Thistlethwaite’s Travel Snippets

Dr Robert Thistlethwaite Travel Snippets24

Travel went with the job in PNG and, except for road travel around Port Moresby or inland to Brown River, was by air. For main internal travel it was in the main TAA, Air Niugini, or Talair, with an assortment of plane types ranging from DC3, Fokker Friendship, Pilatus Porter, and many different light aircraft e.g., with MAF, Adventist Aviation, Bush Pilots. Most flights were uneventful unless you were in a light aircraft at lower attitude when it completely clouded in and you stooged around waiting for a break in the clouds. If aviation gas was running low, then you had to take the risk and make a run for it. Take your hats off for pilots in PNG, especially when landing at places like Laiagam, Tapini, Efogi.

But in all the travel I did during my time there and subsequently as a consultant, only once when I was really concerned on a flight from Moresby to Madang on a Fokker, when in the Okapa area the pilot realised he was flying up the wrong valley for his approach to Goroka. A cliff appeared ahead and disturbingly close. He stood the plane almost on its tail, hung on the props and side-slipped out of danger. We exited the aircraft at Goroka a bit white around the gills, decided we would stay in Goroka for the night and forget flying on to Madang. I did not know that the Fokker was so versatile but subsequently learned that it was originally designed for military operations. The pilot was of course feted by all but fit enough to fly on to Madang in the morning.

No matter how you got there, you did your work and then hoped to get home. However, in the early 1970s there were several pilot strikes which, while inconvenient, could prove quite entertaining. One was at Madang where I had flown with Prof Lindsay Pryor of botanical fame and whose name graces the National Arboretum in Canberra. We were stuck in Madang for a few short days but made the most of it and, with the loan of a DoF 4x4, explored the Gogol JANT operations, made some WW II forays (the area had seen very heavy fighting during the Japanese retreat to Wewak where they surrendered), and more casually up the north coast accompanied by a couple of TAA hostesses. I did glean some botanical knowledge, but more importantly greatly enjoyed Lindsay’s company. We had both started our forestry careers as Assistant Foresters at Uriarra Forest west of Canberra, and had some things in common, but not his botanical knowledge I am afraid!

Another occurrence was on a trip to the Western Province with Kevin White during the dry season. We boated up the Oriomo River to Peawa and travelled a little distance along the road to Morehead. Items of interest included the microtopography which governed ground moisture and drainage during the wet season when swamp covered much of the area except for small hummocks which would have been above the flood level. Along the road was what was then known as Eucalyptus polycarpa, Flindersia and Oreocallis. In wetter areas were E. brassiana and Melaleuca spp. There were also Wattle species. The Oreocallis was in flower and with the reasonably straight boles an extremely attractive tree. The timber was prized locally, and I have always thought Oreocallis to be a grossly undervalued species.

24 Article submitted by Dr Bob Thistlethwaite 29 Dec 2019 26

In Daru we spent some time examining the E polycarpa in the grounds of the Kalabus. It seemed to be quite variable in form and appearance, ranging from gnarled trees of small diameter to larger specimens with better form. The Kalabus area was obviously burnt regularly, and the rough barked trees seemed resistant to fire damage.

Daru. Source Wikipedia.

Daru is the capital of the western Province of PNG. The township is entirely located on an island that goes by the same name, which is located near the mouth of the Fly River on the western side of the Gulf, just north of Torres Strait and far North Queensland in Australia. And, yes, there was a pilot strike, and we were stranded on Daru Island and lucky to get a small room at the Daru Hotel which was adequate, with good plain food and a congenial host.

Daru Island Source Wikipedia.

There was not much to see on Daru then except it is massive tarmac. After a morning sampling liquid refreshment, we searched for the plug which in our state we were told existed to keep Daru Island afloat. But no luck! Our publican had a strong focus on the till during this bonanza for him as many people were trapped. The influx was such that the stock in the private bar was rapidly depleted, and when all the beer was gone, we gradually worked our way through all other offerings on the bar shelves. Rum and Scotch disappeared quickly, and anything else, with one lone survivor on Sunday, a bottle of Tullamore Dew, which delighted KJ (Kevin White) as an emblem of Ireland. We cuddled that for as long as a small bottle takes and then were forced to turn to the wine collection in the public bar, and a most impressive collection of wine labels were displayed. Wine, at least the cheaper variety, was not really our tipple, but when in Rome…!

The Daru Pub was locally called the Cerberus Arms, because all the crockery and cutlery were branded with “HMAS Cerberus”. How, we did not ask. I decided to do a little exploration of the hotel and in a shed tucked away under a couple of trees at the back I found a hotel employee beavering away filling bottle. He had two huge casks from which to choose, both branded with Portuguese markings, one containing red wine and the other white

– perhaps emulating Mateusz Rose and Casals Inhos – but unfortunately not the same calibre. The bottles were already labelled with what they had originally contained, and it was interesting to see a white wine in a bottle labelled Beaujolais. To feed the thirsty throng in the public bar, waiters moved through selling fried fish heads, some with backbones attached. A roaring trade and the kina were rolling in. Tuesday came, the strike was off, and we gratefully boarded the flight to Moresby.

The Western Province grew on me. I returned each year, roaming inland as far as Morehead and Weam near the West Papua border, and along the southern coast to Mabaduan (which boasted a large solid church built in the 1850s (or thereabouts) by the London Missionary Society), with deer hunting inland of the village. Extra-large mud crabs, fish, plantain, sago and of course rice along with a couple of tins of bully beef. And you ask why I always carried a small bottle of Tabasco Sauce?