A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to take a break in Cairns, Australia. Since Australia is right below Papua New Guinea I literally went Down Under. This was a surprise trip for me in that it all came together unexpectedly in just a few days. I'd been looking into options to take a break around PNG, but as a single woman here the options are slim to none unless you have someone to go with. I remembered that one of our NTMA (New Tribes Mission Aviation) planes goes down to Australia once a month and often has space available on flighte. I found out a plane was going in 2 1/2 weeks, but they had to have confirmation from me in two days. With the lack of freedom we have in PNG, the single missionary women here are encouraged to take breaks out of country if possible. I still try to stay in country as much as I can, but I sensed the Lord nudging me to take this opportunity, and the sudden provision of all the finances necessary was all the encouragement I needed to bite the bullet and book the flight. I always enjoy breaks wherever I go, but I feel that this trip in particular was a real gift from the Lord.
When I got to the NTMA hangar in the morning, I joined in with all the pilots and mechanics as they got together to get into the Word a bit and pray before they started work. Our pilots carry an extremely heavy load and a huge responsibility that they take very seriously. It was special to be a part of the time that they give to the Lord together each day.
Above is the plane I flew in. We had just arrived in the PNG capital of Port Moresby (it was hot, hence the foggy picture), and parked the plane next to all the big boys.
No, I didn't get to fly.
There was no cargo going to Australia on this flight and no other passengers, so it was just me and Bob, my pilot (below). I think my favorite part of my entire break was this flight down. I'd never met Bob before but we had a great time, and I have to admit I felt a bit famous being flown around by my own personal pilot. We got to skip all the normal customs stops and security checks. Bob took me through all the back doors of the airports and past all the lines of people waiting, and when we got to Australia the airport was completely empty as we went through.
A quick stop in Port Moresby before heading to Australia.
Front row seat.
It was about an hour flight from my city of Goroka to the capital of Port Moresby. Then another two hours or so to Cairns.
"KAPSO" is the point over the ocean at which we left PNG air space and entered Australian.
One of my most beautiful experiences - flying over the Great Barrier Reef. We flew right beside it for about 1/2 an hour and it was incredible.
Cairns is the second cove in.
Flying towards Cairns, we could see that there was some major flooding below. Parts of the highway were cut off, blocking a lot of food (fruit and veggies in particular) from being delivered to the city. There were a lot of empty fruit shelves the first couple days I was there.
I chose a hotel close to the city center so I could walk wherever I needed to go, and it was a great place to stay.
One of the biggest perks of being in Australia was being able to walk wherever I wanted! By the end of my break I'd gotten the bus system figured out, but I still loved the freedom of walking out the door and going wherever I liked. This was the Cairns Esplanade. The street at the right was lined with all sorts of cafes and touristy shops. Popping into coffee shops is one of the simple things that I miss most from home, and one of the things I most looked forward to doing in Australia.
Crosswalks: not nerve-wracking unless you haven't seen one in a while. The first few times I crossed one my heart started beating faster and I was so nervous I was going to walk at the wrong time. Automatic doors threw me off, too.
I got the chance to take a day tour to the "village" of Kuranda (thanks to my sweet parents). A gondola took you above the rainforest for an hour before arriving at Kuranda.
From the gondola we saw the train that would take us back down to Cairns on our return.
Kuranda ended up being more of a small town than a village, and it was bit too touristy for me. I eventually found my way to the "original" Kuranda market which was pretty unique with dozens of funky shops lining paths winding down the hill.
I eventually needed to get away from all the tourists (as if I wasn't one) and found a picnic table in a little park...which happened to already be occupied. One iguana ran away as soon as I got close, but the other stuck around which made for some good photo opportunities.
I took his seat to write some letters so he ran a few feet away and kept an eye on me in the grass.
The train ride back down to Cairns was about 1 1/2 hours and was also an audio tour of the history of the tracks. On the way we stopped at Barron Gorge, which is one of the most phenomenal places I've ever been. The pictures really don't do this incredible waterfall justice. It's about 260 meters high. Afterward I found out you can walk to the bottom from the other side, which would have been great.
The "yes, I'm a tourist" shot.
Another waterfall along the way.
Bats!! And thousands of them. I had headed to the night market back in Cairns and the sky was swarming with bats.
I generally don't like to post pictures of food, but this meal was, as simple as it looks, simply amazing. I found a restaurant that had a huge menu of "sides" so I made a meal out of it. Three things you can't get in PNG: mushrooms, sweet corn, and decent bacon. I'd been to this restaurant the day before and there was a piece of corn on my plate, and as I ate it I literally couldn't stop smiling. I'm sure the waitress thought I'd gone off my rocker, but I didn't care. I was giddy over corn, and I had to come back the next day for more.
My final meal in Cairns...a nice juicy steak. In PNG we don't have the luxury of ordering in, or running to McDonald's for a quick supper when we're lazy, so I made the most of the convenience of food and had a little room service on my last night.
The most difficult part of my time in Australia at first was forcing myself to slow down and enjoy my time. In PNG, when we go shopping in town it's always in a group. Everyone's got their own agenda and different places they need to go so we do our best to hit every spot. Not being on your own watch means we're usually ticking off things on our list as fast as we can so we can get to the next place and get everything done. In Australia, I found myself walking everywhere fast and trying to do things as quickly as I could. I kept having to tell myself "Slow down! No one's waiting on you, you can spend a whole hour in the lightbulb aisle and no one will care." And I often did (just not in the lightbulb section)! It was so fun to wander down aisles and enjoy all the selection.
Even though we all spoke English, I found myself baffled by things people would say. Just like Canadians have slightly different ways of saying certain things than Americans, Australians have their own lingo that I was completely unfamliar with and we might as well have been speaking two different languages. I answered people's questions with more than a few blank stares or awkward moments of "I have no idea what you're saying so I'm just going to smile." I got a few blank stares myself, especially when I tried to order coffee. After a few days I finally got the hang of it and felt pretty impressed with myself if no one asked what I meant when I ordered.
This trip was exactly what I needed, and I'm happy to be back at ITF rested and ready to head into our busy summer months.
