Follow my journey as I serve as a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship in Papua New Guinea.

Monday 26 December 2022

Merry Christmas from Hagen

Here are some pictures from our Christmas celebrations this year...

Scene around Hagen town

Three storey high inflatable Santas outside the supermarket

Christmas decorations inside the supermarket

Pre-Christmas celebrations, big and small

MAF families' Christmas lunch (23 Dec)

Compound carols night (24 Dec)

Christmas Day

Jess had a brilliant idea to organise a progressive Christmas meal across three compounds - spreading the load for both preparing and cleaning up, and allowing each compound to share their flavour of Christmas!

Starters at Kagamuga

Mains at Tarangau...

...featuring a Christmas song by George the puppet

Dessert at High Rise, featuring the good ol' Kiwi pavlova

Festive lights were another reason for dessert at High Rise!

Friday 9 December 2022

Medevac callout

Recently I had a very long flying day - 5.4 hours and over 1200 km!


First I flew from Mt Hagen to Balimo via Wawoi Falls to drop off some passengers.

Then from Balimo to Suabi to pick up a team of Aerial Health Patrol workers who had been holding clinics there that week.

Finally from Balimo I flew to Kiriwo to collect a critically ill patient and take him to the hospital in Daru.

Kiriwo is in the South Fly District of the Western Province. I've only been there a handful of times - once in August for training, once in September to drop off passengers, and most recently at the end of November to pick up some local airstrip agents to take them to Balimo for a training course. On that occasion the agent told me that there was a sick man in the village and asked if I could go and have a look at him. I figured there was no harm in doing so - and I do like to see the villages and not just the airstrip when I go to bush places! Seeing how people live helps me keep a right perspective on why we are here.

The man was being treated at the local health clinic, about 200 m walk from the airstrip. When we arrived there was a big crowd of people, who noticed me straightaway and started murmuring, 'pailot i kam' (the pilot has come). I talked to the health worker who explained that to arrange a medevac flight, approval would be needed from both the doctor and the Western Provincial Health Authority. He told me they had just started the process. I figured the approvals weren't going to come through in the next half hour so I thanked them for their time and headed back to the airstrip.

About a week later MAF got the call that the man's condition had deteriorated to the point where he needed to be flown to Daru. Kiriwo is not a common destination for us (as evidenced by my two operational visits in three months) and it is a long way from our staffed bases at Telefomin and Hagen. The flight programming team was able to find a way to fit it into my schedule, and I was grateful to have the opportunity to do the flight as the previous time I wasn't really able to help much.

I had already taken out a seat and fitted the stretcher in Balimo while the guys there were refuelling, so when I arrived in Kiriwo the plane was ready. The man was carried from the health clinic to the airstrip on a mat. He was barely conscious and given his size it was easier to ask the people to lift the mat into the plane and I would strap him in around it. Another couple of people came to accompany him and we took off for the 50 minute flight to Daru.

Loading the man into the plane at Kiriwo

Transferring him from the plane to the ambulance at Daru

It's both humbling and satisfying to be part of the lifeline for people living in bush communities. Not every village has an airstrip, and not every airstrip is maintained to the standard required by MAF to send our aircraft there. For every person that we fly to hospital, how many others suffer because a) they live too far away from an airstrip, and/or b) they don't seek medical help until it's too late? It can be demoralising to think about, but I choose to focus on the ones we are able to help.

 

Update, January 2023: I received news that the patient passed away in hospital in Daru a few days after the flight. Unfortunately this is sometimes the outcome of a medevac flight, despite our best efforts.

Friday 28 October 2022

Bedamuni Bibles

Recently I had the privilege of flying two plane-loads of a new Bible translation from our Kiunga base to the bush airstrip at Mougulu - 110 boxes, weighing over 1500 kg! There had been some logistical issues and communication breakdowns along the way, so the delivery was a few months later than expected, but at least we are now making progress...

Boxes of Bibles

Loading the plane in Kiunga

Walter is happy to play his part in securing the load

People in Mougulu help collect the boxes from the plane

Tuesday 11 October 2022

Kumul lodge

Last weekend there was a group trip organised to Kumul Lodge, about an hour's drive west of Mt Hagen and known for bird watching. Despite having only arrived back in Hagen the day before, I decided to go. Although there were about 30 of us, the birds near the lodge didn't seem to mind, which was good!

I don't know the names of any of the birds so have just given them my own descriptions :)

Stunning scenery en route

This bird's red face...

...turns yellow after it's eaten

These green parrots were hard to spot until they came to eat


The iridescent colours of this bird reminded me of a tui

Long tail feathers

Even longer tail feathers!

It was fascinating to watch these birds eat with their long, curved beaks.
They would pull off a piece of fruit, toss it in the air and swallow it.

Not a bird...

After our bird watching we enjoyed breakfast at the lodge

Wednesday 5 October 2022

Family holiday in Dunedin

As part of my mum's 70th birthday celebrations, we had a family holiday in Dunedin. The last time we'd been there was in the mid-90s, so it had been a while...

Playing games at the holiday house

 

Day 1

Since it was the last Friday of term before the school holidays, we opted to go to the museum as it would likely be less crowded than from the Saturday onwards. We also weren't sure what the weather was going to do - as it turned out, we needn't have worried!

The 'torque table' in the science museum

The obligatory walk up and down Baldwin St

Day 2

A road trip to Oamaru and back, with various stops on the way...

Coastline walk at Karitane

Moeraki boulders

Fur seal

Day 3

Being a Sunday, I asked if I could be dropped off at a church (since options in PNG have been pretty limited). It was good to be able to be anonymous.

In the afternoon, we went to the albatross colony at Taiaroa head.

View of Port Chalmers from Mt Cargill

Shags on their nests at Taiaroa head

Fully grown albatross chick, yet to take its first flight

Albatross chick practising

Day 4

Larnach's castle, then a maze and mini golf at Wal's Plant Land in Mosgiel before flying back home.

Larnach's castle and gardens

Staircase inside

Tuesday 4 October 2022

A surprise visit

I couldn't write anything about this earlier, for obvious reasons!

At the end of September I took my first international flight since arriving in PNG on a one-way ticket in January 2022 (while NZ still had compulsory hotel isolation requirements for everyone entering the country). I arrived in Wellington at midnight on Friday and laid low at a friend's house on Saturday.

Sunday was the big day - my mum was turning 70, and she had no idea that I was going to be there. My brother picked me up and we went to the restaurant that had been planned for lunch. The look on her face was priceless!

About 5 seconds after the surprise was sprung

After lunch we went to my brother's house for games and cake.

The celebrations weren't over - Mum had arranged for the whole family (minus me, but with inside knowledge I had bought a ticket on the same flight) to go to Dunedin for a few days.

Prior to the trip, my friend and I went for an easy overnight hike to Rangiwahia hut.

The hut sits just above the bush line

Sunrise colours on Mt Ruapehu

Hiking across tussock hills

Another view of Ruapehu


Sunday 18 September 2022

Independence day

The day before the NZ foreign minister's visit, one of the admin staff asked all of us Kiwis if we could bring our New Zealand flags to work - and was flabbergasted when each of us replied that we didn't have one!

Fast forward a couple of weeks to 16 September and his reaction made a lot more sense. Papua New Guineans love their flag and are proud of their independence, which was granted on 16 September 1975.

MAF Mt Hagen

I had a planned overnight in Kiunga on Wednesday and when I arrived back on Thursday I was greeted by our traffic officers. All the national staff were wearing their national colours (in many cases, with a local flavour from their as ples - place of origin). 


Village school celebrations

Five of us attempted to climb Mount Hagen - the mountain, not the town - on the long weekend. When we heard that the local school was putting on a 'show' we decided to go and watch. (It ended up raining in the afternoon so we didn't do the walk, but I'm glad we got to see the school event.)


Jess being mobbed by young fans

Singing the national anthem while raising the flag


Neighbourhood celebrations

When we arrived back from our shorter-than-expected trip, the field across from our compound was a hive of activity. Rugby goal posts had been erected and over the weekend we heard much cheering and blowing of whistles. It made a change from the spakman (drunks)...