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At the present moment I am here in Kokoda relieving our Manager while he has some time off. Its very peaceful and relaxing however I left my glasses in Port Moresby so am finding it very hard to focus on anything that requires me to read!
As I type this, rain is falling on the roof. The bar is in full swing, the Christmas lights are on and it reminds me of Australia as each year we add some more lights.
Today we had two electricians here doing the final touches and now the children of Kokoda are starting to find their way here to
Orohaven to witness for the first time Christmas lights. I will try and take some photographs so you can see for yourselves. Tomorrow we will put the finishing touches to this project and hopefully put a few smiles on the faces of the children of our porters and guides and others who come to enjoy. At the present moment we have a Kokoda Spirit porter sitting at the bar, which proves all are welcome at Orohaven.Our staff have not switched of for the festive season as yet, in fact they are busier then ever due to the lights and just my presence here at Orohaven Kokoda Retreat. A newly built toilet for the bar had a coat of undercoat put on today. The final coat of green will go on tomorrow so it matches with the bar. A light was installed yesterday inside the flushing toilet room. The Manager's residence was painted as well today. We moved two tents earlier on this morning so that the grass gets a chance to grow once again.
I have grounded our truck for the time being so the driver along with our cook are mowing the entrance way and the airstrip directly in front of Orohaven. The lady who cleans and maintains the guesthouses is weeding the gardens. Her children are helping her. When she is not doing this, she is looking after the chickens.
Our chickens we purchased so that they would be ready in time for Christmas are currently being sold. Its funny, a lot of people living in Australia only purchase frozen chickens. The people of Kokoda insist on a LIVE chicken as they want the pleasure of killing; plucking; preparing it etc. They very rarely ever eat a frozen chicken as quite frankly they are just not used to it. Last night I had one of our guides sit at the counter and said that since the trekking started in Kokoda they have continued to change. He laughed when he said, now be are starting to learn to buy one beer at a time where before we would have bought the whole carton and sat under a tree. Now we are sitting at tables, listening to music and enjoying one beer at a time with our friends and we are starting to enjoy COLD beers. He seemed very proud of the progress of the people living around here.
We have gold sellers looking to offload their hard work so they have money for Christmas sitting in the bar trading it for beer. Gold buyers in Port Moresby have already closed up shop for Christmas until the New Year so these boys are wanting to swap gold for beer! Which is why I am up in the house as some are getting a little bit tipsy!
On the plus side, the new bar has helped keep Orohaven going in the off season and allowed us to employ more people from Kokoda and continue to give back to the people who live around these parts by providing jobs and services.
So yes, its all happening here in Kokoda.
HO HO HO – MERRY CHRISTMAS Kokoda style!
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IMGP2751__640x480_.JPG9:30pm – oh what a night – after my last post the truck arrived from Popondetta carrying our new bar stock of 32 cartons SP bottles – do not rush for your calculator as that equals 768 beers.
Only in Kokoda could they have been delivered the way they were. Due to constant rain and river crossings – add to that passengers feet on top of them, the majority of the boxes fell apart when they tried to lift them from the truck. So one by one they had to be carried up into the storeroom in containers and then re-counted one by one to see if the stock equalled what was purchased.
Oh my back is killing me! Now instead of the beer being stored downstairs in the bar storeroom because its loose and can walk so much easier I made the decision to babysit these 768 bottles until they are sold. So now I have loose bottles covering the floor per the photograph below. The poor boys who unloaded the truck and then had to carry it upstairs.
I read a post on facebook earlier today by Peter who is a regular poster on this website saying how he was shopping online to avoid the crowds in the malls. Well Peter, to shop here in PNG is a mammoth task just to buy beer and get it safely delivered to your door without it getting stolen or drunk. I think I lost count somewhere along the line so still not sure we have all the beer and believe me at this hour I am not about to start a re-count –
You should have heard the excitement of the boys in the bar when they saw all this loose beer coming off the truck! It was certainly like Christmas had arrived.
Oh and I forget to add that earlier today after our employee Garni had to travel down at 2am to catch the truck, he arrived in Popondetta only to be told that their was a liquor ban on until the 4th Jan 2011. Well we could not have a bar with no beer could we, so what they refer to here as 'black market' options were found and we cleaned them out as we wanted 36 cartons to do us until the New Year and we could only purchase 32!
We could not send Garni down until today as several of the entrances to the bridges had been washed away due to heavy rain and the 4WD trucks only started running today! On my flight over here I brought with me 24 cartons of SP cans as they are lighter to put on a plane.
As a non drinker seeing all this beer does nothing for me so no temptation there for me! Not so for the boys working here though, they must have been thinking about a drink all the time while they were offloading and carrying it. Oh well payday tomorrow so they can fill up then. And yes Thomas Eroro is lucky as he is getting a bicycle for Christmas.
P1070281__640x480_.JPGSome of the faces in the photographs below you may recognise as Clement Harika and John Derick Eroro turned up at Orohaven Kokoda Retreat yesterday for several beers. They both said to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to all trekkers who have walked with them and big HELLO from Kokoda.
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P1070298__640x480_.JPGOne of the porters children turned up here yesterday wearing a Santa's hat. He was sat inside the sleigh for a photograph.
P1070283__640x480_.JPGOther photographs taken yesterday at Orohaven Kokoda Retreat. As you can see the 'Birds of Paradise' are lush and tropical and all flowering:
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P1070289__640x480_.JPGMerry Christmas 2010 from myself, Russell Eroro and our staff who work for Kokoda Trekking. Take care and enjoy your day.
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P1070295__640x480_.JPGOn the 29th December, Michael Butler from Sunbird Aviation flew in 110 cartons of SP White Cans as we were about to run out of beer. So thanks to Mike the boys of Kokoda will enjoy their beer come tomorrow night when they celebrate the New Year.
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