Papua new Guinea!!!!

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So I have made this like a little diary so I have written a little here and a little there:

Day 2 - first day of diving:
After a last minute panic run to the chemist to get some drug to clear my dodgy sinus and ears I made it to the airport to catch my flight. Very excited indeed I boarded and the views from the plane was great! The great barrier reef is pretty cool from the air!
Made it to PNG in Port Moresby, the capital. As we entered the arrivals hall we were greeted by men in hawaii shirts (well i suppose they are not from hawaii but you know what i mean..) singing and playing cheesy pacific music, with flowers behind their ears, love it.
Made it to the domestic terminal and caught a small plane to Hoskins. The smallest airport I have ever seen, and I have seen some small airports..
Got the transport bus to Walindi plantation resort, yay! Plenty of plantations in the area..palm trees for oil. Lush and gorgeous warm weather.
Got on board and met the rest of my dive buddies. We are lucky as we are only 9 people instead of 16 so I got my own room!
The boat is awesome and staff amazing and its beauuuuuutiful here. Oh and of course the food kicks ass!
Did 5 dives today - it really is great diving, had such a fantastic time!!! Clear blue water, 30 degrees warm and full of life! All dives went well but the last one were when we were on the night dive the mooring line broke and the boat drifted away..oops! Rain and thunder, really cool from under water. We weren't very stressed but the poor crew were. They found us and we swam back so all good and a fab first day of diving! Time to sleep!

Day 5, fourth day of diving:

Still amazing all the time! The captain is great and the dive guides are cool and they find the most crazy little things. Yesterday Joe found a juvenile frogfish and when I say it was small I really mean it - it was approximately 1cm!! Cutest thing! We have seen some gorgeous landscapes, spent the night inside an old volcanic crater, been rained on and had some great sunsets. I have seen blue ribbon eels, cuttle fish, razor fish, pipefish, tiny octopus, boxer crab, Coleman's pygmy seahorse, needle fish, white and silver tip shark (never seen that one before, stunning shark!) grey reef shark, spotted eagle ray, turtles and many more cool things!
I am slowly eating myself in to a barbapappa and am starting to worry when I will get time to exercise it off considering I am off to do other fancy diving real soon..

The kids from the islands come and see us sometimes, they are gorgeous. The paddle here in their canoes and swim and play and trade fresh fruit and flowers for other products they cant grow on the island.

Even my ears have been ok 18 dives in, fingers crossed for the rest of the trip..
Today I tried my new strobe for the first time and it is so difficult, but so much fun and the results are really cool! It helps that the captain is a professional photographer and the fleet captain who is here as well takes great photos so I have pros to ask regarding help and advice. Sitting here enjoying my red wine..now its dinner time - ciao..

Day 9 - back at the dock in Kimbe, Walindi Plantation resort

Sad sad, we are back in Walindi and the diving is over. Did the last two dives this morning and it was beautiful. Had a good few days with crazy weather and a lot of waves and broken steering on the boat but great fun!
Some good sharks, cutest turtles on earth, slippy lobster and another pygmy sea horse - got photos!
Tonight there will be dinner at the resort and then we sleep on board tonight and then my flight leaves in the morning..back to Cairns..
Ridiculously expensive but a great experience and 33 fantastic dives..almost makes me want to get a real job in order to be able to afford a few more of these. Hmmm..what I think I will maybe do instead is use my new contact, the fleet captain of these liveaboard boats, and try and get myself a little job on one of these!

Ok, now the cocktail party awaits me and my last night on the beautiful boat.

Laters!

Back in Cairns..
Had a good last night with some excellent fireflies and good food! The flights were on time and all went smooth and now I am in a very rainy Cairns..poo!

Until next time - ciao x

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