Holiday fauna

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Fauna

Here's a collection of photos of some of the different animals we saw on holiday.

Koala at Magnetic Island

'Blue tiger' butterfly at Magnetic Island

Rock wallabies at Magnetic Island

Cockatoo at Palm Bay

Kangaroo at Palm Bay (seen here drinking out of the garden water feature!)

Lace monitors (tree goannas) at Palm Bay

Small wallaby seen on a bush walk

Best above-water photo I got of a turtle

Turtle seen while snorkelling at Palm Bay - highlight of the holiday!

Holiday - part 4

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Fauna

Four days at Palm Bay was just the right amount of time. From there we headed to Brisbane for four nights. The plan was to explore some of the bush walks a bit further out of town, since we've both been to Brisbane a number of times before.

On our first day we headed to Springbrook National Park and did a few of the shorter trails, since Raewyn didn't have appropriate footwear to tackle the Warrie Circuit and my toes were still recovering from rubbing on the flippers. Instead, we did the Twin Falls loop walk and visited a few other lookouts (which weren't much to write home about). From there we drove a short distance to the Purling Brook Falls, which were even more impressive. We had just enough time left in the day to drive out to the Natural Bridge.

Twin Falls

Twin Falls from below

The path passes behind the waterfalls

Purling Brook Falls

Natural Bridge...

... where the water goes in the top...

... and out the bottom

On another day we drove down to the Gold Coast. There was a sculpture festival taking place on the beach, so we had a wander around that for a few hours and had lunch. After lunch we drove to Mermaid Beach which had an interesting-sounding mini golf course - I was determined to make the most of things I can't do in PNG.

Sculptures on the beach

Mini golf at Mermaid Beach

Holiday - part 3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Fauna

The next morning we said goodbye to Airlie Beach and took a water taxi out to our island resort - Palm Bay.

I'd read about it on someone's blog where they'd been there for honeymoon and said it was 'paradise'. It offered bush walks, snorkelling, sea kayaking, stand-up-paddleboarding; it had a pool, a day spa, tennis court, and restaurant. Most importantly for us, it wasn't anywhere as expensive as Hamilton Island, and didn't look as crowded as Daydream Island. While the accommodation options were limited (queen bed units - Raewyn brought an airbed mattress to sleep on) it was a small price to pay. An additional advantage was that it was an 'adults only' resort. No offence to families with children - we were all children once - but we did enjoy having a kid-free zone for a few days.

Departing Shute Harbour

Palm Bay

Happy Bay - one of the bush walks, to an abandoned resort

Happy Bay

We also spent quite a bit of time in Palm Bay itself, paddling in the sea kayaks (or on the paddleboard) and snorkelling. In the resort information it said there were reefs on either side of the bay, but we didn't see much on our first 'expedition' - the visibility in the water wasn't great and we didn't really know where we should be going. After that failed attempt we took the kayaks out again to see if we could find the reef that way. The visibility was better and we were moderately successful.

On our last full day we went out snorkelling again, where I was able to take the following pictures. In some places the coral was quite sparse on the sandy sea floor, but in other places it was denser and more similar to the sites we'd been to on the tour.

We actually did one and a half snorkel trips - on the second one, Raewyn took a sea kayak while I snorkelled. She had had enough of snorkelling but wanted to go out on the water, while I was keen to go snorkelling again but wasn't sure if I would have the physical stamina to get out and back. So to have her nearby in a kayak was a welcome safety net! (I did end up hanging onto the back of the kayak when we came in.)

I liked the purple/yellow fish

Pink coral with blue tips

We had seen a few glimpses of turtles... one on the tour, another on our walk to Sandy Bay, and another that popped its head up briefly in Palm Bay. But the best sight I had was to see one just hanging out on the reef shelf, hardly moving despite my repeated duck-dives to take its picture. It was hands-down the best experience I had on this holiday!

Holiday - part 2

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Fauna

Since the weather forecast for the following day was still for strong winds, and the tour we had booked required a 6 am departure from our accommodation to meet the necessary bus, we called the company to ask if the tour was still planned to go ahead. They seemed surprised that we would ask (I suppose they hadn't had to work through three cancelled things in less than a week) but said yes, it was still going ahead.

The first (cancelled) tour was supposed to take us to snorkelling locations around the islands of the inner reef, while the second was supposed to take us to the outer reef. We were just happy to be on a tour that wasn't cancelled, so when they told us they'd had to modify the itinerary to visit sites that were more sheltered, we didn't really take much notice.

Our first site was on the lee side of Hook Island, at a place called Cockatoo Point. There is a coral shelf, where you can often get a variety of coral and fish. There weren't many people on the tour - only 6 snorkellers and 11 divers - so it was nice and relaxed. I had bought a camera capable of taking pictures underwater and was keen to try it out!

Raewyn ready to go snorkelling

Part of the coral shelf

We called this 'blue antler coral' (not sure of its real name)

I think I'm getting the hang of this!

Our second location was on the lee side of Border Island. When we arrived someone saw a turtle; I only saw a brown shape in the water and was too slow with the camera to get a picture. Oh well!

Underneath the surface the choppiness wasn't noticeable, but the
anemones (which always remind me of shagpile carpet) were being
pushed back and forth by the currents

The coral colours were a bit more muted, and the fish were bigger

After our second snorkel, we were starting to get a bit cold (in spite of the wetsuits) and tired. But then the crew announced that since we hadn't gone as far as planned (i.e. to the outer reef), we had a bit more time and so they would be taking us to Whitehaven Beach.

We were glad that we didn't miss out after all!

We had about an hour on shore, so Raewyn and I decided to do the 45 minute loop walk up to the lookout.

Fun fact: the sand is white because it is silica with few other elements. As a result, it doesn't absorb the heat from the sun so is not hot to walk on. We found that if you try to walk too quickly (or jump or stomp your foot to make an impression), it makes a squeaking noise!

Holiday - part 1

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Fauna

A couple of months ago I was looking at the pilot schedule through to the end of the year. We've had a number of pilots 'go finish' and as a result, we're pretty thin on the ground. As one of only (now) two pilots based in Hagen, I can't just take a holiday whenever I like. The other Hagen-based pilot had planned to be on holiday for all of October, in mid-November we have our annual pilots' meeting (which I missed last year due to being on home assignment), in early December I am supposed to be doing some training... I realised that if I wanted a holiday before Christmas, it needed to be in September!

Raewyn has been working as a locum in Townsville, with her placement ending at the end of August. So the timing was sorted... the next question, where should we go?

We decided to have a more laid back holiday than our campervanning road trip last year, and spend the majority of our time in the Whitsundays.

Raewyn and I at Whitehaven beach

I flew into Cairns, stayed the night with a MAF friend, and caught the train down to Townsville the following day. Except that the train stopped at Babinda and didn't continue. Eventually we were told by the staff that there had been an 'incident' further south that had affected the road and the rail corridor, so the train would be returning to Cairns with no replacement provided. They made the obligatory apology for any inconvenience caused...

Thankfully the MAF office in Cairns is located very close to the railway station, so once we got back I hightailed over there to jump online and find an alternative option. I was thinking that Raewyn would have to drive up and collect me, but someone happened to be planning to drive to Cardwell that afternoon and was happy to give me a lift. Cardwell is about half-way to Townsville, so I called Raewyn and arranged to meet her there. We arrived in Townsville around 10 pm, so our holiday plans were back on track!

We had the weekend in Townsville, which I had last visited shortly before winning the MIQ lottery and being allowed back into NZ (remember those times?). It was good to create some happier memories!

We spent a day at Magnetic Island doing some of the bush walks, and then took the train (which was running again) to Proserpine and the connecting bus to Airlie Beach.

Our plan was to spend four nights at Airlie Beach, doing bush walks and taking day tours out to the reef, before taking a water taxi out to an island resort for another four nights.

We ended up only doing one bush walk, but it was worthwhile.

View of Airlie Beach marina from the Honeyeater lookout

The next morning, as we were getting ready to head to the marina for our first snorkelling day tour (including a visit to Whitehaven Beach), Raewyn received a phone call from the tour company to say that due to strong winds, our tour wouldn't be going ahead. They asked if we could go on another day, but since we already had other things lined up, we had to tell them no.

After the phone call, we sat there in disappointment for a few minutes, until I remembered that when I had been researching the trip there had been a myriad of tour options. Maybe there was an afternoon tour that we could book instead?

Yes, there was! - a half day tour to Whitehaven beach. We called them up and asked a) if they were running - yes, and b) if there was space for two people - yes. They warned us that it was quite windy today so likely to be a bit of a swell; we told them we were aware of that.

We boarded the boat and were told that we would be stopping at Daydream Island and then Hamilton Island, where we would transfer to another boat to take us to Whitehaven. The swell was noticeable, but no worse than an average Cook Strait crossing.

As we arrived at Hamilton Island, we were told that the second boat would be arriving shortly. But as we disembarked, the staff there told us that the second boat had a mechanical problem and so the Whitehaven part of the tour was cancelled. We dutifully lined up at the bookings counter and were told they would refund the entire cost of the tour (less an administration fee of around $5) and we could either return on the 4 pm or the 5 pm boat.

We decided to go for a walk around Hamilton Island (which hadn't even been on our itinerary) and take the 5 pm boat back. Due to the wind, the beaches were pretty deserted. We were a bit taken aback by the prevalence of golf carts - obviously the preferred means of transport between the various resorts!

As we took the 5 pm boat back, we were appreciative that we had got to spend an afternoon at Hamilton Island essentially for free, but also wondering if the theme of this holiday was going to be 'sorry, it's been cancelled.'

(As you can see from the photo above, we did actually make it to Whitehaven beach... eventually)

Flying a group of missionaries

Last week I flew some missionaries from Malaumanda airstrip to Hewa airstrip.

That might not sound particularly unusual, but let me tell you who they were, and why it was such a privilege to fly them.

The group, led by pastor Jim Balus, are locals from Malaumanda who will spend the next 2-4 months at a village two days' walk from Hewa airstrip, running a literacy school in the local language (i.e. teaching people how to read in their own language) and follow-up courses teaching people the gospel and the Bible.

Jim explained: "We are going to the Hewa tribe in a small village, it’s called Minim. But God’s word has not come there. So they asked us to come up. Last year in January, from January to March or April we finished course 1 and course 2. Now this year, it’s a new year, we want to go again and continue to course 3 and course 4, plus a tok ples [local dialect] literacy school. Once they can read in their tok ples, they can fully understand God’s word. We are helping the New Tribes missionaries by going up to help with the Bible course.

"Please pray for the tok ples literacy school and the Bible course 3 and course 4, that the people in Minim would hear God's word and learn well. Pray that they can appoint their own leaders in the church and be strong."

Please pray also for the group while they are away from home for such a long time.

Jim Balus (r) with members of the group, at Malaumanda

The group after landing at Hewa airstrip. Minim village is beyond
the hill behind them.

On a map, Malaumanda and Hewa airstrips are only 37 km apart, but there is a 13,000' mountain range between them. Jim explained it would take them over a week of hard walking to get there, if they couldn't fly. Although I couldn't fly in a straight line either (due to the aforementioned mountain), it took much less than a week - 25 minutes, to be precise.

Later that day as I was praying for Jim and his group, I marvelled at their dedication and how it far surpassed my own. They didn't take a lot of cargo - a big tarpaulin, one small bag of personal belongings each, a small amount of food, and two boxes of Bibles. They are relying on God to provide for them through the generosity of others, from a different tribe. They are undertaking a mission to bring the word of God to people who had never heard it. They will certainly face opposition for doing so... and will be richly rewarded in heaven.

Update (17 July): MAF PNG recently published this story, which includes additional information.

Unusual cargo

Over the last couple of years, I've transported some pretty unusual cargo... Here are some pictures!

Water tanks

A plane full of Coca-Cola and 2-minute noodles
(sadly, this is very common for cargo flights)

Twenty boxes of day-old-chicks (and old tyres for a construction project)

Metal posts for a solar installation project

Adult cassowaries (used for important ceremonies)

Other things I have taken include:
- a full size whiteboard
- solar panels
- coffins (both empty and occupied...)