July 2014

This months highlight (and probably the years highlight) was a family holiday to one of our remote aid posts called Mangao. We chartered an MAF flight and flew about 20 minutes from Kompiam into the mountains into a very remote region of the Enga Province. We spent a week living like the locals in the village and even fitted in an overnight hike through some of the most amazing scenery we've ever seen. We walked for 17 hours and about 20km in the 2 days through all sorts of different terrains including grasslands, rivers, rainforests and up and down muddy mountain tracks. It was a wonderful experience being able to live with the people and truly experience their daily lives in this very remote little corner of PNG.  

The grass strip in the middle is the 450m long Mangao airstrip clinging onto the side of a mountain

The Welcoming committee - don't get too many visitors out this way, and many of the kids never seen white people

All our meals were in the cookhouse - they feed us well with sweet potato and bananas

Some of the boys headed off pig hunting

Teaching them how to skip and they also got the hang of throwing a frisbee pretty quick as well

Another muddy track - very slippery and required bare feet

Wendy about to take the plunge into some mud with Terrance our health worker watching on

More mud

Nice to cool off after a hard and muddy walk. No shortage of amazing swimming spots.

Polishing off an amazing tasting watermelon - they grow everything they eat

Our bathing spot each night - cold showers aren't really that bad

Bonnie and supper. Terrance killed his pet pig for us.

Looking down into the valley - we followed the river at the bottom

Steep walk downhill through the grasslands

Walked down this creek for about 5 hours getting to our overnight stop.

Heather and her helper Warrium - they stuck together the full 2 days

Fishing with a bushknife

One of our many guides and helpers as we approach the end of the walk down the creek

Our accommodation for the night - dry and warm with a fire

Some of the boys relaxing at the end of the walk

Group shot of about half that came down with us

Cooking up dinner

The next morning waiting for the rain to stop before starting off back to Mangao

Terrance ready to do some pig hunting

Heading back up the mountain through the grasslands

Walking back up the ridge all the way to the bush on top of the mountain

Looking back down on where we had come from - we camped at the junction of the two rivers

Out of the grasslands and exhausted at the top of the hill - long way and a lot of mud to go yet

Bamboo water bottle - ingenious

Very steep and slippery slopes - shoes off for 4WD mode.

In the plane looking back down on the walk we had just done

Flying back into Kompiam - the big smoke. Nice to get home, but will miss Mangao.