Port Moresby

Almost 1 week since arriving in Port Moresby. As with most third world countries, the capital city tends to be a big mixture of people from all over the country with an added sector of expats. Some of these are long timers, from a variety of nations. All this makes shopping very interesting. Three main supermarkets are available to project people, one has a wide variety of canned and bottled goods, one a very good butcher (meat from New Zealand and Australia) and one is just plain handy and a bit hit and miss on what is available. End result this weekend was spent visiting supermarkets or working.

The apartment I have been allocated is a bit of a mixed bag. Older style, comfortable but other than the historic place we had in Spain is the oldest place I have lived in for about 30 years. That said, it should be fine, size is good and once I get it to feel like home it will be quite comfortable.

The big win on this apartment is the views are fantastic. The hotel is situated half way up a hill over looking the Ela Beach and the wider bay around from the Port. The picture shows the view from the right at sunset.

From the left is an equally stunning view, which includes a lovely island and a jetty which is used by locals over the weekend. It was great watching all the kids diving in from the end, and the families having such a good time together. The tide is very low during the right time of the day and the locals go out at least 300 meters and still seem to only be at waist depth. Work is going well and the new week will see me on a business trip back to Brisbane. Looks like I'll be building up a few flyer miles over the next couple of years

Now for the Next Stage - Moving On

Well after a couple of years based in Brisbane Australia, it is time for the next adventure. Whilst Ian will remain in Brisbane for a while longer, I am moving on to Port Morseby, New Guinea for a couple of years. I suppose one of the issues with working these projects is the number of times we find ourselves in different countries - at least this time we will be in the same hemisphere with only two to three hours flying time between the two areas.

The last couple of weeks in Brisbane have been interesting to say the least. Just before my original sail away date, the city and the state of Queensland was hit with floods which really had to be seen to be believed. The area under water was equal to the country areas of France and Germany combined. Houses smashed with water going through at speeds not to be believed. The damage will take months / years to repair. The house we have in Brisbane is just out of the immediate city area and on a hill - so we were very lucky. Many of our friends were affected with loss of power - but were in apartment blocks - high enough up that they were not affected by water damage. Lots of visitors and several meals were had at the Springhill address to cover off immediate needs until everyone found longer term beds, internet and cooking facilities. Things are quieter now in the CBD but the water has reached the south of Australia and is causing trouble in Victoria. Our wishes and thoughts are with all those country areas now being inundated in that area.

Anyhow, its time to get back to the packing. PNG is a beautiful country and should be a wonderful place to spend a couple of years. It will be interesting to see the progress and potential the governance will make over that time with the benefits it will get from this project. Hopefully it will be strong enough to apply those benefits to all its people.

Happy Christmas and a Wonderful New Year

Well, we are close to the end of another year. Boy they go fast these days - shows we are getting older and time is getting shorter. Ian and I had Christmas in Melbourne and were able to catch up with Lauren and Tim and just after Christmas, Anthony, Jenny and Luke. A quiet Christmas but a good one.

Luke is chatting away and delighted us all with his excitement around his new Thomas the Train rail set. Unfortunately it was way too short and we returned to Brisbane yesterday.

So now starts preparation for 2011. I am off to PNG for at least two years whilst Ian is still due to stay in Brisbane.We expect to still get together regularly as we expect Ian to have quite a few business trips to Port Morseby.

Therefore the next couple of days will be sent trying to pack both the items I need to take with me and those items I will leave for Ian to bring up over the next few visits.

Hope everyone has a great New Year and a Wonderful 2011 - keep safe

Palm Beach - Near Cairns

In September we took off for a week at Palm Beach. It was a week spent with Anthony, Jenny and little Luke whilst Lauren and Tim joined us for about 4 days. A terrific family holiday.



Luke, who has several months of swimming lessons had a great time in the pool. No fear and as per the photo seemed to think there were no reasons for all the safety warnings.

Luke, and his dad, Pa and Uncle Tim spent a lot of time playing with the ball. Mum joined in to play "jumping into the pool for dad to catch me" which Luke thought was great.

We celebrated Lauren's birthday whilst in Palm Beach. Lots of walks down the beach and then celebrated father's Day at one of the local restaurants. Great time - particularly as everyone lives in different states and we don't get together very often. It was also great to spend some time with Luke where he could really get to know us all a bit.

Hamilton Island

By February, the Project we are working on was up and running. All bids reviewed, all contracts in place and work started. It had been a busy and full-out period since Ian had joined me in Brisbane and we decided we needed a couple of days off to rest and relax. It was also our 35th wedding anniversary which did deserve something more than just a dinner out with a glass of wine. so Ian had booked a surprise trip to Hamilton Island. this island is off the Queensland cost and part o the Whitsunday group.

We had a wonderful suite on the top floor of the Reef Hotel.

Great rooms , great views from two lovely balconies. the island had terrific restaurants and we both ate far too much. It was rather fun getting around as the island traffic system was based on golf carts - which Ian tried very hard to "hoon" around in.

Being there also gave us the idea of having a full family get together at somewhere similar later in the year.

Christening

Its been a while since I updated this blog so thought I'd go back and update some of the important events of this year. In March wonderful grandson ( I know.... I am biased) Luke was christened at a lovely ceremony at the local church in Berrigan. For those friends who are not Australian, Berrigan is close to the Victorian/New South Wales border.

Luke behaved well - though he did seem to think it was a bit strange getting wet in the middle of the day rather than just bath time as can be seen in the look
he gave his Mum during the ceremony. Anth was a proud as punch. Jen's brother Keith and Lauren are godparents - also well behaved - so a lovely ceremony all round.

We all then went to the annual Berrigan horse race where we celebrated Luke's christening and his 1st birthday. Even though it sounds a strange place to celebrate - it was a great day and a lot of fun. Country race meetings are very different from those held in the city. It is all very casual and friendly with all the locals joining in and the races were interesting. some seemed competitive and some just needed to finish to get a place.

Ian's still in Italy and Luke is getting bigger

It is now several months past Ian's initial expected arrival date in Queensland.......and we are still not sure exactly when we will see him arrive on these sunny shores. However, he has been over a couple of times - Once to catch up with Luke, and the rest of the family over Easter and a couple of weeks later when his father became ill. Dad has since recovered and Ian is back in Italy with the never ending project.


Baby Luke in the meantime has continued to grow and is looking cuter every day (I am no longer allowed to call him pretty as Anthony has infomed me that boys are NOT pretty). However, I still think he is pretty.

According to his parents as he is growing he is becoming a lot more fun, with lots of smiles and gurgles. The family is on a "round the country trip" at the moment as their house renovations have commenced. This means that they will come up visit Nana this month allowing me lots more opportunities for cuddles and photos etc. Things are certainly easier than the "old days" with the ability to rent car seats and other baby bits without having to go out and buy everything from scratch - Isn't the internet wonderful.

Ian in the meantime has been doing a bit of travel around Italy over the last few weeks. Knowing that his time there is coming to an end triggers the desire to go and see all those places we had planned to go. A downside of the expat lifestyle is that the intention to "do" the tourist thing often gets overridden by the need to meet work requirements. Projects tend to be very demanding with 12 plus hours per day including weekend work - which limits the time available to actually get out and see the country you are in. Usually this means that just before we are demobilized it is a mad panic to try and see the primary things on our "to do" list. That said, I think we have more or less decided that once we retire we will need to go back and see all the places we had on our lists and have missed.