Lae PNG - Living conditions

[nomorecatering]

Posting for someone else.

Is considering an application with ANC for a basing in Lae and was wondering about what its like living in Lae.

PNG websites dont prove much value for this info.

is it reasonably modern, with banks, shops, supermarkets etc.

Entertainment - pubs, bars

Safety, does lay have the same problems as Port Moresbly with gangs nd viloence/crime etc.

[troppo]

Today's Cover Story...www.thenational.com.pg
Lae stand-off

By PETER KORUGL
PNG’s second city, Lae, was thrown into chaos yesterday amid fears of yet another ethnic war between people from two Highlands provinces. About 300 angry mud-smeared Engans wielding bush knives, sticks and iron bars marched from Kamkumung to Eriku oval in Lae city to protest the killing of one of their tribesmen by the driver and crew of a PMV bus last Saturday.
Western Highlanders, who own most of the PMV buses operating in Lae, withdrew their vehicles from the city roads yesterday fearing retaliation and also to demand police intervention to retrieve 11 25-seater PMV buses that were forcefully taken from them by the Engans.
The city has been in fear for a week now following the raid by 1,000 Unitech students on Sept 30, which left four families without homes and thousands of kina worth of properties destroyed.
Lae residents and Morobeans have, this week, called for the expulsion of illegal settlers as a result of constant violence in and around the city precincts.
Yesterday, tension was high about a possible ethnic clash between Engans and Western Highlanders over the death of a man identified as Keken Karapen of Kupin village in Wabag, Enga province.
Karapen succumbed to injuries he sustained during an argument over the non-payment of a 50t bus fare last Saturday.
In a move reminiscent of Port Moresby early in August, PMV operators pulled their buses off the road as early as 8am and stayed away all day to await the outcome of a meeting between the two conflicting parties at Eriku later in the day.
The shutdown on the public transport system affected schools, Government departments and businesses as well as ordinary people who were not able to do their shopping and marketing.
Many students turned up late for classes while employees turned up late for work. Many of the students and workers preferred to stay at home as they were not sure whether the PMVs would be back on the road in the afternoon.
Lae police yesterday brokered a peace meeting between the two groups.
In that meeting, Engans demanded for K150,000 in compensation from the Western Highlanders.
Both parties agreed to meet again next Saturday, and settle some of the compensation demand.
Addressing the peace meeting, Lae Metropolitan commander Supt Simon Kauba reminded everyone that Lae city did not belong to any particular ethnic group.
He said it was not right for people to mobilise in provincial groups and address problems.
“If you want to do that, go back home; you do not belong here.
“People from all over Papua New Guinea live here and, when you do these things, everyone suffers. Many of them are the innocent people,” Mr Kauba said.

Yeah banks and shops are available if you don't mind standing in the queue for hours on end with the unwashed.
You won't find better night clubs any where in the world
Stay away from the post office

On the bright side, the yachtie, the fishing and the flying. Tell ya mate to go visit for himself...

Did I tell the story about the bottle of vegetable oil, the compound and the hash run? :E

[chimbu warrior]

But of course the real entertainment is the drive to and from Nadzab every day. You'll find that REALLY interesting.

[Woomera]

........ Provided you drive a fully armed Ferret Scout Car!!!

Eh, Chimbu! :}

nomorecatering, the good days are gone forever. Forget Lae and PNG.

Sunny Woomera

[Captain Nomad]

Posting 'for someone else' hey? I have often wondered about that line...:hmm:

PNG has always been a place to sort the men from the boys - and you will need balls of steel for the flying as well as the living - every day is a new adventure...!

I guess it's good for some and others would take the first flight outta here and in some ways you wouldn't blame them!

As far as transport goes I think the mob in question (it's NCA by the way) actually contracts a security vehicle for the ride out to Nadzab now...

[dwarfhunter]

As previously advised, worst part is the 45 minute drive over the pot holes to the airport. You can pass the time by counting them, but you need a calculator with more than 8 digits.
Good Luck, any vehicle with a titanium shell and bullet proof glass would be OK.

[Bagot_Community_Locator]

Stay away from the post office

Isn't that where the best women are ?:p

[Sexual Chocolate]

Interesting (and also quite funny) to note that Eriku Oval, as mentioned in troppo's article, is only a 30 second walk from the shops, supermarkets, etc - as inquired about in NMC's post. Not only that but also an easy 2 minutes drive from the compound of the company in question! He he he! How's that for an answer?

But seriously, I mean - where else in the world are flight crew presented with the opportunity to go to the shops for a bottle of milk, and then completely enexpectedly, find that they also get free front row seats to an imminent tribal war at the very same time? Like to see something that cool in Voyeur's 'Virgin Staff' section.....

NMC - when NCA included a line in their recruitment add saying 'the living in PNG is a challenge - the flying in PNG is a challenge', they weren't kidding. But if this other person genuinely thinks they're up for a walk on the wild side, tell them to stop getting their friends to post on prune, and go visit NCA for a look at the place!

[feelerup]

Don't go unless you need a job, PNG is a land of uneducated savages looking for an opportunity for a spot of crime.
If you don't want the female members of your family gang raped leave them at home.

[Chimbu chuckles]

What a shame...there was a time not so long ago that Lae was a great spot to live...ok it was nearly 20 years ago when I lived there:uhoh:

When we first moved operations from Lae to NZ (a VERY sad day:( ) we used to get sick of waiting for the crew bus in the afternoon...the driva bois were inevitably late...probably using the company buses as PMVs to make a few kina on the side...anyway someone discovered that the rental car companies needed cars delivered back into town:E

Us Talair pilots, being civic minded fellows, offered to help them out:ok:

In very short order, being a naturally competitive bunch, there ensued a 'time trial' over the distance between the airport turnoff and Marty's dad's house opposite the Golf Club...40 something kms.

My personal best was 17.5 minutes if memory serves but that time was beaten by someone...probably Marty who set the first record in his father's Range Rover, with 4 or 5 of us on board, at around 19 or 20 minutes from memory.

There were of course close calls and at least one minor accident...but you get that in any great undertaking. I remember a 'trophy picture' of PK sitting on the somewhat dented drivers side front quarter panel and a trip through a service station just outside town at approx 80-100kph with BJ when someone stepped out in front of us...we went right under the roof and out the other side in the blink of an eye:D

There was also a scientific study carried out by Muddy and Boffner into exactly how fast you needed to be travelling before the Hawkes, feeding on road kill, could not get out of your way and a successful bird strike was possible...cannot remember the spead but it was way north of 100km/h:D

Then Mudgaurd bought one of those slingshots that are illegal...the ones with the forearm strap..and sniping became the game, small ball bearings being the projectile of choice.

As you can possibly imagine...we didn't have too many problems with rascals:ok:

Even in those far off halcyon days there were no go areas...the Botanical Gardens for instance...but in general we lived a very pleasant life with our young families.

The flying was second to none, the yachty our temple and most, if not all, the chinese restaurants let us back in again eventually after someones 'Otter Shout' or 'Bandit shout' led to a drunken food fight or to someone spraying mace into the aircon as we left...that was Marty too:D

You know life's good when the CP autographs his dent from putting the company Falcon station wagon in a rain barret driving home pissed in a tropical downpour:ok:

[Captain Nomad]

Ahh Chimbu - them must have been the days...!

There have been many places I have been to and thought 'how magical it must have been in its heyday!' Sadly, some of those places now look like ruins...

I think PNG is even more of a challenging place than ever now with the additional logistical problems of security, fuel availability, messed up weather patterns, poorly maintained airstrips, poor communication facilities (less radios in bush places), completely unreliable weather forecasts (if available at all), no road access to places where there once were roads. If ever there was a country that needs aviation it's PNG. Many places are really crying out for aerial services.

Feelerup, your comments are a bit of an unfair generalisation. There are many good national people up here as well as the raskols. Heck, if you visit the place it is very likely you will even have a national crew running your flight - bit harsh to call them uneducated savages waiting for a crime opportunity. You can avoid a lot of problems just by using some common sense too.

[tinpis]

PNG has always been a place to sort the men from the boys - and you will need balls of steel for the flying as well as the living -
Well this was a bit of a problem ....it led to interference with the compass and was the main reason some of us were lost most of the time :rolleyes:

[Pinky the pilot]

some of us were lost most of the time

Tinpis; You know better than that!:= We were never lost, just 'temporarily unsure of present position':ok: :E

[tinpis]

Pinky

Yep something like

"Madang CMW is ops normal on the hour holding in the Porgera area one zero thousand.....ah...will call ops normal at time three zero "

Yers..totally feckin lost.:uhoh:

[Chimbu chuckles]

Tinny that was what the CAO28 exemption was for....a licence to be temporarily geographically embarrassed and afraid...and we got paid extra:}

Life/flying in PNG= Life/flying stripped bare of BS.:ok:

[Pinky the pilot]

"Madang CMW is ops normal on the hour holding in the Porgera area one zero thousand.....ah...will call ops normal at time three zero "



Tinny; You got it a bit wrong! It was'nt CMW but SAB and I was down past Oram, talking to Moresby FS.:} :( :E

[Torres]

Pinky, musta been a bloody long time ago.

The SAB I knew was a C402 and went into the Ramu River, around 30 years ago!! Pilot Mike Grant was quick - didn't even get wet!! :}

So long ago, even Tinnie was in short pants!!!

[tinpis]

Tinny wernt in short pants in fact was enroute Wewak to Goroka in another 402 at the time and heard Mike (soon to be "Ramu") Grant going in to Annaberg
I remember I thunk at the time , Geezaz ..Cheungy the old bastard has conned some poor bugger into taking a 402 in there :ooh:
By the time I landed at Goroka it was all over the company radio....:hmm:

31 years ago Torres

[Pinky the pilot]

Torres; T'was late 1991 and then SAB was a Simbu BN2. (Ex DZ BN2 DNB)

The R/H engine had been put together using time expired/worn out parts from the DZ scrap heap just to be able to sell the aircraft.:eek: :}

It actually lasted over 500 hrs before coming apart in a big way one day when I was coming back from Kamulai.:eek: :{ :E