Fiji the long way with our last QFi JASA.

[drron]

Back to Vanimo.Photos have reappeared.Though finally when able to get Picasa web I got a message my account was frozen.Apparently someone from the Solomon Islands was trying to access-you don't say.A real run around to be able to get a password reset when you don't have a phone with you.
So the last pictures of the village west of Vanimo.The woman from the village running the show was brought here by her parents from West Papua.There are many from there in this area.

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Lots of flowers including orchids some of which are flowering-

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Then back to the landing place over creeks and past the International airport-

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[drron]

Still a lot of locals to farewell us.I am not sure it was the best place to fish-

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And the reason there are problems in PNG.This is the house of the local member-

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And the farewell continues even as the sun sinks into the west-

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[drron]

We had a great dinner on Saturday night and a couple of Amarulas again at the bar.Fortunately no problems as we arrived at Ali Island.A truly wonderful place with friendly people who put on a great show for us.Our first sight of the island and we pass an interisland bird ferry-

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Drron in his war paint-

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The show is about to begin-

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[drron]

The official welcome-

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And here we go-

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[drron]

The encouraging thing with these cultural presentations is that you have the very old and the very young participating.Hopefully the traditional ways wont completely die out.

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[drron]

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The locals also watched on.....or maybe just came to watch us-

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[drron]

But it is the people that really get you in.When I set off on my walk around the village a fellow attached himself and acted as my guide.Nothing was expected for doing this.His name was Phillip and he said he was 40.So first some of the people-

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This fellow said he was 87.He did not have a right hand.He said it was cut off in the war-

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And now the village-

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[drron]

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It was Sunday so God's store wasn't open-

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[drron]

Phillip found out I was a doctor so I had to visit the Health clinic and meet the Nurse-

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The grave of a local man respected by the community.He became a policeman in Wewak but died at 40-

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Recycling-

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And we leave Ali Island.

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I was going to go back after lunch to snorkel but I made the mistake of lying down on the bed after lunch and waking 3 hours later.Decide again to have dinner by ourselves and have an early night.

 

[drron]

Monday and we visit the Sepik district.In the morning it is the Murik Lakes,a shallow tidal lake system associated with the Sepik.A very long zodiac ride in and the landing site is shallow for a long way out with a muddy bottom.A great welcome though-

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The conditions for the locals isn't that great-

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But lots of things for sale with plenty of demonstrations-

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[drron]

Once we were all ashore the dancing began-

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And the crafts and demonstrations continued-

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[drron]

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There were 3 groups that sang and danced.After a little break they came back and all performed at the same time-

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[drron]

This was called the shark dance though the fish really didn't look like a shark-

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[drron]

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Then I set off on my own to walk around the village-

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From this next group of buildings I heard this faint wailing so I went across to find an old man at a "window".He could hardly move but had very little movement.A young fellow came across and translated for us.He couldn't remember his age thinking he was either 70 or 80.He could remember the war so was at least 80.He was very pleased because he didn't want to miss the visitors.I made sure others went and said hello.

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A new construction.Looks like it is going to take a while to finish-

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[drron]

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Churches old and new-

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Whilst waiting for a zodiac to go back to the ship I talked to the village health worker.He had excellent English.He told me of his trip to Australia.He and a mate decided they wanted to visit so hopped into a canoe and paddled east along the north coast of PNG.Then south and west to Port Moresby.Then they island hopped across Torres Strait to Thursday Island so reaching Australia.Then they had to canoe back.

Meanwhile back on the ship we enjoyed lunch whilst the ship relocated to the Sepik River.We apparently were the first cruise ship to enter and anchor in the Sepik.With Captain Alex on the bridge and staff captain Maggie in a zodiac out the front doing continued soundings they made it in.The river was running at approx. 8 knots.It is the 4th largest river in the world with no dams.2 of the others are also in PNG-the Fly and Mamberamo.It also has a very distinct meeting of the waters-

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[drron]

The afternoon was a visit to Kopar village.There we were greeted by Dixon a Malaysian Chinese guy who at first said he was there to study.It was revealed later he had been there for 10 years as the local manager of a Malaysian timber company.His greeting was-"Welcome to my village".
The children then sang the National Anthem of PNG whilst the flag was raised-

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We were then able to watch a "traditional"dance-

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We were assured Dixon had nothing to do with it.Hmmm.

 

[drron]

See if you can pick Dixon-

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But again they start them young-

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[drron]

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There was evidence of the rivers other inhabitants-

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Didn't know shark's fin was so popular in PNG.

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[drron]

These next shots weren't part of the afternoon's program.Just a woman preparing things for her family I saw walking through the village-

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Her children were nearby just being kids whilst her husband just looked on-

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There were some interesting things for sale-

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I gave up exploring the village when a quite drunk fellow claiming to be a policeman thought I needed help exploring.So just an occasional shot of the village-

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I'm not sure what purpose that iron had.

 

[drron]

That night we had dinner with a woman from the US,a couple from the UK and Chris the bird expert.A great night and later we introduced Chris to Amarula.After lunch the next day we arrived off Tuam Island-

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Lots of smaller islands around-

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People were waiting for us-

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