New Zealand

It's official, we are in love with New Zealand. It's a beautiful country filled with friendly people and a climate that is more amenable to a couple of cold blooded Canadians. New Zealand is made up of two main islands and we spent all of our time on the south island. In fact, we were on the southern end of the south island, so the weather was cool enough for us to wear long pants and sweaters almost every day. It was a bit of a novelty for us.

For the bulk of the trip we stayed in Queenstown, which is the country's prime ski destination and it felt a little like Banff (with smaller mountains). The main purpose of the trip was to celebrate my 50th birthday and on that day we went up in a hot air balloon. It was a very cool experience and a great way to see the beauty of the area.

 They had a GoPro camera hanging from the balloon so we could get some group shots while we were in the air. Lori and I are in the back and on the left if you're looking for us.

 We made it to a height of 6000 feet, but we also spent some time low to the ground as well. I was able to snag a pretty good picture of the shadow the balloon was casting on a hill as we went by.

While we were in Queenstown, we took a day trip to the west coast of the south island and went on a boat trip in Milford Sound. There are filming locations all over New Zealand for the Lord of the Rings movies, but to me, Milford Sound looks like middle earth.

It had rained earlier in the day, so there were plenty of waterfalls pouring into the ocean.

We even got to see some dolphins riding the bow wave of another boat.

At the end of our trip, we spent a couple of days in Dunedin on the east coast of the south island. It was only a few hundred kilometers away, but it felt like a different country. The beach where our hotel sat, is a favourite spot for surfers.

We went on a nature tour of the Otago Peninsula and we saw albatross, penguins, sea lions and seals. It was so cool to walk on a beach while the sea lions played and to watch the penguins come out of the water after a day of fishing.

It was a great trip and I'm so happy we went. I do have to pass along some words of caution though. If you are thinking about going and you plan on renting a car or a camper van or some sort of vehicle, you have to be prepared for the roads. They are not like the roads you are used to, they are very narrow and winding and not at all forgiving. On our way from Christchurch to Queenstown a car (driven by a tourist) hit a motorcycle right in front of us. The motorcyclist was banged up pretty good, but survived. The day we drove to Milford Sound, a car (once again, driven by a tourist) was on the wrong side of the road and was hit by a bus. Both vehicles burst into flames and by the time we arrived, the burnt frames were the only thing left. Luckily everyone on the bus survived, but the 2 occupants of the car died. The New Zealand government knows there is a problem with tourists on their roads and they are trying to help. They provide you with safety information and a driving guide when you rent a car and there are signs everywhere telling you to slow down, but serious accidents still happen all the time. So if you go, and I think you should, just be careful on the roads.

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New Apartment

Lori and I have moved into our new apartment and we are extremely happy. The first thing we noticed about the new place is it feels like a neighbourhood. We see kids playing in driveways and riding their scooters on the sidewalks all the time.

Inside, everything is new and clean and works. The living and dining area is open concept so it feels roomy. It's a great space to hold a party.

Lots of room on the balcony and a beautiful view as well.

Lori and I have moved a lot in our lives. We've lived in apartments, condos and houses in multiple cities, provinces and countries. It doesn't matter where we live, moving day always ends the same way for me, with sore muscles and a cold beer.

It's amazing how much better we feel, not only mentally but physically as well. I'm sleeping better, breathing better and I'm just more comfortable. Our oven works properly, our shower has hot water and we have a front loading washing machine. We no longer feel like we live in student housing. So happy.

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Frustrated in PNG

I try not to post anything negative on this blog, but January has been a frustrating month for us. I realize that we live a pretty interesting and exciting life, so no one wants to hear me whine and complain, but frustration is part of life as an ex-pat.

The shelves of the grocery stores have been empty since we returned from Australia, our internet connection is unreliable, and the garbage floating in the harbour is at an all-time high. The main source of our frustration though is our apartment. The swimming pool is falling apart and is unusable, the ditch in front of the building emits a foul odor, we have mold in growing in the vents, and our air conditioner died a couple of weeks ago and it took 6 days to get it repaired.

It may not sound like a hardship to those who are battling snow and freezing temperatures back home, but when you're living in a tropical climate during the rainy season, an air conditioner is an important feature. It was so unbearable, we moved into a hotel for a couple of nights. The solution was to pillage a unit from an empty apartment and it worked for awhile, but now the replacement A/C unit is starting to die a slow and painful death.

There is hope for us though, because we are moving into a new apartment and I mean a brand new apartment. A new building has just gone up in the same area and we are moving in as soon as possible. All the appliances, fixtures, and furnishings are brand new as well. Plus, everything is clean and works.

I'm not sure why this month has been more difficult for us than any other, but it has. It's been four years since we left Canada and it feels like we've been living like students for the entire time. Sleeping in uncomfortable beds, sitting on cheap furniture (we have outdoor patio furniture in our dining room), and washing clothes in crappy washing machines wears on you after a while. Fingers crossed the move will brighten my outlook on life here.

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Christmas/New Year's

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday. Lori and I spent ours on a multi-city tour of Australia. We started on the west coast of Australia in Perth. We met our friend Erin and her parents for lunch on Christmas Eve at a beautiful seafood restaurant on the beach just outside of Perth.

Erin's parents opened their home to us and we spent Christmas Day with them as well. Unlike Canada where turkey is the main attraction, prawns are the star in Australia at Christmas.

After a wonderful visit with Erin (which was far too short), we flew to Melbourne for a couple of days. Melbourne is another beautiful city on the southern shore of Australia.

There are lots of great restaurants in Melbourne and we had some fantastic meals. We met up for lunch with our friends Andy and Kerryn who live in Melbourne and our friends Melissa and Al from PNG, who were in Australia for Christmas as well.

The food was great, but we had one of the strangest Charcuterie Plates I've ever seen.

It was great to see Andy and Kerryn again. This was a quick visit to Melbourne for us, just long enough to know that we will definitely be back in the near future.

Then we were off to Sydney for New Year's. I'm sure everyone knows of Sydney and their spectacular fireworks display on New Year's Eve. Sydney actually has 2 displays on New Year's Eve, one at 9:00pm for families and of course the main display at midnight. They incorporate the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House into the display along with 6 barges floating in the harbour. We were impressed with the organization of the entire event. Access to all of the prime vantage points is controlled and closed once maximum capacity is reached. They even have a website where you can track the status of the various vantage points around the city. People started claiming their spots by 7:00am. Lori and I were not among those people. We did go down to the harbour to watch the early fireworks, but it was a little too crazy for us. Luckily, we were able to see most of the late show from our hotel room with a glass of champagne in our hand. It was a spectacular show. I only had my phone, so my pictures didn't turn out great. I did however manage to get a shot of the millions of people leaving after it was over.

Melissa and Al were in Sydney as well and they had the best seat in the house. They were on a harbour cruise and were floating underneath the entire thing. If we go back, that's what we will do.

On New Year's Day, Lori and I climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was a great way to start the New Year, even if we did have trouble walking the next day.

They have very strict safety rules in place. We weren't allowed to bring cameras or phones and we couldn't wear watches or jewellery of any kind. Everything we wore was issued by them and had to be attached to us, so nothing could fall on the passing traffic below and of course, we were attached to the bridge at all times. Here's the group we went with in our fashionable jump suits.

In some ways it was a very different holiday season for us because of the warm climate, but it many ways, it was the same as every year with good food and good friends.

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South Pacific Cruise

Lori and I returned to Port Moresby on Wednesday after our cruise to New Caledonia and Fiji. This vacation came about in a strange way. A few years ago my dad told me about a music documentary called "Searching For Sugarman". I don't want to give too much away, but the movie is fantastic and we became huge fans of an artist named Rodriguez. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. Anyway, we decided to go see Rodriguez in Sydney and Lori searched for cruises leaving from Sydney around the same time and she found one on the Voyager of the Seas.

The concert was really good and it was in a beautiful old theatre called The State Theatre. The acoustics were excellent and we had great seats.

The next day we did some shopping (something we do every time we leave Port Moresby) and went out for a really nice dinner. Finally, we boarded the ship for our 11-night voyage. They tie up the cruise ships in an ideal location right between the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

This was the largest ship we've ever cruised on with 4000 passengers and 1200 crew.

There is a lot to do on-board. I tried boogie boarding on the flow rider. It went well, but there was no way I was going to try stand-up surfing.

Lots of space around the pool.

This class of ship has a Royal Promenade inside. Kind of like walking through a shopping mall, only on a ship.

Even though the ship is massive, we found it crowded. We prefer smaller ships with a better ratio of crew to passengers. We did enjoy our shore excursions though. At our first stop in Fiji we took a trip out to a private island.

At the second stop in Fiji, we went on a river cruise that ended with us swimming in the pool of a waterfall. Pretty cool.

We didn't get a chance to explore New Caledonia very much due the weather. In fact, our snorkeling trip was cancelled because it was raining too hard. The seas were a lot rougher than we were expecting as well. I think we both expected it to be similar to a Caribbean cruise, but the ship was rocking and rolling and the air was cool some days. It's easy to forget that the Caribbean Sea is sheltered and we were in open ocean during this trip. All in all though, it was a pretty good trip and nice way to visit some other Pacific Islands.

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FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

Papua New Guinea is hosting the FIFA Under 20 Women's World Cup for the next 3 weeks. This is the same tournament that was in Canada in 2014. Team Canada flew into Port Moresby last Wednesday and Melissa and Al organized a small welcoming committee to greet them at the airport.

Security was a lot tighter than we expected. We thought we could just wait in the arrivals area to greet the team, but that was not happening, no matter how hard Melissa tried.

We weren't the only ones at the airport to greet them though, groups of local school children were designated to each country to welcome the teams and cheer them on.

The newspapers were there to cover the arrivals - Lori and I made the local paper with Sienna.

Canada's first game was on Sunday against Spain. Another Canadian couple, who work with Melissa at Exxon, invited us over for brunch before the game and we had a great time. Darlene is an amazing host and cook. We had a waffle bar, fresh fruit salad and smoked salmon and eggs to name a few.

Of course we had to have coconuts filled with rum as well.

Eventually we made it to the game and we sat right behind the Canadian bench to cheer them on.

The Canadians played well, but the Spanish team was just too fast. Spain won 5-0. I think the Canadian girls were struggling with the heat and humidity as well. Quite a few of them were suffering from leg cramps. Even thought they lost, we had a lot of fun cheering them on. TSN is showing the games back in Canada and I've been told that we made it on screen a couple of times.

Canada also plays Japan and Nigeria in the preliminary round, but Lori and I won't be able to go to those games. We fly to Sydney on Thursday to meet our cruise ship. We are going on an 11-night cruise to Fiji and New Caledonia. I'll update you when we get back.

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