I dream of untouched paradise and pristine waters

Rantings of work, some small change.

2008-11-06T17:21:00.000-08:00

SO much happenings lately that I havent the time to write and rant about it all.

being incognito.

I hate the PNG court system, what court system? It doesnt exist. the f!@#wit that decided he would break in and point a gun at my head has been charged only 200kina for unlawful entering and pleading not guilty to pointing gun charge and the police prosecutor and magistrate are complacent with it all. what the farrrrk! 3 women held up like that in the early morning.. Women are treated like shit in PNG.

No such things as rights.

You know the right to be able to sleep safe and sound at night, the right to feel safe and secure in your own house... doesnt exist... ..... men here are dogs!

Couple of weeks ago I saw a man stab his girlfriend at the beach with a knife, then violently shove her to the ground. she was crying. everyone sitting around so complacent and said not to intervene "worry blo two pela" (its their problem dont interfere) That attitude is really f!@#ed up big time! I felt like going over and picking up huge log and smashing this guy over the head. thats life in PNG...........

yet, carrying out my landuse impact assessments on coastal marine assemblages down the east coast, searching n diving for sea cucumbers whilst hardup for cash, a side job, now a key advisor for the government. Kudos with newfound power to make and actually implement direct change!

f!@# people who think otherwise and want to put shit on that!

If in position to make change for the better why not exploit it! Somthing to be happy about! Yes perhaps will be making enemies too...but if can do a little bit of good who cares, the people with issues would eventually have issues anyway regardless,

so bring it!

Newfound knowledge is not all good at times but its an eye opener into how the world
really functions and its becoming that much more complex, beginning to see things through many different lenses. new and exciting for me.

wondering what C is up to back in Germany, must be freezing cold over there now. I remember running around Burger park in snow, ice and rain this time last year, my chest and throat burning, couldnt even feel my fingers in my gloves....kalt.

thankgod I dont have to go through the hell of a european winter again.

Though I do miss a few little luxuaries of the western world, one in particular nice schokolat.

elepantisis-like foot infection

2008-10-12T16:48:00.000-07:00

so my foot is now infected and the size of a bowling ball (well slight exageration) but its big and very very sore! :( on flucox, preying for it to do its magic and fix this infection problem.

what was a small though deep cut, has now manifested itself with the aid of nasty bacteria of the tropics and who knows what else dirty gunk that I picked up from the seagrass muck shores down the road where I am working with my sea cukes... tagging growth foraging experiment up and going, lets prey they hold onto their tags please.

aching pain foot. i miss my afternoon sunset runs bigtime! how am i suppose to do my field work now, just have to do it and deal with the foot after. such a pain in the arse!

shananigans on the weekend didnt help, though at last a bit of fun here in this lonely place. i love to dance and all dosed up on good meds and few glasses of wine, with family and friends at the toga birthday night. family went to enjoy and good times were had! :)

its finally raining and windy here, feels like the trade winds are shifting. perhaps we will start to see some surf.

my little bro is turned a 180, he was improving and seemed back to his normal self, now hes gone back to square one. perhaps he skipped his meds. perhaps its all a put on, and now he's doing it for attention. sad.

writting up and reading papers.... need to get my head around my projects....plueral...

Small steps of change :)

2008-10-05T21:40:00.001-07:00

Malaria fun on the weekend. Felt it come on Friday and got the drugs into my system before it could do its worst. lethargic on saturday, headaches, pains in joints, neck back, organs, missed the markets schiesse! no crabs, shells or nice fruit and vege this weekend. not happy!

Project planning and budget moving slow, if I were a free agent, this would be a different story, lets just say I'd already be out in the field already! But I have been given the order of going through a system. Now this is not any old system. One would think very normal and functional from looking in on the outside, beautifully landscaped and neat layout, but knowing the innerworkings and dynamics of it all, makes for a very f'd up dysfunctional one that makes things much more complex then they need be! owel so I just run with it. Frustrated as hell, patience is a virtue!

Sunday a special day for the women of the province really made up for the sorry saturday. Financial independence and financial literacy course complete and new micro-finance bank launch for women only! HELL YEAH! about bloody time. (sorry my bad language) But ol muma na ol meri, they are the backbone of our province and have done it tough these last years due to some really f-ing hopeless counterparts of the opposite sex! It feels so good that they are finally standing up and fighting and making a stance! Its just great! I felt privileged to be a special guest there to witness the occasion and announce some special plans to help them in their mission and further inspire the women and young girls of our province that anything is possible today. As an independent self sufficient empowerwoman (well so I'd like to think of myself), I gave a speech in pidgin to surprise of many and gave it to them all about how I hated being called a Missus! me Meri Lavongai, me Meri Tusik, na me Meri Kavieng, na Meri New Ireland, na meri PNG! Me les lo harim this pla missus bullshit olsem me blo narapela hap! 150+ women and few men all laughed in hysterics and applauded. So hopefully I hit home for some of them to reach for the stars even if its only at the village grassroots level! I spoke to the mumas, asked them of their plans. One Aunty from New Hanover, has plans to start up her own Christian primary school. I spoke with others about opportunities for small scale womens fisheries projects. I really want to help these women where I can! Finally womens empowerment, educating them about saving money, investing and planning ahead in our province! haha I sense small steps of change. Instead of thinking just for today or a few weeks or moons ahead as which has been the norm for so long, .......these women are finally thinking towards planning a future, making goals and aspiring towards something greater! this is change for the better!

Put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up ;)

2008-09-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

Busy last week and half, complicated on a number of levels. family issues never cease to amaze. My little bro finally reached the tipping point after riding a rollarcoaster of self destruction of the nasty behavioural kind. Dealling with himself has been a major battle, not easy to control someone suffering a serious state of hallucination, uncontrolable aggressive behaviour, state of delierium, complete memory loss..I am talking 24 / 7, 60 seconds a minute watch on the poor guy to steer him, his brain no longer had the functioning power to think and carry out even the most simplest of actions, i.e. hes gone through 5 tubes of toothpaste these last few days..nonsense behaviour.....I knew his condition before the doctor even diagnosed....nevertheless chemically loaded super powered on his meds, we have managed to figure out how to deal with him and hes on his way to quick recovery thank f!@$ing GOD! Things could have been quite worse. People take 8 months of full on time to recover from such incidents whilst PNG does not treat such things lightly, cultural hangups and this problem dont go hand in hand and people suffering from self / substance abuse are treated like dogs on the streets.

There are many, wondering lost soles here, all gone, far gone past the point of recovery. It makes me sad to think of thier lost opportunities or perhaps not who knows. I ran into one sad sorry case yesterday arvo at the corner market whilst buying papaya for my pet kapul endangerd albino cuscus, which my bro and I thought fit to name Kaput. So anyway this guy was riding on a bike and bothering me saying he wanted to come home with me, would not leave me alone, kept harrassing, slock! lucky for him he was 10 seconds short otherwise I would have used the fighting stick in the car (huge iron pole) and worked his head over with it!

Just another one of many dilemmas in paradise.

EV policy brief to Gov almost complete wahooo, my first draft was popped out in a few hours, now in late stage drafting, suppose to submit today and I seem to be suffering from writters block and lacking energy to pop this last draft out.

Planning project, logistics and buget........ its a mission.

Can't wait to see what the sunset of this afternoon will look like, each day its a suprise and something to look forward to. My run, then cool down swim, and then the sunset over Nusa. Its a breath of fresh air and the beauty cancels out all troubles and whatever worries that are bothering me for just those few moments, when the colours change from orange to bright red.. pink. ppffff when you can see something such as that every afternoon who give a shit about worries and troubles, its life you just gotta deal with it roll with the punches move on and get over it for the better!

SWOT! on the weekend

2008-09-18T02:15:00.000-07:00

STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS. that was my weekend, sifting through all the shit, the good the bad, and all the rest, laid it all out on the table for myself to digest and analyze as instructed by my mentor...frustrations and state of depression all day for many reasons...these same feelings these last days also.....having discovered key strengths are also threats and weaknesses too, though should not be at all surprised by this. this is PNG.

I will be homeless as of the end of the month, have to vacate the premises as my roomate doesnt feel safe in this big house. around town looking for something suitable to rent, for me the single meri, something safe, secure and suprise, surprise verdict and findings... nothing at all! argghhh.

transport solution a motorbike of some sort, well i am dreaming anyway, 200cc, 120cc chinese shineray bikes available, I dream the 200cc, but my Papa, scared of the power, doesnt think his little girl can handle such a bike, so hmmm 120cc is my best bet.... wondering how fast its top speed is...and if it will go offroad....

told by so and so that I will not be good in the village for research, hmmm my thoughts.....to hell with what ever that means. me village meri tu ya! Bangunung, Tuk-tuk-up meri, me sa was-was lo big river long peles lo jungle on top lo mountain. also abused in the street and at the resort by the same but hopelessly drunk so and so about his own ego...perhaps obvious insecurities there and feeling threatened....doesnt take an idiot to figure that one out!

listened to depressing Tracey Chapman "baby can I hold you, Dixie chicks wide open spaces, Shania Twain still the one and always and forever...hahaha.. this the other night after a few glasses of port my Unc Pedi gave me this special expensive bottle to celebrate my MSc fellowship last year...hahahaa I crack myself up.....Ctina, if only I had a good strong GnT to add to that equation ;) i wore a favorite 2kina not joking..... designer dress ...from the second hand shop here and was wishing I could teletransport myself to the Loft cocktail bar in Bremen, I immagined I were sipping bailys n whiskey n funking to reggae music and with good company. mind you I did bring those high heel shoes that I was contemplating on leaving in Bremen....and actually left my very functional hiking boots behind in Germany ;) so add high heels to the 2kina jungle print designer dress.

I am dreaming of a getaway to Mansava Tsoi! to go paddling out into the lagoon and just lie and float and be carried away in the current, the many miles of the blue lagoons.......dive for sea cucumbers........mmm the seafood. Bubu Boston and Bubu Helen cook up a feast! just hang out and relax.

again without dreams there is no reality so I will just keep dreaming for now :)

project writting, brief for Gov for climate change panel... worries, finding safe accomodation... 2 dayss and should know what the hell is going on. German boss here in Kavieng and is negotiating for me.

Independance celebrations and png dilemmas....

2008-09-17T00:06:00.000-07:00

Awesome last days celebrations for Independance! Singsings and moo-moos, traditional atire, painted warriors, beating kundu drums, chants, singing and dancing. Proud to be PNG!

The guy that pointed a gun to my head was caught by the police and put in jail, then the idiots actually let him out on bail the very same day because he had work to do for Digicel the local mobile company and then felt the need to come to my house and say what had happened, I was furios! what the f!@#$? Anyway, at least they took his gun off him huh, but I am still worried for my safety. This guy is obviously a lunatic on the loose and the police are not at all concerned for our welfare.

Went swimming along the front reef patches in Kavieng harbour, practising my photography skills, I am definately in need of many more hours in the water with my camera :( though strangely enough snapping all sorts of algae and slime and muck, fringing reef along the foreshores are quite a sorry sad sight for eyes! Whilst I think I may have found a few introduced species hmmm guessing balast water of these ships that too and fro from Singapore and Phillipines!

I am now a boxing judge, helped my pop judge the boxing selections for Nationals on the weekend, now I am even tempted to join up lack of female boxers here and they are heading to the North Solomons, would love to check out the reefs down there, dive for slugs! I use to to kickboxing so hmmm a few weeks boxing training should have it down pat! I am scared for my teeth, hmmm good old German health insurance should cover things hahahhaa, just jokes...

Was invited to special dinner celebrations last night for the Independance celebrations with the Provincial Gov. and his party. Eating with Bubu V., the Administrator and all the other offical party members of the Provincial Government at the head table. Felt so honoured and proud to be apart of this special occassion, yet my Bubu was so proud of me! everyone so happy, worth noting incident, the belly pain laughing about making toasts and how to toast, and in what order of special notes and thanks, first to the Queen, then to the PM then so and so, and so forth........was just so happy to be there, after a few wines we got up and danced traditional style on the numbis wetsand (beach) with Unc P.A. and others...

Met the Govenor, forced to in fact by BC, son, after a few wines as advised by BC...organized first meeting with him and today had that meeting and things went reasonably well, lots of work ahead! First assignment, 3 page summary of all things......so he may address the Climate Change pannel chairman in Oz...I am really excited!

His supportive attitude of my endeavors and future aspirations, encouragement and being all behind me, so really helps to put things into perspective on this front!

Support, encouragement, acknowledgement and co-operation are all so very hard to come by in Paradise! Ppl are quite surprisingly akward here.

W.E. and other boss H.W., coming on Friday, new proposals still in draft mode.... argghh proposals.

Ctina you have to get your arse over here, we would definately make a kickarse team!! :)

Real bad sinus, flew, migrains after some nasty PNG bugs have gotten the best of me, hahah this only after being drugged up on lethal antibiotics for my tooth infection last week :( schiesse!

The week is nearly over, busy days ahead here in the islands. yet things move slow!

frustrated with the lack of resources, slow internet....all the rest...having no transport and I am on foot everywhere, so unproductive, all the fams cars out on hire and work...such BS..... I am thinking I will by my own offroad bike these next weeks just to get to A and B and back again and be more efficient!

also worth nothing banks in Kavieng do not exchange euro dollars, after waiting for almost an hour, the lady behind one teller comes up to me in the international banking section (meanwhile i am the only one there) and she asks what I want, meanwhile she had seen me standing there for all that time and obviously had been doing nothing at her desk, but I guess the enjoyment of making people wait so long is a daily thrill, so let her have that one on me. I then explain I want to exchange EU$ and then she goes and consults with her boss and comes back with embarassed look and guilty expression, sorry we dont exchange euros and somewhat slyly smiling. F!@#ing bullshit i was wanting to scream! sorry bad lingua. I was pissed!

so had to go to good ol Unc L. at the hotel and he exchanged my dosh, I then went back to the bank escorted by security and banked it in my account, thankgod there was no waiting this time round. PNG banking never a dull moment either.

lets hope the rest of the week is smooth sailing to some extent...well I prey anyway.

Kavieng

2008-09-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

In Kavieng, safe and sound in paradise, though had gun to my head just on Tuesday, arrived only on Friday, frightening experience, lucky to stil be alive!! Organizing my project proposals.... plueral., just trying to think and focus is a little hard under the extreme circumstaces atm!

testing out and practising underwater photography this weekend, thats my fun, lion fish, plenty of nemos to snap, cute box fish, dead sick coral :(, algae and moss, COTS....hmmm its still all good, found one little clown fish perched apon a porites bombie in about 1m of water, just hangin out in little anemone home, defending it like mad when i got near with my camera, perhaps this spot isnt the best considering the 34 + degrees water temps at times...

Its Independence here in PNG wahooo, plenty of singsings and moomoos, dancing, festives, but also copious amount of alcohol consumption and mixed with bad anti-social behaviour.....the wild west, nahh not that bad.

What else, I now have security at the house I am living 6pm - 6am, hmmmmmm found him sound asleep the other night, I feel so safe.... Intruder still on the run, with his revolver cowboy gun, an obvious friend, drinking pal / buddy of the police here in Kavieng.

PNG, paradise, never a dull moment.

Was suppose to meet up with Oceanwatch team for coral reef checks, however petty politics to say the least have postponed me catching up with the team. However I intend on doing so in these next days and hopefully will get to do some lik lik work with them. Whilst let it be known about underlying issues that are there........

Went for my sunset run yesterday afternoon, to the hospital and back, a good perhaps 2.5km, attacked by 6 angry village dogs guarding scuba ventures workshop...had to defend them off and protect my legs from their mungy teetch.

That run, its my escape, helps and reinforces why I am here, why I choose to be here and want to be here! To be able to look out into those islands, being caught up in the beauty of it all, forgetting all the shit... escape a little from reality, poverty and depression of this place and all its problems....its still my paradise :)

tough strong pela meri lo Kavieng!

Last day in Bremen

2008-09-01T10:13:00.000-07:00

This morning droped the unmentionable off at hauptbahnhof, it was quite sad, as always is when you loose something that was so close to you. but it just was soo bad, like a good bad drug, and a good thing that it has ended finally for boths sake. I wish him the best, a better life, and to let me go.

Then there was the train ride to Bremen universitat, a blur, mixed feelings, delerious state..the emptiness of something lost....riding the tram through technology park, all those glass steal buildings, seeing them made me feel wierd. I began to think about how in a few days, my surrounds will be so very different, so surreal. I then wondered off in thought and in daydream, that old familiar yet hideous betelnut spat, black stained teeth, the smells not of fine french perfumes but of that rustic highlander BO smell that sometimes makes you want to just vomit. Instead of cute babies and small children that have a happy and wonderful future ahead, seeing them bouncing on their mothers laps and admiration, instead I picture, babies and children with yellow snot runny noses, swollen spleens from malaria, yaws sores on their legs and feet, grilae fungal rash covering their tiny bodies, them scratching these into little tiny sores that then eventually welt up and become yellow puss infected boils.... and perhaps yaws sores, them crying in pain, the cycle... thinking what future do they have, is there such a thing as the paradise that I dream of, or is it just a myth?

i see myeslf, arriving at Port Moresby international airport, run the gauntelet of the domestic airport, holding on to my belongings like death, all in effort to check in to my Kavieng flight, its highland style line ups to checkin,... in short this means it is just a mass of bodies intwined and then all of them just starring at me, the different the outsider, yet also I am one of them too they just dont know it. I can hear it already. Lukim Mrs, lukim Mrs, the little kids look at me all wide eyed and point....there mums embarrassed rous on them to stop behaving all primitive like...the men give me different glares and speak pidgin with rude reference to eachother as if I dont understand.., I exchange uneasy glares back and snap, YU LUK-LUK LO WANEM (what are you looking at) in my most hardened tough woman MRS tone!!

back to reality, that is yet to come this Friday.

where was I, so after the wierd tram ride, i went into see the boss, W.E., he gives me my allowance to see me through on my journey. Is this part of my allowance for next month or is this part of my research funds, and part travel allowance, this is not clear to myself... why didnt I ask to check. schiesse again! I left a door open for misinterpretation. self note, not good for German relations, strict on paper work and reciepts and order and procedures. clarifying everything is essential!!!

We exchange short chitter chatter, W.E. tells me I am not going to fix all the problems in PNG, perhaps he senses my anxiousness, and doesnt know how to react to this, of course arrr derrr, he doesnt have to tell me this, I know very well, the endless efforts of trying to fix things in my country by the many hordes of people and NGOs and aid, world organizations who claim they fix things...from PNG and from all over the world, AustAid, NZaid, ADB, EU, UN, WWF, WCS, TNC,...millions and millions of $$$$ over the years and what has improved...... I have experienced first hand ones failure of trying to fix things or lets say attempt to do anything in hope of achieving something in paradise that is PNG. When you fail you dont just fail, you are truly crusified for failing in a place like PNG and literally end up in your own manifested state of paradise hell!

So there is no point in trying to fix things, when things are much too complex to fix. There is really only point in trying to make small change, and the hope that small steps of small change perhaps help to oneday fix things eventually. That is all you can hope for. Small steps of change.

Each one of us, small steps of contribution to change, can perhaps eventually fix things.........these are my thoughts on "fixing things" anyway.

I then express concern of not having a fixed research superviser back home, not because this is so much of a worry to me, but more so because of anal german paper work and pre-requisits again, the system of going away for this research, an MOU with overseas institute is needed at the moment, non existant, is this a prob, well doesnt matter anyway I am leaving tomorrow. I guess I just want to be able to be proud and say so and so is my superviser....

well f!@#% that! because I dont have one!

So anyway, he continues to tell me, R., you are not going to fix the problem of PNG, you are going to prove that you can work by yourself in the field, conduct a case study. Working by yourself. Again, why is he telling me this, I bloody bank on working by myself, I dont want anybody back home helping me, I want my own boat, be my own driver, be my own worker, perhaps one deck hand and one to help me in the water.. (both my brothers, who I trust) and thats it! I dont count on support from anyone back home, I just dont fucking trust anyone and you cannot rely on anyone! If you do, and when they fail and they let you down, you will surely pay for it!

Again, why he is lecturing me on all these things, I think about it and ponder, I already know all this,...... Perhaps he is reinforcing it for the sake who knows....perhaps he is just doing his job.

luggage dilemma

2008-08-31T06:03:00.000-07:00

Packing, cleaning procrastinating again. Second last day left in Germany. Disaster of a day yesterday but just wont go there. At the moment figuring out how to fit everything into my suitcase, within reason, that is necessity and under the 20 kg limit. 15kg of it = marine biologist gadgets and scuba gear,.... doesnt leave much to play with hmm. I can do it, I say to myself. and why does an island girl need lots of things anyway....... I am going to get lost in my paradise, in the jungle and in the wild islands and dont need any luxuaries of the developed world.....so high heels out, ... hiking boots in... hair straightener out... long fuzzy wuzzy big unmanageable hair, result of the humid hot weather hmm how to deal with this problem, not an issue in the norther hemisphere, Bremen Germany....

perhaps I will have to get a Rhianna style short cut, or just deal with it and grow dreads, true hippy island fashion style........ brazilian hammock, not yet in suitcase and its a must, but how to fit it in, it weighs a f!@#ing tonne! the dilemmas of packing for the islands. what a girl should carry and what not, tough decisions, but sometimes its not a matter of necessity, sometimes its just a must to stay sane in my paradise......You do need some little connections to that outside far away world that exists as the developed functional world.

Stoked, email in from Oceanwatch's C, today, hahaha he says poor internet services in Kavieng are driving him crazy. I could only laugh, knowing of the frustrations and thinking thats not the only dysfunction and lacking back home that drives one loco in paradise, Kavieng!

So they are to set sail next Friday to St Mathias for Ailan awareness work, coral health surveys with Unc J. A., bummer, why cant they wait a couple of days so I can jump on board and join the team too. I would love to check out sea cucumber numbers up that way, as majority of people from these islands are SDA religion and therefore suspected of not hammering their marine resources as much as the rest of us. Oceanwatch is new to the Kavieng scene. I think their objectives and proposed work in the Pacific are awesome, kudos to them! Sure shake some things up and stir things where there is direstraits need of stiring anyway.

one more day closer to getting back to paradise. I am a little anxious of what awaits. But hell excited for the adventure and this new rollar coaster I am about to ride out on!

6 mnths field work mission: main reason for returning home

2008-08-30T14:39:00.001-07:00

Focus, sea cucumbers, beche-de-mer fishery, search for the last remanent stocks of Holothuria scabra in New Ireland Province waters. Investigate stock status of all commercially important sea cucumbers. SES assessment for co-management and appraisal of current CBM MPAs in NIP. Investigate the feasibility of restocking hatchery produced sea cucumbers to boost marine resource management. Perhaps a PHD.

Jouney back to my paradise, my islands

2008-08-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

Packing, cleaning, packing, procrastinating. Few more days and finally outta this freezing kalt place that I have unfortunatley had to call home for the last 11 months... Bremen, Germany. I nearly didnt survive the winter, depression got the best of me. I now know why people are like the way they are here, there is no need to describe it. I truly relish the fact of not having to endure a winter like that again, and dream of being back home in my islands, being in tropical paradise, even in all its dysfunctional glory. Frolicking in turquoise waters, miles of lagoons of my clan islands, Tsoi, feasting on endless seafood, garden fruits and vege. Only a few more days left in Germany thankgod!

How did I end up here in the first place, well how does a south pacific girl from the minute spec of land mass in a tiny forgotten part of the world end up in northern hemisphere and concrete jungle of a small german city.

Well I was roped into a masters program called ISATEC, interesting and challenging on a number of levels, I guess all in all, rewarding and quite liberating for an aspiring young island marine biologist lass like myself!

I actually hate the word "lass", but some dickhead newspaper journalist decided it would make fit to describe my winning a surf title in the PNG post courier last year, so now I will use it. I also dont refrain from using profane oaths to emphasize my feelings.

I am still riding out the rollarcoaster ride of the last disasterous unmentionable and now looking forward to whats to come, new adventures of the crazy PNG kind. Lets just say, les pinis lo kaikai brutwurst na franztbrochten... and hanging out for good old pit pit and suksuk sago and greased kumu seriously!!

I was against having a blog, but have now given into the cyberspace temptations of all that is blogging and comes with blogging. Whilst perhaps I have decided that it will prove useful to document my adventures and escapades in my islands, in my paradise that is home, remote islands in the north east corner of PNG. As a select group see it fit for town gossip anyway.

My adventures in paradise are sometimes twilight zone compatible, and even I have to pinch myself at times. Whilst even trying to explain to friends and dealing with their gasps of disbelief and questioning, OMG did you do that? Well here it is, my efforts to keep a record of my shananigans, adventures and of course the serious stuff too, that is work for a masters marine biologist researcher...

cheers to my first post and many yet to come, lets hope I can access internet where I am heading, back to paradise back home :)