Finally, we’re home after 5 months in Australia seeing family and friends and getting my much-needed knee replacement surgery.  It was great to see everyone, and thankfully my surgery was successful – although I needed every bit of those 5 months to feel confident about travelling and living back on the island with my new knee.  It was a slow and painful recovery but I can now walk without pain so it was definitely worth it. There’s still a way to go, but I’m hoping the hydrotherapy of the beautiful warm water of Raja Ampat will speed the process along.

Continue reading “Home Sweet Home”

We’re almost there! The end of our first six months on the island is fast approaching, and what a time it’s been.  But as you can see, the rebuilding is almost complete, thanks to all of you who’ve so generously donated. We can’t thank you enough.

Continue reading “Phoenix Rising”

We fell in love with Raja Ampat because of the incredible diving and snorkelling here, but since living on the island we’ve also been amazed and delighted by the variety and abundance of wildlife that we share this little patch of land with.  So, as a small interlude between the re-building blogs, here’s a brief introduction to some of our fauna friends on Pulau Dayan…

Continue reading “All Creatures Great and Small”

It’s now a month since the fire, and glory be – we have power again!  It’s still somewhat temporary until we get our full complement of 8 batteries and our heavy-duty inverter, but for now, we’re up and running with 4 batteries in the same configuration as previously and we can give the noisy generator a rest, have running water in the bathroom, and keep the fridge on permanently. Happy days!

Continue reading “The Power and the Glory”

It’s been nearly three weeks since the fire, and we’re rapidly adjusting to the ‘new normal’ of life here on Pulau Dayan.  

Continue reading “Starting Over”

I’ve been way behind on the blogs – there are so many in my head that I’ve been wanting to write when time allowed, but now I’m having to write the one blog I didn’t want to write…

Continue reading “Disaster Strikes”