Planning work and play

Friday afternoon session at our mess. Scanning the trees for any sign of birds
while having a couple of glasses of red.

Since returning from East New Britain we have been trying to organise more training and a holiday (or two).

We still need to deliver our training programs to the NARI staff at Aiyura (near Goroka) and Tambul (near Mt. Hagen). Our security restrictions here mean that we can't drive up to Aiyura (as all other NARI staff do) and Mt. Hagen is a major problem even if we flew up there. We have made several suggestions to NARI and AV management but the solution we have settled on is to run the training here over a couple of weeks and bring staff down to us. The next problem is when. The accommodation here is booked for several weeks so the earliest we can fit our training in is the third week of June and the second week of July.

With not much else happening we decided to use some of our leave. I found a well-regarded lodge near Mt. Hagen and we applied for permission to go there. It is in a level 2 security zone according to DFAT's Smartraveller site (same as here in Lae, in Port Moresby and on New Britain). The idea is to fly to Mt. Hagen then get the hotel shuttle. Plenty of birding around the hotel and we would just stay there for a few days. Our AV manager said she could not approve us going there but has bumped it to DFAT to say yay or nay. We are waiting for this decision.

Plan B is to go to New Ireland where there is a nice beach resort on Nusa Island near the capital, Kavieng. It is an easy decision for our management so we have booked this in for 6th-10th July. It will not have anything like the birdlife that the hotel in the Highlands would have but does look very nice and relaxing.

Basically, apart from the training weeks ahead we have done what we came to do. If the Mt. Hagen holiday is not approved we will probably go home a week early.

We also came back to the news that our main mentor here - Laurie Fooks - has decided to not renew his contract. Laurie has been the force behind the revamped journals and I suspect they will not succeed without him. We currently have 4 papers in the system with one having been accepted. Finding reviewers has been hard. Others are stuck in the mysterious Research and Publications committee seeking approval to be submitted to the journals.

One recent highlight was the annual NARI agricultural show. This runs in the grounds of the research institute across the highway from us in HQ, Lae. We had rain leading up to the day then sunshine on the day then rain for the next few days. Lots of people, colour and displays - even a mudman!.

The official speeches (including a long session from a local religious chap) were mostly supportive of NARI and the proposed, increased integration of the various industry boards. The government Primary Industries sector here is split over a dozen or so organisations and four ministers. It is a crazy waste of resources and hopefully we are seeing the beginning of a rationalisation.