Easter Excitement

Belated Easter Greetings! Ours was a fairly quiet week-end although we did have some excitement on Saturday morning and Sunday evening.

As all the shops were closed on Good Friday, you can imagine the chaos in town the next morning when the entire population of Milne Bay converged on the main street of Alotau town swarming like ants to sugar as they raced into Papindo,Cheongs and Alotau Supermarket to grab all they could before closing time at 12pm. I cannot stand shopping on Saturdays but as we had guests,( Monday was also a public holiday) and we needed to top up on our supplies, I had little choice but to face the crowd.

Earlier that morning we had actually arranged with our friend Jeannie Callister to take a drive down to East Cape (the most south eastern tip of PNG) to buy some fresh fish at the market,something we hadn't done in a while. After waiting in the queue at the ATM,then the shops, then trying to avoid every pedestrian on the street while driving at a snails pace, we finally met up with the Callisters in typical Milne Bay timing at 12.3opm.The initial plan was to meet at 9.30am!

Anyway, we eventually loaded the troops into their toyota hilux and set off for the 45 minute drive to East Cape(the troops being 5 kids and 8 adults). Five minutes into the drive and the rain came thundering down, yes when it rains in Alotau it pours!!The guys in the back tray were saturated!We almost turned back a few times but Jeannie kept assuring us the weather would clear up further on. Sure enough it did, but things got a bit tricky or should I say sticky when we left the comfort of the sealed road and hit the dirt road. Thank God we were in a 4wd and the tyres were brand new! Several times we almost slid off the road, it was that muddy!Amidst Jeannie's escalating squeals of "Geoffrey,Geoffrey,Geoffrey!!", (Geoff's her hubby),Geoff's sheer determination behind the wheel, Elaine and I holding our breath and sending silent prayers at the back.......we eventually made it! (phew!)

It was still drizzling when we arrived at the market and despite the rain, the fishermen continued to arrive along the beach front with their canoes filled with the morning's catch. After checking all the canoes I ended up getting four large coral trout for K1.00 each,Jeannie bought a huge mackeral for K30.00 and Elaine (one of my colleagues at EMB) also bought a few. It was a very pleasant afternoon had by all as we sipped hot coffee, chewed chunks of smoked makeral,chased our kids and munched on clams in coconut cream.

The drive back was just as adventurous, we made it over the muddy hills only to be greeted by more rain.This time all the rivers were flooded so there were a few scary moments when we were certain the vehicle would be swept away. I actually had visions of us floating out to sea somewhere between Misima and Rossel Island but.... we made it back finally, exhausted and content that our mission was accomplished.....we came back with fish. (Sorry no piccies this time)

Sunday night Jobby Paiva,Elaine and I were busy working on one of our projects-a series of community radio drama programs. Actually Jobby was editing and showing us the ropes, we were observing. We finished about 11.30pm, went home and crashed only to be roused at @ 2am by the phone ringing. It was Elaine calling on her mobile. She was frantic, telling me to call the police because her next door neighbour-Pat was screaming at the top of her lungs for someone to help her! Not much more info was given but I called the cops-no answer, called Masurina Hotel (to get in touch with their security supervisor)-no answer,called Elaine's house number (to wake up her flatmate Guy who lives upstairs)-still no answer!By the time I called Elaine back on her mobile, she told me some of the other neighbours had come by and scared off the intruders! Talk about excitement!Poor Pat! She told us later that four men had cut her fence and were attempting to barge into her room downstairs. While they were pushing on one side of the door, she was pushing on the other side! No wonder she was screaming!Luckily the police overheard the other Masurina security guard on the 2-way radio and turned up to check. The rascals had long gone though.

Pat was ok but shaken. She strongly suspects her own security guard was involved and they also suspect an ex-giligili escapee but, the matter is still being pursued.

Am now getting up every time I hear a noise. This sort of thing incident doesn't usually happened in our area, but it's a wake up call that's for sure!