Damon & Lisa Roberts

Additional PNG Album

2008-11-21T11:33:00.003+10:00

Here is a link to an additional album of PNG pictures by the aforementioned photo crew who visited PNG in August 2008.

This album has about 120 pictures and includes some more 'non-aviation' pics of PNG scenery and people.

http://gallery.me.com/brandaid#100035&bgcolor=black&view=grid

Enjoy!

Link to More Photos

2008-11-10T11:25:00.003+10:00

It has been a busy time and I'm afraid I have had little time to attend to updating the blog site here. To keep things rolling in the meantime I will provide a link to over 150 photos that I am sure you will enjoy.

These photos were taken by two professional photographers who visited PNG in August this year. The purpose of their visit was to take photos that could be used by the Pacific Aerospace company to promote the PAC 750XL aircraft and some of these pics will be used in a new brochure and in their global advertising material. Unlike Dan's visit last year which had a lot of close-up air-to-air shots and movie film, the focus this time was on taking still-shots only but taking in more of the PNG backdrop.

At the time we were operating our PAC 750XL, P2-SDB (green gold and white), and a cross-hired one, P2-BWC (blue and white). You will see a couple of photos of the newest PAC 750XL in PNG, P2-TNT (blue and orange stripe). This machine is operated by Bob Bates' Trans Niugini Tours company and is used primarily to fly bird watchers out to lodges near Tari (Southern Highlands Province) and Kaowari (Sepik). Currently there are 4 PAC 750XL aircraft operating in PNG with more on the order books to come.

Roger flew our Cessna TU206, P2-SDA as the camera platform and I flew the PAC 750XL subject machines. Most of the 'aircraft and airstrip' photos were taken at Maimafu and Kora. It was interesting work to coordinate some of the shots and I hope you enjoy the results! We were blessed with some very good weather, especially in the mornings for the couple of days that the shooting took place.

Here is the link to the website: http://gallery.me.com/brandaid#100031

Enjoy!

Visitors + Goroka Show!

2008-09-21T10:38:00.014+10:00

Last weekend was a special occasion. We experienced a rare joy in our remote location - visiting friends! Wayne and Bec Hawken are friends from Australia who are now fellow PNG expatriate workers who came to Port Moresby this year to join the team at PAU (Pacific Adventist University). Wayne came to be an IT manager but it has grown to be more, including other communications responsibilities. Bec was previously a librarian at the Avondale College library and is now investing her skills in improving the PAU library.

As usual things didn't quite go to plan... They were to arrive on the Friday morning Air Niugini and I had planned to get them out on one of the local bush runs we were doing that day but sadly it wasn't to be. Thanks to Air Niugini they finally arrived the following day on the morning flight! We didn't let that slow things down and we still had a lot of fun over the weekend.

Here is Lisa and Bec at the 'Mt Kiss' lookout over Goroka.

Looking Southish out over the Goroka town.

As is typical in PNG the town is built around the airport. The parts of the town are divided according to what side of the North/South runways they are on here in Goroka. Hence we have 'East Goroka' in the foreground and 'West Goroka' in the background of this pic. Something else that is nice - never any complaints about aircraft noise! Take note you Aussie NIMBY's who need a history lesson on what was there first - airport before house!

This is looking down over the other side of the hill towards 'North Goroka.' You will notice a flat piece of land about half-way up the pic - that is where the University of Goroka is now located. Previously it was the site of the first Goroka airstrip (orientated 90 degrees off the current direction and a bit higher up the valley).

Taking a drive up the Highlands Highway we were on the way to the Daulo Pass when we discovered this little one-track off-shoot. It was a knife-edge ridge just wide enough for the wheel tracks leading to a good look down over the Goroka valley. This photo thanks to Wayne's shots - you can see the steepness of the side of the ridge!

That is the Highlands Highway in the background. It is not much of a Highway...

Here is another shot of the Highway that Wayne snapped as we were driving. It is not at all uncommon to come across things like this major road-subsidence. It forces you into opposite-direction traffic on a blind corner - minor detail... There are other places where the road completely disappears but they usually heap a pile of stones in front to warn you. Some trucks have lost whole shipping containers at such places and you can see them rotting in the valley below (after they have been pillaged of course). We also have a shot somewhere of someone standing in a pot hole - their head is the only thing showing above road level... Wouldn't 'A Current Affair' or 'Today Tonight' have fun with road conditions like that if it was in Australia?!

Okay, here we are back at that little look-out knoll. Good spot to snap a couple of pics of the car.

This is looking South-Eastish down the Goroka valley. In a bigger version of this photo you can see Goroka as a small smattering of white in about the centre of the pic on the far side of the valley. It is faintly visible if you are observant.

You can see the ruggedness of the country around where we are here. It was fun turning around to drive back!

Wayne and Bec in front of a little hut in the Daulo Pass. Incidentally this low 'pass' through the mountains is higher than Mt Kosciuszko. The surrounding mountains are much higher.

In the afternoon we walked up to the waterfall in the hills behind Kabiufa. A nice walk except of course you can never do it by yourself - there are always tag-alongs that join you along the way, especially kids! It is not long before the whole village knows there are white people walking up to their waterfall again...

It is actually more or less at the end of a small canyon. Lush, verdant green surrounds you - and all those tag-alongs too of course... If you look carefully you will spot one!

Sunday we spent visiting the Goroka Show which is an annual event held on the the weekend closest to the PNG Independence Day of September 16th. Here is a sampling of some of the traditional dress. Cultural groups from various parts of PNG come representing their village or clan and do traditional parades/dances.

Watch out for the spears and arrows - these things are highly tuned weapons and still in current use!

These kids are holding up the tail end of a snake which is part of their display. In this case not a real one but ones of similar length have been photographed and seen in the upper reaches of the Ramu!

And of course the kids are always cute...

The famous Asaro mud men which come from a few minutes drive up the valley from where our house is at Kabiufa.

Proof that there is nothing new under the sun. This lot has been crowd surfing a long time before electric guitars, amplifiers and mosh pits came along!

Well I hope you enjoyed that! We certainly had a fantastic weekend - thanks guys!

Wonenara - for the aviation enthusiast...

2008-09-16T16:46:00.006+10:00

This is a post for the more aviation minded as I know they would be interested in some of this stuff. For those of you who aren't so inclined feel free to skim over the pictures and say "that's nice" and find something else to do!

This place is barely half an hour's flight time to the South East of Goroka and once again it is very much a bush strip with the locals lacking any infrastructure taken for granted in the Western world. Air transport is vital and we are here to help.

I need to preface the fact that once again these pictures were taken on a nice clear morning - much better for photography. Looks nice doesn't it? Another airstrip less than 15 minutes flying time away had low cloud and required the equivalent of a very confined IFR visual circling approach to get in with virga type rain falling from a low overcast. By afternoon Wonenara airstrip was surrounded with cloud and rain. Such are the vagaries of flying in PNG. The specs on this airstrip are: elevation 5 015ft, 425m long on a 10% slope.

Firstly, some shots of the arrival. The downwind leg is flown rather close due to the surrounding high ridges. The descent is commenced on the downwind leg and after crossing a ridge at very low level (usually with a couple of locals running out of their huts perched on a knife-edge waving wildly at you) a steep banking turn onto final is required so that you avoid another close ridge. Descending steeply on base, terrain fills your right window while the left looks a little like this.

A few seconds later it looks like this. If you look at the left of the pic, the huts on the ridge are now above the height of the aircraft.

About mid-way on final you have the option of bailing out and following the valley leading off to the right of the airstrip for a missed-approach. On short-final it looks like this. Parking area is up the top on the left. It is a very confined space with barely enough room to turn around. As you can see, undershooting the approach would not be pleasant and some people have met their end in PNG in such a situation. However landing long is not pleasant either as 425m of runway can disappear very quickly at 80kts...

Okay, now for the departure. The commonly heard joking remark is "there is no nice departure option for Wonenara!"

Option 1: As soon as you are airborne, immediately go for broke in a massive 45 degree bank turn at zot feet putting your left wing into the banana trees so that you can then fly out the valley which is oriented about 150 degrees left from the take off heading. Radius of turn is critical as you will arrive as a smoking hole in the ground on the opposing valley wall if you don't turn hard. This option is often favoured by the lower performance aircraft as it allows a more comfortable climb gradient over terrain down the valley providing you get that initial turn right!

Option 2: Take off (usually with a tail wind) and veer slightly left to avoid the higher tree-tops in the valley. Proceed down the valley ahead which is rising underneath you (often resulting in a very shallow climb relative to terrain - especially with that tailwind) and watch out for the ridges either side of you. Depending on wind direction decide how you are going to turn around in the valley after it takes a 90 degree turn to the left into a dead-end surrounded by very high and steep ridges. If you successfully complete the 270 degree turn you can then veer to the right about 90 degrees and follow the valley back out to depart overhead the airstrip.

Here we are departing, initially heading up the valley using Option 2 - doesn't look too bad in a photo does it? You can see where the valley turns 90 degrees to the left.

Even with turbine performance, with a load on you would impact the ground about where that burnt patch of ground is on top of the first ridge. Just before impact you hook hard into a left hand climbing turn. Flying a PAC 750XL is a bit like flying a Sherman tank but a careful touch is required here - get twitchy and spin out of this one and you'll be pushing up daisies faster than you can say "six feet under ground..."

One of the reasons why you have to turn so hard and right through about 270 degrees - this ridge is poking out trying to get you.

Missed him! And finally this is where you can start breathing a bit easier as the closest ridge scrapes past on the right. We are turning back to the right to depart over the top of the airstrip.

Not too bad hey? Admittedly it becomes a bit harder and certainly less photogenic when you are peering through light rain with plenty of cloud sitting around. The other week on a day of 5.8 hours of flying and 16 sectors I was doing shuttle runs between here and Aiyura which meant I did that departure 8 times in the one day!

Just so you can see why I don't take as many photos when the weather is not so very good here is one of flying the Tua river valley home in the afternoon. Not really a lot to look at is there?

This is what it was like literally only a few minutes later approaching the Goroka valley. The contrast between these two pictures highlights the incredible variety in weather even in geographically close quarters - the joy, challenges and indeed the danger of flying in PNG...

Approaching to land at Negabo airstrip in the rain perched at 4 500ft elevation on the side of an +8 000ft mountain in the background (not visible in the rain and cloud). It is 470m on a 9% slope. Note the offset of the nose with the airstrip - significant cross-wind from the right with turbulence and shear is common.

And despite the fact it is usually the bane of my life - just to prove that rain and cloud can produce something beautiful...

Hope you enjoyed the journey!

Some Western Highlands flying

2008-09-16T15:41:00.008+10:00

There is some very rugged country in the Western Highlands of PNG. Beautiful but awefully forbidding - and that is when you can see it! I took these first few pictures on a lovely morning but this is the tropics and at the time of taking these photos it is only about 8am so don't expect it to look like this all day...

Note the altimeter reading. I deliberately tried to include it in the pic so that you can see just how high we are and yet there is terrain nearby at the same height and higher. In case you can't read an altimeter we are 12 000ft here. You may think the airspeed looks slow but remember that is IAS on the clock, at these altitudes and temperatures there are big differences between IAS and TAS.

Anyone for mountain climbing? PNG could be a mecca for any type of adventure sport and eco-tourism. If only they could get their act together...

Despite the apparent good weather in those first pics here is a rainbow enshrouded shadow that I snapped while skimming over cloud minutes later.

And this is what the destination airstrip looked like. I would have taken a picture on approach to land except I was a bit busy flying close to terrain and cloud trying to stay visual while approaching to land around a blind corner. The airstrip is Tekin, perched in the Victor Emanuel range at 5 700ft elevation, 494m on a 10.5% slope. It is famous for wicked winds which give you everything from shear to frightfully problematic up droughts and down droughts.

Looking towards the top end of the airstrip. Go-around from final approach to landing not possible with this kind of terrain to greet you... It is one of many airstrips where you are committed to land for the entire final approach.

And remember those craggy peaks in the first few pics? This is what the area looked like a few hours later in the early afternoon...

A few more typical sort of views you can get out the window. Famous mixing of cloud and terrain right up to very high altitudes...

The term 'cumulus granitus' is often used to describe PNG clouds, although when you can see it this clearly it is not so worrisome.

Wurrup gap area South East of Hagan. Rugged country and plenty of weather challenges. You will notice this terrain (which is very close!) is alpine and above tree-line. Once again note the altimeter - 10,500ft and a long way to go before you would be above trouble here.

Hopefully these pics will also help you to understand why we rave so much about the advantages of the right kind of turbine aircraft. If you were having to battle this all day every day wouldn't you appreciate having the extra safety and performance of a turbine engine?!

Okay, now for a little take off sequence at Malamunda. This spot is nestled deep in the valley foothills of the ranges on the Northern, Sepik side of the highlands. The spot is not especially difficult as far as airstrips go. It is about 700ft elevation, 600m long on a 4% slope. Usually has a significant tailwind for landing by late morning. The surrounding terrain is high and weather usually pushes up on those ranges and makes things interesting - especially afternoons. Here we are back-tracking to the top of the airstrip for departure. Typical one-way strip with a little bit of high terrain at the end.

Lining up for take off.

Looking down at why you were visiting in the first place. Gold baby! Those rivers run rich with gold and there is more than one company trying to get their hands on it. They establish bush camps with mining rights, try and strike deals with the locals and require somebody to periodically fly out supplies and take back samples for testing while they live and work in the middle of nowhere...

Looking back you can also see the airstrip in this picture.

A feel good day

2008-09-16T14:09:00.005+10:00

It is not always often that you can directly see the results of your work but one exceptionally fine morning I was able to do a Government Health charter and feel pretty happy that my skills were contributing to a very good cause. On board the flight as it left Goroka were several key people including the Government health director for the district, a nurse and her belongings, a radio technician from CRMF (Christian Radio Missionary Fellowship) and medical supplies.

The first photo above is a scenic shot looking across the other side of the airstrip at our first port of call, Andakombe. We spent over an hour on the ground at this place. While there, our Government official, Ken, inspected the facilities and announced the arrival of the new nurse and the supplies we had brought along. This was her new post and his speech largely consisted of reminding the community of their responsibility to care for her, seek and value her services. Here is Ken standing under the umbrella giving a speech with the new nurse sitting down just to the left of him. The village audience is largely out of view on the left.

While that was happening, our CRMF technician fixed the only means of connection with the outside world - a radio. You have to remember this place, half an hour's flight from Goroka is still totally subsistence. There are no roads, no electricity, no running water, no government infrastructure apart from a basic bush school and clinic. The nurse would require the support of the village just to survive with food from people's gardens, no stores here! The radio at least gives some chance of summoning aerial help if there is an emergency and is a vital link which not all villages have. Walking from here to the nearest town would be over very arduous mountain terrain and the time frame would be measured in weeks, not days - and that would be for a healthy person!

Next port of call was Sindeni. Only a matter of minutes flying time further up the valley. The government is in the process of establishing a new clinic at this location and so some time was spent assessing the site and progress. In this photo you can look down the bottom of the Sindeni airstrip and across the valley to the airstrip 'Ande' on the other side!

Sindeni is about 5 500ft elevation, 600m on a 10% slope while Ande is at virtually the same elevation, 520m on a 5% undulating slope. The vertical descent down to the bottom of the valley would be measured in thousands of feet. In this next picture you can see more of the surroundings on this exceptional morning. You can see that Ande is perched part way up the side of a large peak on the ridge. This peak is over 12 000ft elevation so that gives you some idea of perspective!

Now if you turn about ninty-degrees to the left you will see a little dead-end cove in the main valley. Up in there is yet another airstrip - Usarumpia. This spot is over 5 700ft elevation, 457m long on a very lumpy 9.5% slope which narrows to a point at the top end. If you look carefully in this next photo you will see a SIL C206 landing at Usarumpia.

Next and last stop on this trip is Simogu. In a different valley and a little more accessible especially in bad weather this location is still over 4 700ft elevation, 520m on a 10% slope. I remember landing on the bottom end of this airstrip with cloud and fog still covering the top end. That experience has been played out on more than one steep airstrip and makes for challenging perspectives when you are landing with not much airstrip being in view. Here we are parked at the top end and looking down the airstrip.

As you can see, take off necessitates an immediate turn to the right to head out into the valley. The steepest part of the strip is just beyond the group of people - you will notice the strip disappears at that point and only the very threshold is visible at the end.

The mixing of new and old. PNG bush huts with basic western house structure. If you look very carefully you might see the tall, thin radio antenna on top of the left house building. That is where the radio is located.

This lady is walking past some banana trees wearing something traditional to this area - a bark cape. It serves many purposes, sun shelter, sleeping bag, raincoat, jacket. It is pummeled out of a tree bark and is very hardy and useful.

Come around and see some sights

2008-09-11T17:16:00.007+10:00

Come with me and see a few PNG sights... MAF Twin Otter taking off at Boikoa airstrip.

Boikoa is at 4 816ft elevation on the side of the Marawaka valley, 600 metres of bent airstrip on a 10% slope. On this particular day, mountain waves, moderate turbulence, plenty of shear and a gusty 10kts+ of tailwind for takeoff.

A beautiful crater lake in remote country west of Mt Hagan's Tomba gap. This spot would be close to 10 000ft elevation above sea-level. That is one of the reasons why you will notice there is not much jungle.

Okay, what can you see in this picture? This formation is North West of Mt Hagan's Byer gap in some flatter valley land. Hint: think native African or Indian animal...

If you are lacking in imagination scroll down and I'll highlight it for you...
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Can you see it NOW?! Yeah, yeah, I know - you got it the first time - pat yourself on the back if you did otherwise scroll back up and and spot it for yourself this time!

Here is Pr Piuki Tasa (ABC bookshop manager in PNG) along with Raeline and Linden (ABC staff - Linden not visible as he is sitting up front with me) happily on their way from Nadzab (Lae) to Girua (Popondetta) for the North East Papua Mission's Camp meeting. Under the cargo net is over 600kg's of books, CD's and all sorts of other ABC stuff - a mobile shop airlifted by a PAC 750XL! All carried with a full load of fuel to enable a direct flight with no refuelling stops until returning to Goroka.

This is a new church which is being built at Hewa in Enga Province (North Western side of the Lagiap valley - about 10 minutes flying from the Porgera gold mine). There are absolutely no roads in this area, really remote stuff and most of the villagers (especially the men) still wear 'ass grass' even if it is over some shredded excuse for clothes.

I have previously flown in all the roofing iron and building materials/tools for this building (other than the woven matting and hand-hewen planks which is stuff that they have done in the village).

Here we are at Maimafu on a community 'busy bee' day. We are at 5145ft elevation on the side of Crater mountain and in the background is a 442 metre airstrip on a 14.2% slope that was dug out by hand over many years. I slept overnight here once and woke up with a groggy headache due smoke inhalation from the much needed heating and cooking fire in the centre of the dirt-floor grass hut.

Now for the interesting part. Have you ever wondered how they thatch a grass hut? It was time for this raw coffee storage hut to get a new roof before rain comes... Note the bundles of thatching and new rafters in the foreground.

Here is a closer view of everybody pitching in and getting the job done.

Don't let your feet slip or you might be walking a bit funny afterwards...

Meanwhile it's business as usual inside - with a bit more of a natural skylight effect. That is our 'agent,' Kevin, on the left.

Around our house

2008-09-11T16:39:00.004+10:00

I have wanted to add another blog for a while but things have been very busy and the power has not been cooperative (it has been off a lot in the evenings and the times when I have been home...).

I have been snapping away with the new camera which we are very happy with. It is a little Nikon Coolpix S550 10 Megapixel camera with x5 optical zoom. The face recognition, 'blink warning' function and the varied flash options have blown me away - technology has grown a lot behind my back while I've been up here in PNG...

Some of you may not have seen our house which is on the Kabiufa Secondary School compound - about 15 minutes drive North up the Goroka valley on the 'Highlands Highway' road which runs from Lae to Mt Hagan.

We have been helping one student with her school fees and in return she helps with looking after our yard and garden. She comes from the remote village of Tumolbil on the Indonesian border and hopes to go on to Sonoma College or Teacher's College next year.

Here is the house from the back - photo taken from our veggie garden.

One of our lettuce patches

Lisa holding some of the garden produce: lettuce, carrots, and spring onions.

'Eating' bananas (as opposed to cooking bananas), here is a new bunch on the way. Did you know that there are around 300 different types of bananas in PNG (so I have heard)?!

Some flowers around the house

Mid Year Leave

2008-08-24T13:14:00.006+10:00

Victorian sunset over the dairy farms...

Time flies and a lot can happen in a few weeks! We really enjoyed getting back to Australia for our mid-year leave. Lisa left early and had just over three weeks which she spent with her family in Gippsland Victoria. I left about a week later at the beginning of August and visited four States of Australia in two weeks! It was a busy time but enjoyable. It wasn't all play as I had to spend time doing Australian pilot license renewal tests and also a second-stage job interview, both of which required preparation.

It was really fantastic to catch up with many old friends and previous colleagues while in the Newcastle area. To those of you who I spent time with eating your food and having a fun time catching up and doing things I say a big 'THANK YOU!' It was great and I look forward to doing it again. Hopefully at the end of the year both Lisa and I can drop by on our way South for Christmas.

My arrival in Victoria had been much anticipated and it was really touching to catch up with our little nieces and nephew. I was only able to see two of them this time as I spent only four whole days in Victoria. I won't forget little Emily calling my name and running straight into my open arms when I finally arrived - we love you Emily! Even the rain and cold was not enough to deter us from going swimming at the indoor pool as Emily was so excited about going swimming with us! The ones I didn't meet I was at least able to talk to on the phone and Arwen's growth and intelligence amazed me as we held quite a long conversation and it was readily apparent she knew just who she was talking to! We will see you at Christmas time and no doubt we will be amazed again at your development.

Here is Damon with Bonnie on the left and Emily on the right (Don and Renee's two).

On the last Friday night we had a big bonfire up on Ross and Bronwyn's new block overlooking the dairy farms and Western Port Bay (very nice!). Here they are all rugged up for the night. It was cold and drizzly at times but that didn't stop us!

Lisa and Renee at the bonfire

Lisa with Bonnie and Emily

Damon and Lisa with Emily

Here is our little terror 'Midgee' in the foreground with lazy bum pal 'Tess' further down the road. It was great to get out and take them walking on the farm roads but the weather limited our opportunities this time (Victorian winter = rain)!

On the way back to PNG we overnighted in Cairns. Lisa and I took advantage of our time there and enjoyed a swim in the esplanade pool. Tea was had at a nice Italian restaurant overlooking the esplanade and the ocean. Here we are at dinner.

After tea we did something we don't get to do in PNG - walk outside at night! We walked the length of the esplanade and back to our hotel. Here is 'The Pier' at night.

The iconic 'fish' monuments rising up out of the esplanade pool - deserted at night.

It is not a long flight from Cairns to Moresby. We flew on Sky Air World's new ERJ145 jet which was contracted by Air Niugini. Very nice but very limited overhead luggage space and they are Nazis when it comes to your carry-on bags but that is fair enough. We spent a long time waiting in the terminal at Moresby and finally boarded our flight to Goroka very late in the day after many delays.

It seems that our banana tree always times itself so that whenever we have a bunch of bananas ready it is always just before we are about to go on holidays (it happened again this time) so we don't always get to eat many of them. However our garden is producing well at the moment. Here are some nice fresh carrots and lettuce that were waiting for us on our return.

During my first week back I was fortunate enough to again fly PAC 750XL's for the camera. This time it was both SDB and BWC that I flew and Roger flew our C206 with the door removed. Shooting from the C206 were two professional photographers sent by the Pacific Aerospace factory to film our machines in action in one of the most demanding operating environments in the world. Challenging flying but also fun and after two and a half days the photographers left very happy with the photos they had captured. We look forward to receiving a CD of their work which will once again be used globally in the promotion of PAC aircraft.

Hope you enjoyed the update and come visit again soon!

Sorry - no pictures!

2008-07-25T17:05:00.002+10:00

Well, it has been a while since posting last. There are no new pictures to include this time as our trusty little Kodak LS743 compact camera which we bought for a barely a couple hundred dollars three years ago has died! Very sad as it has been a good camera and has provided you with almost all the photos you have seen here. It was cheap, the right size to fit in my bag as I went flying every day and the photos came out nicely. The upside is I have a new item on my shopping list for when I go to Australia soon - I have an excuse to go shopping for another toy so I can't complain...

Lisa left yesterday for Australia and is arriving in Victoria as I write this. She will get some extra time with family there before I come down for my allowance of two weeks leave. I will be visiting 4 States of Australia during that time and doing a license renewal and job interview so it won't be all play but it will be nice to come 'home' just the same.

Since writing last, we have had the sadness of losing part of our AAS team with Conan returning to Australia permanently to be with his wife and son. Amanda will need to stay in Australia for operations and checkups on her heart condition and that has made it too difficult for them to stay in PNG. We wish them all the best with their plans and with the medical treatments and pregnancy.

I have been very busy with work and have not had much time to spend organizing some more posts here but I hope to share with you more photos eventually. I was most devasted that I didn't have a working camera a few days ago as I observed a rare sight... SNOW! Yes, I have heard that it has happened before but with the world's changing weather it was the first time I have seen snow on Mt Wilhelm in PNG! Mt Wilhelm is PNG's highest mountain, standing at over 14, 700ft in elevation. The top half of the mountain is devoid of trees as it is above the 'alpine' level where no trees grow (it is not the only mountain or ridge in PNG like that). I would estimate that I saw snow covering the top 1,500ft of the mountain with some rocky crags protruding out of the crystal white icing! I was told by another long-time PNG dweller that it was the first time he had seen snow on Wilhelm since about the year 2000 so there you go - a rare sight that I was privileged to witness! Too bad it couldn't be caught on camera...

Anyway, until next time, take care and check out the links incase some of our friends have updated their blogs too!

Everything grows bigger in the tropics

2008-06-29T15:35:00.002+10:00

Things do grow bigger in the tropics. Here are some avocados that were given to me recently. Firstly, Lisa holding two of the biggest ones.

Then holding one of the big ones next to a normal sized avocado for comparison. The small avocado is about the size of a normal or largish Australian avocado.

And again for comparison - here is a large one cut in half next to a normal sized desert spoon. Doesn't only look good, tastes good too - none left where that came from!

Bits and Pieces

2008-06-15T17:16:00.009+10:00

Just a few snippets from the last month or so around Goroka which may interest some.

To prove it is not always smooth sailing and open skies - this is what it looks like when you blow a prop seal on a PT-6 engine (oil everywhere!).

I was leaving Mt Hagan and flying through the rugged Wurrup gap on my second trip to Moresby for the day to bring up supplies for local level government elections and this happened. I diverted into Goroka. This is what the Wurrup gap looks like as you approach it leaving Hagan. It is at the end of a valley and you need at least 9,000ft to fly low through that lower saddle bit. All around it is much, much higher terrain. This is generally a good weather gap and is one of the first to close up. It is only really usable to turbine aircraft (due to their better performance).

This is what the top cowling looked like - all covered in oil.

By the time I landed in Goroka I could hardly see out of the co-pilot front window as it was very opaque with oil. Here is the view from outside after landing. Note all the oil streaking over the window and dripping down everywhere! It is a bit hard to see in this small pic but all the brown stuff is oil anyway.

North Coast Aviation had recently blown the same seal in their PAC 750XL but not with quite the same spectacular results. I must add that this is in no way a reflection on our excellent engineers and the work they do on our aircraft. The aircraft are kept in first rate condition - this is just an example of a machine being a machine and something unforeseen happening.

When you see helicopters like this around you know you are in rugged country. Bigger items have to be airlifted as there are no other alternatives. Here is a Columbia Helo Boeing 107 chopper on a long-line lifting job.

That is an ex-Airlink EMB-110 Bandeirante in the foreground of the above pic.

Here it is taxiing in to Pacific Helicopters apron earlier in the day. In the picture below you can see how it dwarfs a Pacific Heli Bell 212.

A few weekends ago we had a fine Saturday afternoon and so we took Brooks and Susan up to the Daulo pass which is only about 20 minutes drive from our house. You get a good look down into the Goroka valley. On the way up we were slowed at this point on the highlands highway (the main road running from Lae through the highlands to as far west as Porgera gold mine). As you can see it is not much of a highway. They are in the process of fixing a rather large landslide. Note the lady walking on the side of the road carrying a huge 'billum' of stuff. They carry it from their heads and believe me they can carry some pretty heavy loads that way...

It is hard to illustrate the steepness of some of the valleys. In the picture below you can see a bit how steep the sides are of the valley are where the land has disappeared down the side of the mountain.

Still at the landslide, the dude below was so keen for his photo to be taken he climbed up this dead tree which was perched right on the edge of the embankment! Anything to be noticed...

Finally at the top. I think this sign has been there for a few years.

The tower behind is one of the new 'Digicel' mobile phone towers and it is high enough (or is just that we are low enough...) that when we crawl through this gap flying back into Goroka you do have to watch out! Coca Cola thinks it is a good place to remind you to have a cold one - although it is already quite cold up here...

At the top there are always people trying to sell you flowers to hang on your external rear view mirrors. The area is also well known for orchids ('okidy') - many species being endemic to this particular part of the whole country.

These flower wreaths are flowers that you would think have been dried by their texture but that is the way they grow naturally - we know because there are bushes with those 'dry' flowers on them around some of our houses!

More people insisting on having their photo taken...

Not that long ago a 'Coaster' bus like this was going down the Daulo pass and the driver got a bit busy changing radio stations and drove the whole buss over the edge of a cliff and disappeared down the valley! Miraculously, some actually survived and not everyone was killed - just most...

Looking down at the top end of the Goroka valley. The smudge of white is part of 'North Goroka' the top of the airstrip is not quite visible but just on the right-side end of this picture.

We stopped on the way down on one of the bends where we could get another look and I took this photo of Lisa and Susan. You can never get the extras out of a photo though...

Back at the landslide where you figure out your own road rules... We didn't quite need 4WD but almost. On the other side of the Daulo pass there had been a huge landslide even bigger than this one which had cut off Chimbu and Hagan completely for a few weeks. That has flow on effects like no jet fuel being available in Hagan because the trucks can't get through! North Coast Aviation flew a charter from Lae to Chimbu just to deliver a load of smokes - gotta get the priorities right...

Visit to Kiginase - Lufa

2008-06-15T11:17:00.014+10:00

Despite our busyness during the week with flying all over PNG we sometimes keep the adventures going on the weekends with the odd trip out to the bush. Just recently the Adventist Aviation Services team was asked to go out to a little church at Lufa to run their program for the day!

I dug through my photo archives and came up with this shot of Mt Michael on a clear morning. Lufa would be at the base of the big mountain on the horizon - left side (you can't see it).

As usual, getting there is half the fun. It would take less than ten minutes to fly from Goroka to overhead Lufa at the base of mighty Mt Michael (12,000ft +). However to drive (on what turned out to be reasonably good dirt roads by our standards) it took about an hour and a half. It was rather disappointing actually - I never had to put our Feroza into 4WD once (that's most unusual for these sort of trips!).

There was still the usual rickety bridges like these ones... You can hear the planks cracking and sliding underneath the wheels.

With fast flowing water and rocks like this below you don't really want the bridge to break. Spot the little grass hut further upstream.

There were three cars - here is our green bug crossing another bridge. Although this one has a good structure there are actually a lot of missing planks and some very 'bendy' sheet metal covering some large gaps which is actually what our car is driving over at the time of taking this pic - you can see the front of the car sinking in.

We all had a hand-held UHF CB radio which was good for keeping the 4WD club together!

Finally we get there. And a what a spot! Perched on a high embankment looking down over Lufa station and the Asaro South valley it was beautiful. We are headed for that large building at the top of this pic. Although it looks high we are really only very much at the foothills of Mt Michael. The elevation of Lufa is only about 7,000ft but high and exposed enough to be a bit windy and cold early in the morning!

The people in the bush are very friendly and welcoming. You get treated like royalty. Here is the young church pastor and his wife.

I instantly recognized him as 'Pastor Peter' a young man who had previously been out on Crater Mountain and had trouble with his lungs. Walking up and down the mountains to the 'half a dozen' churches under his care was proving to be difficult for him but he has now been relocated to Lufa. We reminisced of a time in early 2006 when I had flown with him in and out of Maimafu airstrip. It had been absolutely horrendous weather and all the strips were perilously wet and mushy - even this one on the steep-faced side of a mountain! I have never again painted an aeroplane with mud to the extent I did on that day...

Here is Pastor Peter walking from the aeroplane on that day - notice him pulling his trousers up as the ground was so incredibly sodden!

Anyway, we all survived that experience and it was something we could both smile about!

Here is another shot of the church. It is still a work in progress and there are things they are still finishing off. It is good for them that they have relatively easy access by road to get building materials and such things. There are plenty of other places where all that stuff goes in by none other than a trusty old 'balus' (aeroplane).

Another shot looking up towards the bulk of Mt Michael - obscured by cloud.

Now, if you think it is about time for a new lounge chair or you think your wooden table chairs are a bit hard on the back - spare a thought for these guys! Check out the seats in the church! They seem quite happy with the arrangement though, probably better than what they have at home in their huts even. Depends what you are used to I guess...!

Of course it didn't stay that empty. It filled up completely. The kids mostly occupied the isle and were most attentive even though they were sitting on concrete - man, try that in Australia! You wouldn't be allowed to anyway as by sitting in the isle you are breaking the law by blocking the fire escapes - jeepers, laws for everything - we don't miss that!

Here is Lisa and Carol leading out in some 'action' songs for the kids. It was definitely a hit.

They don't really know how to pose for a camera - that's why they are not smiling...!

Here is Brooks leading out with some more songs for the adults. I'm in the background blowing my trumpet which was also a definite hit! They love music and singing and they did their best to try and drown me out!

I doubt they have much of an appreciation for the finer styles of jazz so that allowed me put in my fancy trumpet mute and do a poor Miles Davis interpretation of the Christmas song 'Go Tell it on the Mountain' - I think they liked it...?!

After the program we all had to line up outside and shake hands with every man, woman and child as they walked out of the building! I think we all got a sore hand and were grateful to be far away from the nearest microscope so that we could be blissfully ignorant of the life-threatening illnesses that were probably trying to invade our bodies!

As is the usual custom we were provided a lunch meal before we left. We were also each presented with a lovely hand-made billum. It would have been hundreds of kina worth of billums that they handed out to us... Their kindness and generosity even when they don't have much really does touch you.

Here is our table with some of the food we had for lunch. With a view like this to soak up while we ate it wasn't hard to enjoy sitting outside and staying for a while.

Finally as we drove off we headed a little further down the mountain to look at the handful of buildings that constituted Lufa station before hitting the road home. What a most enjoyable day! Thanks goes to Conan's Dad and Mum for a few of these photos (they also came on the trip and enjoyed it).

A little bit more culture - in the bush

2008-06-01T11:47:00.006+10:00

Well the last post was about some of the PNG costumes and culture. It was also so that I can't be accused of talking only about aeroplanes on this site (you know who you are!). Afterall I do want this site to appeal to more than just aviation enthusiasts...

But when you spend so much of your life in one it is hard to leave them out of the picture all together... Afterall P2-BWC is so pretty with that lovely blue and white paint don't you think?!

Here she is at Wonenara airstrip in the South-Eastern ranges. I had the job of transporting people from the Government education department and AUSAID around to a few airstrips so that they could distribute some school supplies and conduct business.

Here at Wonenara they were ready for the 'big men' to arrive and dressed up (or should that be 'dressed down?') for the occasion. You will notice a lot of the village has flocked to a point about half-way down the 400m something airstrip to where the main 'meeting' was held. In the meantime I took photos and chatted with the locals while keeping an eye on the plane.

They love talking to the pilot and the kids, who hardly ever see white people, just love staring. It takes some people a while to get used to the idea of being such a spectacle as soon as you arrive - and there is no hiding! I took this photo while sitting on top of the wing. The kids were pressed up so close that if had fallen off the wing I wouldn't have been able to touch the ground - I would have become an instant crowd-surfer!

They enjoyed showing off and as always, they went beserk at the sight of a camera! The people told about their different ornaments and traditional dress. Of course there was also the usual requests for more service and how much they needed to see the plane more often as other service providers have also been very busy and not able to visit and help much...

These are the faces of people who literally live in the bush. The only other white people these kids would have seen would be other pilots visiting occasionally. They come from families who are subsistence farmers and only occasionally buy store goods like soap and salt which is transported by air using small amounts of money they earn from selling raw coffee. They get around by walking up and down insanely steep mountains and valleys but mostly they are village dwellers who are just living in their remote community - accessed only by air or long, LONG, walkabout.

Not long before leaving I was visited by this man who jigged with this massive pole. You will notice a floppy crucifix of ornamentation on top. The ornamentation served a bigger purpose in that as the 'arms' flop up and down they make noises and were probably to used to 'scare the spirits.'

Here he is up close. You can see once again the sea shell trading ornaments, a pig tusk through the septum of the nose, yellow headband (woven threads of yellow tree material), parrot and kumul feathers on the head, and of course that wonderful 'buai' mouth! The red staining in the mouth and on the teeth comes from the habit of chewing 'betel nut' with lime. The 'nut' itself is pretty harmless but when mixed with the lime it has a narcotic effect which over time damages the brain and the teeth, gums and mouth. It is a disgusting habit!

A few ridges over and we are now in the Marawaka valley. This photo illustrates what PNG can be like. Looking through the front window while sitting in the parking bay at Sindeni you can see straight across the other side of the steep valley to 'Ande' - another village and airstrip. In this valley there are six airstrips barely a couple of minutes flying time from each other. You can see the windsock indicating the wind is coming 'up the valley' from the right which means that although the weather was nice here, as it was mid-afternoon by the time we tried to get into one of the other airstrips only a few minutes further down the valley and around the corner, the weather was foul with low cloud/rain and completely impossible conditions!

Taken on a VERY nice morning from a height of 10,000ft here is a shot of a mountain near the top-Eastern side of the Marawaka valley. It soars up to something over 12,000ft and has an interesting story. The locals at Marawka have told of studies a geoligist has done on rocks in Western Highlands (a couple of hundred kilometres away) and the discovery that those rocks are actually from this mountain when it erupted some time ago. It has a lake near the top which has boiling water and they have observed that any animals that fall in die - so they stay well clear of it!

If you look very closely at the back of the mountain behind the wing you can see some of the markings around the edge of the crater lake - fascinating!

Well that is it for another post. I will finish it off with this spectacular shot I took climbing up into a pending sunrise on my way to Port Moresby on Friday morning. The outline of the most distant mountains are the mighty Finisterre's on the Huon peninsular.

A little bit of culture

2008-06-01T09:33:00.008+10:00

PNG is full of colourful scenery and even more colourful people. The traditional costumes and ways of thinking are never far from the surface (we still fly to places where grass skirts and bark capes are the normal garb). There are still older people around who would remember days of cannibal raids and tribal fighting. The tribal fighting is something that still goes on and although new black market weapons such has high powered rifles are used in some cases, by far the more common implements are the ones that have been used for centuries: bows & arrows, spears, clubs and axes/knives. I have collected a range of donated arrows and spears from various locations and the people proudly explain how the weapon is designed to 'kill a man' with nasty barbs crafted to wreak damage. Some simply cannot be removed 'backwards' but must be pushed right through the victim and out the other side in order to be removed with the least internal damage! They are incredible marksman with a bow and can 'shoot to kill' accurately over relatively long distances (well over 100m). We have security guards at our hangar facilities and at some of the staff houses in town and the bow and arrow is still the weapon of choice for a few of them!

I almost felt in a spot of bother when taking this shot at Marawaka the other year - I could have been killed! The things photographers do for a picture...

A few weeks ago the annual 'Goroka coffee festival' was held in the central park near the market. Last year it was skipped due to all the national election antics. This year Lisa and I were able to take Brooks and Susan around to experience some of the fun. Although it is not as big as the 'Goroka show' which is held on Independence day in September it still offers some opportunities to see traditional dress, crafts, and culture. When Lisa and I went in 2006 we spied a stall where a man was selling really nice hand-crafted pottery with PNG designs. This year we bought a set of 8 mugs, large jug, little milk jug, and sugar bowl all for K170 (about $80AUD). As we suspected, when we asked where the nice blue dyes came from we were told "from special paints we get from Australia!"

In one small corner of the festival stood a lonely horse that was giving 'horse rides' which consisted of doing little more than turning around on the spot. There were only a few excited children like this one taking advantage of the opportunity... Lisa had a really good laugh and enjoyed snapping these pics!

The kids can really bawl let me tell you. It is nothing for them drown out the sound of a Continental TSIO-520 at full bikkies on take-off - and that's really sayin' sumptin'!

Of course it is all a whole lot better once they are back with Daddy...!

These ladies are wearing traditional grass 'tunget' with colourful 'billums' (those bags hanging from the back of their heads). They take a lot of pride in hand-weaving the most colourful patterns and designs. There are other types of traditional materials that they can be made from like tree fibre (very strong and earthy in colours), chook feathers, possum fur (very soft), and of course these bright wool/acrylic ones which are most popular around town these days if you want to keep up with the latest fashion... We have developed our own collection over the years as we have been recepients of gifts. One lady is also holding a 'kundu' drum (hourglass shaped cylindrical hand drum).

If you look closely you will see one lady in this picture who has got some really interesting decorations. Christmas tree tinsel and cool shades! This sort of 'modernisation' is not allowed at the Goroka show - it has to be purely traditional. The coffee festival is a bit more laid back about such things...!

These types of shows are not for the bleeding hearts and greenies as there are plenty of poor little creature that loose their lives to become part of the decorations... Here is a skinned baby possum of some sort. The head dresses are largely bird-of-paradise of various types.

This lady is wearing lots of bird-of-paradise ('kumul'). The sun is shining right on the brilliant turquoise plumage of one spread at the back of her head. On top of her head are multiple whole kumuls which have been stuffed, impaled through their beaks onto a stick and attached to the head-dress. They take special care not to damage the bird in the process of killing and mounting so that it can be observed in its full beauty... Hope you enjoy these pics so the poor birds didn't die in vain!

Here are some more... Lisa and I were given a whole stuffed kumul from a remote village on the Indonesian border. It was one of the classic gold and red coloured ones which PNG is famous for. The birds themselves are quite small as you can see, the feathers dwarf them.

This fellow comes from a tribe just down the road from where we live at Kabiufa. He is from the Asaro area. That is a jungle moss hat which he is wearing along with different coloured mud body painting. The rope around his chest are small shells which highlanders used to trade with coastal tribes as a kind of 'money' in previous times.

Some more funny do's! Some of them can dress in a full-body moss which makes them look like a mossy tree. Masters of disguise!

These guys are 'Huli wigmen' from the distant Tari valley in Southern Highlands Province. Like the picture at the top of this blog they are given that name because the young men carefully grow their hair very long and then cut it off to make a unique wig. So what you see is their own hair in a fancy wig made with decorations - largely incorporating those unfortunate endangered birds-of-paradise birds and their featheres again...!

Some more 'streamer' feathers. Lisa and I were fortunate enough to see one of these types of kumul when up in the Tomba gap west of Mt Hagan last year. A small, pretty little bird which is rarely seen, has two very long white streamer feathers hanging down like exaggerated tail feathers! Very striking and beautiful. These men also have some pig tusks hanging around their necks if you are wondering what the necklaces are.

Come fly with me, come fly away!

2008-05-19T20:35:00.027+10:00

I was inspired to sit down and share with you a snippet from my flying life. It is in the form of my days' work today - it offered so many unique photo opportunities that I know you will enjoy having a read, so sit back and enjoy...

Rocking up to work at quarter to eight in the morning you get the lowdown: P2-BWC has been taken to Port Moresby by its owners for the weekend and will be returning via Goroka to pick you up at around 8:30am. You will hop in for the ride to Mt Hagan where you will take over and do a charter out to Kelebo in Western Highlands and return to Goroka via Mt Hagan. When you get back to Goroka there will be some local runs to do.

BWC pulls in and pauses just long enough for you to jump in with your gear and say 'hi' to the pilot and Oilmin big boss George Leahy and then roar off down the runway for the half-hour flight to Mt Hagan.

As pilots usually do you sit in a position where you can snoop at what's going on up front...

Cor blimey! What's this? Obviously flying aeroplanes is made out to be a whole lot harder than it really is - hmmm! Some people just can't wait to read the footy score from the weekend! You'll notice I haven't mentioned the name of the pilot to protect the guilty.

You spend some time (actually a lot) on the ground organising the load for Kelebo. There is a new mining exploration camp being set up there and all manner of things are being loaded into the plane: rolls of chicken wire mesh, PVC pipe, conduit, boxes of cargo, loaded aluminium 'patrol boxes,' generators, cables, bathroom sinks, an oven (yes, a full-sized kitchen gas stove!), floor linoleum and the list goes on but I won't bore you...

Loaded to the gunwales including one passenger up front as co-pilot you climb out of Hagan to fight your way around the cloud and hopefully above the ground to Kelebo. It is about a fifty minute flight and even though it is late morning the cloud is relatively thick and requires some ducking and weaving but nothing too strenuous. Quite good weather by our standards but you can tell it is going to be stormy out here in the afternoon. All the same, you Aussie pilots don't know how good you have got it - imagine scud running at 11'000ft just above ground level and having to change course regularly to weave around numerous higher ridges! I had the lovely lady from TAWS talking in my ear for almost the whole trip: "Terrain ahead," "Caution - terrain," and "Terrain, terrain - pull up!"

Slipping into the pleasant weather in the Tari valley we finally arrived at Kelabo. It sits towards the North-Western side of the Tari valley. A tight little strip at only 460 metres long, 4% slope and 5 300ft elevation. Here we are turning onto final:

And the view looking back down the mild slope from the parking bay:

The cargo comes out much faster than it goes in with plenty of people to help (as usual). You pick up one passenger and a 110kg generator for the return to Hagan. Surprisingly, you really wouldn't be able to take a whole lot more than that out of a strip like this. It has some draggy soft spots, it's short, ISA +15-20 degrees (standard all year in PNG), you are taking off into rising terrain, and there is a tailwind!

Returning to Hagan you deposit your load and the fuel truck comes around to top you up. After a few minutes he advises you that the PTO pump on his tractor tug isn't working so he will have to go and get the other tanker... Meanwhile you load all those eight chairs back into the aircraft along with two full drums of AVGAS to take back to Goroka.

Chewing your lunch while 'George' the autopilot helps you to keep the world blue-side up you shoot back to Goroka, arriving just before 2pm. Your next job is to take two members of the 'Research and Conservation Foundation' and their supplies out to 'Haia,' a little airstrip nestled on the Southern side of Crater Mountain. It is not normally the place to be in the afternoon but you heard MAF land there as you were returning from Hagan and it doesn't look too bad in that direction so off you go again. Here we are on the way to Haia - and looking for a break in those clouds to get down into the blind circuit (you can't see the runway until almost on final approach and if you overshoot that turn onto final you become a large splattered bug in the jungle).

From Haia you are to proceed to Karimui to pick up a back-load of cargo for Goroka. However the turn-around at Haia is not as quick as you thought it would be because one of your agents from another airstrip happens to be visiting and would like his wife to catch a ride (maybe he has two as there were two ladies in the end!). After weighing them with their cargo, writing the passenger manifest and collecting the airfares you are on your way again.

Karimui is pleasant for an afternoon but once again things aren't going to plan. Upon arrival, agent Henry informs you that his niece (from the best you can make out) has suffered a brutal blow from her man who decided to lash out with a bush knife resulting in her left foot being completely cut through, severing all toes. She has been taken to the local clinic but there is no doctor and not much anyone can do to help her. Would I help and take her to Goroka hospital? Here is the 'mission' in our aviation, and if we hadn't been out and about doing commercial work we would not have been able to help at an opportune time - this has happened to me so many times...

While the patient was being brought to the airstrip we loaded the cargo leaving enough room at the back of the plane for the lady to sit down on chair. Here she is arriving via the latest high-tech stretcher:

It was hard to take many pictures discreetly but here you can see the stump covered in rags drenched with blood - she lost a lot of blood. It's difficult to see but she is hardly more than a teenager...

This one is not my first domestic violence victim. Here is another lady from a previous experience who had almost similar wounds but not quite as drastic. Beaten about the ankles with a bush knife she was badly swollen and in advanced medical shock when I picked her up from Maramuni in Western highlands and flew her to Karik where she could get help at Porgera hospital.

Arriving once again back in Goroka it takes time to carefully lift the patient onto a flat-bed trolley which we can use to wheel her to Roger's Triton ute which becomes the ambulance ride to the hospital (the real Ambulance is as good as useless and rarely comes when called). More time is spent cleaning the 'bio hazard' blood in the plane before loading up for the next run.

"Oh, think twice, it's just another day for you and me in paradise..." This world ain't what it's supposed to be like. Here is more proof... My job was to transport this coffin along with family and cargo to Pinero where the burial could take place.

Here we are loading up the coffin with the right number of chairs once again re-installed for this mixed cargo and passenger run. There were 7 passengers including a baby plus one deceased...

This fellow was closely related - not sure how. Crutches sure fit in this plane a lot easier than smaller aircraft! If you look closely you can see our step ladder for the aircraft leaning on the side of the building - that's because it was having all the blood from the previous patient washed off before loading the next passengers!

Taking off just before 5pm you find yourself winging away around the clouds and over the ridges for the twenty minute flight to Pinero. The afternoon conditions at this time of year are typically for low cloud to sit on the ridges just to the East of Pinero but it is just borderline enough to either be okay or not - hopefully you will find a way in!

It's beautiful on top. You can see the top of Mt Karimui at 8 000ft + rising into a relatively clear sky. However that lower stuff does make it a bit interesting. The cloud was sitting less than 500ft above Pinero meaning a normal circuit was not possible. Here we are coming in on final approach with a shaft of afternoon sun striking through onto the strip:

Pinero is supposed to be about 600 metres long, level, and at an elevation of 3 800ft so it's nothing really special except it is very undulating and soft, there is virtually a perpetual tailwind for takeoff and you climb into rising terrain.

The din of the wailing that accompanies the arrival of a dead body was almost deafening but it is nothing unusual to those who have done it a few times... You set to work removing chairs and once again loading up with cargo for the return flight to Goroka.

It is only on your return flight that you discover you are to be blessed with one of those very rare occasions when you can see a highlands sunset (there is normally so much cloud combined with mountains that sunsets are never seen). Here we are climbing out of Pinero:

And now crossing over the Waghi river looking towards the main Waghi valley and the sun setting in the West (by the way, that outer panel on the left wing leading edge is where the radome is for those who might be wondering):

While it is lovely out the side windows, as usual, PNG has everything going on all at once and this is what it looked like out the front within seconds of the previous photo:

The rain is brief and you are once again charmed with the sunset as you descend through the 'Kaw Kaw' saddle into Goroka. In the background you can see the 9 000ft ridge of Elimbari and the bluff near Chuave marking the turn towards Chimbu:

Settling back onto the familiar tarmac of Runway 35R you pull into the parking area and shut down just before 6pm. However you are not done yet... There is unloading to do and refuelling ready for the morning and end of day paperwork etc before you can go home and write this. You linger with the camera just a little longer as you are fortunate enough to experience the rare hues of a highlands sunset. I would say on average you would see a sunset like this once, maybe twice a year...

Well, I hope you enjoyed coming along for the ride today! You can see why we say, "never a dull moment..."

The chickens are finally home to roost - and this one needs to follow suit before he falls off his perch! Chow!

Welcome P2-BWC!

2008-05-18T14:43:00.014+10:00

No, it's not actually 'ours' but we have cross-hired it! The number of PAC 750XL's in PNG is growing. We were the first to bring it into the country. Through our influence a number of other operators have also bought the aircraft. The total number of PAC 750XL's in PNG is about to become four!

P2-BWC was bought by a company based in Mt Hagan. 'Oilmin' is a mineral and resources company owned and run by descendants of the Leahy brothers who were pioneer explorers in the highlands of PNG. Since obtaining our PAC 750XL aircraft we have done a number of charters for them and have developed a good relationship. 'Central Aviation' is what they have called their aviation branch but they are still in the throws of trying to obtain a Part 135 air charter license with the CAA. Until now they have only operated one Cessna 207 for private company transport. That machine recently had a nose-wheel torque-link bolt fail resulting in an ungracious landing at Mt Hagan resulting in a prop-strike complete with sparkes flying as it grinded down the runway - very expensive and probably unlikely to fly again...!

Here it is getting a thorough 'going-over' after its arrival on the 8th of May. The stripe down the side of the aircraft is a metallic blue pattern which resembles the irredescent blue feather of a rare 'kumul' (bird of paradise). This long feather grows from the front of the head of the bird (one each side) and flows back over the rest of its body. We are informed that it is a particularly hard bird to kill because it lives in the tree-tops. The nationals put a special food on the ground to attract it down from the tops. Even then they have to approach very close to the bird and shoot it with a bow and arrow from almost 'on top' in order to preserve the plumage for their 'bilaus' or traditional dress decorations. So much for protected species...!

The aircraft had just over 60 hours on it when it first arrived. It is nice to fly new machines but you are always just a little extra alert as there are usually some bugs to iron out and breaking-in to do.

In front of the wing of the plane you will notice a contraption which is a turbine engine washing rig. One of the first things we did was to do a full power-recovery compressor and turbine section wash and rinse. Turbine engines are frightfully expensive and need careful preventative maintenance - however if they are looked after they are fantastic!

In typical bush flying fashion it didn't stay this clean for long. A couple of strips I went to last week were so sodden wet and overgrown that I had to close them. The plane came back with mud everywhere including on the roof!

The cart plugged into the rear of the aircraft is a ground-power cart which we always use when at Goroka. It helps to reduce wear and tear on the aircraft battery, as we do lots of cycles, and also allows us to use a higher voltage to start the engine which results in the engine spooling up quicker with cooler engine temperatures. Engine starting is one of the more risky times for a turbine engine and also the time when some of the hottest internal temperatures are experienced (over a thousand degrees Celsius in the combustion chamber) so anything to help is generally good...!

Oilmin went to town with the options for the cockpit in their new machine. It is very well kitted out. For the pilots: HSI, second VOR with GS, moving card ADF, Garmin GNS 430 and 530, S-tec 55x A/P, TAWS (goes beserk in and out of the bush strips...), DME, Honeywell HF (mandatory in PNG), full co-pilot panel, and a Bendix King MFD/radar.

Here is the weather radar again. It has been great to have a play around with it although we suspect it needs some more set-up tweaking to perfect it. It is nice to have it to help negotiate weather like this on the way back from Moresby. I was on a charter to bring electoral supplies in for Eastern Highlands local level elections.

It's a bit hard to see the radar in this photo with its polarized screen but there are some red paints returning there!

Well that is the latest on the flying front. Hopefully that temporarily satisfies those of you who wanted to see more PNG flying pics (I promise I will post more). We currently have two PAC 750XL's to play with so we are going to be kept very busy...!

Before and After...

2008-05-18T13:22:00.012+10:00

Today marks almost exactly a year to the day 'Airlink' (a company that no longer exists) had their final prang at Goroka. It had been recently preceded by a Bandeirante crash on New Britain Island which claimed the life of both of the pilots, one of whom I had trained with years ago. Fortunately they were carrying cargo only and no additional lives were lost.

It was a foggy morning like you see in the pictures and the Cessna 404 Titan was circling overhead Goroka airport looking for a way down... Even though it is a major airport it is deep in the top end of the Goroka valley with a significant slope to the two parallel runways. This makes the airport a 'one-way' airstrip for all traffic including the turbo-prop and jet aircraft of Air Niugini.

Maybe the pilot was disorientated, maybe he was under undue company pressure to 'get in', who knows? After all there is no real government accident investigation process in PNG...

The outcome was witnessed by a number of people on the airport and fortunately it didn't result in anyone dying (which is kind of rare for aircraft accidents in PNG...!). The aircraft was observed to appear in the misty fog heading DOWN HILL over the aerodrome. It seemed the pilot didn't even have full landing flap configuration and was probably going rather fast at touchdown (which occurred over half-way down the runway). He then proceeded to careen off the end of the runway. Still trying to slow down, he attempted to ground-loop the aircraft in a left turn as he hit the airfield boundary fence.

By the time our neighbours at Pacific Helicopters arrived on the scene the national pilot had already fled and admitted himself to hospital (probably for no more than a change of jocks) while the dazed passengers wandered around the aircraft. The Pacific guys more or less organized the scene including making a rather strong suggestion to the government CAA men who had arrived that it would be wise to stop smoking around the fuel that was spilling out all over the place...!

Later that day the aircraft, with its more damaged side resting on a large trolly cart, was relocated to the apron outside our hangar. To make a long story short 'Airlink' (or Scarelink, Rarelink, Nolink, Stinklink - and whatever else you can modify the name to...) ceased operation and the aircraft sat forelorn at various points around the aerodrome.

But then recently it was reborn! After spending some time off the aerodrome at one of the other industrial plants owned by the Eastern Highlands Provincial governor (who also happened to own Airlink) the Cessna 404 appeared outside the Goroka Aeroclub (nothing more than a building with a bar inside). It now sports this new flashy paint job and holds pride of place next to the swings! It is covered with remarkably good renditions of Disney characters and will no doubt live out the rest of its life at this new location...

And my favourite mural:

The airport boundary fence still has not been repaired...

RIP P2-ALK, RIP Airlink, RIP Fred...

Easter Weekend

2008-05-11T11:46:00.018+10:00

For the first time we were able to take a break on Easter weekend. Conan and Amanda with young Jett were keen to get out and see some more of the country. They had arrived to join us at AAS in March and had been busy with work.

Lisa and I had previously done two road trips to Madang on the Northern coast of PNG (see photos in our archive link on right side column). It is quite a trek but worth it for the lovely water and snorkeling that can be experienced. Even though we were all a bit tired we planned to do the drive down on Friday and come back to Goroka on the Monday. Because we only made the plans relatively last minute we found it hard to find accommodation as a lot of other people hit Madang for Easter weekend. We normally stay at Jais Aben dive resort just North of Madang but that was full so we scored a 'standard' room (read sub-standard) at Madang for the first night and then a deluxe room (read spacious old 3 or 3.5 star) for the next two nights.

Friday morning we set off just before dawn so that we could achieve most of the driving before the day got too hot and also while there is less people on the roads (unlike Australia, it is the people not the cars we are talking about here...). Lisa and I packed into the Jerrard's Nissan Patrol. Our car was not quite up to the trip at the time and it saved money and was more fun going in one car!

To drive to Madang involves driving through Eastern highlands, down the Kassam pass into the Ramu valley (at which point you are about half-way to Lae). You then turn off and almost double-back to drive up the Ramu valley until you get to a little place called Usino corner. At that point the highway turns to a 4WD track and takes you through the hills and finally into Madang. It doesn't look like a long way when you look at this map. However it is about 5.5 hours of driving one-way if you get a good run... In our PAC 750XL it takes about 25 minutes from take-off to landing to do the same trip!

We had a very enjoyable and restful time at Madang. This was the first time we had stayed at Madang resort. It wasn't too bad but it was good to have a car so we could drive around to some of the better spots. We visited Jais Aben, Coastwatchers hotel near the lighthouse, and a boat trip out to Pig Island.

This is Kalibobo village which adjoins Madang resort. It has beautiful villas near the water. It has an ocean swimming lagoon with an outlet to the ocean and lovely manicured lawns and walkways. Jett loved throwing stones into the water and spotting the crabs and fish!

The view from our 2nd story 'deluxe' room balcony. We had iridescent green lizards and flying foxes in the nearby trees as neighbours. And of course the gecko's which like visiting inside your room - not content to be outside-only dwellers.

In the lead-up to our weekend I had flown in and out of Madang and they had a fine run of great weather but as Murphy's Law would have it the weather changed on Friday as we drove down to Madang. It was a bit of a wet and cloudy time but we didn't let that stop us. Here is Lisa, Amanda, Conan and Jett.

On Sunday morning we set out in this little dive boat for Pig Island. It was not a long boat trip. They dropped us off on the uninhabited island and left us to our own devices until the nominated pick-up time around lunch time.

Conan and Jett enjoying the boat trip. Hey wake up dude - we're going snorkeling!

This was an old spear-fishing spot for Conan and he showed me some of the reefs around which he would find some of the bigger fish. I spent several hours straight snorkeling around half of the island. With water like this wouldn't you?! We spotted many interesting fish and coral. Barracuda, trevally, parrot, angel, gar, rass, clown fish etc. Probably the highlight for me was spotting a large school of fish off one of the coral shelves. I was able to swim quite close to them and they have a special name with the locals but the name escapes me... Without a hint of exaggeration they would have been over a metre in length and about a metre in depth from top to bottom with a large horn pad on their foreheads!

We left in the rain on Monday morning figuring it would be good to get home early afternoon to clean up and prepare for work again. It was just as well we left early as the trip home was not going to be a quick one. It ended up taking about an extra two hours! All the rain had turned the road quite wet in places and there were plenty of vehicles becoming unstuck - quite literally!

Here are some photos from the trip home. This was one of the first hold-ups. The road probably doesn't look too steep as photos always have a way of flattening things out but it was steep enough to cause problems. The two wheel drive overloaded PMV vans (public transport bus/taxi type machines) were still attempting the trip and getting stuck in the process! Finally another 4WD tried to tow him out of trouble and just about burnt out his clutch in the process.

We had a PMV behind us and he didn't even ask - just walked up to the back of our car and started tying a rope on to get a ride! I jumped out and connected him up with my ARB snatch strap instead (much easier to get on and off than rope knots!). They were very grateful as we were able to pull them through several sections where others were getting stuck.

This 'Coaster' bus was being driven by a driver who was spaced-out on Buai (betel nut) and alcohol - he got too far over to one side and slid off the road... You can see them unloading it's precious cargo of bags of betel nut - I think most of the people just deserted the bus.

Jett took it all in his stride. You might wonder why his is on top of the car? Hmmm - less mud up there to play with would have to be the main reason...!

Here is another steep section which is once again 'flattened out' in the photo. Notice the gap between the vehicle on the slope and the 4WD in front of us. It's a good idea to wait and make sure the vehicle in front doesn't slide back down the mountain before you go charging on up behind it!

That is all for the holidays this year so far. Next time will be an update on some of the things going on back at the office in the sky!

February Holidays

2008-05-04T18:56:00.017+10:00

In February we took our annual leave for the '07 calendar year. The end of the year time is always busy up here in PNG and with other people away it was extremely busy for us at times. However we were really excited to take a break and once again come 'home' for another visit - a whole four weeks!

We overnighted in Cairns with wet-season weather pausing enough for us to enjoy the esplanade walk before our flight to Victoria. As we spent our annual leave last year travelling over four states of Australia and also the North Is of NZ within about four weeks we decided we would slow the pace a bit this time!

We stayed at Lisa's Mum and Dad's place for about the first three weeks. During that time we had to do biannual medical checks so that involved a little bit of running around but most places were close - even with the busy public health system it was a breeze compared to PNG hassles.

We got to catch up with all of our growing nieces and nephews. We took a drive up to Yea to meet Lisa's older sister Carolyn and her kids half-way.

Here is Carolyn and Lachlan's two, Kynan and Arwen sitting on the slide at Yea. Kynan is one and Arwen is three years old now. At the back is Renee and Don's oldest girl Emily who is also three. They all had a ball playing with all the toys in the park. Uncle Damon even got a bit puffed pushing swings and scaring the daylights out of them by popping up
just when it was least expected...!

Always difficult trying to get everyone looking at the camera... Damon and Lisa with Kynan, Emily and Arwen. It was good to see them all and they are all growing healthy and amazing us each time with how much they have developed and changed.

We did many day trips and fun shopping trips (they are all so CLEAN!). However one of the highlights from our time in Victoria was spending two days on the 'Great Ocean Road.' We left very early on a Sunday morning and came back late Monday evening. We drove through the rolling farmlands and beautiful Mornington Peninsula to Sorrento. With a crisp morning breeze blowing and the promise of a couple of fine hot days we eagerly drove our car onto the Sorrento-Queenscliffe ferry which took us across the sometimes treacherous mouth of Port Phillip Bay to Queenscliffe on the other side.

We made plenty of stops and took our time. Here is Lisa at one of the lovely ocean look-out spots. The road itself is very windy and it requires quite a bit of attention while driving. A lingering look at all that aqua-blue water and stunning cliffs might just mean your day will turn dark with an unplanned rendezvous with that car coming the other way...

We visited some of the surf-wear factory outlets at Torquay and had a lovely swim at Winkipop beach which is just around the corner from world-famous Bells beach. It was about to host the first surfing event on the pro calendar.

Our place of rest for the night was Apollo Bay. This charming seaside village has a lot to offer and we really enjoyed it. By just rocking up to a motel late in the day we scored a really good discount as the proprietors figure that helps to attract your last-minute business.

Damon had a great juicy fillet of Tasmanian Salmon for tea at one of the restaurants.

The next morning we took a walk along the jetty after a hearty breakfast. We saw a huge stingray float past one of the moored yachts just under the surface of the water. We had to pull ourselves away as it was going to be a big day of driving to the 12 Apostles and Port Campbell before heading back to Gippsland!

Well, they are still there! Kind of... That pile of rocks in the foreground is one which has collapsed. It was still stunning to see one of Australia's landmarks - such good weather too!

Did the tourist thing... Here we are with the rocks in the background. They have developed the site a lot since the last time Lisa visited. There is a big car park, visitor centre and walk-through underpass to cross the road back to the attraction. There is paved walking tracks and boardwalks across the cliff tops. Progress... Well at least it contains the human impact a bit.

Next stop was just around the corner at a fascinating spot where there was some natural coves, natural arch and this blowhole. It was just off the coast here that the sailing ship 'Loch Ard' was shipwrecked. It was a great loss of life and one of many on this shipwreck coast but what was eerie was that this blowhole glowed a purple colour at night just after the wreck. It was a result of the phosphorous in a large load of matches that was on board. The matches along with bodies were washed into the blowhole which is a couple of hundred metres inland from the ocean. The water runs underground even further inland beyond this opening - don't fall in!

Well, it was a pleasant drive through the Otways and again along the coast as we made our way back to the farm.

Here is Damon playing Uncle again with the newest addition to Renee and Don's family - Bonnie. Emily is the other muffin in the pic. After choppers flew over her house fighting fires in the 06/07 fire season, Emily developed a fascination for flying machines and Uncle Damon delighted in sharing aeroplane magazines and pictures with her! She was absolutely transfixed when we showed her the most recent PAC 750XL PNG promo video (see our links on the side-bar).

Ah, but there is more to do than just sit around home... Damon made his usual pilgrimage to Phillip Island and enjoyed body surfing these beautiful off-shore, southern ocean wavo-perfectos (where's a board when you need one?)! Woolamai's magic lands had turned it on again. Always a great spot if you don't mind cold water and being around the corner from a penguin colony...

All good things come to an end. Here we are getting some goodbye pics with Lisa's cousins Jody (L) and Desiree (R) on one of the last Sabbath's at little Bayles church. It was great to catch up with everyone. While in Victoria Damon jetted off to Perth and back over two days for a job interview. That is still a pipeline project for next year - no news on that one yet!

We flew to Brisbane for the final week or so of our holidays. We took a hire car and spent a few days down on the Gold Coast. Our abode was a charming self-contained apartment block overlooking Currumbin. The weather was cloudy and rainy at times (the East coast was getting a hammering around that time you may recall). We still enjoyed ourselves.

Lisa with the locals at Currumbin Wildlife park. It was great to spend a day with some Aussie wildlife - always very friendly...

...Except this big fella!

While on the Gold Coast we swam at Rainbow beach/Snapper rocks on one of the warm-up days for the Quicksilver pro surfing event. Our star-spotting claim to fame was spending some time in the water with female world number one surfer, Lane Beachley. She generously loaned her board to a bunch of kids who were tickled pink at getting a chance to catch a wave on her board.

We spent the weekend back in Brisbane and caught up with a few more people there. We flew out of Brisbane in the rain and arrived to the same greeting in Cairns. The wet season was back in force and it practically didn't stop raining the whole time we were there. Damon had to do a pilot medical with a doctor who could do medical examinations to meet both the Australian and PNG requirements. Apparently he is not about to fall off his perch yet which is always chirpy news!

Well that kind of wraps up some of our holiday highlights! Hope you enjoyed the pics. Next post we will catch up on some of the adventures from Easter weekend...

Welcome to our Blog!

2008-05-04T12:40:00.007+10:00

This picture is 'for real' and has been around on the web a bit and is a good way to illustrate our new blog taking off - exciting and full of adventure! Once you start down life's path there is no turning back. Life waits for nobody so don't let it pass you by. Live life to the full and make it count! The decisions you make along the way determine the road you take and the destination you will find at the end - make it a good one!

The next few posts I will spend catching up on the first part of 2008. A lot has happened already so I will try and backtrack a bit and share with you the highlights so far.

We hope this blog will always be an interesting place to visit and we look forward to sharing some of the highlights along the way. Feel free to comment and email us with your feedback.

Be sure to check out our links on the right side column. Our friends have some great blogs and websites going. Some of the other links have some interesting and fun stuff you might enjoy also!

Standby for more...