shelaghandheather

We knew when arriving in PNG that it had a number of cultural groups and over 800 languages. It really took us our whole visit to understand what that means. Each of the places we visited has an entirely different way of living meaning that anything we learned in one area is not necessarily true in the other areas, it was really like visiting 3 different countries. It also means that there is virtually no national identity (except when it comes to the national Rugby League team of course) and loyalties and allegiances are to the tribe and not the country as a whole. This makes the national political situation particularly challenging because for the most part no ones primary concern is the country as a whole. The Trobriand Islands (or “Trobs” as the locals and ... read more

We have to admit that we did minimal research before embarking on this trip. We did know that it would be bloody hot and humid and that we would probably get dirty and smelly. To deal with this we headed to Kmart and bought cheap tshirts and shorts. You can actually buy cute tshirts in Kmart for as low as $3 (although we largely splashed out on the $6 and $8 ones). I suspect these are not made in Australian factories paying Australian minimum wage. Reluctantly I also decided not to bring my down jacket (how can I possibly travel without my down jacket???). We also knew that there was Malaria risk in PNG and did procure malaria tablets. A few days before departing we thought “hmmm, I wonder if we need visas?” and learned that ... read more

Ok, we haven’t written a blog for over a month so there will be two in rapid fire succession. One covering the things Shelagh and I have been up to on our own and one covering the exciting two weeks that our friends Katrina and Simon came to visit. And by exciting, I mean drinking. It was a sign of things to come when I picked them up at the airport at 10 am and took them home to shower, unpack etc. Within an hour Kat had opened the bottle of nice white Shelagh bought in a vineyard near Canberra and Simon had begun his investigation of Australian Craft beer. It happened to be the day of the Melbourne Cup – The race that stops a nation – so we headed out to meet Shelagh at ... read more

After much planning, anticipation and general pandemonium the time had finally come for us to depart for our 6 month adventure in Sydney. Houses rented out, cars stored, phones put on hold, job quit (ok, that happened a while ago – wouldn’t want to leave everything to the last minute!). Sherpa was settling into her new home with a former colleague of mine. She is likely to receive more love and attention there than in her regular life. Maverick was deposited with our friends Blair and Aleks for what will likely be the most fun and active 6 months he’ll ever have. Ready. As for the flight itself you won't be surprised to learn that Shelagh was booked business class and I had an upgradeable economy fare. We went to all the trouble of staying up ... read more

Day 8 We got up really early this morning so we could see sunrise over the mountains. It was beautiful as the sunlight slowly illuminated the mountains. We then started a really long day. We knew if was going to be a long day of riding – we were told 29km. It turned out to be 55km…not sure of the difference between Nepali and Canadian kilometers!! Most of today was on jeep roads. This involved pot holes, rocks, big puddles and much poo. If I get Giardia on this trip it will be from the flying poo and muck today I imaging. It’s a bad sign when you say…”oh I know that taste. Its Yak poo!” We dropped 3000m over the course of today and climbed 1000m so a big day. The crazy drop in altitude ... read more