Hi all,

Greetings from Darwin, Australia. There's a pretty intense tropical heat here. Not as hot and humid as Madang, but close. It was 32 degrees Celsius when I got off the plane yesterday. I'm staying with the P/deK family in their lovely Queensland-style home in a suburb north of the city. It's great. They have a pool, which is also great.

Had a pretty uneventful last day in PNG, post-dive. Rested, ate bread, hung out with my friends' daughter Dana and her friends. They braided my hair for a long time. I tried to take pictures but couldn't get everyone in the shot. I'll post some pics once I get them into my computer. Then we had that barbeque at night. Tons of good food and interesting conversation down by the water.

Got up at 5:20 (hurray, internal alarm clock!) on Sunday morning and we went to the Madang Airport. It was a madhouse. Apparently a flight didn't come in the day before, so there were many, many people trying to get on my flight. I got in line but didn't move for 1/2 hour. My friend Yat managed to get me a boarding pass, but we waited another 1/2 hour to try and get my bag checked in. I took maybe two steps. Finally one of my friend's friends took my bag and checked it in. Then I was on the plane...but we had to wait until everyone else was on. They finally gave up on issuing boarding passes and just herded people onto the plane until it was full. There was even someone sitting in the "jump seat" in the cabin with the pilots! Wish it had been me...

I flew into Moresby. My friend Violet wasn't there, so I hauled my stuff over to International Departures and checked in my bag. Found Violet on my way back to Domestic. I had a Kar Kar bilum as a gift for her and knew it wouldn't make it through Customs in Australia -- they're quite strict about wood products and this is made from tree bark. Anyway, it all worked out. I flew to Cairns, Australia, where I had a layover of 2 hours or so. Once again, they told me to go through Immigration and get my passport stamped. When the bag didn't come, I had to go back to the other "Transit Passenger" side and get a "STAMPED IN ERROR" on the previous entry stamp. This has happened twice in Australia now...

Bought a few normal-sized t-shirts (you'll see what I mean when I upload pics of how I dressed in PNG). Snarfed down a Toblerone chocolate bar and caught the flight to Darwin, which then went on to Singapore. I sat next to a huge group of Indian tourists, all of whom, like me, ordered vegetarian meals. Read my super-expensive Vanity Fair -- okay, yes, I wanted to see pictures of Suri. I can admit this. They also had no good books in the airport. I swear. I'm not into Dan Brown or pulpy novels and I already read Life of Pi. I also have the John Irving book at home and didn't want to pay for it.

V and her daughter K were here to meet me when I finally cleared customs. They had to spray/clean all of my shoes because I'd been in a rural area in the last 14 days. But my four worrysome items (two carvings, tapa cloth and cuscus hat) were fine. Phew!

It's strange to be in an Australian suburb. It's quiet. I went for my first run in a month this morning with A, K (on her training wheel-free bike) and the two dogs. Good god, I'm in bad shape. It was also hot, I have to say, but it was humbling nonetheless. Nobody's staring at me anymore. Nobody's asking me if I'm a man or a woman (which, I swear, one kid at Jais Aben did ask me!). I've got on a tank top and real shorts. I miss PNG, though. The smell, the feel of it. I wish I hadn't had to go so quickly.

Called Mom, Dad (left message) and man bilong mi to let them know I am accessible again. It was good to hear their voices. But I'm still sad that this is coming to an end. Oh well. I'm on a quest for some nice Aboriginal art to bring back with me for Christmas gifts this year. I'll see what I can find when I hit the town.

I may go talk with some Aboriginal friends/acquaintances of A&V. Not sure yet if that'll happen. Sounds like we'll go hiking on Thursday. I leave very early Friday for Sydney and then direct to L.A.

S.