Got A Canoe? Come And Visit

My planned trip to do something over the long weekend did not eventuate, instead I stayed in Lae and had a usual weekend of activities. I got to sleep-in, have breakfast at a Filipino bakery, go to a movie night, sleep-in, help with ideas for a book, drink too much, sleep-in (yeah I like this bit) and watch it rain, rain and rain. So much rain in fact that I woke up on Sunday morning to find my street had turned into a lake.

I had only seen it this bad once before, back in March last year. That time it had risen to its maximum height of about one and half metres in only half an hour and then it was all gone a few hours later. This time it lingered around for much longer. So long in fact that my neighbours had to walk to church instead of drive - the first time I had seen them go anywhere without their cars.


High tide on my street

For the weekend, I was planning on taking what must be the only regular proper ferry service in PNG (one with a boat not made of fibre glass) from Lae to Finschafen. Finschafen is a three and half hour trip on the Luship ferry and is situated on the northern side of the Huon Gulf at the tip of the Huon Pennisula. And as the name implies was orginally settled by the Germans in the 19th century before the mozzies and malaria drove them out.

Like my other idea for the weekend, to hike the Black-Cat, this little trip did not eventuate either. I talked myself out it when I realised I would be stuck there for the long weekend without a hell of a lot to do. It apparently is a nice place to see, but one where a book is essential. With the amount of rain that came it probably would have been a soggy get-away anyway.