Duncalfes Online - A Letter Home

A Letter Home: 7th March 2010

Dear All,

For a change I'm writing on Sunday morning. This afternoon we are going out to Kudjip, the Nazarene Mission HQ and where they have their hospital that I've occasionally mentioned, for their monthly service. We've not gone before, though some MAF folk go regularly, but this time Vern and Natalie Ward will be there. Vern was the Nazarene Mission Field Director for many years but left a few years ago to take up supervision of the whole South Pacific area, so it'll be nice to catch up with them again.

This week has continued in the same manner as all the recent ones by being phenomenally busy. The difference, however, has been that I've spent most of it flying, giving the training for two of the guys doing their instrument ratings. That went well and by the end of the week I'd also done their IR flight tests (I'm approved by the CAA as an Authorised Flight Examiner to do flight tests on their behalf).

On Thursday we made a trip to Port Moresby, staying there overnight. This gave them a chance to fly in controlled airspace and the only place in the country where there is radar control and an instrument landing system. In the past when our flight school was based in Moresby then it was a standard thing for anybody doing an instrument rating to get experience in that environment, but over recent years the opportunity for it has been much less. With this course I've tried to raise the standard again and I think it has been very, very worthwhile. Without a doubt this has been the best IR training I've done for a long time.

In Moresby we stayed at the Gateway Hotel as the mission guest house was very full. It's very nice but horrendously expensive, nearly 600 kina per night plus food, as opposed to 60 kina per night including food at the missionary home.

In the meantime the inbox on my computer keeps on gaining more and more e-mails, and the pile of paper waiting on my desk gets bigger. I don't think the coming week will give much opportunity with it as again I'll be involved with training or checking other pilots every day. There is only so much that can be fitted in.

We had friends round for a meal last night and Nicki made the most phenomenal raspberry sorbet ever. Raspberry sorbet is one of my all time favourite desserts, and this was the best ever.

We have what we call highlands berries growing in the garden. In appearance they are like a black raspberry (which is what they may well be) but have thorns more reminiscent of a particularly vicious blackberry. They grow more like a blackberry too, with shoots that touch the ground rapidly taking root and establishing themselves as a new plant. It was the fruit from these that Nicki used and they have a very nice flavour, especially when cooked which seems to make them taste more, and the dark colour made the sorbet look nice as well. A recipe to be repeated.

This was enjoyed after a delicious first course of battered baramundi, baked potato and stir fried vegetables. Good food and good company made for a good evening.

Our cherry guava trees are fruiting quite well at the moment. We grew them from seed from a tree in the garden of the house we first lived in when we were in Goroka and we've had some fruit off them occasionally, but at the moment it's coming in reasonably steadily. The one thing you have to be careful of is their seeds. Their small, and therefore no problem to swallow without noticing, but they are so hard that if you bit on one with any force there would be the risk of cracking a tooth or filling.

That's about it for this week. Preparing for the IR course, and then the training itself, has been all encompassing for the last few weeks, so it's nice to have most of that behind me now. For the two other pilots on the course I can finish off their simulator and flight training at a slightly more leisurely pace.

I hope you have a good week.

Michael

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