No restriction on rugby balls at the airport!
by CatherineReichardt
Quite by coincidence, I first visited PNG on business a couple of days after the devastating tsunami in July 1998. A lot of the initial emergency response was mobilised from Oz, and so I found myself travelling from Cairns on a packed flight along with a team of sniffer dogs and their handlers who were to assist in for body recovery.
Predictably the airport was chaotic, and we had to wait in line for immigration for what seemed to be forever. Bored and restless, I kept myself occupied by perusing the signs on the wall - an occupation I've become somewhat expert in through a career of travelling primarily in the developing world - but found myself perplexed by a sign that I simply couldn't work out.
A round sign with a red rim and a red line through the symbol in the centre. Clearly prohibiting something - but what? An oval shaped object - surely they weren't banning the use of rugby balls in the arrivals hall?
Pondering this conundrum kept me mildly occupied until I finally reached the front of the queue. Once my passport had been stamped, I could contain my curiosity no longer and asked the immigration official to put me out of my misery.
"No betel nuts" was her bewildered response.
Port Moresby is Located HERE
by Bwana_Brown
Located in the southeast part of Papua New Guinea and about 10 degrees south of the Equator, Port Moresby lies on the coast of the Coral Sea and in the 'rain shadow' of the Owen Stanley mountain range.
Our home was located a bit south and west of the red 'airport' symbol and we did a lot of our mountain getaways in the general area indicated by 'Sirinumu Dam'. Our friend's yacht was kept anchored in Bootless Bay to the east of the city, which is over-written by the word 'Taurama'.
Outer Harbour - Ela Beach
by Bwana_Brown
Around the point from the main harbour, is Ela Beach where most of the frolicking took place. This view shows a distant view of the many colourful sails of out-rigger canoes after they landed on the beach during the opening ceremonies of the 3rd South Pacific Festival of Arts. There are also a few smoke streamers in the air from fireworks going off.
To get to this beach from our house, we had to come down off those hills in the distance, drive past a fishing village built on stilts and then round the point of dark land in the middle-right of the photo. The street led from that point along the shoreline to Ela Beach.
A Traditional 'Mumu' Feast
by Bwana_Brown
A 'mumu' is an earthen oven method of cooking, originally from the Highlands area of Papua New Guinea. Because the people of PNG traditionally had no cooking pots, except for one pot that they saved for special occasions, most food was roasted over a fire, which will do for a family but is an impractical way to cook for a larger party.
The underground 'mumu' oven, on the other hand, is dug to fit the necessary specifications of available food and the number of people to be fed.
We were invited to attend one of these feasts in Port Moresby by a local family who worked for one of our friends doing household tasks. After the hole was dug, stones were heated in it by burning wood on top of them. Once the fire had burned down, all but a thin layer of the hot stones were carefully removed, and a layer of large banana leaves was laid on the base layer of stones to steam the food.
Then followed a layer of hard vegetables, including sweet potatoes and other traditional New Guinean vegetables. Then came another layer of hot stones, directly under the main chicken dish. Another layer of leaves covered the chicken, and then the whole thing was covered completely with earth. The pit would be left for several hours before the contents were dug up and eaten. We really enjoyed this amazing cultural experience but be prepared for the cooked meat to have a 'white' (steamed) appearance instead of the 'brown' (roasted) look familiar to Westerners!!
The photo shows the young son of our friends as he helped to check out the final product!
Jobs for the Locals
by Bwana_Brown
As was the custom during our years in Africa, the expatriate community was constantly approached by the locals looking for jobs of any sort so they could have some means of supporting themselves in the Capital city. There was no point in refusing them, because others would just follow on with their requests, and why not employ them so they had some means of supporting their families?
In our case, we took on Joseph as a gardener to deal with the trees and shrubbery that surrounded our house. He also pitched in with cleaning inside the house as necessary. As you can see from the photo, Joseph had the typical short stature of most of the Papua New Guineans. For this photo with me and our middle daughter, he decided to 'doll' himself up a bit with a couple of Hibiscus blossoms from our garden!
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My taxi and taxi driver (white shirt man on right)
My headwound! My only souvenir from Moresby!
Irreverence at the Art Museum
Gateway to Port Moresby
