Labadee is a part of Haiti that is owned by Royal Caribbean. The area around Labadee is very green and lush. You can take a look at my walk around video above: I go from the cruise ship to the main beach on the left side, and then loop back to the cruise ship via the the second beach on the right side. (If you go there, you’ll understand what I mean by the left and right.) The beach area itself is quite nice; it’s definitely been engineered to accommodate a lot of cruise passengers. The beach on the right seemed to have better water if you want to go for a dip. You can read the detailed account here.
Labadee in Haiti has the longest over-water zip line in the world: Dragon’s Breath Flight Line. It’s quite high, and you end up going quite fast. The zoom on my camera may obscure just exactly how high and long the zip line is, so here are the numbers: it is 2,600 feet long and 500 feet high. You end up reaching speeds of 40 to 50 miles per hour! You can read the detailed account here.
For those of you who haven’t heard yet, Rebecca and I have moved to Papua New Guinea (PNG). I am working at Pacific Adventist University (PAU) as Dean of the School of Business and Rebecca is studying full time towards a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Last year the opportunity presented itself for me to travel to Papua New Guinea. I visited our long time friends David and Carol Tasker, both of whom were Deans at PAU. They had tried for many years to get me to come and “have a look”, and in mid 2007 I took the time. The outcome of the “look” was that I ended up seeing the need in the School of Business. As a result, Rebecca and I decided to take up the challenge of providing the people of the pacific with an opportunity to receive an education that will allow them to compete on a global basis. I therefore resigned from Microsoft in October and took a well deserved holiday.
While we were waiting for Visas, Rebecca and I travelled through Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar on a motorbike (see posts on this site). We then headed to Brisbane and spent Christmas with our families and drove down to Sydney for training on how to live in another culture. We finally arrived in PNG early February.
We live in a wonderful place. As you can see in the photo below, we live on a hill, with a great view far into the distance.
From the house we look over the most lush valley. The photo below is early in the morning. I am still in awe every morning while having my breakfast, because it is so beautiful and soothing. The environment on the university campus is truly calming.
We get the most amazing weather. During the rainy season, there is usually rain in the hills every afternoon, but the sun comes through just before sunset. As a result, we see a lot of rainbows.
The following photos are taken from the Sunday morning markets. Hundreds of cars come from Port Moresby (a 20km drive) to buy their fruit and vegetables. The university operates a farm and the produce demands a premium over other suppliers.
This photo was taken through the fly screen, as I was too lazy to walk outside to take yet another sunset photo. I have so many of them now, because the sunsets are different every night. This photo was special, because the sun was setting directly between the two hills in the distance.
As you can see, we really live in paradise. Up until recently, we had a lot of rain, though usually just showers late afternoon or during the night. But the rain stopped really suddenly two weeks ago, and now the dry season has started. It is still up to 31 degrees Celsius during the day, but has been as low as 17 during the night.
My, I didn’t realize the college was in such a lovely setting. It looks very peaceful. Thanks so much for sharing those photos and what’s happening in your lives.
Looks like an interesting place. Glad to hear that you guys are safe and well and have settled in nicely. Hope you get your internet access issues sorted before long so we can hear more from you!
Thanks for these pictures – they depict the beautiful environment where the university is located – brings one’s thoughts closer to the creator.
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