Good times...

Hello Everyone!

Well, we've been  up to a fair bit in the past  few weeks, and I haven't done a great job of keeping this thing up to date (apart from my little whinge next post down - sorry about that!).

Biscuit and I had gastro the week before last, less said about that the better, definitely wasn't pleasant. This was also when we were still living out of our suitcases, Dan was working extra hard, and we were stuck by ourselves all day in the apartment slowly going mental. Anyway, that's all over now.

Just after that, my friend (Saint) Mandy brought around 2 boxes of her girls' old toys, and 2 big bags of "buka bukas" (aka books). This was so so nice of her, and we have really really appreciated  it! We were actually losing our minds a little. I swear, if I had to read Spot's Birthday Party one more time...
When Mandy came over to drop off all the stuff, she asked us if we might be interested in taking over their nanny's employment contract when they leave in a few months. I really like Mary, their nanny, and they said they couldn't recommend her highly enough. I understand that there's another family who are interested in hiring her, so at the end of the day it's up to her to decide who she wants to work for. But she's looked after Biscuit a couple of times and seems to really like her, so maybe we'll have a nanny before the end of the year...

On Thursday, it was our 3rd wedding anniversary, but it was very much a non-event. We both almost forgot, had no presents, and Dan was in a meeting until 11pm. We agreed to defer it for a week, and then we'll have a nice dinner together to make up for it!

Hmmm... what else? Oh yes... on Friday, after a great big long saga, our air freight arrived! Hooray!! It got a bit messy  in the end. They were obstructive to say the least in getting it processed, not doing things until we did this or paid that. Finally, after them having it for 3 weeks, they emailed Dan saying that since our stuff had been there so long, we had to pay a 150Kina "storage fee". This was the last straw, since they were the ones causing the delay. Dan sent a very cranky email that ended with "I expect the goods delivered to our house by the end of the week."
Perhaps to piss us off, or perhaps due to taking things literallly, our things were finally delivered at 5pm on Friday afternoon....... on a ute (tray truck, pickup)..... in the middle of an intense tropical downpour.

Yes, that's right. All our electronics, our clothes, our books, Niamh's cot and mattress.... all our posessions that we decided we couldn't live without. On the back of an open topped truck. In the absolutely pissing down rain. I was not thrilled....
When I raced downstairs, they had already started unloading the boxes. I actually gasped, and mouth still agape said "The boxes.... they're wet!!" The amused man on the back of the ute took off his sodden shirt, wrung it out and smiling, said to me "Yes! It's raining!"

No shit.

Anyway, as soon as it was all upstairs I ripped everything out of the boxes and fortunately, nothing was damaged. Then I called up as many people as I could and vented loudly and emphatically. Honestly, what were they thinking??? Dan dropped everything and came home early to help me unpack.

Once my outrage had worn off, and I realised I had to consider us lucky, since
a) we actually had all our stuff (apparently customs often pinch your things) and
b) it was all fine
Then I could just be happy - it was all here! At last!!

The next day, Saturday, Dan and Ben had arranged for a driver to take us to the Loloata Island ferry, which leaves at 9am. Ben booked a day in advance, and then called to confirm at 7am with dispatch. Of course, there was no car there at the pre arranged time of 8am, and when he called, irate, and for the third time at 8:15, Ben could hear them hastily arranging it in the background. Typical.

Well, we made it, and it  was a lovely day. Here are just a couple of pics, and I'll link to the facebook album at the end.

 

 

 

We had a great time snorkelling, walking, relaxing, chasing giant pigeons (Niamh had to have some fun too!). It was a nice little place to escape to after the confines of Pt Moresby.

Today was another lovely day. Buffet breakfast at the Yacht Club (yummy and super cheap!) then afterwards we ran into a lady I'd met a couple of times here and there, who's actually from Adelaide too. She very kindly invited us to her little boy's 2nd birthday party this afternoon, at the Kindy Club, luckily enough! It was very generous, and I was reluctant to accept, because those hotel organised parties charge by the head and you pay through the nose. But  she assured us that they'd had a last minute cancellation, and it would be a great chance for us to meet some nice people. It really was! I think this is the main reason we're enjoying ourselves so much. There's such a welcoming community up here, and we've been very lucky to meet such wonderful people.

And, to finish off, our very exciting news for the week... Grandma Helen arrives this Wednesday!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!
We are so super excited!

Hope you're all well, please keep the emails coming, we love hearing from everyone back home (and elsewhere!)

PS Here's the link to the Loloata Island album