Didn't mean to impune your good name Pete...whatever else I have been convinced by your old nemisis at PNGALPA that you are an honourable old cuss...even if we didn't agree always...guess I owe you several beers at the reunion now
He still appreciates greatly that you were so thoughtfull as to facilitate his departure from PX in such a mutually beneficial manner
More aghast than anything else.
I did develope a fairly strong sense of self preservation and an extreme lack of tolerance for those that would do harm to my loved ones...I would agree however that I seem to be the lucky bastard these things always happen to...you should all thank me for keeping the heat off
I still maintain that carrying a handgun in PNG was a good idea...but I can accept that locked inside a welded wire cage in a huge truck ponderously navigating the Okuk Highway while being 'taxed' at every turn/cutting would probably work also...your brother must have the patience of a saint to watch a significant % of every uninsured load 'evaporate' between the bottom of the Kassam Pass and Mt Hagen.
The police forces in PNG are useless...sooner or later the Oz chaps will give up in disgust and they won't be able to find volunteers to go up there anymore.....they will be effectively nobled whichever way...hamstrung by the rules of engagement, unable to fullfill their purpose.
Pete...don't worry I bet those Monks deserved both barrells
PS. re Ela Beach School...is that because Murray and Boroko East etc have closed down/reduced classes due lack of teachers causing consolidation...or because expat numbers are on the rise? Not calling you a liar but I would have to see statistics of an incontrevertable nature before believing that expat numbers are greater than they were 10 yrs ago. Or are parents not prepared to drive so far to take their children to areas of Port Moresby that are less secure than downtown...or are the expats now mostly made up of Malaysians and Phillipinos with fewer Kiwis, Ozzies, poms etc?
I'd be the first person to shout GREAT if PNGs problems were reversed and the place became a flourishing economy filled with a happy local and expat population living well and safely enjoying all that one of the most beautifull places on this earth has to offer...attracting masses of foriegn tourists to what had/has the potential to be the best destination in the Pacific.
I just don't think it's going to happen...it took them 13+ yrs to beat that hope out of me and then I left....oddly enough with tears in my eyes.
Give the average grass roots PNG citizen what they deserve and desperately want...make PNG a Mandated Territory again....undo the disastrous last 30 yrs. Would you suggest Peter that they wouldn't be better off...would anyone?
I thought I'd end on a happy note...remember that time you and I raced your yacht two up?
Had some great times in PNG...even being shot at wasn't enough to send me packing.
And Pete perhaps you can tell me why a dedicated air freight service has yet to flourish replacing trucks...surely it would be vastly cheaper/ tonne than trucks given how much of each load doesn\'t get to the destination? Wouldn\'t it be great to see a venarable old Dak lumbering up to Goroka, Hagen etc loaded with tonnes of stuff..which all gets there rather than being distributed FOC throughout the various highland provinces?
Would have thought it a great joint venture with your brother after your retirement from the F28...Sharpes Air Freight Express...you could have painted a hand giving \'the bird\' under one wing and \'Fck You All\' in big letters under the other
