17th of December 2010

Saturday 4th December
The big day.  Monique finished at school on Thursday afternoon and we spent Friday packing up our things.  We had to be at the airport at 4.30am which was two hours before our scheduled flight time.  I woke at 12.45am and then couldn't sleep again, too excited I guess.  At 4.15am, I woke Monique and Brenton (who was driving us to the airport).  We checked our bags in, paid the excess luggage fee (you can never have too many shoes or books) and went through customs to get into the departure lounge.  We ate a small breakfast and then waited until our flight was called.  When it was, we walked down a long hallway, down two flights of stairs and across the tarmac to a scarily small airplane - all of this with way too much hand luggage that was very heavy.  We settled into the assigned seats and looked around
for about 20 minutes before being informed by the pilot that one of the engines wouldn't start and that an engineer was on his way down to have a look at it. After waiting for another 20 minutes, we were asked to disembark and go back to the departure lounge - across the tarmac, up two flights of stairs and down the long hallway. It was now about 7.30am.  And so began a two and a half hour wait.........at the end of which we were informed that we would no longer be flying on the qantas plane, we would be flying on an Air Nuiguini flight.  We got our tickets changed and eventually boarded the new plane, landing in Port Moresby 1 hour and 20 minutes later at around 11.30am.  We went through customs again which was very interesting and very different to the Australian version.  Bags are rarely checked and security is
rather lax.  They did ask Monique and I to put some of our bags through for a scan but the other ones weren't even looked at.  Most of the other passengers didn't haveany luggage checked.
Steve was waiting in the airport for us thank goodness because we were tired and just wanted to get rid of all our luggage.  It was great to see him after nearly a month.  We drove back to the compound and dumped the gear inside our house, went for a quick walk up to the pool to meet a couple of other residents and to organise what we needed to bring to the bbq that night.  We went and had a look at three grocery stores to see what was available.  They are all very different and extremely confusing but facinating.  We went home again and had a bit of a nanny nap before heading up to the pool/bbq area for dinner.  We met all the residents in our compound as well as a couple of others who were visiting, had a swim, ate dinner and went to bed very tired.

Sunday 5th December
We were up early today because the Port Moresby Yacht Club was putting on their christmas party and had hired a barge to take a heap of people over to a place called Fisherman Island.  We packed an esky with lots of drinks, towels, sunscreen and hats and met up with a group of others to be at the club by 8.00am to catch the bus which was taking us to the barge.  We got there with about 5 minutes to spare, hopped out where my shoe promptly broke.  So we raced back home to get a new pair before the bus came.  We did.  We waited and waited and waited.......in the hot sun, really really hot sun.  At 9.00am, we found out that the barge hadn't arrived back from the early trip which meant that we wouldn't get there for ages and that there would be no shade on the island.  I was told that this was PNG time and the bus and barge would get here when it did and that there would be no hurrying it.  We were already burning up......yuck.  So we all discussed what we should do and decided to go back to the compound and eat lunch in the bbq area where there was shade and a fridge to keep everything cold as well as the pool.  What a lovely day it turned out to be. 

Monday 6th December
Steve went back to work today and we had to entertain ourselves which is really easy as there is much to facinate around.  I spent the morning looking over the house and doing some washing and cleaning.  We have a three bedroom house which is fully airconditioned and security screened.  It also has a small verandah at the front and a bigger one at the back.  It's fairly basic but very nice.  The house comes fully furnished even down to the sheets and towels which is great as our own stuff still hasn't turned up and we would have had to buy that sort of stuff.  We are very comfortable with what is supplied. Steve came back to the house at 9.00am and said we needed to go to the bank to open up an account for his pay to go into.  ANZ has just built a lovely new building near the harbour so we went there.  We got there just after 9.00am, and after we were scanned by the security guard with a metal detector and told to turn off his mobile phone while inside, we went through a glass door into this little room, and then through another glass door into the bank.  We were confronted by a machine asking us what we wanted to do today and given a ticket with a number on it.  We waited for about 45 minutes until being called and then it took a further 45 minutes to process the new account.  I have discovered that patience is definately a virtue here and there is no use getting angry or demanding to be served because that will make the whole process take longer. 
Once we got back to the compound and Steve went back to work, Monique and I both wanted to put up some christmas decorations so we went to one of the other houses and got Lila to come for a drive with us.  Two reasons - first, I really didn't know where to go, and second, it was good to start getting to know our neighbours.  We went and wandered around a couple of stores which were mostly just on the main roads and fairly easy to find.  The traffic here is a bit scary.  The road rules seem to be guides rather than enforced, so most people just drive however, but there are not many accidents which I found surprising. You really just have to go whenever you can at roundabouts and when turning anywhere, because if you stop and are unsure, cars will go around you.  I saw many cars and buses going up on the sidewalks just to get moving.  It's rather fascinating. 

Tuesday 7th December
When I woke up this morning, it was still cool outside so i dragged the chairs and table from the front verandah to the back.  I made myself some boiled eggs and a pot of green tea and sat outside to eat and read a book.  It was lovely.  I watched a couple of the gardeners watering the gardens.  It is very peaceful and quite beautiful at the back of our house.  The bbq/pool area is right behind it and it all backs on to the hillside which is a bit wild.  The freeway is right beside us also but you can mostly block out the noise of that.  I feel really safe here.  I did a load of washing, and washed dishes before Monique and I went out in the car to see if we could find Brian Bell.  Brian Bell is similar to Harvey Norman or KMart in Australia.  I had a list of things that I was looking for and a map to find the store.  Well, we got lost and scared ourselves silly.  There were so many people everywhere and after hearing so many stories of how to be careful and stick to the main roads and don't stop etc, Monique and I panicked.  We just turned around and headed back to the compound.  We went into the head office where Steve works and enlisted the help of Jenny, who does accounts here at the moment.  She drove her car in front of us and showed us where to go and then left us to get on with the shopping.  We found a few items (the shops are not set up the same as Australia and I
will need to spend much more time in them to find everything) and decided to try again tomorrow for some of the rest. 
Our oven is not working at the moment which is so frustrating.  There is NO gluten free bread here and I am almost going crazy for some bread.  I have some gluten free bread mix to make up some myself, but as the oven isn't working, I can't cook it.  I finally gave in at lunch today and had some normal bread for a sandwich - I'll suffer for it later but it tasted so good.  You can get nearly everything here that you can get in Australia, some things are wildly expensive and other things are really cheap.  Steve and I are having fun buying things that are unusual and trying them.  Getting some wine on a regular basis is a bit more difficult.  I just can't
pay a heap for a bottle of wine that I will drink in one sitting (yes I know I'm turning into an alcoholic but that's life) and the wine here starts at about $12 per bottle.  When you are used to paying $5 per bottle, it hurts.  So, I'm not drinking as much.  Hurrah, I hear some of you saying but not only am I starting to have
bread withdrawals, I'm also having alcohol withdrawals.  Not good. 

Wednesday 8th December
I had half a bottle of wine last night and of course didn't sleep very well.  So I slept in this morning.  It was about 8.00am when I woke up.  I am feeling a bit depressed today.  It has hit me that I have have moved to a new place and don't know hardly anyone and have left my very good friends in Mount Isa.  I have hardly
left the house and feeling very boxed in.  Someone said to me that it could feel like a prison living in a compound, and today it does.  I am stupidly spending too much time in the house in the airconditioning because it is very hot and sweaty outside.  I really need to get outside though before I get really depressed.  So that is my plan today.  To get outside and get a bit sweaty.  I think that we are off to have dinner at the yacht club tonight.  It is a Wednesday and Friday thing here from what I understand.  Maybe I will meet some more new people.....I'm not writing anymore now until I have gone outside and hopefully feel a lot better.
Monique and I decided that we would cook some biscuits and muffins for all the staff in the head office today.  We went to the harbour grocery store to get some ingredients.  While there, the power went out, which was a little freaky.  But we just stayed where we were for the couple of minutes that it was out, and then all was good.  The power goes out here regularly but usually only for a minute or two.  I am getting better at the driving also.  You have to be a little pushy and just go where you need to go.  But you also have to have eyes everywhere as cars just pull out whenever.  It'll be really interesting to see how I go at driving when I get back to Australia.  I'll have to obey all road rules again and I feel that this may be a bit difficult to remember after driving here everyday.  We'll see.
We went to the yacht club for drinks and dinner.  It's a lovely place and there is an incredibly cheerful fellow at the door that knew Steve and was very excited to see him.  Really lovely.  And one of the wait staff inside called Claudie was also great.  We joked with her most of the evening.  The food is really good and there is lots of choice which is  nice.  I had the catch of the day fish, chips and salad.  Yum.  I am going to make a point of trying something new each time we go so that I will have tasted everything.  We met some ladies there who worked for Boroko Motors who were organising a Santa gift run this Sunday for the local children.  Monique and I decided that we would go to the shops tomorrow or Friday to get some gifts to donate to them.  You can't buy toys here very cheaply so I have decided to buy lots of toys each time in Australia and bring them back for next year.  

Thursday 9th December
Bad sleep again.  Self inflicted as I had far too much to drink last night at the yacht club.  I really have to make an effort not to drink all the time as it would be too easy to do so whenever we go out.  So Steve and I are going to a Christmas party tonight somewhere, and my goal is to not drink any alcohol.  Stay tuned to see how I went.  Anyway, I had brekky on the verandah again.  Lovely.  Monique needed some more ngredients for more biscuits and muffins, so we popped out to the store and came home and cooked them (we have been using Lila's stove to cook the goodies - ours is supposed to be being fixed soon.  Haven't seen the repairer yet).  As it was getting really close to lunch by the time it was all done, we decided to leave it for afternoon tea.  Big success.  Everyone loved them.  We also gave some to the guards at the gate and to the gardeners.  We will probably do some more again in a week or two.  Maybe something different. 
I have been learning how to Tat (i think that is what it is called - anyway it's doing the lace doileys - very cute) with Lila.  She is incredible at it and learnt from her mother and grandmother.  Really interesting, quite hard to do but I am starting to get it.  I did 4 starts before I finally got it enough to do a little medallion. 
It will take ages to do it but it 's another skill that I am excited to learn.  Lila also said she would show me how to knit which is something I have wanted to learn for ages now.  Very happy about that.  Lila is a mine of information.  She also does cake decorating which she learnt off her father.  Facinating.  I'm hoping that I can learn that too but we'll see.  I still haven't been in contact with many other ladies here, but I'm thinking that as most people are leaving for xmas, maybe I'll just chill out for a bit and start next year.   Monique and I are heading to the pool now for a swim, so I'll write some more tomorrow about how tonight's party goes. 

Friday 10th December
I didn't have any drinks last night at the Christmas Party.  It was at Ela Motors which is the Toyota dealer here in New Guinea.  I think they also have branches all over Asia but I'm not certain.  They are apparently very successful.  So we drove to this amazing building which had a red carpet out to greet the guests, and is surrounded by poverty.  It's really very sad.  The difference between the having money and not is so very in your face here.  And we who are very much working middle class in Australia are considered wealthy here.  The unemployment in Port Moresby is about 85% I've been told.  So the Nationals (this is what the local people are called, while all foreigners are called expats) who have jobs are considered very fortunate.  And the wages are staggeringly low compared to what we are paid in Australia.  Food in the grocery stores is very expensive as they cater to the 'expats'.   I am thankful everyday to know how fortunate and lucky we are to grow up and live in such a generous country as Australia.  If you don't have a job there, you have access to the dole.  Medication and health facilities are available free and our school system is structured so that every child has the opportunity to go.  In PNG, it is very different.  You have to pay to see a doctor or to get medication, BEFORE you are seen.  Only a few lucky children go to school because the fees are too high for the majority to afford.  There is no funding from the government  for those who don't have a job.  You really are on your own here, struggling in many cases just to get food for your family.  I remember when I first came up here for a visit to have a look around before deciding whether Steve would take the job he had been offered.  I commended at dinner that the Australian government should do more to help out.  I was told that the Australian government helps out heaps but the money/medication etc doesn't usually reach the general public.  I wish there was a way to help out myself but it is such a huge problem.  And if you try to help, you have to be careful not to insult or step on local culture/tradition.  I don't know.  I guess that while we are here, we can only dothe best we can do. 
Monique and I bought some toys and clothes today to give to the Boroko Motors Santa drive today.  We delivered 2 bags of stuff which just didn't seem very much at all, but costs lots.  I told them that they could count on our support next year and I'll start getting stuff together straight away and stock pile it.  We had fun trying to find where to deliver the gifts to and discovered a new road in the process.  We also went out to dinner at the Yacht Club with the usual crew of Hastings people.  Steve introduced Monique and I to Shaun who is the executive chef at the Yacht Club and Tim who is the general manager.  They sat with us later in the evening after finishing their duties and we had a great chat.  Shaun is a National who took Steve out to one of the local swimming holes before we arrived.  I asked him to let us know when they are going
out again, as we would love to see it.  There is also a little food market on the way out which is supposed to be fantastic.  I am doing happy dances at the thought of doing what the locals do.  Shaun also gave us details and phone numbers of one of his friends who is a hairdresser who comes  to you and is the best in town.  Monique was happy to get those details as she says she would like to get her haircut and i wasn't sure who to use.  Boy am I sounding like a bit of an airhead, thinking about haircuts and talking about eating at the club, but that is also part of our life here.  I am trying to put into this blog, all that goes on.  We really are leading an unusual existance while here.  Talking of food, my meal tonight was a Chicken and Eggplant Stack.  Absolutely gorgeous.  Steve has the Laksa Soup.  It had seafood in it so I didn't have a taste, but Shaun said he could do it without seafood and as Steve said it was so very brilliant, I may give that a go next time. 

Saturday 11th December
We had made arrangements with Jenny - one of the Hastings staff who has been here for 6 months - to show us where the Ela Beach Markets were today as they were being held as a special just before Christmas.  They are usually on the last Saturday of each month, and I had heard that they were incredible to visit.  Well, I can say that it WAS INCREDIBLE.  I wish I had thousands to spend as the work displayed was unbelieveable.  The paintings were colourful and unique.  The billum bags were spectacular, the wood carved bowls, sticks, masks, drums, animals etc were so beautiful they are hard to explain.  There was amazing jewellery using shells and seeds as well as beads.  It was INCREDIBLE.  Jenny tells me that the usual markets once a month are better because there was usually more stalls.  I can't wait for the next one.  And I need to take more money.  We ended up getting 4 necklaces, 2 sarongs, 1 billum bag, a basil plant, and a little wooden sailboat.  The sailboat was a purchase we weren't going to get but the little old lady who was selling them actually followed us out to the carpark when we were leaving.  I was so speechless at her, that I stumped up the 10 kena to get it from her.  It is gorgeous though and I'm glad she did.  Steve said he wants to go back and get a carved wooden staff that is inlaid with shell and some of the paintings.  I saw an abosolutely stunning tiny drum and some of the carved animals that I want to go back for.  I have a feeling that we are going to have a heap of lovely stuff to bring back when we finish here.  I was told that as long as the stuff doesn't have feathers or open shells, you can mostly get them through customs.  The masks in particular intrigued me as they are so fearsome looking.  There was an incredible bow with 3 arrows that had been carved by an old man there that we really liked also.  I could go on and on and on about it all so I'm going to stop now.  But we will be back.  I have to say though that the carpark for the markets was funny.  It was inside a gated guarded field (as so many things here are) and we drove over a cement cricket pitch.  So we were parked on a lovely sports ground.  Not sure why, but there it is.  Funny.
After the markets we went to the Harbour grocery store to get some food for the weekend and then back to the house.  It started raining on our way home.  The rain here has really big drops and it doesn't sprinkle.   It pours down.  It rained for a couple of hours so we spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon inside reading and watching tv and sleeping.  Very relaxing.  In the late afternoon the rain stopped so I raced out and put two loads of washing out to see if I could get them dry.  And then we went up to the bbq area for dinner with whoever was going to turn up from the compound.  We had lots of laughs and arguments over a couple of hours and really enjoyed ourselves.
Jenny brought a couple of friends with her who had flown down from Tabubil to see her for the weekend.  They were Nationals named Heather and Israel and had an gorgeous little girl called Kayla who was 18months old.  I spent a heap of time talking to them both and now have an invitation to be given a tour of Tabubil by them when Steve and I go there.  Steve goes for work on occasion, so we will try to combine it into a weekend when they will have time to show us around. I was so very excited when Heather and Israel said they would love to show us around.  Heather even said she would show me how to make a billum bag when I was up there with her.  Happy dance, happy dance.  On another note about the bbq.  There is a little wild kitten who comes around occasionally and i have been trying to entice him/her to come and get some food everyday so that it has something to eat.  My first attempt was unsuccessful, but tonight while we were eating, it appeared and I was able to feed it a heap of sausage.  I hope to see more of it.  At around 9pm, I took the clothes off the line - they were still a little damp but it looked like rain again- and draped them all over the house to continue drying.  Anne of Green Gables was on tv so as it is one of my very favourite all time movies, I spent the rest of the evening watching it.  Steve went to bed in disgust.  He hates that movie, probably as I have watched it so often.   Also, some fireworks went off during the movie so we bolted outside for a quick look.  Not sure why or who did it but lovely.

Sunday 12th December
We slept in today.  I had breakfast on the verandah while reading and Monique joined me when she finally work up.  Steve was snoozing on the couch.  After breakfast, I looked about and saw all the clothes around the house and decided as it was raining again, we needed to put up a clothes line out on the verandah so that we can dry things.  So we went for a drive to Vision City to see if they had rope and hooks.  They did.  So we got them.  We also had a good look around the shopping centre - this really is a shopping centre here and the only major one.  It's brand new and looks fabulous.  We found a movie store which had a heap of movies imported in from Asia so there were a stack of new release movies for sale that haven't reached Australia yet.  Rather interesting.  Monique bought Camp Rock 2 which she hadn't seen.  Steve found a heap of Xbox games so we intent to go back and get some in a week or so.  After this we went home to put up the line.  We do have a dryer in the bathroom/laundry but it only drys about 3 things at a time and I have no use for that.  I figure that we can use it to dry Steve's uniform if we have to but I'd prefer to use a line otherwise.  I did some ironing - (OMG listen to me - who is this domesticated person) and cut up a whole pumpkin to make soup for dinner.  I also make some chocolate muffins - gluten free- as I am craving chocolate.  And watched movies all afternoon.  It's raining again.  So very hard and so very nice.  I wonder how long it will take us to get to hate it raining all the time?  As it is, after living in Mount Isa for so many years and it only raining once a year, we are enjoying it.

Monday 13th December
Todays adventure was to pay for the internet to be put on at the house.  So far, we have used Steve's work computer once in the evening for a few minutes to have a quick look at facebook but that's it.  Monique is going almost crazy.  To make it even harder for her, her Telstra phone converted to Digicel when we got here and she is receiving all her messages from facebook.  So Funny.   We told her not to respond on the Aussie phone because we are not sure how the billing goes.  She has a PNG phone which she uses to text her friends.  If you do 2 texts in the morning on the mobile phones up here, you get 18 free texts to use before midnight.  I don't have anyone as yet to text except for Steve, so they are wasted on me but Monique spends hers on texting a couple of the girls from boarding school who live up here.  Anyway, internet.  Steve had filled out the forms so off we went looking for the Hitron office - Hitron puts the tv channels on here.  We get 50 odd channels including Imparja, Channels 7 and 10 etc along with a heap of Austar like ones.  They also do internet on the tv so that is what we are going to get.  We thought the office was just off the freeway but as it wasn't, we phoned them for directions.  Wow.  Really complicated directions.  So we called Steve who said to go under the freeway, turn left and turn right.  So much easier.  We pulled up and went in to find that they didn't accept Visa cards.  Ok. 
It was time for a visit to the ANZ bank again to get some money out to pay for it.  We had to get a ticket to get some money out and then waited about 20 minutes which is very quick for the bank.  Then Steve had to get a second ticket to pick up his new  ATM card for the account.  We waited for another 20 minutes for this one to happen.  Now that we have the ATM card, we can go to the bank and use the machines.  The machines are behind glass doors and have guards there so they are safe to use.  A lady used the machine outside of the Boroko grocery store the other day and was held up.  The security guards came to help out and one was shot in the leg for his trouble.  Not good.  So we only get money out
in safe places.  Anyhoo.  We had the money and as the Hitron office do not accept cash, Monique and I fronted up to the Westpac bank to deposit it into their account.  But we don't have an account at the Westpac bank.  So we went in the general door and it was chaos.  I had no idea where to go so we lined up with the 50 other people and waited.......and waited.......and waited.  Luckily I had a book in my bag ( I had an idea there would be a long wait ) and Monique took her ipod thingy.  So it was all good.  When we got into the car, we were directed out of the parking area by a security guard waving a huge shot gun.  It was a bit freaky.  Then with a bank receipt in hand, we went back to Hitron and gave them the receipt.  So now, we just have to wait again until the hardware/software is installed.  A funny thing happened when we went back to the car, a fellow chased us down to sell us some pineapples.  They were really great pineapples so yes, I bought them.  3 in face.  And they were very yum. 
Monique thinks that by the time I get back to Australia, every person in the country is going to know that I am a sucker.  It's all good.

Tuesday 14th December
We haven't been doing much exercising at all so this morning, I challenged Monique to a soccer match on the xbox.  It's one of the Kinnect ones that picks up your movements.  Exhausting and i am really bad at soccer, but i did beat her at one of the games.  Champion!!!!  I made my first loaf of bread afterwards, and I am very glad I like damper because that's what it tasted like.  Not so good with cheese and tomato which is the greatest sandwich fillings in the world, but fantastic with syrup.  I went to the grocery
store to find the syrup and they had golden circle syrup.  Yum yum yum.  We also got a small bottle of orange juice.  Any fresh juice or real milk is very expensive so we just get bits at a time.  Most people drink the long life milk as it is much cheaper to buy.  I can feel a heap of milkshakes being consumed when we get back to Australia.  And real juice.  And chocolate.  I did find some big blocks of Cadbury chocolate at Vision  City for 15.50kena which isn't too bad so I might have to get some of that. 
Monique and I decided to check out the stationery shop on Waigani drive in the afternoon.  They have paint, and pencils and books.  Yeah.  I'm so glad.  We bought a few bits and pieces but it is good to know that they have that sort of stuff there.  I have been looking everywhere to find them.  So  good.   I went for a swim at 4pm.  One of our neighbours, Robyn, had sent her kids up with the nanny and another couple of kids with their nanny was also there, so I had a great chat with them both and have an invite to tour one of the local villages in the new year with one of them.  Her family is local to the Port Moresby area so she is able to take advantage of one of the american mining company policies of going back to school to learn things if you pass some sort of aptitude test.  She tells me that she is going to the technical college next year to learn how to drive a crane.  If she does well at that there is an opportunity to go to further schooling in America.  She proudly told me that her 5 kids were grown up, the youngest being 14 years old and she was 40 years old herself and was very excited to be getting some education.  It was an interesting conversation, and I learnt heaps about what the nationals think about us 'white people'.  I know that we feel sorry for the lacking in money that the nationals have, but they feel sorry for us that our whole lives are ruled by money.  They prefer to live simply off the land.  She said that her village was getting lots of improvements from LNG (the american mining company) and when I asked her if the changes were good or bad, she said bad for how they lived but good for the educational opportunities.  It's such a confusing subject really because i know that I would love to be able to live off the land and have solar power etc but as Steve said, you have to have money to set yourself up to live like that now which is such a conflict.  I guess if you wanted to, you could do it without money.  I think I have been living a comfortable life for so long that the thought of giving up my comforts is a bit disconcerting.  It would probably be the best thing ever.  Imagine no tv.  That would be amazing.  Anyway, a dream for now.  Maybe one day.   I decided that I wanted to have a wine tonight, so I went to the Boroka grocery store to check out the wines.  Monqiue found a 1999 chardonnay.  One bottle. And as it wasn't priced too badly, we got it to see how it was.  Chardonnay has been really bad for the last 2 years and I have given up drinking them.  So tune in tomorrow to see how it went.

Wednesday 15th December
Wow,  what a gorgeous wine.  It had a cork in it instead of a screw top lid.  Incredible.  And once uncorked, it smelt of old timber.  Really incredible.  And it tasted almost like a mild port.  I have a mission now to go back to that bottle shop and see if there is anymore hidden around.  Maybe I'll even check the dates of everything else because the older the wine, the more incredible flavour.  So that's a mission.  Not a very good one, but one certainly.  We had Maggie start this morning.  She is our cleaner.   We pay her 30kena for the day.  She will do whatever you need doing.  I told her that i have never had a cleaner
before and i don't know what I want her to do other than to sweep and mop floors and do the bathroom.  So she just pots around doing whatever she thinks needs doing.  She is also quick to tell us what stuff she needs so I had to do a quick visit to the shop this morning to get some cleaning products and some tea and biscuits for her.   I really hope that I don't get used to it though as it will be hard to go back to no cleaner in Australia.  When I spoke to Robyn yesterday afternoon, she told me that she is taking her nanny back to Australia with her for a couple of months while she settles in.  She has had her nanny for the 2 youngest children while in PNG and she is so used to it now.  It must be hard to have help and then go back to not.  I fear that it will be the case with our house being cleaned every week for us too.  Interesting.  And what an incredible opportunity for her nanny aswell.  Robyn leaves in January to live in Australia with the kids while they find out what Ian's job is doing.  Ian is probably going to stay here though and he will fly in and out to see his family.  So I have a couple of weeks to pick Robyns brain about what is in Port Moresby to go and look at.  She is taking us to lunch today.  Can't wait.
Well.  Who knew?  Robyn took us to this little restaurant called "Good Day" that has amazing food for lunch.  if you didn't know, you wouldn't even think that there was a restaurant down that dumpy dirt road.  I tried the Thai Style Chicken which is ok.  I won't get that again.  Monique had a smother burger which is reputed to be one of the best in PNG and she said it was really good.  Robyn had No 5 noodles.  It looked really nice.  Robyn said that if you sick to the meals that the particular restaurant does well, you can't go wrong.  The chefs in this restaurant looked chinese so I will order chinese from there now, although they did such a good job of the burger, maybe the expat menu will be good.  Lots of time to experiment now that I know where it is.  We also went to the Airways Hotel which is very fancy.  They have a spa there which is reasonably priced and the surrounds are spectacular.  Monique and I will go for a pedicure spa there next week I think.  We also had a look at the deli/restaurant there.  As mentioned before,  Spectacular views.  They also have an art shop and a hairdresser, so it's somewhere to go to again definately.  After that, Robyn took us on a tour of parts of town we haven't been at yet.  She pointed out roads not to go down at all and where the two private hospitals are.  And the most outrageous christmas decoration display you have ever seen.  It encompasses two whole streets.  Very excellent.
I'm going to take Steve there tonight so we can have a look at it lit up.  I'll try to remember to take the camera to get photos.  Who knew that giraffes, elephants and rhino's were a part of christmas, but cool.

Thursday 16th December
I had my first really scary bad experience today.  I had to go and put fuel in the car.  Our car has an anti theft device in it and when you turn it on you have to push a hidden button twice or after about a kilometre, the engine will just stop.  Well, I forgot.  And I got to the fuel station, turned off the car, had it filled up, signed the docket, gave the girl a tip and went to start the car.  It wouldn't start.  I tried locking and unlocking the car to see if it would start.  No.  I did it again,  still no start.  By this point I was starting to panic.  I got out and a heap of the attendants come over to help.  No one could get it started.  I grabbed my mobile phone to call Steve to come and help.  It was dead.  So I asked the attendants to push the car to the side to get it out of the road and then I went into full blown panic meltdown.  I had no idea what to do.  I don't know anyone's phone numbers by memory and was unable to get any as I couldn't turn my phone on.   I have been told over and over not to get out of the car or stop for any reason.  Don't catch a bus or a taxi.  etc etc etc.  The list goes on about how to keep safe.  I had done nearly everything wrong.  In Australia I would have called a taxi, found a public phone to make a call, or just walked (the service station is really just around the corner from the HD compound).  I was not allowed to do any of these things.  So I didn't know what to do.  All the attendants were milling around me trying to calm me down, by this stage I was full on crying.  I asked one of the girls if I could give her some money for phone credit and then remembered that I had put one of Steve's business cards into my wallet.  So I phoned Steve.  His phone was busy.  I phoned the office and asked the receptionist to get hold of Steve and come and get me.   As I wasn't completely sure that I had given the right address of where I was, I realised that i could push the panic button in the car and the security company would then use the GPS to find me.  So I pushed that button.  Then I grabbed my bag and went and stood under the shade right beside this big scary looking security dude who I really hoped was there to look out for me and not to rob or maim me.  It turned out that he was looking out for me.  It seemed like a really long time waiting but it was probably under 5 minutes.  Steve finally pulled up and then about 5 security guys emerged from somewhere.  Steve consulted someone on his phone and got the car unlocked and working again.  I thanked everyone and drove back to the compound and then just broke down again.  It was so scary.  And I feel so stupid for not having my phone charged and not making sure the theft alarm was activated.  Just really dumb things.  It turned out alright, but it could have been so bad if I was in the wrong area.  I am going to have to charge my phone every night and if I forget, I will just have to wait until it is charged before I go out.  And I am going to have to slow down when I get in the car and lock the doors and
press the appropriate buttons before taking off.  It is going to have to become habit, the same as putting on my seatbelt.  I am ever so thankful that Monique was not with me.
Robyn phoned a little later on to see if we wanted to go exploring again.  I figured that I needed to get out and about again straight away or I might loose my nerve and not want to go out at all.  So we went out and she showed us some other places to go and to eat.  We went to Fu Gui restaurant for lunch and Robyn had a Luksa which looked amazing and Monique and i had noodles, Monique's was with prawns and chicken and mine just chicken.  It was incredible.  This restaurant again was in an unlikely looking building but was quite magnificent inside and the food was great and the prices were really reasonable.  After lunch we went to really nice art gallery.  It had some spectacular local art work, paintings, and woodwork.  Just incredible.  I bought a quirky girl made of black wood which stands about 80cm high for 155kena.  It is my first piece of PNG artwork and I love it.  There is one other place I want to have a look at that I saw with Karen when we came up here for a look.  It also has some incredible pieces but they are all dusty and will need to be cleaned up a bit but great.  The paintings here are so colourful.  There is one at the gallery that i really liked. It is framed which is nice as I could hang it straight up but you can also pick up some great paintings from the markets much cheaper.  I guess it will depend if I have the money at the time.  But I know that when we get back to Australia, we are going to have some incredible stuff.   
Before coming home, we went to Boroko grocery shop and got a heap of stuff and then home.  I am quite exhausted from my very emotional day.   It was a long time before i stopped shaking while out with Robyn.  My next thing will be to drive myself again.  I will try tomorrow. 

Friday 17 December
I didn't sleep much last night as my horrid morning experience ran over and over in my mind.  What I should have done and how lucky I was that nothing really bad happened.  Steve told me last night that when he hopped out of his car at the service station, there was a much used pistol on the ground.  He just kicked it under the car and kept walking.  He said he was too scared to pick it up or tell anyone in case he said it to the wrong person.  After that experience, I have decided that it was in a way a good thing to happen as it really opened my eyes about how careful you have to be in Port Moresby.  Before that I was happy to drive around in a bit of a daze, excited to see new things. Robyn came in the car with us this morning while I drove so that I could get to know where everything was on my own.  She really drilled it into me about not stopping anywhere and to make sure you have a charged phone and what to do if you are pulled up or threatened.  Even the locals here are having a hard time with the amount of crime.  Everyone I have spoken to said that we need to go up to the islands and out of the city to get the real feel of PNG.   Yesterday, when we drove towards one of the better hotels, there was a heap of people milling around.  Robyn decided that it didn't look good, and just turned around in the middle of the street.  When she got home, she had messages on her email saying that a heap of people were protesting about the american mining company not paying for the use of their land.  It is a really touchy subject at the moment.  It is also quite dangerous.  This morning while we were driving towards the airport, the traffic got really bad and we could 't see why, so we just drove the car over the cement in the centre of the road and turned around.  Robyn said that it was better to be safe than sorry and if you feel uncomfortable about something, just get out fast.  I am a little nervous about going out now but that is better than just thinking that all is good like I did last week.  I am more aware of what is going on around me and I have a list stickytaped to the steering wheel to remind me what I need to do before going to make sure that I am as safe as possible. 
After driving to the Ela Beach Hotel, Airways Hotel, the Australian Consulate and one of the schools we had a lovely steak sandwich at Brian Bell's for lunch and then came home.  The internet guys turned up to hook us up, so Monique decided not to come with me while I went out on my own to the shop to get a few bits and pieces.  I was a little freaked out but remembered all of the tips and got there and back safely. 
We are going to the Japanese restaurant tonight.  They do the cooking at the table with you and it is really good food.  Steve and I went while up here for the look around and really enjoyed it.  Tonight we are taking some of the other HD people who haven't been.  It should be great.  Tomorrow we are spending the day with Jenny before she leaves to go back to Australia going to all those places that she knows about that we don't.  It will be a very good day.  Stay tuned.