Monday, September 30, 2013

FIJI: Bula and lots of Sugar Cane Train Lines

BULA means: Hallo, and we wish you Life and Wellness!
And everyone says it, people are very friendly and always smiling.


And Sugar Cane Train Lines are throughout the country side and are being used by everyone who has to transport something. Carts with wheels to fit into the tracks are used EVERYWHERE! I am surprised having not seen Babies pushed along those tracks. Beside having carts on the lines, they are used for horses to trot along them, people, school-kids use them to go to school, and holiday makers and tourists use them to walk to the village for a photo session or whatever.

pic horses and train lines

We are now in FIJI, we hardly believe we have made it so far. Nearly Halfway in time, more than halfway in distance. The last days before FIJI were heavy for us, getting up at 04h00 but latest at 04h30 in the morning, no breakfast, arriving at our destination late, sometimes after sunset, then we have a few Beers, lots of water, some wine, a meal, then preparation for the next day, then sleep.

We have not had Internet facilities for many days now...that is also making things difficult. Researching this or that, sometimes Hotel bookings, mostly on those days we cannot keep up with the group and have to rearrange bookings, etc

The Blog has also not been published for several days now. I write the Blog as we go along, as experiences happen, I write them down. In-flight is good as I sit and do nothing most of the time anyway. But if we have no Internet they can not be published. Jan, the editor of Pilot & Flugzeug sometimes uses a Satellite connection to publish a few sentences for the magazine. Today lots of publications for our blog will be brought up to date.

We are here until tomorrow morning. Again we will have three difficult days in front of us, separating from the group. But we are not the only ones, the Mooney is already in Australia, we will meet up in Cairns and one of the PC12 is also in AUS. The crew, 4 people, had to solve some personal issues and split up to go separate ways for a week or so and they will re-connect to see how things work out.

One of the other crews also mentioned "personal issues between the crew members, the more people the more issues" and said to us: you think us in the bigger planes have no problems? We have different problems and issues ... some of us even wanted to quit and go back home, only after meeting around a table and having talks we could resolve some differences". I guess, yes, we all have different issues.

Right now, Dietmar and me, we have NO issue, we sit here, have a glass of ice-cold wine, Dietmar is doing flight-planning in a fantastic hotel-room ...


... with the most fantastic view. 


We need no more right now. We went for a swim in the ocean right across the Lagoon to NAVO Island.



Info follows







We are in FIJI!!! Yepeeeh!


view from our balcony


Friday, September 27, 2013

The other End of the World: Via Vanuatu to Fiji

Arrival, Santo, Vanuatu, 27th Sept 2013, local time 13h12





Arrival on Fiji, 15h40. 


Luggage was screened, we were than taken to the Hotel by our handling agent, all a very lengthy and complicated procedure.
We had a long day and we are exhausted.

Sunset in Fiji, just at time if arrival st the Hotel





Thursday, September 26, 2013

Solomon Islands

HISTORY
LANGUAGES
Melanesian pidgin, English, 120 indigenous languages

RELIGIONS
Protestant (Church of Melanesia, South Seas Evangelical, Seventh-day Adventist, United Church), Roman Catholic

GOVERNMENT
parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm

Northeast of Australia in the South Pacific, the Solomon Islands consist of 6 main islands, and 980 smaller ones, that are volcanic and forested—Guadalcanal is the most populous island. 
A strategic battleground during World War II, the islands gained independence from Britain in 1978. About 85 percent of the islanders are Melanesians, who speak some 120 indigenous languages. Ethnic tension between natives of Guadal-canal and Malaita island escalated into armed conflict from 1998 until 2003, when an Australian-led peacekeeping force restored order. Most islanders are subsistence farmers, and logging is a major industry.


Leaving PNG, Arriving Solomon Islands


Thursday, 26.09.2013, 07h20 local time, SA/D 20130925, 23h20, middle of night


We departed and we are orbiting in front of mountains to be able to gain height and then hop over them in a few minutes. In the meantime forest and jungle below us. High mountains 'Drakensberg' Height. Layers of Clouds in between. Wonderful sight.


We are on our way to Rabaul, approx 4hours, to clear customs and immigration with special  application and permission. We are leaving  Papua New Guinea. The sooner the better. We dread to think of any technical dfifficulties in this area. 

We hope our estimated turn-around time does not exceed 2 hours. If it does we will not manage our second leg for today as we do not want to land in the dark at our destination, Honaria, Salomon Islands.




The next two days will be difficult, extended flying hours and we will be time pressed as we loose one hour on our second leg today and tomorrow another hour.







We are now flying above mountains 5,000 meter high! And I even see houses and a settlement.

We have reached the coastline and the 'Bismarck Sea' and the 'Solomon Sea'.

Our turn around in Raboul was relatively quick and uneventful. We are overflying the most beautiful islands, some small and no sign of them being inhabited. Some are large with harbours, airfields, resorts. All surrounded by blue and turquoise water.


We are now on the second leg to Honaria, Solomon Islands, estimate to arrivive at 17h10 local time. Immigration and fuel needs to be done immediately after arrival. Then dinner and rest.  I am looking forward to that.

Tomorrow a similar day. Then 3 nights Fiji Islands.





Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The Hulis

25.09.2013

During the day we had a couple of opportunities to chat with one on the guides / staff member at the lodge; he informed us that wages of $1 per hour for a cleaner or a guide is the norm here in PNG. Schooling needs to be paid for by parents and on average mothers have 4 to 5 children. Men have, as long as they are rich, 2-4 wives, in total up to 20 children. Husbands and wifes live apart, they have so called women and men houses. Children live with their mothers up to the age of 7 years and than boys move out to stay with their fathers to learn about a  man's life. 

At age 18 boys can go to a "Wig School" which lasts 18 month.  Wig Schooling can be extended 18 month at a time, and the aim of the school is to teach about the Huli cultural ways but mainly to grow the boy's hair in order to cut it and make a wig out of it with the help of the wig master. Special blessed water is sprayed on the hair at intervals. It cannot be washed nor combed. 

The wigschool teacher

Wigschool students


According to the wig teacher: on the crown and top of the head underneath the mat of the hair it looks like a compost heap and is growing very well provided the man obeys the rules of the wig-school. Some of the men we met were on their 6th wig, saying this is the last and they will return into their village soon to become leaders.

Sleeping position for wigschool students
Only 5% of all young males visit Wig School. I guess modern life style takes over, even in Papua New Guinea. In the past, ALL young boys would go to Wig school.

Daughters are sold for 30 pigs to their prospective husbands. The father of the bride will receive x Amount cash, the mother of the bride will receive half of that cash amount and she receives honours because she breastfed her children.







Relaxing Day in Huli Country

Wednesday, 25th September.

In the morning a bird-watching walk took place at 06h30 to try and find 'Paradise Birds'. We had no luck.

Lots of trucks. The reason for not seeing Paradise Birds?

Early morning scenery

... and some more beautiful scenery

After breakfast we were taken to three different Huli warrior sites and we learned about their culture and  how they fit the old into the new, all interesting and very showy pictures were taken.

Separate post to come ...

We spent the remainder of the afternoon with flight-planning and prepared ourselves for an early start in the morning.

A variety of pictures from the area:

Market Activity

Graves of people who have died in road accidents

This happens too ...

Traders along the roadside

View down the runway at Ambua Lodge. None of the crews (us included) was willing to land here, given a runway length of around 700 meters, a fairly steep slope and terrain elevation of well over 6,000 feet




Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Arrival in Tari

24th Sept 2013

The next morning we were packed and ready to have breakfast at 06h30, wanting to leave very early. Well, we never had breakfast because the Chef responsible for breakfast never arrived, but besides, they also did not have bread or anything else they could offer us for breakfast. Except Coffee, Tea and a juice. We checked out and vowed never to come back.

We arrived at the airport, but could not leave because of low clouds at our arrival airfield in Tari and our departure was delayed by 45 Minutes.

I had a very big fright because I could not find my camera. The day before, when we were ordered to stop taking photos, I thought I had packed it into my backpack. After searching the pack for the 4th time, I suddenly thought I had left it in the Hotel. Off I went, hitchhiking back, the first car stopped and took me straight to the Hotel where I searched the room with no success. Again standing in the middle of the road, hitchhiking back to the Airport. Again the first car stopped and dropped me in front of the door.

I was drenched by that time, with a humidity of 92% and temperatures of 28 Degree Celsius. I had to search my backpack again, and I did find my camera, it had slipped into my IPad bag. We were so relieved. Shortly after that we could depart and were very happy to leave Vanimo. What an experience.

After a 90 minute flight we arrived at our final destination for the day, Tari.

Tari Airstrip

We had a very good flight and we parked the aircraft one by one on a private parking lot at the end of the airfield. A big Gas Company situated here in Tari very kindly allowed us the use of the land and we parked next to building machines, trucks and heaps of sand and other building materials.

Parking at Tari

The Hotel had sent two buses to transfer all guests, we had a most interesting and adventurous 45 minute drive to the Hotel. We settled in, had lunch and in the afternoon I had the opportunity to join a 90 minute hike through the jungle. It started off very nicely, up and down, over hanging-bridges, beautiful forest, ferns, overgrown trees and then the rain came down... hard and it never stopped. I was drenched, not a piece of dry clothing on my body. Despite that it was a wonderful experience. The remainder of the evening we relaxed, it did us a world of good.

A walk before the rain

... after the walk


Monday, September 23, 2013

Papua New Guinea



AREA
178,704 sq mi
462,840 sq km
POPULATION
6,310,000
DEMONYM
Papua New Guinean(s)

57%
LITERACY

66 yrs
LIFE EXPEC

13%
URBAN

LANGUAGES
Tok Pisin, English, Hiri Motu, 860 indigenous languages

RELIGIONS
Roman Catholic, Protestant (Evangelical Lutheran, United Church, Seventh-day Adventist, Pentecostal, Evangelical Alliance), indigenous beliefs

GOVERNMENT
constitutional parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm


Papua New Guinea, an island country in the western Pacific, spans the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and includes many islands, with the largest being New Britain, New Ireland, and Bougainville. On the mainland, almost half the land area is mountainous, and about 20 percent consists of swampy plains that are seasonally flooded. 

The islands have a tropical monsoon climate. Papua New Guinea gained independence from Australia in 1975. The indigenous population is highly heterogeneous because the mountainous terrain has separated communities for centuries. Some 860 native languages have been identified, but there are likely many more, some with only a few hundred speakers. 

The country is a parliamentary democracy but has had some difficulty in governing the far-flung island nation. A ten-year rebellion on Bougainville Island was resolved in 2001 by giving the island more autonomy.  Papua New Guinea possesses a modern economy based on oil and mining and a traditional economy where 75 percent of Papua New Guineans rely on subsistence agriculture.

You are under control of Police and Army...

Arrival in Vanimo, 14h00 local time, we felt so relieved and happy to "have a short day", arrive at the Hotel early, have a rest, maybe do some washing, Internet, Blog, Flight Planning etc before supper. Our happiness was very short lived. This afternoon turned out to be one of the more strenuous and hectic afternoons and we never expected it.

We arrived third; one of the other crew directed us to a parking spot using the common company frequency, talking in German to us.

As soon as he had finished the sentence, we heard over another frequency someone speaking in a very tense voice: "DO NOT SPEAK IN GERMAN! SPEAK IN ENGLISH ONLY", tell your people to stay in the aircraft, I HAVE TOLD YOU BEFORE! Everybody must stay in the aircraft!!!

Hans answered: Yes Sir, we will speak in English only, I just told the crews where to park, Sorry Sir, we will speak in English only.

We had no idea what was going on ...
We were than told by Hans we were to stay in the plane.

We cannot do that, we HAVE to open the door. We are in a pressurized aircraft and we MUST open the door soon after landing, or not enough air for us after a little while. We open the door, and after a while we climb out, very carefully and trying to hide behind the plane....

the next aircraft arrives, the controller with the angry and agitated voice was distracted. Than again his voice: "...NEGATIVE, your people are out of the plane", referring not only to us but to every other crew who one by one, got out of the plane, staying very close to the plane, though....

As one by one every aircraft landed, the guy got totally out of control, first he raised his voice, than he shouted: YOU ARE NOT WITH ME ANYMORE! YOU ARE WITH THE POLICE AND THE ARMY NOW!!!!! Stop  talking, do not talk to each other!!!!

One of the females had to go to the toilet urgently, she was escorted by three males, no female in sight.
Lots of Police men with guns, many officials with badges, many security men, ... more and more people. Than the agitated guy shouted: NO PHOTOS! NO CAMERAS!!!!! Tell your people to stop taking photos, NO PHOTOS! NO PICTURES!  Get into the aircraft!!!!! NO PICTURES!!!!

We all put our cameras away, hoping they would not confiscate our cameras. Me, too, I immediately put mine into my backpack. Whenever the agitated guy spoke, I got very tense, and said to Dietmar, "let us somehow search for the number of the German Consular Department responsible for PNG, we are going to be in big trouble and we might need support, we must at least get their contact number ready, in case things get out of hand".

Forbidden Picture at Vanimo Airfield

One after another of our aircraft arrived, parked, and was told what to do and what not to do. More Army and Police Vehicle arrived, more officials. They all stood in groups discussing, talking, pointing at the different aircraft.

All of us were in.

It took a long time until someone came to our plane and introduced himself, "My Name is Patrick and do you need fuel?" very friendly and he wrote our name on the fuel list. A few minutes later Customs arrived, again introduced themselves and asked if they could do a random check, all polite, they proceeded to look into windows and we chatted and chatted and introduced "our family (stickers).... hoping they would not ask us to unpack luggage. They left us after a few minutes, Thank  Goodness. Than immigration arrived, collected our passports and told us to collect them on our way out of the airport.

Then all kinds of other people came, stood there, told us they would look after our aircraft, they would charge a fee of $200 per aircraft. At that we laughed, shook our heads and told them we were prepared to pay $20 per aircraft, not more.

Everybody wanted money, for this and for that. One of the other pilots came to tell us that uniformed people came to his plane, claiming they are the police, asking them for money for all kind of things.
He in turn told them he needs a receipt and their name on it for Germany, they quickly left, not to be seen again. In the end we could not decide who was rightfully asking for fees etc. and who was not. A totally chaotic situation.

And then... we could not believe our eyes, Police, Army, the Officials in Uniform were taking pictures of us and our aircraft. And asked us to stand next to them, posing and smiling. We in turn were not allowed to take photos. Johannes, one of the Mooney crew, asked the police to take a photo of himself and the aircraft and the one or other police man or official. And they did... smiling broadly.

In the end we left the airport at 17h30. We were exhausted.

While we were having supper the Police and Immigration officials arrived at the Hotel, informing the group our passports were stamped incorrectly when we had left the airport earlier. What are you saying? Stamped incorrectly? How? Well, unbelievable but true, the passports were stamped with a custom stamp and not with an Immigration stamp. All the passports had to be stamped again, one by one.

We went to bed very tired and exhausted and everyone had enough for the day.

On the way to Papua New Guinea

Monday, 23rd September, 07h44 local time, SA/D 20130923, 00h45

We just departed from Banda Neira to fly to Biak, Indonesia. We left the hotel early to be at the airfield  at 06h30, eventually we left at just after 7:00.




Island called Teluk Berau??

90 min later we fly above a huge Island and all we see is forest, like a jungle. No life, nothing. Even along the coast no harbour, nothing, totally uninhabited. Now we see a huge river below us. Again no sign of human life. Only jungle on both sides, no boats, ships, canoes.

We are imagining what kind of animals might live down there like snakes spiders monkeys and not to speak of all the big animals. No life, harbour, nothing on the other side of the island, either.

We are on our way to Vanimo, Papua New Guinea.


Banda Neira - Biak - Vanimo

Leaving for Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, 11h00 local time