Part of the family

What a week! Work wise it has been fairly quiet and Rob and I have had the luxury of 2 days off while a visiting nurse relieved us. Sam and Glenis arrived on Monday morning on a tiny plane. Glenis was so brave and overcame one of her biggest fears, flying, to come and visit us. They had a night on Horn Island and saw the sights there and then headed out to Darnley Island via Murray Island. Each time I stop and think and realise we are 20km from PNG and 1000km north of Cairns, it all feels very surreal. Its so good to share it with family, and know we will talk about this for years to come. This week my sister rang with the great news that she will be coming up for New Year with us so we feel so blessed to have a supportive family to share this madness with!

Since Monday, we have eaten 6 different varieties of fish. We have had mackeral, sardines, javelin fish, rock cod, coral trout and sweet lip. Its so good to hunt and gather your food but to be honest, each time we go fishing we seem to come home with a gift from someone else. I am not sure if they feel sorry for our fishing ability or if its just the generosity of people here. But we have been very lucky with the kindness of the locals here. Each fish is a bit different but so fresh and delicious. I went to the shop on Thursday to get some red meat for a break. All I could find was some kangaroo mince! But, turns out it makes a delicious bolognaise, and no one was any the wiser, until now, when they read the blog! Still I think Sam and Glenis have enjoyed all the fish meals....

This morning we headed out to the beach for a swim and snorkel. We have really high tides at the moment so it was lovely to enter the beach from the sand. At low tide, the water goes way out and you have to go in via a lot of rocks. It can be difficult entering the water and not slip on the rocks so this morning was perfect. The water was so clear and there was just a gentle swell. We all floated around for over an hour and Rob took his Dad for a snorkel around the rocks. In amongst, the palm trees, the coconuts and the turquoise water, it was hard not to feel like life was pretty good.

This afternoon we went to the funeral of a well respected member of the community who died in Cairns 2 weeks ago after a long battle with illness. He left the island before we arrived so we never had the chance to meet him. But it was fitting to go to the funeral and it was one of the most moving services I have been to. It started in the church next to the clinic with a service that went for about an hour and a half. Eulogies were said and many hymns sung in both English and Creole. Then the casket was loaded onto the back of a ute and a procession of cars and people walked up to the graveyard, about 1km away. The graveyard here has graves dating back to the early 1900's. It is filled with huge frangipani trees of all colour and they provide shade and perfume. About 200 people sat around on chairs under the tress. One of the elders bought in his guitar and the whole community joined in singing hymns interspersed with more words from the minister. It was such a peaceful atmosphere. At times, the sounds of sobbing and wailing were heard but the overall feeling was restful. The coffin was lowered into hole and then about 20 of the men from the family took it in turns with shovels, to fill in the grave. As some got hot and tired, others stepped up to relieve them and share the task. All the while, gentle hymns were sung with the accompanying sounds of the guitar. I can honestly say, it was one of the most moving and peaceful ceremonies I have ever attended. It felt surreal, sitting high on a hill, surrounded by frangipani trees, in the middle of the ocean.......one more amazing memory to add to the collection. Yawo!