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We made it home! Thank you so much for your support and prayers. Please feel free to send us an email with any questions if you would like. As for now, it is back to work and school. To follow along on my continued flight training, visit the other blog at www.pilotsprogress.blogspot.com.

Folopa Video

Islander landing Mt. Tawa video

This is a short quicktime video of the islander landing at Mt. Tawa for the Folopa dedication.

Over Japan on the way home

Ukarumpa to Moresby

Goodbye

Most of the Aviation staff showed up to wave goodbye. It was sad to leave.

on board

After all of the goodbyes we were loaded up in the Islander for the flight to Port Moresby.

Kite

As we were packing up to leave, we took a short break to go for a walk and have one last look at Ukarumpa. On our walk we saw more of these amazing kites. They were neat birds and it was amazing to see them soaring around the center.

Rain

This picture captured the rain pretty well. It was pretty wet before we left so we were happy that it dried up enough for us to make it out.

Orange

It's an Orange only green. Just one of the many things that are backwards in PNG. (I suppose that the opposite of orange would be blue)

Campbells

We can not thank the Campbell family enough. They held a big goodbye party for us and many of the friends we had made during our stay came out to bid us farewell. Craig and Stephanie were so hospitable and made us feel right at home in Ukarumpa.

Speaking

The day before we left I had the opportunity to speak to the Junior high and High school group Soul Purpose. They were a very gracious audience and I wish that I had more time to get to know them.

Into the wild blue yonder

Then the Caribou sailed into the wild blue yonder. Which reminded me of how short our time is here. Tomorrow, we start our final week here in PNG before we too depart. We have a very busy week and I am sure that it will go by to quickly. We will keep you posted on the final days and thank you in advance for your interest and support for our time here.

Caribou

Nothing like the sound of those two big radials roaring past you.

Caribou

We had the distinct honour of hosting the Australian military at our airstrip last week. They rode in on a Caribou. Which for those of you that don't know, bares any resemblance to any hoved animal. It is a large ugly airplane, that looks a little better in camo. However, it's takeoff and landing performance is superb. It can land most anywhere a Cessna 206 can while hauling at least 5 times the payload. The Aussies come by to practice landing in small jungle stips offten in PNG. We enjoyed a short chat and watching their airplane perform.

The Next Level

The upper level barrels get special treatment and get to skip the second drop and the mud bath. They get to do a high wire act as they are rolled along a couple boards precariously not fastened to the edge of the truck and into the container. This would all be hard work and mundane if they were filled with say, milk. It just seemed so much more exciting with the explosive warnings on each drum. Nevertheless, 80 some drums later, we finished just in time for a coke back in the hangar. Don't tell OSHA. :)

Rollin rollin rollin

Over the bumps and through the mud, we made our way to the container. Once inside, they are packed in tight. The ground level ones are usually pretty muddy by the time they get inside. But they are a little easier to work with than the second level bunch.

Next up...

Then you make the plummet to the ground. With another strategically placed tire and just the right amount of roll off the truck, it makes a nice landing on terra firma without too many dents or punctures. You learn to put a lot of trust in whoever made than drum. When you have recovered from your cringe, you grab onto it and start rolling.

Unloading

After the truck backs into position, you take the top drums down and cushion the blow onto the truck bed with a few strategically placed tires. You sort of cringe the first few times as this fifty gallon drum of explosives crashes onto the bed of a truck holding 80 other explosive drums. That's over 4000 gallons of explosive stuff you standing next to. It was intense.

Fuel Truck

It was another exciting day at work. The fuel truck arrived delivering our highland supply of avgas and jet fuel up from the coast. After it arrives we unload the truck into containers and store it until it can be distributed to various airfields around the country our pumped into the plans here. It was an exciting and labor intensive task to say the least. They just don't prepare you for this kind of OSHA approved technique back home. Here is the play by play.

Spider

Also down by the river, we found this great spider. We have seen them around the banana plants often and this one had made its web in the grass along side the path. Leslie was giving it a close inspection and if gives you a little scale for how big these arachnids can be.

Crocodile

The other day, Leslie and I went down to the river just off center and there in the water was a Crocodile just waiting for us. I just had to take a picture. Can you spot him? (this one was for you Dad)

The Andersons are back

Last Friday Neil and Carol arrived back in Ukarumpa after saying goodbye to their village. It was fun to be part of their welcoming crew. We might even get to welcome them home in Spokane in three weeks as well.

Up High

I was told that the mountain range here rises faster to 13,000 feet from sea level faster than any other place in the world. It was amazing to see how high and rugged the jungle peaks were. At the top I was surprised to see yet another village on a small sierra plateau. Just a few hundred feet from the houses the cliff drops away thousands of feet in a massive landslide that looked relatively recent. It would be amazing to meet these people and learn how they have managed to live in a place like that. It would be the same as living near the top of Mt. Rainier, only at 45 degrees and now snow. We made it back to Ukarumpa and I spent the rest of my day in the hangar, but it sure was nice to get out and fly.

Transfer

The people were happy to see us but we did not have much time to mingle. We quickly unloaded the cargo we had brought and loaded up the translators things into the plane. We had brought some petrol for the village and transferred that from our containers to theirs. In the meantime the people were happy to take refuge from the heat in the shade of the wing. After the translators said their goodbyes, we were on our way.

Long Island

The airstrip was right along the shore. The island strips are usually more straight forward with few obstacles but the wind was very gusty and unpredictable as we made our way to the ground. Gavin flew well and got us down safely.

The coast

After we crossed the mountains we descended quickly and made our way out over the ocean toward Long Island. The Island was covered in clouds except the coast were the airstrip ways. In the middle of the island is a large lake. If you look just north west of the island New Britain you might be able to find it on a map. It is the only large round island with a large round lake in the middle of it.

Green

The mountains on the far side of the valley are very rugged and rise quickly above 13,000 feet. We climbed high to cross them and looking down on them reminded me of the color of the wicked witch of the west. I saw many small villages scattered all through the mountains down in the valleys and along the ridges. Many of them distinct languages and cultures just a few miles apart.

Into Ramu

The Ramu valley looked even more spectacular from the sky. It stretches from Lae to the East, up to the Sepik in the North West. The sun was just rising and all the waterfalls and rivers flowing into the valley glistened and shown bright white against the lime green of the grass and foliage on the hills.

Where are we?

After the fog lifted we took off and headed east towards Ramu valley. It took 10 minutes by air instead of the two hours it took us by car to reach the the valley. Most of my time here has been spent in the shop maintaining aircraft and my flying has been mostly as a passenger. I was excited to be able to ride along and see what a day as a missionary pilot is like. It was a relatively simple flight out to an island to pick up two translators and bring them back to Ukarumpa. There were no incidents and we were able to sit back and enjoy the beautiful scenery. This is Gavin doing his best where are we pose.

Back to work

I enjoyed another successful people slalom to work today. It proved to be a much better day than yesterday. Yesterday I fought a losing battle against my malaria medication that left me nauseous and out of commission pretty much the whole day. Today I got to go for a flight with Gavin out to Long Island.

F.Y.I.

I have posted a lot recently and I wanted to point out the Archives column on the right in case you have not noticed it. You can browse the different posts by month that don't fit onto this main screen. -->

DHL

At work that last few days I have been working in the Parts room as a Systems Engineer. Or at least that's what I like to call it. I have been writing a lot of little programs on the computer and working with the store guys to streamline the parts management. It has been a blast. I have also become an honorary DHL employee. They run a DHL distribution center out of the hangar which has proved very advantageous to getting shipments in and out of the country more reliably. While it has its own paperwork and logistic headaches, it makes keeping parts for the fleet much more viable. Mr. O and I have a blast working together to keep things running smooth.

Getting to work

Most of the time I take the van to work. Today I got to travel in style with Dan. The road to work is a bumpy mile stretch usually filled with pedestrians. It is sort of a horizontal pedestrian slalom course.

On Top

We made it over the pass and the sun poked through the clouds filling up Ramu valley below us. It was amazing to see the road snaking down the hill to the valley floor. We were very grateful to have made the trip and to have done so safely.

Pot Hole

This was worth a picture. I tried to get Craig to stop next to it but the rest of the passengers would not hear of it. He pulled a little ahead as a compromise and let me get a picture. Down the hole is a cliff dropping away into jungle 1000 feet or so below. You can better appreciate the drop from the next picture.

Ramu

The Ramu valley was spectacular. If you look at a map of PNG, it is the large valley on the north side of the country between the mountains on the coast and the highlands in the middle. Much of the valley is filling up with palm plantations. It was a beautiful place.

Car Wash

We thought about stopping at this car wash but it looked a little busy. You wash cars just like everything else here. Take it down to the river and scrub it.

Buai Market

On the way home we stopped back by the Campbell's POC village to see their market. It consisted mostly of Buai or Beetle Nut. If it was not a narcotic and rotted your teeth, I am sure that it would be really great. Unfortunately, many people here are addicted to it.

Sun - Rain - Sun - Rain

...and then it rained. It does that a lot around here I have noticed. Fortunately, it always clears up again too. Bob and I swam out around the dock in the pouring rain. It was a blast and we didn't even have to shower off the salt water when we got out.

Monkeys

These kids were having a blast climbing high into this tree and flinging themselves out into the water. It looked like fun until this kid went in sideways. I didn't envy the landing.

Snorkeling

Well, you can't go to the ocean in the south pacific without a swim. The water was amazing. Under that dock is a Cessna 210 and it made a great artificial reef. All around it was all sorts of amazing coral. We even found Nemo.

Bats

There were lots of them. I wish I had the time to go out and take lots of pictures of them. All day they would hang from the tops of the trees and fan themselves to keep cool. At dusk and dawn they would literally fill the sky as they set out for the night to find fruit to eat. Many of them had 6 foot wing spans and could even soar for short periods of time. They were spectacular to watch.

Market

In town we visited the market and explored all the fish, artifacts and produce. It was a very large market and it was fun to see all that the people where selling.

Duke

We were greeted at the guest house by Duke. He was a really friendly dog, which is not a desirable characteristic when it comes to guarding. Just two days before we arrived, the managers of the guest house where held up a knife point in town. We were pretty cautious when we went into town.

Madang

Eventually we arrived in Madang. We stayed at the SIL guest house which is near the water and just a little out of town. Madang has a rich history and if you have time for a good read, check out The Coast Watchers. It is about a few GI's in WWII who where trapped here under Japanese occupation warned the allies of enemy attacks. There is a memorial lighthouse dedicated to those men in the center of town.

Big Fern

I love the plants here. It reminds me of the tropical exhibits that my mom and I would visit at the flower and garden show. I am bummed that I am going to miss it this year, but it is pretty neat to see the real thing. Those ferns are big.