Over Christmas break our family was very blessed to get an opportunity to head to Madang for a bit of rest, relaxation and adventure. We succeeded in accomplishing all three.
Now when I say road trip I am using the word 'road' very loosely. First of all Jay flew us to Goroka where we met up with some Canadian friends and continued the journey down to the coast in their vehicle. In preparation for our journey I made sure I went out and purchased some motion sickness tablets but the morning we left I was feeling hopeful I would not have to take them, I really don't like the dopey feeling that hangs on for the rest of the day. However within half an hour of leaving I knew I had better reconsider or the trip could get really messy!
Now the first half of the 'road' was pretty good all things considered, if you dodged the pot holes successfully and slowed down enough for the hair pin turns, we only had to stop a few times to wait for the big transport trucks to try and navigate the washed out corners while meeting on coming traffic. But it turns out there was more fun to come. After getting through the Ramu Valley, which gave us a nice reprieve from having to hang onto the hand hold to keep from squashing our neighbour (something the boys didn't try to avoid) as it was relatively flat and straight, we headed into the Finisterre Mountain Range. This is where things got a little interesting, for a while I was sure that we had taken a wrong turn somewhere because I was sure that little dirt track was not going to be taking us anywhere. We actually had a discussion in the car about how we would describe the 'road' to people back home. I think we finally decided it was most like a dry stream bed, thankfully on the day we were travelling it was dry, because I can only imagine what it would be like if it was wet! There were times when I felt like we were bouncing down the mogul run at the ski hill, made even more interesting when you meet some one coming the opposite direction.
Another thing we needed to take into consideration for this journey was the lack of rest stops, or should I say non-existence. All of the land in PNG belongs to someone and the ditches are not fair game here like they are at home and should it become unavoidable you may very likely end up paying a pit stop tax, so we deliberately dehydrated our children and fed them salty snacks, however after 5 1/2 hrs there were still a few that were getting a little antsy. Needless to say when we started getting closer and could begin to smell the ocean air we all got a little excited.
Turns out it was all very well worth the adventure and the abuse when we were greeted by this sight.
Well I am going to have to run now but I will tell some more of our Madang adventures later.
Interesting, we talked to people later who have made that trip more than once and they said the 'road' was the best they had ever seen it!
Mel for the Marshes
Now when I say road trip I am using the word 'road' very loosely. First of all Jay flew us to Goroka where we met up with some Canadian friends and continued the journey down to the coast in their vehicle. In preparation for our journey I made sure I went out and purchased some motion sickness tablets but the morning we left I was feeling hopeful I would not have to take them, I really don't like the dopey feeling that hangs on for the rest of the day. However within half an hour of leaving I knew I had better reconsider or the trip could get really messy!
Now the first half of the 'road' was pretty good all things considered, if you dodged the pot holes successfully and slowed down enough for the hair pin turns, we only had to stop a few times to wait for the big transport trucks to try and navigate the washed out corners while meeting on coming traffic. But it turns out there was more fun to come. After getting through the Ramu Valley, which gave us a nice reprieve from having to hang onto the hand hold to keep from squashing our neighbour (something the boys didn't try to avoid) as it was relatively flat and straight, we headed into the Finisterre Mountain Range. This is where things got a little interesting, for a while I was sure that we had taken a wrong turn somewhere because I was sure that little dirt track was not going to be taking us anywhere. We actually had a discussion in the car about how we would describe the 'road' to people back home. I think we finally decided it was most like a dry stream bed, thankfully on the day we were travelling it was dry, because I can only imagine what it would be like if it was wet! There were times when I felt like we were bouncing down the mogul run at the ski hill, made even more interesting when you meet some one coming the opposite direction.
Another thing we needed to take into consideration for this journey was the lack of rest stops, or should I say non-existence. All of the land in PNG belongs to someone and the ditches are not fair game here like they are at home and should it become unavoidable you may very likely end up paying a pit stop tax, so we deliberately dehydrated our children and fed them salty snacks, however after 5 1/2 hrs there were still a few that were getting a little antsy. Needless to say when we started getting closer and could begin to smell the ocean air we all got a little excited.
Well I am going to have to run now but I will tell some more of our Madang adventures later.
Interesting, we talked to people later who have made that trip more than once and they said the 'road' was the best they had ever seen it!
Mel for the Marshes
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