Jaffle

Today is a holiday in PNG, so Lori and I went for lunch at the yacht club. We have an unwritten rule that if something looks interesting on a menu, but we don't know what it is, one of us has to order it. It usually turns out really well, but occasionally you strike out. Lori didn't really enjoy the Pancreas she ordered in Paris for example.

Today I had a Jaffle. A lot of the yacht club members are Australian, so the menu features a lot of Australian favourites. Turns out a Jaffle is what Canadians call a Pie Iron, but we usually have them while sitting around a camp fire and not in a restaurant.

I had the Mince and Cheese Jaffle. Mince is what we call ground beef and it was really good. The other option was Baked Beans and Cheese. Not sure if I would've liked that one as much. Lori had the pizza and that's pretty much the same wherever you go, but it was good also.

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El Nino

I'm sure most people in North America have heard that we are experiencing an El Nino event this year. El Nino is a prolonged warming in the Pacific Ocean and it affects weather patterns worldwide. You've probably read an article in the paper or watched a report on the news about how North America can expect a milder and wetter winter. It will probably have an economic impact on some people - ski hills, snowmobile shops, etc... but it's having a dramatic effect in Papua New Guinea.

Everyday in the paper there are stories about the worsening conditions in the highlands. Crops have been destroyed by frost and the drought is drying up rivers and streams. It may seem odd that warming of the ocean is causing frost, but that's what's happening at higher elevations. In the more than 6 weeks that Lori and I have been here, we have had one rainfall and that was only a couple of millimeters. The last strong El Nino was in 1997 and hundreds of people died of starvation and thirst, so they are taking it very seriously. They are setting up temporary housing for highlanders, who are leaving their homes and they are also closing schools in several regions.

We are still in the dry season, and will be for another couple of months, but there might be relief on the horizon. The weather has definitely changed. We woke up on Saturday and the winds had diminished and changed direction. It's no longer bringing dust with it, now it's bringing warm, moist air. It has been super hot and super humid ever since. It finally feels like we live in the tropics and not the desert. Our driver Khone, told us that rain always comes after a couple of days of weather like this. I hope so. In the meantime, we will be spending a lot of time in the pool.

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Utilities

I apologize for the long, rambling post about Brisbane. I wrote it after a long day of beer tasting, so I was not at my best. The reason I wrote it then, and not once I returned to Port Moresby, is because I wanted to take advantage of the superior wi-fi service at the hotel. Yes that's right, the wi-fi service of a hotel, is far superior to what we have in our apartment. It takes forever to upload photos so I wanted to post them before I left. Although, why it was necessary to post a picture of the woman who helped us with the River Cat, I'm not sure, but it seemed really important to me on Saturday night.

Anyway, I will try to explain the challenges of everyday life in PNG. Our internet service is provided by this little box.

It basically works the same way as an iPhone turned into a Hotspot. It receives a cell signal and then generates its own wi-fi signal that we use to connect all of our devices too. It claims to work on a 4G signal, but I find that hard to believe. It certainly isn't the same as a 4G signal back home. Not only is the speed very slow, but we are limited in how much data we can use. Our package allows us to download 7 GB per month. That may not sound like a lot, but if you consider a 1 hour television show is about 2 GB, you can see that it won't last very long. This slow and restrictive service costs about $200 per month.

You have to manage your devices differently on a system like this as well. When I first set it up, we were burning through data like crazy and I couldn't figure out why, but then I realized we had our phones, tablets and computers all set to update automatically. It had been awhile since our stuff was connected to a wi-fi signal so there were new operating systems, app updates, podcasts and god knows what downloading at the same time. It took some getting used to, but we've figured it out. When we were in the hotel in Brisbane, I updated everything and downloaded some new shows to watch.

Our electricity service is interesting as well. We have to pay for our power before we use it. There is an Easipay kiosk in the shopping centre nearby. We give them our customer number and then buy credits with PNG Power. We are then given a 16 digit number that we must input into this box in our apartment.

The credits are then shown on the display and our power is turned on. During our first month we spent over 1000 Kina on electricity, which is over $500 Canadian. If a power bill for $500 seems high but not outrageous, remember this is for an apartment, not a house and we are not heating this apartment. In fact we don't even use our electricity to heat our hot water, that's done with solar panels on the roof. We only use electricity for appliances and lights. When we lose our power (2 or 3 times a day) the back-up generator kicks in. When we are on the generator, we aren't using our credits, so our power bill could be a lot higher.

Life is different for sure, but once you get the hang of it, it's not bad.

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Brisbane

Lori and I celebrated our 21st Anniversary on Thursday. It feels like a lifetime ago that we were in St. John's celebrating our 20th with friends and family. Lori took a couple of days off and we flew to Brisbane for the weekend. It's our first trip away since we've been in PNG and we were ready for it. We enjoy our life in Port Moresby, but we were ready for a break, where we could walk around on our own and go out in the evenings.

The simplest thing I can say about Australia is, I love it. I cannot express enough how much it feels like home to us. To paraphrase an Australian friend who referred to Canada as "Cold Australia", I will refer to Australia as "Warm Canada". It's friendly, clean, safe and just plain normal. We always assumed that we would retire in Canada, but we might have to investigate the immigration requirements of Australia.

This was not much of a touristy trip for us. The first couple of days were spent shopping for things we could not get in PNG. The rest of our time was spent just enjoying the multitude of restaurants and pubs in Brisbane. I am happy to announce that the Craft Beer Industry is alive and well in Australia. We hit a couple of brew pubs with great beers, tasty food and live music.

Brisbane is on the east coast of Australia, north of Sydney. The city itself is not right on the ocean, but it's on a river that leads to the ocean. There are wonderful neighbourhoods like South Bank and Eagle Street Pier full of restaurants and cafes. Here are a couple of shots of the walk along South Bank with it's man-made beach and markets.

The city is so accessible with free public transit in the inner city. The best way to get around is on the river itself. Within the downtown core, you can get on the City Hopper ferry for free. If you want to go further, you can get on the  City Cat for $6.

 There are volunteers everywhere to help you. This lovely woman explained to the City Cat to us and here she is helping other tourists.

We are both in love with Australia and we will be back many, many times over the next 5 years.

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Where there's smoke...

I said in an earlier post that we're in the dry season, which also means the windy season, and I mentioned how the wind brought dust with it. Well, it also brings smoke. There are fires burning all the time in Papua New Guinea and you can always smell the smoke. Some days are worse than others.

They are used to clear out the underbrush by the farmers in order to prepare the land for planting. Nothing is growing right now, in fact all the vegetation around Port Moresby is turning brown, so the farmers are getting ready to plant when the rains return.

At first glance, this picture isn't anything special, but when I took a closer look, I noticed something interesting. It shows 3 very different aspects to life in PNG. In the foreground, at the bottom of the picture, you can see Harbour City. This is the newest part of Port Moresby and it's where Lori and I live. Even the ground is new. It's all reclaimed land and there is lots of construction going on. Condos, office buildings, retail and restaurants are all going up. Most of the people living here are ex-pats.

Behind Harbour City, in the middle of the picture is Hanuabada village. It's the largest Motu village in PNG. The Motu are the people who live on the coast. This village is full of regular houses, they are just happen to be built on stilts above the water. It's a very traditional village that's been there for years.

In the top half of the picture are the highlands, with smaller villages and wantoks. Most are subsistence farmers, meaning they only grow what they need to survive. Every village has it's own language, which is why Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries on earth.

Anyway, I was just trying to show the smoke, but I managed to get a little more.

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Yacht Club

Now that we’re members, we went for lunch at the yacht club on Sunday. It’s close enough that we can walk to it. This is the view of our building from the deck of the club. Our apartment is on the right side, second from the top.

 Whenever we go out and I order an SP Lager, I always get a strange look. I’ve learned that I’m just supposed to as for a ‘Stubby’. It’s always served in a sleeve to keep it cool.

 They have a Stone Grill section on the menu, where the food comes out on a heated stone and you’re responsible for cooking it. I had the Asian selection with chicken teriyaki, sesame crusted tuna and prawns.

 There is a walking path around the outside of the marina. I’m not sure how long it is, but a full circuit is probably around 2km. Lori and I love to walk and it's not something we can do here very easily. This was the longest walk we’ve had since we left Paris.

 You get a great view of downtown from the path.

Not everyone has a great boating experience at the club.

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Settling In

We’re having internet issues this week, so it’s been tough to stay in touch with everyone. Slowly but surely we are settling into our new life though. We submitted our applications to the yacht club this week. It will be a good way to meet people and make new friends. Maybe I’ll find someone who is looking for crew and I can get out sailing while Lori is at work.

Right now shopping is my main pastime and it’s not as easy as you would think. Price isn’t the only constraint, selection and availability can be challenging as well. We were told before we came that the best way to shop is to buy it when you see it, even if you don’t need it at that very moment. Lori found one specific rosé wine that she likes, so when I saw it in the store, she made me buy a dozen.

 It hasn’t all been rough though. I managed to do something here that I couldn’t do for 2 ½ years in Paris, get my haircut. I couldn’t find a proper barbershop in Paris and I refused to pay 60 euros in a salon. I would always wait until I went back to Canada or London, but I found a great place to go here. Looks pretty good I think.

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