Day 5- August 10th

We woke up at 8 am greeted by a beautiful morning. We were surely going to miss Port Moresby when it would be time to leave for Rabaul later in the afternoon. Rabaul is a town located on another island of Papua New Guinea. Everywhere we went it felt as if we were living in the rainforest. The trees and plants were popping with color. The whole lodge seemed to be in the middle of a rainforest.

Despite such beauty to wake up to, some of us were not impressed. Not even the fresh nature smell would override the dangerously cantankerous moods of a select few, *cough cough* Jessie. Jessie locked herself in the bathroom we assumed to avoid human interaction. She wouldn't let us eat breakfast so we just heated up some processed pop-tarts that we had brought from home. At least they were S'mores flavored, everyone's favorite. 

Parliament House (History):  As soon as our quick breakfast was eaten, we all got in the car and drove to the Parliament House, which was one of the weirdest looking buildings we had seen so far on the trip. 

Outside the Parliament House

Although strange, the building was certainly a marvel to behold. The front of it looked like the bow of a ship. It was adorned with a mural depicting tribal people, alligators, symbols, and a number of other things that referred to the native tribes of Papua New Guinea. We stood on the sloped steps of the Parliament House for several minutes, just admiring the beauty of it. The building was also surrounded by well-kept gardens, which helped set the gorgeous scene. It was unusually quiet outside on the steps of the Parliament building, but we all agreed that it kept the peaceful atmosphere alive. 

If we thought the outside of the Parliament House was stunning, we were wrong when we stepped inside the building. The hallways and the lobby were spacious and roomy. The whole house smelled fresh and new compared to the natural air outside. Everything was elaborately decorated, even the door handles! 

We were soon introduced to our tour guide, Petrus. He showed us around the interior of the house, describing the history and purpose of the building. We learned that Papua New Guinea's parliament was first created in 1964 and was first called the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea. Its name was changed to the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea in 1975. The first parliament building was located in downtown Port Moresby, but was demolished and is now a Political History museum and library. The new parliament building, the one where we were standing, was opened by Prince Charles in 1984. 

Petrus led us into the Chambers of Parliament. We were standing in the Public Gallery and below us was the "Floor" of Parliament. The Public Gallery was at a higher level so that the public could view Parliament while in session.  The "Floor" of Parliament was where the 111 members were seated to discuss formal decisions. Our tour guide told us we were going to see a Parliament session soon, but first took us out of the Chambers to show us the towering statues and showcases around the house. Sarah tried to take a picture, but Petrus stopped her and told her that photography was unfortunately not allowed in the building.

The Chambers of Parliament in session

After 20 minutes, we went back into the Chambers of Parliament and sat in the Public Gallery. All members were seated below us and we watched as they talked, discussed, and debated. Most of us began to yawn after about 30 minutes. We were clearly not very intrigued by the discussion that was taking place before us. 

After about an hour of listening to the session, we thanked Petrus for the tour and left to buy lunch. We decided to go to the Asia Aromas restaurant. We ordered a couple of Chinese and Thai dishes which were delicious. The braised prawns with butter and garlic had amazing taste and Ayesha wouldn't stop eating them!  
It was about 12 pm when we finished eating and realized we only had about 3 hours till our plane was to leave to Rabaul. Sarah took the wheel and drove us quickly to the hotel. We packed our belongings in a hurry and checked out of the hotel. At about 1:30 pm, we arrived at the Port Moresby Airport. Luckily, security didn't take that long and we were at our gate by 2:45 pm. Ayesha and Sarah wandered around near our gate to check out some of the restaurants and shops the airport had. Katelin strictly told them to be back at 3:05 since she was worried they would miss the flight. 

At 3:15 pm, we boarded our plane. We breathed out a sigh of relief and relaxed for the next 1 hour and 25 minutes. We slept for most of the plane ride since we were all so tired. For the times when we were awake, we ate the free peanuts and drank the drinks that the flight attendants gave us. 

Our room in the Gazelle International Hotel 

We finally arrived at Rabaul at 4:40 pm. We took a taxi to our hotel, the Gazelle International Hotel. Our hotel was actually located in Kokopo, which was 11 miles from Rabaul. Our two plantation view hotel rooms were extravagant. Booking this hotel gave us free breakfast, free parking, and free airport shuttle. It was about 5:45 pm when we settled in our cozy beds. We didn't plan anything for the rest of the day, so we relaxed for quite a bit of time. At 7 pm, we decided to take a walk outside in the cool weather. We started conversations and made jokes as we all walked side by side. 

At around 8 pm, we walked back to our hotel. For dinner, we had the leftovers from the Fusion Bistro back in Port Moresby, which we had packed with us. After our supper, we were all exhausted, yet eager for tomorrow. We climbed into our beds and quickly fell asleep.