Category Archives: Expat

Port Moresby for Kids

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As you may know (from looking at the About Me section) or you may not, we live here in Port Moresby with our 3 children, which is technically 2 children since one of them is now in Boarding School back in Auckland. There are plenty of things that the kids can do here in Moresby, including the after school activities that the school puts on (it varies a lot from term to term) as well as music lessons after school (our 2 big kids have both had 4 years of piano and a year of guitar) All very reasonably priced, and with good positive enforcement is a great way for the kids to occupy themselves.

The kids also have lots of playdates at other compounds, sleep overs are very common (both for our sanity as well as theirs).

Just the other weekend, the kids had Pee Wee Fishing at the RPYC Gantry with the Port Moresby Game Fishing Club https://www.facebook.com/Port-Moresby-Game-Fishing-Club-210181435820846/?fref=ts

It’s a great day, the club provides the rods, and sponsors provide food, drink, bait and prizes. Only lasts for a couple of hours – first Saturday every month from 2pm to 4pm

Then Xavier on Sunday was out at the Golf Club http://www.royalpomgolf.com/ where they are teaching juniors how to play.

There is also Pee Wee sailing at the Yacht Club http://www.RPYC.com.pg, which also hosts POMSAC – the snorkle and diving group.

If your kids are into water sports, the Port Moresby water-ski club has reformed https://www.facebook.com/POMWaterSports/?ref=ts&fref=ts and they have some gear for kids.

There is also the bushwalkers club, the Port Moresby Game Fishing club, as well as the Boroko Fishing Club (river fishing mainly).

The kids will also enjoy the Adventure Park at 14 mile where they have a couple of Hydro-Slides, or the Nature Park towards Gerehu where they can see Cassowary, Crocodiles and the Bird of Paradise.

There is also 2 Cinema complexes, some theatres in full 3D showing the latest (eg: before any other country) movies.

You could also take them down to Black Rock Kite Surfing (or just flying a kite), up to Sogeri to either Crystal Rapids for a sim (and some tubing) or over to Koitaki Country Club to ride the horses.

They also get to stay at home, and chill out in the pool with their mates, play nerf tag, and ride skateboards and bikes around the compounds.

There is also organised sport like Soccer and Netball, and if they are good swimmers – there are opportunities to represent the school.

The children, when they are bigger – can even do a PADI Dive course here and take up Scuba Diving – then the whole of the PNG opens up…

There are Motorcycle clubs (offroad) as well as Hash House HArriers and Road Runners (the running clubs – kids welcome).

They meet friends for life, and enjoy an international freindship. Not bad here being a kid 🙂

KiwiExpat beginners guide to Port Moresby 2015 edition – part 1

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  1. Port Moresby’s International Airport is called Jackson’s, and so is the domestic Airport. This is abbreviated to POM, which is also what we call Port Moresby to other people from Port Moresby. Eg: “When are you going back to Pom?“
  2. Port Moresby is also called Moresby or Mosbi, as well as Pom. Often the names get interchanged whilst talking (just to confuse you). Eg: “Hey, how’s life in Port Moresby?”, “Oh man, Moresby a bit crazy at the moment”, “No shit?”, “Yeah – when you coming back to Pom?”, “Ahhh – dunno bro, all my Mosbi wantoks want me to come back – but not sure when”….
  3. Port Moresby is spread out along an old main route called the Hubert Murray Highway. This is the old way old of “Town” (the modern way and most used is via the Poreporena Freeway (Spring Garden Road)).
  4. The CBD location beside Paga Hill is called Town, and the old Hubert Murray route is used for naming locations along this route
    1. Town
    2. 2 Mile (Badili Area)
    3. 3 Mile – Although this is actually called Murray Barracks
    4. 4 Mile (Boroko) – but normally refers to the 4 Mile PMV (Bus) Stop
    5. 5 Mile – 5 Mile roundabout (has a Mobil Service Station) – beside Jack Pidik Park
    6. 6 Mile – T intersection, left takes you to Jackson’s Airport – right takes you down the Magi Highway
    7. 7 mile – Jacksons’s Airport
    8. 8 mile – ATS settlement, Malolo Estate
    9. 9 mile – 9 mile settlement, right hand turn off to Sogeri
    10. 14 mile – Pacific Adventist University (PAU), Adventure Park, Orchid Gardens
    11. 16 mile – Hugo Canning factory (Ox and Palm)
    12. 17 mile – Bluff Inn
    13. Sogeri
    14. Turn right for Crystal Rapids
    15. Veer left for Koitaki
  5. The main suburbs/area’s are:
    1. Town
    2. Ela Beach/Ela Makana
    3. Touaguba
    4. Konedobu (Kone)
    5. Hanuabada
    6. Hohola
    7. Koki
    8. Badili
    9. Gabutu
    10. Korobosea
    11. Gordons
    12. Waigani
    13. Ensisi
    14. Erima
    15. Gerehu
  6. Suburbs/area’s you may not want to visit without a local are:
    1. June Valley
    2. Morata
    3. Sabama
    4. Erima
    5. Gerehu past stage 3
    6. Gordon’s Market
    7. Koki Market area
  7. Where can you get a Coffee? There are lots of places, however my favorites are:
    1. My Place 🙂 (we only drink PNG coffee – yum!)
    2. Other people’s places – especially when they like PNG coffee too 😉
    3. Duffy’s
    4. Edge Café
    5. Fusion Restaurant
    6. Airways Hotel
    7. Brumby’s at Vision City (when the machine is working)
    8. Royal Papua Yacht Club
    9. Espresso Café – Deliotte Tower (only cause I work upstairs)
    10. Boncafe – Deliotte Tower (Only cause I work upstairs, they open at 7:30am, and we get to see their pet rats that run around behind them…)
  8. So, you are now hungry – here’s my favourite eateries
    1. Fusion Restaurant – Wonton Noodle Soup
    2. Duffy’s – for their beef pie’s
    3. The Edge Café – The steak sandwich or Egg’s Benedict
    4. The Imperial – Salty Fish Rice
    5. Asia Aroma’s – Salt & Pepper Squid
    6. Stone Grill or Tapa’s at The Yachty – RPYC
    7. Friday night Fish n Chips at Sail’s Café – RPYC
    8. Sail’s Café – Egg’s Benedict
    9. Ten Japanese Restaurant – It’s all good, but try the special buffet lunch
    10. The Aviat – Burger and Chips. But standard lunch menu is a good pub lunch
    11. Koitaki – for local beef
    12. Bluff Inn – for a burger and chips
    13. Airways – Buffet Lunch
    14. Ela Beach Hotel – Pizza
    15. Foodstation – Pizza and Fish n Chips
    16. Ang’s – Best duck in town
    17. Sunset Lodge Lea Lea – BYO food to cook on the wood fired BBQ
    18. Big Rooster – for Fried Chicken (which I don’t eat BTW) and the best chips in PNG
    19. Tasty Bite – for steaks and Mexican… kidding Indian 😉
  9. And if you really have to eat at home, then you need some groceries
    1. Waterfront Supermarket (is 10 to 15% more expensive, but it’s nice, so we go there 🙂 )
    2. Boroko Foodworld at Gordons – still the best damn sausages anywhere… and I mean anywhere!! Was the place to go a few years ago until the new supermarkets opened
    3. RH Hypermart in Vision City – I really like their Ham, and quite often are a lot cheaper than anywhere else, they also have a Brumby’s bakery onsite
    4. SVS Harbourcity – used to be our old supermarket, now it just looks old… pretty grotty place, but you can find things here that you can’t anywhere else. Might be because they have less clientele now
    5. Waigani Central Stop and Shop (or Stab and Grab for a bit of fun) – has some of the best range of cheese around.
    6. RH Hypermart opposite Brian Bell – grotty grotty grotty, hold your fecken wallets…. Actually not a bad place 😉 you can get items here that no one else stocks
    7. SVS 2 Mile – has possibly the best stock of spices around
    8. SVS Koki – used to be (a long time ago) part of the Anderson’s Chain. Been there, not worth going back
    9. The Shed at PAU Markets – my favourite place for fresh fruit and vege, only open Sunday morning at 14 mile, make sure you spread some cash around the outside market as well – some of the locals grow the best pumpkin you have had in your life!   Even my kids eat it – and kids never eat pumpkin, they are normally forcefed…
    10. Malaro Markets – no wallets, old clothes, go with a local the first time 🙂 best market in Pom. Although you can get fresh fish at Koki Market, or on the side of the road – this is the best place to come.
    11. Side of the road – some of the best fruit and vege is found on the side of the road by a bunch of street sellers, people like Anna Banana and Peter bring fruit down from Sogeri and sell it at strategic places around the city (like the school when it’s pickup time). You can haggle a little with them (please don’t be too harsh), and if you buy banana’s, make sure they are green – they are the bestest!
    12. Sogeri – if you drive up to Sogeri in Pineapple season, buy some! If you have never had “real” pineapple (or banana’s for that matter) before – then you are in for a treat.

 

Part 2 to come…..

3 years on, our PNG adventure continues

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I began this journey well over 3 years ago, but arrived here in Port Moresby on the 18th August 2011, 3 very short years ago.

Over the past 3 years, I think I have answered a few thousand emails from people wanting to move to PNG, met lots of people via my blog, and I think it’s fair to say, generally given people a balanced viewpoint on living and working here in Port Moresby.

Some people that have contacted me through my blog have become our lifelong friends, our family. Moving here with a young family has meant that we have watched our children and our friends children all grow up together, and as some of our friends depart these shores to parts and places all around the world, we know that in the future we will meet again. Our children will always have wantok’s no matter where they go, and the world becomes a much smaller place.

When we arrived here, my little one was 1 year old. She doesn’t remember living in NZ and Papua New Guinea is her home. We go “on holiday” to New Zealand, which must be amazing for a little girl. She doesn’t “see” race, or skin colour, and she is happy with the little things she has. My big kids need more, but they are now more in tune with the effects of poverty and hardship than they ever could be back in NZ, and I hope that when they grow up they will take a lot of the life skills they have learned here in PNG and turn them to do good in the future.

And although this might be the end of our 3 year contract, it isn’t the end of our journey here in Port Moresby. My company has extended my contract for another 3 years, which really sounds like a lifetime away now. As the older children transition into High School, we may have to reassess if things don’t work out, but we are still here, still trying to make a difference, and still helping new people and families with the information and tools that they need when they move here to PNG.

Sadly though, we have watched many of our friends depart. Some have finished contracts, some have had other opportunities, a lot are finishing up this year. It is sad knowing that your support group is leaving, but I am sure that those voids will be filled by other families, and our close bonds will get closer.

We have experienced amazing things; just 2 weeks ago, Xanthe (our eldest) had a week long school camp at Tufi Dive Resort. Last year it was Kokopo and Rabaul… Awesome memories! We have had some real highs, (Kokopo was a high) and some real lows (being stuck in the middle of a bush knife fight), but we have never really regretted the decision to come here.

We have watched Port Moresby grow into a very modern city at such a fast rate, and have watched as my staff have gone from
a young team, to one that could easily perform on the world stage.

We are onto our 3rd High Commissioner (maybe there is a job there for me one day – not!), and back home in NZ we are about to have another general election (the 2nd since leaving). Our home back in Dunedin is onto its 2nd lot of tenants, and the place might needed to be painted this year – it is hard having a rental back in NZ, and if I did it all over again, I would have sold the property so that would be one less thing to worry about.

We’ve also had some fantastic holidays, not just back to New Zealand, but also here in PNG, to Singapore, Australia, and Vanuatu. Next year we may go a little further and take the children to Disneyland whilst we are all together.

We never bought a boat here, and for some reason don’t get invited out that much, however – with 3 kids, it can be hard for others to invite such a big family… If I was to move up again, I would have thrown a couple of jetski’s into the container – much cheaper back home than here. But we are Ok with the time we get to go out, and of course are very grateful when we do.

I have some pretty cool ideas to take the next step with my blog, and have been doing some video’s that I intend to upload to YouTube so hopefully I can get that going soon.

But until that happens, there is plenty of work, Bedisloe Cup watching with the Kiwi Club, and the bi-annual Kiwi Club ball is coming up in October. There’s always plenty of parties – sometimes too many, we’d love to catch them all, but it can be hard. And there is the annual trip back to NZ for Christmas coming up soon. Jacinta and the kids get out for the entire school holidays as it is a little boring, but also damn hot here in Moresby.

As I turn another chapter over, I would like to thank everyone for commenting on my blog, and making it into the resource it is. There was nothing like this when I moved up here, and I trust that the information and insight into PNG and Port Moresby really does help.

Again, if you see us out and about, please stop us for a quick Hi! We really appreciate knowing that we helped in your decision to make a difference here in Papua New Guinea.

Aaron