Simulai's 1997 - 2000 diary page. [ Home Page | What's New | Trevor | Geraldine | Tara & Ashley | Simulai | Gadoeno | Tasiana | Photo's | Family Index | PNG Index | PNG FAQs | Site Map ]

(From Sunbury, Victoria, Australia)

Added 9 January, 2001
I have been back in PNG for a few weeks and now I am heading down to the village. I have stocked up on anti-malarial tablets and hope that I don't end up in hospital like I did last year.

Added 16 December, 2000
We had a Christmas party today and near the end of the function my brother fell off the monkey bars and gashed his leg open. He went to the Port Moresby General Hospital Accident and Emergency Ward but it was packed so my mum and dad tok him to a private doctor where he had to have about 36 internal stitches and 14 external stitches to sew his leg back together again. My dad had a cheap digital camera with him but the photographs didn't come out too good so we are anxiously waiting for the film in his small 35mm camera to be developed.

Added 21 October, 2000
My school work has taken over and I haven't had time to write anything.

Added 1 June, 2000
Next week I will be starting my end of semester exams. The first is English followed by General Maths Methodology, Physics, Advanced Maths, Information Technology and RE History.

Added 25 May, 2000
Today I sat my "pre solo air legislation" exam. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Hopefully I'll be flying solo, along with my other mates, in a few lessons time.
The instructor says the procedure is that we leave with him from Essendon Airport and then drop him off at Point Cook so that we can fly by ourselves to Bacchus Marsh and around that area before returning to Point Cook to pick up the instructor again.

For the next few flights we'll be going to Moorabbin Airport to practice take offs and landings plus some stalling procedures.

Added 30 April, 2000
Today I was to have another flying lesson but it was too overcast for a learner to have a fly around. Instead my grandmother, cousin and I dropped my dad off at Tullamarine airport for his trip up to Brisbane on his way back to Port Moresby.

Added 24 April 2000
Today I attended the mighty Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) where I was part of a capacity crowd (88,000+) who watched the Essendon Bombers play against the Collingwood Magpies. Luckily for me Essendon won. Because it was ANZAC day old wartime aeroplanes flew over in remembrance of all the soldiers lost during the wars that Australia has fought in.

Added Easter Sunday 2000
Another flight, this time with my dad to Melbourne via Brisbane. I flew Air Niugini to Brisbane and then Qantas to Melbourne.

Added 12 April 2000
Argh!! Today I was out of bed very early for a flight from Melbourne via Brisbane to Port Moresby for the first school holidays I have had whilst staying in Melbourne.

Added 12 March 2000
The Year 2000 Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix. I spent today at the Melbourne Motor Show looking and drooling over all sorts of motor vehicles whilst keeping a close eye on the Grand Prix being telecast live from many of the stands.

Added 11 March 2000
Today I had my first flight. For many weeks I have been studying the theory behind flying but today I was able to put some of it into practice.

Added 10 March 2000
Another Year older! - Tonight I watched the Melbourne Storm play the Sydney Roosters live at Melbourne Olympic Park.

Added 31 January 2000
I started my first day of school at my new school and having met some new friends before hand it has made it easier. I have all my books and all my classes sorted out for this year.

Added 26 January 2000
Argh! I didn't really survive the trip to the village as I have now come down with malaria. A totally foreign disease for most Australians. Especially ones living as far south as Melbourne. At least my brother is here to suffer with me.

Added 20 January 2000
After surviving a trip to the village I am now on my way to Melbourne, Australia to start school down there.

Added 24 December 1999
M E R R Y   C H R I S T M A S
and a
H A P P Y   N E W   Y E A R

Added 26 November 1999
After sitting many exams - both the internal Papua New Guinea ones and the External Cambridge ones I am now on my way to Australia to find out what books I need to buy for next year. Whilst there I'll also see what the uniforms are like and how much they cost.

Added 16 September 1999
Today PNG celebrates the 24th year of Independence from Australia.

Added 2 September 1999
Last night I stayed in Brisbane with a friend of my dads. Today I am flying on Qantas back to Port Moresby.

Added 30 August 1999
Today I have an interview with the head of the school where I hope to attend next year. It is situated in a satellite town just near Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne.

Added 28 August 1999
Today I am in Melbourne and watching an Australian Rules Football Match at the mighty MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground). It is the final round of the season before the finals start. The two teams playing are Essendon and Melbourne. Whilst Essendon is on top of the premiership ladder they get away to a slow start until close to the end of the match where they eventually hit the front and win. We sat under the electronic scoreboard which, the previous night, burst into flames just as it was displaying a message stating that the MCG was a "smoke free zone"!.

Added 27 August 1999
Today I left school at midday and headed out to the airport for a flight to Brisbane and then onto Melbourne later in the evening. Before I could leave I had to change the wheel on my mum's car because she had a flat tyre.

Added 14 July 1999
Today PNG had a very quiet change of Prime Minister and Govt. Our New PM Is Sir Mekere Morauta.

Added 30 May 1999
Today I played in the backline of the U17 soccer team and it was good. Normally I play on the wing. Our goalie played as striker and we scored 3 goals so the changes paid off.

Added 26 Mar 1999
My birthday has come and gone and I don't feel any different.

Added 20 Feb 1999
I'm almost over my malaria. I better be because today I registered to play soccer again in the school competition. Once again I hope to play in the under 17 side although I am eligible for the under 15 team because of the way they work out the age groups. Just think last year I was supposed to play in the under 14 team but the under 17's wanted me!

Added 21 Jan 1999
Umm, after my trip to the village I have been suffering from malaria. If you've ever had malaria you will know how bad I feel. To those that have never had it I hope you never do.

Added 1st Jan, 1999
H A P P Y   N E W   Y E A R  to every one reading my diary..

Added 22nd Dec, 1998
To all that celebrate Christmas. Merry Christmas and to all that don't then hope you still have a good time between now and the New Year.

Added 12th Nov, 1998
This coming weekend sees the big V8 cars touring around Bathurst in New South Wales yet again for another 1000 kilometre road race. I just love the roar of those V8's. They sound so much better than those 2 litre cars.

Added 28th Oct, 1998
Argh!! School photo time. Once again it is proven that school photo's are a waste of time. See mine above on the side of the diary? I look nothing like that!

Added 11th Oct, 1998
I've added another couple of pages. One is photographs from our recent (Papua New Guinea) Independence day celebrations at school. The other is a revamp of my picture page. I've divided it into Pix 1 and Pix 2 as well as adding an extra photo or two.

Added 27th Sep, 1998
I'm doing a project on security systems and need help. If anyone can help me with such things as where to look for information on solenoids, magnetic locks and other household security items I'd appreciate a point in the correct direction.

Added 17th Aug, 1998
Just recently (Aug 98) I was voted in as the 1998 / 1999 Captain of the High School.  Korobosea goes from pre-school right through to year 10.  I have a female counterpart and each of us has a deputy.

Added 25th July, 1998
Oops! It's been a long time since I have added anything here. Sorry for that. I don't know where the time has disappeared to.

I better fill you in on the latest items of significance for me.

Starting on the 8th of July. My family and I headed out of Port Moresby for Singapore where we barely had time to change planes from our Air Niugini Airbus to a QANTAS 747 and head for London, Heathrow airport. Once there my dad's friend (Mr White) came and picked us up and took us to his house in England.

We had a couple of days in England where we were treated like royalty by the White's. Mr White took us to the beach and bowling and we did all sorts of things.

From here we went back to Heathrow and flew to Aberdeen in Scotland where my dad went chasing graves. We found one grave which was dated in the 1800's which showed that it was the burial place of my great, great grand uncle or something like that. We also visited Balmoral Castle which is in the same general area where we were.

From Aberdeen we flew to Amsterdam in the Netherlands where we watched my mum play hockey in the World Airline Hockey Association Tournament. This is a yearly event. The weather in Holland was freezing. My dad was especially cold and was disappointed in that the hotel we stayed at didn't have heating. (This was in the middle of their summer)

From Amsterdam we returned flying Business Class on the top deck of a Singapore Airlines 747 jumbo to Singapore. I really wanted to use the in built telephone on my seat but dad said it was too expensive. I really thought it was cool having my own TV as it helped to fill in the 12 and a half hour flight.

We had a choice of where to stay in Singapore so dad decided on an older hotel which is right next door to the Funan Centre. I wanted to stay near Sim Lim square but the Funan Centre was okay coz it was full of computer shops!

From Singapore we were going to fly to Cairns for a day but dad decided to fly direct to Port Moresby so that we would all have the weekend to recover before starting school on the Monday. We arrived at 6:30am after a 7 hour flight and my dad was at work by 8am that same day.

Added 2nd May, 1998
Today, after watching my brother playing soccer, I decided it was time to publish my Diary as a separate page on the Internet rather than having it on my index.html file.

This is the end result.

Added 17th April, 1998
I was lucky enough to spend Easter in Australia. Part of the time was spent in Melbourne where I was able to purchase some really cool gear for my computer. The other part I spent in Brisbane. Brisbane was very, very wet and we were not able to do anything other than shop in big shopping centres. This time I arrived back in Port Moresby at the new Jackson's airport which is a credit to the country.

Added 17th January, 1998
I'm now back in Port Moresby.  We arrived on the Air Niugini A310 Airbus today.  When we arrived at our house we were greeted by a blackout.  PNG is in the middle of a very severe drought.  Port Moresby relies very heavily on Hydro Electric power generation and, obviously, without water the supply of electricity suffers.

Added 1st January, 1998
Wow! I spent the start of the New Year with my Grandmother in Victoria, Australia whilst my mum was in Brisbane, Australia and my dad was in Papua New Guinea.  We are sort of a global family.  Hopefully we will be reunited in a couple of weeks when we all move back to Port Moresby.

Added 25th December, 1997
My brother, sister and I had a fantastic Christmas day.  My dad sneaked into Tullamarine Airport (Melb Aust) last night and surprised all the family by being present.  It was a real family reunion.  My dad says it was the first Christmas spent with the family for about 17 years.  That's long before I was born.  It was my first ever Australian Christmas.  We spent it at my Aunt Heather's house in Sunbury, Victoria.  We then had another day at my Uncle Bruce's house which is also in Sunbury.  My dad's family tree makes more sense when you actually see the people concerned.

Added 20th Dec, 1997
Hi, I'm now on holidays in Australia. Hopefully I will be able to visit my relatives in Melbourne for Christmas. I haven't seen them since January 1997 when I flew over from New Zealand.

Added 18th Nov, 1997
I'm busy doing my exams and haven't had time to update this page. Hopefully when I go to Australia at Christmas I'll have a chance to do a bit of work on this page

Added 8th Nov, 1997
Well Jacques won the championship! I won't say anything about that incident which put out the other contender.

Added 16th Oct, 1997
Hi, my is name Simulai or Sim for short. I am the eldest child in my family. I have one brother and one sister.
I love playing on the computer and especially like surfing the Internet.

Another thing I love to do is to watch V8 touring cars, especially at Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia.

My favourite driver is Craig Loundes, and it was very disappointing to see him crash this year (1997).

I also like Formula-1 cars (but not as much as the V8's).
My favourite for the 1997 year is Jacques Villenueve, he is looking good and has a good chance to win this year, but he is only leading by one point ahead of Shumacher.

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