Papua New Guinea!

 So on Friday we spent some quality time at the airport in Cairns. First of all we had to reshuffle some luggage and check in a carry on bag or two...after all, they aren't allowed to be that heavy in the small planes! I guess all companies have different rules.

 After all the hassle of luggage our flight was delayed, and we spent a long time waiting for our plane to arrive from PNG and empty before we could hop onto it. We were entertained by a suitcase that fell off a trailer, and eventually did get picked up and delivered, hopefully to the right location. Those planes are all too big for our short flight!

 Finally we are almost there! We are all pretty excited. After all, this is our destination, Australia was just a stopover. Do you see it?

 Yay! There is a glimpse of Port Moresby below. Hard to tell from up there what it will be like once we are on the ground!

 Once we landed we were picked up by Mark and Pastor Cor and were whisked off to the Reformed Bible Colleges Campus. The drive was so fascinating no pictures were taken. We are transported to a totally different world, a kaleidoscope of colour, poor, rich, markets, traffic clumps, lots of stares (white skin stands out a lot) and interesting smells. It's a lot hotter here than Cairns, as the humidity is much higher. It doesn't feel unbearable like Hong Kong did, but being rested and feeling excited makes a different I'm sure!

 Compared to our glimpse of Port Moresby, the campus seems very tidy and organized. We have time to dump our suitcases in our room, and Philip has a few minutes to prepare before he is off to a meeting. In the meantime the kids and I wander around and try settle in. So nice to be welcomed heartily and feeling a part of church family after feeling rootless for the previous week! I got an interesting tour of the campus with descriptions of the recent flood damage and gardens what each building is for. Below is a main classroom.

 Meanwhile the meeting goes ahead.

  I think it was a meeting of all the delegates meeting with the national pastor. They met under one of the houses, it's nice to have shade!

I headed out the gate (which is to the right of the security guys' hut/sea can) with a few ladies and we picked up some produce at a local market for a dinner coming up. It was an interesting experience going through the market. Full of people, and so much produce for sale. We were treated by our hostess with fresh salted peanuts that were really delicious. After eating it I remembered, oh yeah, I'm supposed to sanitize my hands before I eat everytime and not eat market food if I want to avoid getting sick. Oh well.

 When I got back the kids were settling in just fine and hanging out with other kids. They'd felt comfortable enough to let me go off with the ladies, and looked relaxed enough when I got back. :) Below is a view towards all the student houses. There is a washing/bathroom building in the middle, including showers and taps for washing.

 This house is the Kiwi house. It was built by the New Zealand team and the New Zealand missionaries are housed in there, hence the name "Kiwi". We spent the latter part of our stay in there.

 There are lots of cute kids hanging around the campus. They have a nice carefree way of playing, more relaxed due to the opposite style of parenting from the "helicopter parenting" style that is becoming increasingly expected in Canada.

 This building is where we slept. It's the Kleyn's classroom. It had enough floor space to fit all five of us, and it was really nice that we could stay together. When we got sick later we enjoyed the air conditioning but missed the ease of access to a bathroom. We were liberally fed by the Kleyn's in their house whenever we needed food. :)

 The Kleyn's house is right next to our accommodations. You can see the classroom off to the right in the background. It's a bit of a trek when you are weak or queasy to get the washroom, as you can see. If we were healthy (as we'd planned to be) it wouldn't have been noticeable. After all, our camping washroom is usually even further away, and more difficult to find in the dark if the trees all look the same and there is no distinct trail to the thunder box.

 The last of the missionaries house is here, where the meeting was being held. I missed a picture of the place the Mulder's are in, which is also right nearby.

 We headed to bed on time, as our plan the next day was to head early to the Kokoda Trail and hopefully make good time on it before we had to head back.