This series of blog posts is part of the A to Z 2019 Blogging Challenge in which I will write snapshot memories of my early married life in the then Territory of Papua New Guinea.
A country where expats
Move or are moved
From place to place
Is proof of the saying:
Friends for a reason
Neighbours, work or motherhood.
It’s not just the adults who share friendships. These two had a great time together and got into all sorts of mischief.
Friends for a season
Best mates in one place
Lost in a move.
Friends for a lifetime
Bonds form over
Cities, countries and continents
Treasured over decades.
Coincidence prevails – By chance I run into an old friend in Madang, and a uni friend in Goroka.
A good move reconnects us
With old friends and neighbours
Milne Bay to Goroka
Goroka to Gerehu
Gerehu to Australia.
Visits on leave South
With those “gone finish”.
We couldn’t forget cannoli and
I’m sad to have lost touch with this little girl’s mum.
An Italian feast in Melbourne.
Exploring Sydney with others
Kids re-connecting
Laughter and chatting
“Is everybody happy?”
Remains Pat’s refrain.
Dinner parties as new wives
Expand our culinary skills –
Not yet aged enough to expand our waistlines
Curries, Fondues – that 70s staple
Beef Wellington and roast port with strawberries
Daiquiris with imported fruit or duty free spirits
Long frocks and Nehru jackets.
Back yard barbeques
Conversations over beers
Kids play, swing and climb
Picnics and drives, squash and swimming
Pets are inherited from those departing
Whisky the blue heeler
Never loses her taste for mackerel pike
Brandi the beautiful cat
Who banished our Pedro,
Perhaps to a cooking pot,
Becomes ours and we weep bitter tears
As she goes to the vet before we leave
She knew, she knew.
Life as an expat was not always happy.
Such vivid images. I feel as though I was there too.
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Thanks Linda.
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Such cute smiles!
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Beef Wellington. Cooked and ate quite few of those.
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