Holiday in Madang, Part 1

During my parents last weekend here in PNG we took a short holiday to Madang.  Since this was Mom and Dad's third trip to PNG, we thought it would be fun to show them a little more of the country.  They have spent a lot of time in Ukarumpa, and back in 2004, they got to come out to our village for a couple of days.  Dad also had the chance back then to do a day trip to Lae.  But they had never been to Madang, so off we went!

We flew down in one of the Kodiaks on Friday afternoon.  Now, flying any time in small planes can be bumpy, but it's always much worse to go in the afternoon.  I always drug the kids with motion-sickness meds to try to cut down on the throwing up, but it seems like it's only effective about 50% of the time.  The ride to Madang ended up probably being one of the worst/bumpiest I have ever been on!  There were tons of clouds over the mountain ranges, so we were bouncing and dropping like crazy!  I think Kaitlyn spent the bumpiest part of the 30 minute flight screaming in terror in the back of the plane. =(  She was almost too scared to get sick and throw up... almost, but not quite.  Both she and Nathan needed those extra ziplock bags I brought along!

I was worried about what Mom and Dad were thinking about the flight....if they thought this might be their last one ever because any moment we would go plummeting into the jungle thousands of feet below us.  But after it was all over Dad said that he had so much fun.  "It was like being on a roller coaster", he said.  Well, all I can say is that I'm glad that's how they felt.... I was (silently) feeling like Kaitlyn! =)-

snuggling in bed one morning!

Anyway, we made it in one piece (though K and N were minus their lunches by the time we landed), and enjoyed our only sunny afternoon in Madang.  We walked around the shore outside the Guesthouse and then in the evening we went to the Madang Lodge for a pizza dinner.  Right as we arrived at the hotel, it started torrentially raining!  We got soaked just getting out of the car, and then stood around for 15 or 20 minutes, hoping the rain would stop, as the restaurant was quite a ways from the entrance.  Eventually, the hotel staff brought us 2 umbrellas and we crowded under them and headed down to the restaurant.  Of course, almost as soon as we got down there, the rain stopped.  But we enjoyed a yummy pizza dinner.

In the evenings, after the kids went to bed, we enjoyed watching Downton Abby.