Trip to Segari in PNG (part 1)

Hi everyone,

Finally found time to write on the blog. The pace has not stopped here with something new happening everyday. This rotation has been less fun and more work. Well, I did get a Sunday off to get out of town about three weeks ago. I went with some friends to a park that is the start of the Kokoda trail. The trail is the old trail the Australians used to fight off the Japanese during World War II. From this point the Australian army could fire canons and hit their target three mountain ranges over. Now the trail is used by adventure group to hike across the mountains to the other coast. It's a 10 day hike through some of the toughest jungles and forests around. One of the guys that went with us is a guide for an adventure group out of Australia. He says the trip is long, hard, and not for the timid. It costs about $3000.00 per person to go on this trek.

From there we went back down the mountain to a small village called Segari and to the the Crystal Falls park. Segari had an open market to walk through. Most of the vendor were selling vegetables, smoked fish, and other items they have grown or made. Of course there were the betel nut vendors selling their products too. 

So, on with the show:

 One of our first stops was to visit the memorial cemetery for the Australian solders that fought during WW II. Most of the head stones depict unknown solders.

 On higher ground is this cross overlooking the graves. The landscape was beautiful around the area.

 Further up the hill was the memoral for all the PNG people that also fought in the war. The columns are lined with bronze plaques with names of all the people involved.

This is a typical head stone for the majority of the graves. Unknown solders from the war.
 

 We left the memorial and headed up the mountain toward the start of the Kokoda trail. Above is a typical road side stand. this one sells vegetable. All the fruit and vegetable stands have items that the families grow.

 This is the main road we traveled to our next stop. Yes, it is a dirt road up the hill that is barely wide enough for two small cars to pass on. There were some paved parts, but, they were full of ruts and some were slow getting through. During the rainy season this road is sometimes not drivable.
 

 

The next stopping point was a viewpoint the one of the largest waterfalls on the island. These two girls were the gate keepers to the entrance of the viewpoint. It cost 2 kina per person to walk down the path to the viewpoint. Later I found out from our guide that they actually do keep the area clean and tidy and they get paid for their work by people like us coming to see the waterfall. 

This was the best viewpoint of the fall I could find. the path was steep and part of it was on a rock edge that went strait down to a viewpoint landing. The water is coming from a lake higher up the mountain.

We finally got to the top of the mountain. Well, top of the hill at least. This the the start of the Kokoda trail. The trail goes over the furthest mountain you see in picture and then down to the ocean on the other side. Our guide said we should climb down to the stream. I looked down the trail and it was mud, wet grass, and pretty steep. I declined to go. Also I was wearing my sandals at the time. The other 4 people started down an ended up sliding most of the way. It took them about 10 minutes to climb up the 100 yards they slid down.

 After getting muddy (of course I was clean) we went to the market in Segari. Here you could buy all the fruit and vegetables you need plus other items.

 This is local river fish that have been dried. There were a few stands selling the fish.

 These two ladies were selling home made donuts. There in the buckets in front. No, I did not try one. I am a little leery of eating any of the local food. 

This family were selling potatoes and some leaf I couldn't pronounce.

This is the back side of the market area. All the products are locally grown.

And there is always a betel nut stand with ample supply of nut, lime, and mustard stick.

These two teenage girls didn't know I was taking their picture until the third click of the camera. When they saw I was taking pictures they hid there faces and started laughing. Their a little shy.

As we left the market I couldn't resist this shot. Mom and baby waving bye.

There is a part two to this blog. I will be working on some more pictures and posting soon.

Take care,
Ken

Okay... I'm back.....

Hi all,

This tour has been a whirlwind of work. Got back to work and found nothing had been done while I was gone. We had 3 incidents in January while I was gone. Plus all the daily paperwork, equipment certifications, and programs I started fell through the cracks. It's taken me a month to get back to where I was before. I guess I can't leave anymore.

So... I haven't taken many pictures of the area; only work stuff. My days have been getting up at 4 am; be at work by 5am; have tool box talks with the crew; go to meetings; go back to my room around 7pm; and in bed by 8:30pm only to start over the next day.

The weather has been interesting here. When I arrived it was a monsoon. In a matter of 3 hours it dropped 6 inches of rain; flooded downtown PortMoresby; and made it difficult to get to camp. The next day, the sun was out and the humidity was about 90 percent. It's been raining like this on and off since I've been here. The temperature has been cool at night, around 78 degrees, but, the days get up to around 95. With the humidity on top of the heat we have a feel like temperature of 105 degrees or more. Really strange weather here.

Clouds before and after storms 

This is my new background on my laptop. This storm came in and dumped 3 inches of rain in 45 minutes.

Another cloud formation that ended up dropping enough rain to cause no vision while driving. Simular to a white out when it snows hard.

This formed after a storm passed through the night before.

I thought this was a cool cloud formation also.



 Everyday the sky has a new appearance here. The sunrises are dramatic as well as the sunsets. It's hard to pick and choose which ones to photograph.

I also have some pictures of the largest crane on site. It can lift 600 metric tons. And a picure of a pumper truck that we use for pouring concrete.

This is Big Red. It lifts 600 metric tons and the yellow crane in front can lift 250 metric tons. Red is the biggest crane on the site. The tracks on big red are taller than I am.

.Here is our crew working with a pump truck pouring 120 cubic metes of concrete.

The next picture is a girl that works in our office. Her name is Aiva. Aiva is 23, married, and with child. Two weeks ago she was at a conference on-site and started to hemorage. She went to the on-site clinic for help and could not get the help she needed. The clinic told her to get to the general hospital where she could get looked after. However, the clinic on-site would not provide any medical transportation. By this time the hemorage had stopped and the doctor felt it was safe to tranport her. Myself and two other people transported her via company van to the hospital. We spent four hours with her trying to get through the crowds of people at the hospital to get her check out.  We were able to get her to the front of the line for her examination because of where she worked and some persuasive talk from  me. Once she was in proper care and her mother arrived, we left. Later that day we found out she lost her baby because of the complication. I was amazed to here this is not uncommon in this country. The hospital we took her too was a sight to see with all the women there waiting to be seen by a doctor. I heard some of the women waiting to see the gynocologist have been there 2 days waiting for there appointments. It's a sad sight to see.

Aiva is doing well. She is back to work and moving forward with her life. Here is a picure of her I took at work a few days ago.

Aiva Avia

On the brighter side, the next two pictures are of Nembo and Peter. Both guys are our top welders in the shop. They keep everything under control duing our hectic times of production.

This is Peter.

this is Nimbo

Well thats it for now. Need to get some sleep. Hope you enjoy the pictures in this session. I will be writng soon to show my one day trip to Seguri village just outside of Port Moresby.

Take care.

Ken

Coming to an end......

Hi everyone,

Well I am just about done with this tour of Papua New Guinea. The last couple of weeks have been work, work, work. I haven't been out and about to enjoy the scenery. Hope everyone has enjoyed the blog. It looks like I will be coming back for another tour at the end of January. That will depend on when I get my Visa from the government. I'll let everyone know what's happening after I get home.

I do have a couple of pictures to show.

 First, I want to introduce Henry. (or his cousin) He is in my room and hides behind the wall locker. The other morning I got up and he was beside my water bottle. By the time I got my camera he was at the locker as you see. The baseboard is only 1 1/2" tall. Anyway, He enjoys living indoors rather than in the rain.

 When I got to work the other morning I went out to view the sunrise over the mountians. We had rained that night for a couple of hours and the clouds were still passing through. It rains in spots. At camp we had the rain, light rain - only a couple of inches in two hours. At the worksite, 25 km away, there was no rain. However, a day or so ago it dump about 2 to 3 inches on the work site in 45 min to an hour. It was really cool to watch. Also, the temperature was about 90 deg at the time.

 Today was a really hot and muggy day. with the heat index it got to 112 deg. What your looking at is a road roller window that shattered today from the heat and vibration. The cab is fully enclosed and rather hot inside. fortunatly the driver was not hurt; but he about peed his pants when it happened. that's a large safety glass panel in that window.

The final picture is the sunset from my camp where I live. It's always so dramatic with the sundown.

So that ends the show. I will call everyone when I get home. I should be arriving on the 21st of December in time for Christmas.

Take care,
ken

Cairns, Australia..... Part 2

Hi everyone,

Monday was a really busy day when I got back. Had lots to do and came home real late. Didn't have time to write anything. Those that sent email messages, I will respond soon.

This next set of pictures were taken at night around town. The main part of town was not busy, however, the water front was going great. There was an open night market with all the vendors selling everything from jewelry to massages. The food court had great food and the action was fun.

 This is one of the entries to the open market. It is in a building covering a half a block in width by a full block long. Shops were crammed in every corner. You could buy any in this shopping are at good prices compared to department stores. But the items were still expensive.

Walking down one of the isles I saw this rack of large tennis shoes. They are shoulder bags. I thought they were cool.

 Around the corner was this wall of kangaroo hides for sale. They ranged from $50.00 to $100.00, depending on the size. the fur is soft and would make a nice throw rug in the living room.

At the other end of the market was the food court. Food from all over the world was being made. I ate here at this place. In the middle of the picture are plates. You pick the size of plate and pay the price listed. The plates ranged from $12.95 to 15.95. I picked a dinner size plate at $14.95 and a coke for $4.00. Then you start at one end of the line and fill the plate as much as you can carry with an assortment of food. They had the usual Chinese noodles and rice plus chicken and battered shrimp. They also had whole crab, steamed mussels, jumbo shrimp, fresh fish and other assorted foods. The catch is, you only get one pass at the food bar. So, my plate was well mounded with an assortment of food.

 Now that I was full of great food, I went back into the market area. In this one section are massage shops. I must of walked around these 3 time before I decided to get a massage. The signs in front advertised an "A" package of foot, ankle, calf, neck, shoulders, and back massage for $15.00 it is a 40 minute process. What was strange was the "B" package was all of the above except the back massage for the same price and time. Of course, I opted for the "A" package. This is Kym from China. She was my masseuse. Kym was about 5 feet tall and couldn't have weighted more than 100 pounds. She first brought out a bucket of tea to soak my feet in. You can see the lady to the left with her feet in the bucket. after 10 to 15 minutes, Kym started massaging my feet. She hit every pressure point there was and I was wincing from the dull pain. She continued massaging to the lower knee on each leg attacking all the pressure point and muscles. From there she took me through the green curtain in the background where there were 12 tables and 6 massage chairs. Every one was occupied with people getting massages. I figured this little girl wasn't big enough to give a good back massage. I was wrong! Since I was laying face down on the bench I couldn't see her and the next thing I know she was on the table too and started hitting every pressure point in my back, neck, and shoulders. She found the bad spot in the middle of my back when I jumped a little from the pain of her fingers pushing in. 40 minutes later I was done and felt great. It was strange to get a massage with so many people in the same area. Yes, I did have my clothes on except my shirt. The women in there getting massages were allowed to leave there shirts on. It was well worth the 15 buck for the experience.

 After a great massage it was time to walk the shop and find some coffee. Here is what the sidewalks look like in this area I was in. The walkways were near the stores and tables with chairs were near the street.

 For you boot lovers. Here is a custom made pair of boots made from sheepskin and alligator skin. This was in a shop that sold all local made products.

Further down the street was this art gallery with origanal artwork from local aboriginal tribe members. The cheapest painting I saw was $1200.00 and they went up from there.

 Worked my way back to the market to walk through more of the isles. Here are some of the items for sale in one small shop.

 Jewelry counters were all throughout the market. Opals are very common in Australia and almost all the jewelry had some Opal stones in them. Most of the jewelry was silver and some were done in gold.

 Outside of the market down a shop or two was this bar with a wall of Corona beer bottles. I didn't drink in the bars because of the price. A 16oz of tap beer is $8.00. I went from a cup of coffee which only cost me $4.00 for one cup of black coffee. I could have saved some money by buying a bottle of water; it was only $2.80 for 1liter.

 It was desert time before returning to my room. This a shop that sold cones of Gelatia. (Think thats how you spell it). Its all hand made and they had a fruit or item depicting the flavor. I had a black cherry/walnut cone. All I can say is YUMMMM!

Those that like Red Bull. They had that flavor too.

 Almost forgot. The street music was unique. This guy was making good money with the crowd of people he captured playing aboriginal music. This finished my night in Cairns and my one day trip.

On the flight home I looked down and saw this atoll in the middle of the ocean. It was remarkable.

That ends my trip. Now I am back in the dusty hot world of Papua New Guinea. I hope the rain comes soon.

Take care all. Hope your enjoying the pictures.
ken

A day in Cairns, Australia

Hello everyone,

Last week was just another workweek in PNG. 14 hour days, 106 to 109 degrees, and dusty. I came down with sinus infection and chest congestion from the dust and going in and out of air conditioning. Went to the clinic and got some drugs. On Sunday morning I flew to Cairns, Australia for my one day layover. The pronunciation of Cairns is "Cans" (for those that didn't know). YEA !! I hit my 30 day mark and now it's 30 days till I get home.

Papua New Guinea has a law that if you don't have a work visa you can only stay 30 days at a time then leave the country. Which I did and returned today for my next 30 day stay.

What a fantastic place Cairns is. The weather was hot yet low humidity which made it nice. Being located on the ocean the breeze is cool in the evening. Since I only had one day, I spent the time walking the downtown core area and along the beach. At night I went to the Open Night Market to have dinner and checkout the little shops that are set up like an open market. For those that have been to Saturday Market in Portland, Or. - it's about the same number of vendors inside a huge building. The town is real clean, the people are friendly, and on the weekends it's full of tourists from Japan along with other Aussie's. The food is great, and everywhere you go it is expensive. I'll get into more details along with the picture show to follow.

 When I left PNG we flew over the reefs just of the coast of PNG. The different shades of blue in the ocean are un-describable. From the air I could see the bottom many feet deep then it dropped off to a royal blue deep ocean.

 As I approached Australia, I could see the Great Barrier reef. From the air it was fantastic. Again the blues and turquoise colors was amazing. You have to see it to really grasp the beauty of the reef. The white line in front of the reef are waves breaking on the sand.

 This is a view of northern Cairns. The area is houses on canals with boats in front. Very similar to Naples in Southern California.

 As we were approaching the runway, I got this picture of the country side around Cairns.

I stayed at the Holiday Inn downtown across from the beach. The trees in the middle of the hotel was like a rainforest that you could walk through on paths. I was on the third floor shooting this picture. The hotel is expensive and everything was al-a-cart. Internet access was $12.50 an hour. If you charge any services from the hotel there was a 1.5% surcharge. I had a continental breakfast of fruit, coffee, toast, muffin - $18.00. And the list went on.

 Here it the pathway in the center of the hotel. There is a bridge over a pond and stream.

 At the end of the pond were these huge fish. I think they are carp but not sure. There was a sign up saying feeding times were Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Don't have any Idea what they eat, but they were big.

 Across the street from the hotel was a boardwalk that went along the water for a couple of miles. It's about 11am when I shot this picture. By 1pm it was full of people walking and jogging. To the right is a park area that went the length of the walk and then some more. Along the way were open building that had 6 gas fired gills for cooking. By late afternoon people were picnicking everywhere.

Near the yacht club at the end of the board walk is this public pool. I couldn't get the whole pool in the picture because of it's size. The pool wraps around to the right with more swimming area.

 I left the beach area and went into the center of town. This building is the oldest in town and the center of the business area. There is a square for people to sit and walk around with no cars allowed. To the right and left are the streets for cars.

 Most of the sidewalks are covered as shown above. This road goes up to the main shopping center.

 On the way to the Mall I stopped here for lunch. This was a fun pub with great food. I had fish and chip with a pot for $12.00. A "POT" is an 8oz glass of beer. Of course, I had a local beer that was great, then had another. It cost $3.85 for another pot of beer.

 Here is an interior shot of the bar. All wood construction and trim.

For those that like pool, this is the Billiard room off the main bar area.

After lunch I made my way to the Mall. It is Huge. This is a 2 story mall that is twice as large as the South Center Mall in Washington or Loyd Center in Portland. This is the entry to the mall. All the Christmas decoration are up and the stores are decorated too. It really seams funny to be close to Christmas and it's 90 degrees outside.

I got this picture for Kristin. This is a big supply company of hair products in the mall.

Across the street was a pharmacy. You could find any kind of drug or pharmacy product in this place.

I worked my way back to the beach and came across this childerns park It streached along the walk way for about a quarter mile. There were paths, play areas, a gathering place for kids activities. It is designed for infants to toddlers to play on all kinds of stuff.

In the middle of the Children park was this water play area for the kids. Teenagers were not allowed to play here. Only the kids up to 12 years of age.


Well that's it for today. I will be posting my night time romp around the town tomorrow. I have to eat, talk with the bosses and get some sleep for work tomorrow.

Have a great day.
ken