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Bougainville Island Beautiful And Vexed
A tiny island waiting in hope
We lived on this beautiful island off the coast of PNG for a year, initially.
For us it was love at first sight.
An island swaying with palm trees that hung over a pristine-white sandy coastline.
A place where every day, give or take a daily downpour of rain, the sun shone from a brilliantly-blue sky.
With a beach that seemed to gently move beneath one’s feet, but was in fact, promoted by the activity of the tiny, busy hermit crabs going about their daily work.
A spot on this earth where beautiful dark-skinned children, whose smiles lit up our every day, welcomed us.
This was Paradise.
Our Utopia.
For one year, a long time ago…just shortly after we were married, it was.
Yes it was Paradise, but it was also a bit of a culture shock for us.
There was only one less-then-super supermarket which was stocked for a couple of days, (after the boat came in, which was every three weeks), stocked with, well not a lot that we were interested in eating, to be honest.
Not for someone like me, an emergent super-chef who needed specific ingredients in order to deliver a meal that…
