I remember the time...
...in the TAA Mess seeing Capt Mal S. poor a beer down the piano when he hit a wrong note (which was frequently) during his rendition of "Yellow Bird"... Capt Guria fall off his bar stool whilst singing about his "Bready Basket" and talking about his "humble opinion"... and Jumbo Dave making the ceiling fans turn the wrong way... many, many times
... when all that was required in getting a PNG driving licence was to reverse the Morobe Police Supt's car from the kitchen door to the bar door at the TAA Mess whilst it was raining!
... when the Lae Manager of TAA had to come around to the Mess at some ungodly hour in the mornings to close the bar! Some inconsiderate people were complaining about the noise.
... when we had to provide names of all attendees at parties in any of the dongas (proved interesting reading at times!)
... when you were told by Mess resident female staff the next morning of the subject of your slide show was the previous night. Blush Blush.
... of the amount of fund raising we did to build that pool at the Mess (and I never got to use it due to transfer to MEL)
... when Lae airstrip was closed and we had to use Nadzab for the DC6B. I think it's the only flight I've had (LAE-NZB) where the taxiing times were longer than the flight time. Where Check-in, ATC, etc. were all under canvas and the bloody DC6B skippers used to love turning so that we received the full benefit of their exhaust!!!
... when it took 2 days to drive LAE - HGU (before Kagamuga was even thought of) and having to be towed by 'dozer over the Kassam Pass.
... of being a Cabin Attendant on a DC3 charter from POM to Minj full of single ladies for the Whagi Valley Ball at the Minj Golf Club. The only time I've seen lady wall flowers. We called all the females ladies in those days! By breakfast time a few of the guys had fallen asleep (how strange) in chairs just a few yards in front of the main doors of the club and a few other guys had bets to see who could miss these guys with a tee shot off the top of a XXXX stubby - also without breaking the bottle. No guys hit and no bottles broken. Beds were palliasses in the local government office so the Capt (Peter C.) and F/O (John B.) decided to go to HGU for a sleep. They forgot to leave the catering stuff behind so we had to clean that on their return - thus running pretty close to last light on the return flight to POM. Who cared - we had the ladies?!
... when I hadn't loaded the barf bags on the last leg from GKA to LAE early on Monday morning. A guy was struggling to keep his weekends drink/food down and all I could find was a clear cellophane chip/crisp bag. It did the job but he wouldn't give it to me to dispose of as his false teeth was in it. I can still smell Buka Meri!!
You can guess I was based mainly in Lae... and all this happened in the mid 1960's.
I'll stop raving now.
Cheers