After a week of being sick with sinusitis and bronchitis and not having time to take off of work to heal, I was ready yesterday to cut loose for an afternoon. Having a boss who is particularly in tune with my needs (my wife of 45 years, Eunice) gave me the privilege of saying, “I’m going for a Harley ride this afternoon, to which she responded, “Get out of here!” Long-term monogamy has its advantages.

My dear wife was likewise approving of my riding companion, Jo Noble, who had been . . . ah . . . shipwrecked here in Madang for several months. Jo is the Steward (I think that is the correct term) on a large yacht which is here in Madang awaiting major repairs before traveling on to where it is that large yachts go. I’m sure that I’ll never know. Jo is the very nice young lady you met on our trip to Nob Nob for the post Lightning Down a few days ago. Here she is fooling around with the Harley on the road out to the mountains on the way to the Ramu Valley:

The road this far is “improved”, which means there are fewer giant potholes and the gravel is not so loose that you risk a rash at every corner.

We took a couple of breaks for photos. Here Jo tries to remember how ‘left’ and ‘right’ are somehow magically reversed as she attempts to photograph herself in the rear-view mirror of the Harley:

I didn’t ask to see the resulting image.

Our plan was to cross this river ford and ride for a few kilometres up into the beautiful mountains. However, when we looked at the deep mud at the ford, we decided not to spoil the day by wallowing in the muck with the Hog:

So, we turned around and headed back to town to the Balek Wildlife Reserve, using our noses to guide us to the famous “Stinky River”.

For this shot, Jo asked if I thought that she looked “too silly”. Little did she realise that she was asking the wrong person. Silly is a way of life for me. I’ve made a career of it. I think she looks just fine:

One wants to visit Balek in the morning hours. In the afternoon the giant limestone cliffs from which the spring emerges block out the light and make photography a challenge.

I did manage one nice shot of Jo in the cave with only the natural light coming in. The colours on the rocks in the cave are psychedelic:

On my last trip to Balek, I had forgotten about the giant eels. This time we managed to coax one out. This was the best shot that I could get:fdsaThere are several that live in the river, along with some fairly large turtles.

At the village, we got the classic “Baby in a bilum” shot:

Babies are normally hung in string bags from trees for their naps.

I hate to do a post without a weird critter shot, so here it is:

This giant millipede seemed to be curled up for a nap in the sun.

Back safely at the office, we coaxed Eunie out to take our picture with the Harley:

I needed a fun day. Sometimes we all do.

I got one!

Related posts:

1. Stinky River – The Balek Wildlife Sanctuary Yesterday we took a break from diving with our friends from Belgium, Anita, Wouter and Anita’s dad, Jos. We drove  out the road to Lae and the highlands until the pavement ran out, about fifty kliks out of Madang. Along the way, we stopped at a small park which I...
2. A Long, Hot Ride on a Harley One hundred and eight kilometres of Harley-eating potholes up the North Coast Road you will find The Tapira Surf Club. Nobody was home. The beer was hot....
3. The NEW, IMPROVED Madang – Ples Bilong Mi I’ve opened up this ‘free’ WordPress site to preserve what I had before. I may end up moving again. If you’re a hard-core reader, please stick with me.  I’m not dying. I’m just having a little blog problem. As a tidbit of information for today, here’s a photo of the...
4. Guest Shooter – Jo Noble – Handy With a Camera If you're a photographer, you probably have few images of yourself. It's handy to have along a friend with a camera. A friend who knows how to do it properly!...
5. On the Road – Springfield, Illinois – A Frozen Harley I have certainly experienced more miserable episodes in my life, but yesterday will remain fresh in my memory for some time to come. This is how I looked when I arrived in Springfield, Illinois yesterday evening about 7:00: No, I have not gained 70 kilos! We knew we needed to...
6. The Only Harley Davidson in Madang – The Coastwatchers Monument Some of you may have already seen the image below of me sitting on my Harley Davidson 883 Sportster with the famous Madang Coastwatchers Monument in the background. I put it up on my Facebook page a couple of days ago. Even if you have seen it, you may want...
7. Aqua Sea – Willow Tree Movie night with our friend Jo Noble begins with a stunning aqua sea. I define the term "final approach". You'll get a grasshopper and a sick willow tree....

Tags: balek wildlife sanctuary, harley, harley davidson, jo noble

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 09:06 and is filed under Dangerous, Mixed Nuts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.