I too lived in Madang and Mt.Hagen in the 70's and they were indeed the best days of my life. The work was fun, the rest was hard work and even "orly" was great. Many a time I staggered out of the Hagen Park in the wee hours, after a session with the Phantom, to be helped to my feet by someone in arse-grass asking "haus bilong yu we', masta?" and pointing me in roughly the right direction.
The last time I was there (1993) the place had Israeli barbed wire, guards and huge steel gates...truly a shame.
I have to say that, when I arrived in the early seventies, the guys who had been there awhile often lamented "You shoulda been here 5 years ago, it was great then" and I remember saying the same thing to people who arrived in the early '80's. The guys there today are probably saying the same thing. I guess that just shows that there has been a steady decline in conditions there for the last 30 years. It also shows that people make of it what they can. I am sure that even those who are there now will eventually leave the place with many fond memeories...sadly they will probably also have many more bad memories than us oldies.
Bad as it may be there is a lot to be said for Colonialism.
