Retrospective: Our 4 Years in Papua New Guinea: Part Two: Madang.

We transferred from Goroka down to Madang sometime in 1976. Madang is on the north coast of PNG and is (was) a beautiful town.

 

We had a new Control Tower with all the modern features.

 

I must have been on one of my regular diets, probably beer-based.

 

Here's my little helper preparing the Flight Data strips for me.

 

This is a typical tropical afternoon build-up. Sometimes the rain was huge, as were the occasional thunderstorms with lightning cracks that seemed able to split the roof.

 

I bought a Honda XL100 trail bike in Madang and used to go out exploring with some Radio-Tech friends. Anything larger than a 100cc engine had lots of import duty on them so I happily straddled this baby bike.

 

 

 

 

 

Some times I would come home absolutely exhausted and Robyn would find me sitting at the bottom of the stairs too knackered to climb them.

 

 

There was no shortage of wreckage from WW2 to explore. It was fascinating and really opened up my eyes as to how close the war was to Australia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bought a second hand boat in Madang, a Savage Tasman. We often went across to Siar Island for picnic lunches and a swim.

 

 

 

Our house in Madang was typical of most DCA houses. It was a CR1 (Commonwealth Residence 1). Very comfortable, up on concrete pylons with floor to ceiling louvres on most external windows. That way we were able to catch most breezes and get some relief from the tropical heat and humidity (much different to Goroka, at 5000 feet AMSL). 

 

 

Here we had a parade passing in front of the house.

 

 

Madang was very pleasant. We enjoyed many relaxing meals in the Haus Wind in the Coastwatchers hotel, and Smugglers Inn. The job was good, busier than Goroka, and the social life was good too.

 

An enjoyable year and a bit.