literature Circles'. It involves the students choosing books to read and then forming small groups to discuss and log about their reading experiences. Should be fun. I wish I could be in a group... Next was Grade 8 again, but this time for drama. This term I am helping the drama teacher get the class ready to perform a play in 5 weeks. It's a short one based on fairytales, but with lots of amusing twists. The students are really excited!

Back up the hill and home, in time to have lunch with lovely new friend and Tok Pisin teacher, Leon. She taught me the days of the week and the months of the year and we even looked at a few pages of 'Hello' magazine (thanks, mum).  I tried to explain that my mum had sent it to me, but I don't think I said the right thing, because Leon pointed at the photograph of the Queen on the front cover and said, "Mama bilong you?" (which means, "Is that your mother?") I told her who it was and we laughed for about five minutes. Good times.

Back down the hill (are you sensing a theme here?!) for school again - Grade 7 this time. They are great fun and we always laugh far more than I am sure we should!

Back up the hill again (!) to clean, cook and get ready for having a girls' supper party (I won't say 'dinner party' because that makes it sound grand and as though it was 3 courses and I only did 2. Lazy I know!). I had a similar event on Monday and apart from making orange cordial that undeniably tasted like marmalade and inviting the guests to come at different times (I think baby-brain is striking), it all went surprisingly well! So I was excited about take two, although wisely left the remains of the marmalade cordial for another day. We had fun, but there had to be a dodgy moment and it happened when I nearly spilled cream all over one of my guests. Amazingly she didn't get any on her. You see - God does care about the little things! Once we had all got over the shock it became a laughing point for the rest of the evening, so I think I survived!

I flopped into bed at about 10.30pm, which is late for a good missionary wife (I'm SUCH a rebel) and reflected on a busy day. I hate being apart from Duncan, but God has been with me and I have had a busy, fruitful time. As to what he has been up to, I will leave that for him to tell you, but needless to say, more adventures have been had. I think I hear his footsteps... : ) : ) : )

Easter

Unsurprisingly, the last few days have been filled with Easter thoughts. Here are some of the ways Easter has been celebrated at Ukarumpa:


This is a picture of the cross at the center's Good Friday service. The bag is called a bilum and people here use them to carry everything from books to babies!



On Easter Saturday there was a classical concert in the evening - there are a huge number of very talented people here! We enjoyed listening to opera, piano, flute, saxophone and cello pieces.



This is the Easter Sunday cross, decorated by the community at a sunrise service and then carried into the meeting house for the main Easter service celebrations.

 Happy Easter to you all!

It's Tough in a Tuffa Tank

Clean water around here is provided by channelling rainwater off the roof into a storage tank, that's how we get our water. The plastic tanks used are called 'Tuffa Tanks'.

On the near, right side pipes take the water from our roof into the tanks.

Unfortunately they're just a little bit too bulky for putting inside your average light aeroplane. However, they fly quite nicely beneath the helicopter; once put together, that is. And the easiest way to put them together is to have someone on the inside who can position the nuts on bolts, etc.

Who would be silly enough to be inside a water tank when the lid's put on?

And it was just at the point when we had the lid on the first tank that it went eerily quiet outside and I began to wonder if this was a particularly amusing stitch-up!



Hello, is there anyone out there?

It turns out that everyone just went to discuss what to do next. That turned out to be: put together the second Tuffa Tank.

You'd think I would've learnt by now...

Then we rigged the tanks with chains and ropes to make them transportable by air. And thankfully substituted a bag of concrete for me (no comments, please, as to the relative usefulnesses of the two).

I am now, gratefully, in the helicopter rather than the tank!

And all that remained was to fly the tanks to their destination.

 



Which sounds so simple, but with 50kt winds at height and clouds well above 10,000' it took a couple of attempts to get them there. But we did; in the end.

Flora and Fauna

We are definitely NOT gardeners, but there are some beautiful trees and flowers here that we really appreciate. Everything seems BIGGER - the other day we walked past a poinsettia bush - yes that's right - and it was HUGE! Sadly the camera was at home, but we did have it on a few other occasions...



The Monkey Puzzle trees here are enormous too!




The Tok Pisin word for flower is plaua.



People at Ukarumpa grow avocadoes, pineapples, cherry guavas, passion fruit and all sorts of exotic things in their gardens. The Fourplex is managed by the branch so we don't have to worry about the gardens surrounding us, but the yard men work extremely hard to keep it all looking beautiful.

And now to some fauna...




Duncan spotted this amazing insect on the side of an aircraft. Its camouflage may have worked better on a tree!

  

Also spotted at aviation this is a very big moth that amazingly didnt mind the presence of Duncan's pen!

Thankfully we have no pictures of snakes...perhaps I should not have just typed that...

Flying a Desk

Without a Papua New Guinean pilot's licence, Duncan isn't allowed to handle the controls. So, thusfar, a lot of effort has been put into revising for the pesky Air Law exam.
 

And with that out of the way, there's just the aviation department's manuals to skip through.

But it has been great just to be around flying. Here's a brief glimpse of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) set up at Aiyura airstrip, Papua New Guinea.
 

 
The airstrip is about 2km from the main SIL centre, so a shuttle bus is run to get the staff and passengers out there. It may not be far, but it sure is bumpy!
 

P2 is the start of all aircraft registrations in PNG, hence P2-BUS!

 
The runway itself is unpaved, and one-way (which means you have to land going one direction and then turn around and go back out the way you came in) but it is one of the better strips the fixed wing pilots can expect to see!

The runway at Aiyura. Land from, and take-off to, the left.

Taking off this direction is not recommended. Unless you're a helicopter, that is!

Inside, there are the sorts of things you'd expect to find at any air operation: maps, books, computers, and mechanics fixing aircraft the pilots have broken.

The pilots' planning room. Looking good - everyone's out flying!

 

 Cargo is put into the crates - one for each flight / destination; or the freezer.

 

Scheduled maintenance on a Kodiak.

Outside, the weather can be a major factor; even just trying to get home. Though since we have been here, there has been plenty of sunshine as well as the rain.

 Typical afternoon thunderstorm.

 

The main attraction is, of course, the helicopter hanger. Newly built thanks to Wycliffe Associates who raised the money and did the work.

 

The chief helicopter pilot's aircraft.



 







My aircraft.

 

Not really my aircaft, but hopefully by the time I'm ready to go it alone, it will be too. Preferrably before Trudie gives birth.