A holiday in Cairns

We just came back from two weeks in Cairns, Australia. It’s only two short flights away from Lae, so it’s a nice place to get away from it all. This was our first time out of PNG since we arrived, and (as we expected) we were hit with a bit of culture shock. For example:

• Stores are enormous, and very brightly lit.
• Roads are very smooth, and any potholes that do appear are fixed within a few days.
• Fresh milk tastes so wonderfully… fresh!
• Groceries in Australia are quite cheap compared to PNG.
• Standards of modesty in the “developed” world are actually rather shocking. 

While in Australia we had the opportunity to do some shopping. Too much shopping, really. But some things are either hard to find or very expensive in PNG, so we have to make the most of our time outside of the country to get them.

The whole family reading – Kindle, tourist brochure, Kindle.

We enjoyed fellowship with the Free Reformed group that meets in Cairns and got to know them a little better on various occasions.

Avigail “singing” through the Book of Praise.

Our two weeks in Cairns coincided with what turned out to be a two-week rainy season, and we had about 650 mm of rain during our time there. That kept us indoors a lot, but also made for great sight-seeing when we went to see the Barron Falls, which, apparently, is usually just a trickle.

The Barron Falls

There were a couple of days when the rain stopped for a few hours and we were able to get out a bit. One highlight was going for what we thought would be a short 2 km hike that ended up taking us to the top of a mountain. Beautiful views!

This friendly metre-long lizard met us on our mountain hike

Now we’re back at home in Lae, and ready to climb a mountain of work.

A taste of local food – kangaroo pie.