Ukarumpa's VirtualTourist Home Page

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This is a girl from PNG's Central Highlands in a traditional ceremonial dance outfit.

All of the places I've been, plan to be, wish I could get to, all mixed up together. Those with history I will document, those without I will plan in excruciating detail and ask for input from others on local attractions/winning votes etc!

My mother was born in Cunnamulla, in the middle of nowhere in Queensland, Australia of mixed (Greek/German/Spanish/Jamaican/Scottish/English/Chinese) heritage, and my dad born in Brisbane of English/Irish background. I was born in Canberra, Australia's Capital Territory in 1971, the second of what would be 5 children - my older brother Richard was born in 1970. We moved shortly thereafter to Brisbane, Australia, where my middle brother Michael was born in 1973. In 1974, we were in the USA and in Mexico, where my parents were going through the required process to join Wycliffe Bible Translators (http://www.sil.org). From 1975-1977, we were in Papua New Guinea, mainly in Ukarumpa in the Eastern Highlands, where my sister Marianne was born.

We were in Canberra, Australia, for the first 6 months of 1978, then moved again to the US. We lived mostly in North Carolina (for 4 years) and Vermont (for the last 7 months of 1982), but we travelled extensively around the country. My youngest brother, David, was born in October 1978, in Lancaster, SC. In February 1983 we returned from the US to Brisbane, Australia, where for the first time in my memory I met my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and where we first struck extreme culture shock - I was 11, raised with an Australian identity but steeped nonetheless in American culture, interacting with strangers who anticipated some sort of familial connection... it was a little odd to say the least!

January 1984 brought us back to Papua New Guinea, to Madang on the North Coast for the first 6-7 months, then back to Ukarumpa, EHP until the end of 1988 when I finished High School and returned to my "home", Brisbane, to live.

Eleven years later, I hit the road again, bursting my skin to see new places and things - too much time sitting still, too much complacency floating around (you know, you can CATCH that!)... and so here we are. :> I have lived in London since 1998, and am getting itchy feet again. Looking at Africa next...