The arrival of the wet season, a coup d'etat (almost) and a friend from East Africa.

The forest behind our village has nearly disappeared under the clouds.

Since Christmas there has been little rain - just enough to keep things looking green but nothing like the rain we had back when we first arrived. Things began to change a month or so ago however with storms most evenings and the occasional rainy night. Last Monday the wind changed the clouds rolled in and it was actually, almost chilly. Since then it has hardly stopped raining. This is welcome but brings with it some problems. Infrastructure is strained, landslips become a risk and the cooler weather increases the number of fires that people have and increases the number of burns victims presenting at the public hospital in town (according to fellow volunteer Laura who is a nurse in the emergency department there).

Our normal view out over the mountains to our south.

The same view on Saturday morning.

As a birder I know that such a change in season triggers movement by many bird species. We are surrounded by mountains that reach up above 2000m so I am on the lookout for new birds that have moved down from the mountains. So far the only thing I have noticed is a few flocks of Uniform Swiftlets but I am on the alert for new calls coming from the bush behind our village.

We were supposed to go to East New Britain to deliver training to NARI staff there last week but we had to cancel due to storm damage caused by two cyclones - Maila to the south and Sinlaku to the north. Our colleagues at Keravat Research Centre have had roads washed away, airport runways flooded, houses unroofed and ongoing power outages so we will leave them for a few weeks and try again. We are now planning a week in Port Moresby for our staff there and then go on to Keravat. After that we will see if we can get permission to visit research centres near Goroka and Mt. Hagen in the Highlands.

For reasons we can't really get our head around, the army in Port Moresby recently barricaded roads and demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister and other senior government officials. Something to do with nepotism apparently. All Port Moresby volunteers were told to return to their homes immediately and await developments. Here in Lae it was suggested that we do the same as we have quite a large military presence. We stayed at work but kept an eye on the highway for any changes in traffic flow. The police in PM also got involved but it was unclear whose side they were on. After a day or so the government agreed to the army's demands for an inquiry and things have settled down. Further developments will likely depend on the findings of the inquiry.

On Friday we wandered up to the mess bar for our normal two drinks after the working week. This used to be quite fun as there was a small group of expat Aussies and New Zealanders who gave us a different perspective on life in Lae. Since the sale of HBS a few months ago most of these folk have left and the newcomers don't drink so the bar is struggling for customers and relevance. On the walk up the hill we encountered an old friend from East Africa. Apparently they were introduced to the Pacific region by the USA during WWII as a source of fresh food for their troops. Not sure how that went but the snails thrived and became a problem. The USA then introduced a carnivorous snail from Florida to control the pest but this attacked a range of native snail instead - driving many species to extinction.

African Giant Snail - an invasive species in Papua New Guinea.

Stop press! Our security company - Black Swan - have just sent us pics of the Yalu River bridge on the Highlands Highway between us and the airport. It is about 7 km up the road from us. The swollen river is threatening to wash the bridge away. There is a new bridge under construction here but the money has disappeared and construction has stopped. The old bridge may soon be gone and then how do we get to the airport. We are planning to fly to Port Moresby next Sunday to start our week of training. This is also the road that connects the Highlands of PNG to the rest of the country.