First Impressions of Port Moresby (continued)

Our office at the Kila Kila aerodrome had an old, lean and hungry-looking Papuan handyman. He seemed exceedingly morose as he desultorily swept the premises. His moroseness was probably due to his limited English vocabulary and our almost non-existent Motuan. We nicknamed him Hughie and attempted to converse with him but the lack of a common language made it difficult.

I found Port Moresby immensely attractive despite its dusty roads. The town lay on a narrow peninsula between a large harbour on the landward side and the long clean Ela Beach facing the reef-lined ocean. The only road of any consequence was that stretching about 50km from the town to Rouna Falls. The road proceeded by way of Ela Beach, where it was lined by majestic palm trees and fronted by handsome houses, many built on tall stumps in typical tropical Australian style. One of the houses on the road at Ela Beach had been acquired for the RAAF Officers mess. The road to Kila Kila aerodrome branched off the road to Rouna Falls where the latter climbed the hill to proceed inland. The Kila Kila aerodrome was about 6km from the town.

At first I lived in the Moresby Hotel on the harbour waterfront not far from the wharf. The hotel was like something from a Somerset Maugham novel. Although I knew nobody in Port Moresby and had arrived there with all my worldly possessions, I felt confident about the future. At the age of 23 I had found employment in a profession that I enjoyed and I had persuaded an attractive young lady to marry me.

Bureau of Meteorology