Are There Crocodiles In Here? (Matt)

Throughout our stay in Surumuran I asked many people if there were still crocodiles in the river. "Yu lukim pukpuk long dispela wara?"  I would say. "Nogat (No)", was usually the reply. Although I did get a few of them to tell me that they had spotted a huge one a year earlier, close to where we bathed each night, at the mouth of the river. It was maybe 12 ft long.


My waspapa (guardian), Laboi and his father, Mum (a respectable term for "Father" in their language,) and I had spent two days in the jungle cutting down and up trees.We also had a small caravan of boys helping us. We dropped 6 trees into the river in order to get 3 good Limboom trees for my waspapa's new floor for the house that we were living in.

Once we had 16 logs cut to length, we made a raft with all of them and floated it down the river to the ocean. Floating, walking next to, pulling, and swimming it across deep parts with 3 kids on top took about 2hrs. Once we got to the ocean, we guided it down the beach to their village.

 Several times as we were swimming next to it, I pretended to get attacked by a puk puk. I would scream and go under. The kids' eyes would get real big, waiting to see if I would come up. Once we made it to the ocean, many kids climbed on for the remainder of the trip, including Grayson and Brianna.

Once we got to the beach, we rolled them all up on shore. Later we split them, chopped and shoveled out the middle, and broke them flat with an ax. That is how you get a free floor for your house in the jungle. Any takers? I will do it for $50 per square foot, installed! Plus crocodile insurance.

So...what about the crocodiles? Were they in the river?

YOU BET! Two weeks later as Laboi, his 5yr old son Nigel, and I were paddling a dugout canoe up the river, we paddled right up on one. It was probably 6 or 7 feet long. It rose up off its log when it saw us, and slipped into the water toward us. Then the wake from it came straight towards us. We could no longer see it above water. Laboi spun the canoe around and paddled out of there. It had come within 30 ft of us. Laughing, but a bit relieved, we headed home. I guess when they would tell us that crocodiles and other bad things didn't exist, they were just "protecting" us from reality. I wish I had my camera for that one!

Surumaran (Matt)

 
  We just spent 5 weeks in this house in the small village of Surumaran up the North Coast Highway above Madang, Papua New Guinea. We have now left to the mountains of Papua New Guinea.

Our dining room table!

Surumaran is a beautiful fishing village with black sand beaches. From there you can see two volcanic islands. The people there were friendly and welcoming. They became close to our hearts. We were sad to leave them.

Fish Tales (Matt)

Marcus ran up to our house one night while we were living in Surumarang about 4 weeks ago. "Kam, yumi go huk nau nait?" He wanted to me to go out fishing all night in the community boat with him and several other guys. It was already 8:30 at night. I was totally unprepared to go, so I said "No thanks!" This is what they came back with the next morning plus plenty of other fish.

 I am also including any other nice fish pics for all my fishing Posse. They pulled all of these fish up without a rod or reel. They just drop fishing line and when they have a big fish, it cuts into their fingers. Most of the time, they just fish from dugout canoes with outriggers.

This one is called a "Bik Mous" (Big Mouth).

Loved my "brata" neighbor Jacob. He is a master fisherman.

We always had a fish in our 8x13 pan!

This fish on the right is called "Sweet Lips".