We wanted to share a glimpse of our first Christmas in the Foreign Service. Angela found a great idea of making a fireplace out of the boxes and wrapping paper that our household goods came in. Now we have a great place to hang our stockings!
Fisherman's Island
We took a boat trip out to Daungo Island, known locally as "Fisherman's Island" about two weeks ago. It sits about 45 minutes out of Port Moresby Harbor. We had a great time checking out the local sea creatures and got a little too much equatorial sun.
Pure What?!?!
Well, at least it tastes like Orange & Mango.
Port Moresby Nature Park
Flying Fox Fruit Bats of Papua New Guinea
So we finally got our wifi back.
During the weekend, we visited a nature park that we will be spending a lot of time at. It's one of the few places we can visit that's clean and safe (more on that in a future post). The giant bats in the video above are not on display - they migrate there for six months out of the year. Thousands of them were in the trees. Their wingspan can grow up to 6 feet. These were relatively small at around 4-5 feet (so about Zach's height). Those of you who know me know that I can not stand things that are out of proportion size-wise, so watching them crawl and fly around was nauseating. Thankfully they stayed high up as there was nothing stopping them from eating our faces off. Now I know why we needed three rounds of rabies shots before we got here!
Other interesting things you'll see if you click on the pics below:
1. Tree kangaroos are adorable and only live in PNG and the northern tip of Australia. Basically they adapted to live in jungles instead of the Australian Outback. Very endangered. But they look a lot like Ewoks.
2. Cassowaries are related to ostriches and totally look like mini dinosaurs. There are some trees whose seeds can only germinate by passing through a cassowary's digestive track, so they are critical to the forests of PNG. Also endangered.
3. The walking tree is incredible. It sends shoots out that eventually move the tree towards a water source. Our guide kinda laughed at the fact that her village elders used to say they walked at night, but I don't think they were that off base. The tree in the picture moved about 20 feet in 20 years (they've been tracking it every year).
4. The hornbill is really cute but mean as hell - he recently killed his cellmate.
Funny Foods
I am starting a new post on funny foods we find on our travels. Here is our first find - "Starburst Babies". Seeing that we are in Papua New Guinea I am sure there is a good cannibal joke to be made but I will leave that up to you guys. And as you would expect it does taste like real babies.
We're Here and Finally Have Wifi! Just in time for PNG's Independence Day
Ang here. We survived 24 hours straight of airplanes with a toddler! He did surprisingly well. We are now paying for that with 3am wakeup times.
Housing is fantastic - will do a separate post with pics soon. More bathrooms than people.
Today was PNG's 40th Independence Day celebration. Luckily, Leo gets all host country and US holidays, so it was a great day. We went to the Yacht club to see some traditional dancing and a "maw maw" buffet. Basically, they roast a pig and cook a bunch of vegetables (potatoes, pumpkins, greens) in the ground. Pretty bland, but interesting! Also a bunch of crabs I refused to eat because it was a buffet outside.
Here are some pics. Will add some videos soon. Day ended with WWII stunt planes and fireworks. Not a bad introduction. This really will be an adventure!
Last Flight
On the shuttle bus for the last flight to Port Moreby, Papua New Guinea.
