Thursday 13 June 2013

Ocean Rafting

When diving ahead of the boat to try and set up a float-less mooring (I was advised not to use a float as it would be lucky to live there a week before taking up alternative accommodation in some random fisherman’s boat), I also found an old raft and needing a better way of getting to the boat than swimming decided to refloat and repair it. The cunning plan was to tie drums to it and fill them with air from dive compressor.


After getting it to the house, removing the old drums, grinding off the crap, a spot of strengthen, a lick of paint and putting in some plastic drums (traded for the construction of a BBQ), wa-la! no more dog paddling around brown floaties and recycled disposable nappies.


Amanda in the mean time was hard at work flying to Goroka to sample local coffee in the sipping room and buy locally made handbags. To her horror it turns out one of these was made from a cute little fluffy possum called a Cuss Cuss. There was also the trips to Bougainville to see if that’s really where the Bogans came from. It’s possible. Probably she slipped in some accounting alone the way.


 Hard at work back in Madang I was left to my own devices volunteering at the fishing club to help put in mooring lines without floats and anywhere else that contained the word fishing.


With Amanda needing a work permit and me wanting a stamp in my passport advertising my official status as not "not permitted to work" we booked our tickets to NZ as the formalities have to be completed once you are outside the country. The plan was to meet Amanda in Port Moresby and carry on together however the plan all fell apart when the only stamp I got was "not permitted to leave" not that I could anyway, they took my passport. Apparently there was a mix up in the paperwork (customs fault) and according to the computer I had stayed to long. And so I now can't leave? Only in PNG. Anyway all was not lost; I got to go back to Madang to ensure Andrew was keeping up with his studies.


5 days later it was all sorted and I moved on my next project, the repair and repainting of a rental property in Nelson. It’s good to be home.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good read, and what handsome men they have in Madang

Anonymous said...

Good read, and what handsome men they have in Madang