Postcards from Goroka

My daughter and I are spending Christmas in Goroka, a place which is special to me, given my family's ties to this place since the 1960s.

Christmas at St John's Lutheran Church, West Goroka. My ties with this church go back to as far as 1975 as a child growing up here. My wife and I were also congregation members when we were here. My first son was baptised here.

Caught up with our bro Yalu Nagepu after Christmas Eve service at St John's Lutheran Church, West Goroka.

Taking my daughter for an evening walk at West Goroka...like I used to do with her mother...The Land of Eternal Spring...

This is the house at Rotary Park, West Goroka, where my wife and I lived in 1999 and 2000...so many memories...big house, three bedrooms, huge yard with garden, round house at the back...and just the two of us on those cold Goroka nights...

My daughter at the gate of the house at West Goroka we lived in 1975, 1976 and 1977...the Australian-built house is still standing, like many others in Goroka...

A lovely evening in West Goroka.

Cold misty morning...and I know I'm back in Goroka...

Rotary Park, West Goroka...still there after all these years...

Christmas greetings from Goroka to all my family and friends...one thing I love about this place is the beautiful flowers...

More pictures to come...

A road trip from Lae to Goroka

My daughter and I took a road trip from Laeto Goroka on Thursday, December 22, 2016.
I miss travelling the Highlands Highway, which was very much a part of life, when I worked with the Coffee Industry Corporation in Goroka between 1998 and 2002.
For my daughter, it was a completely new experience for her, and one which I'm sure she'll long cherish.
We started our drive from Lae at about 10am:

The recently-completed Lae-Nadzab Highway at 6-Mile outside Lae.

Bulolo Junction at 9-Mile.

The area at 11-Mile that was washed out recently.

Yalu Bridge.

Nadzab Airport Junction

Erap River.

Erap  Bridge.

Shady rain trees at Erap.

Our first stop was at the popular 40-Mile Marker for some fresh kulau (coconut)

Biomass project trees near 40-Mile.

Flats at Rumion heading towards Leron.

We had a short stop at Leron Market.

Leron.

Umi Bridge, so memories for me as a young reporter with Post-Courier in 1994, when it was ripped down by flood waters and crippled the Highlands...for weeks...

Having marafri (bananas cooked in coconut cream in clay pot over a wood fire) at Ragiampum village, Markham Valley, near the Kassam Pass, for lunch. A new experience for my daughter.

Watarais Junction with Ramu Sugar and Madang to right, Kainantu and Goroka straight ahead...

Yung Creek at the base of Kassam Pass.

My daughter and I on the top of Kassam Pass looking down to Ramu and Markham valleys.

At Yonki Dam.

Yonki Market with lots of tilapia fish for lunch...

Kainantu...'Mile High Gateway to the Highlands'.

Barola Hill, an area once infamous for armed build-up...

Henganofi Station.

Magnificent scenery, cool weather, heading to Goroka.

Korofeigu...always one of my favorite parts of the highway...

4.30pm: And I'm back in Goroka...a place I've never left...