Driving around Lae, Morobe Province

[Stefan A]

Roundwater!

I never swam across it, but we jumped a 90cc postie bike into it repeatedly until it would no longer start.

I think it was on a day when we were bored with the BMX track at the showground, or not smokin and drinkin in the junior locker room at the golf course.

Stefan A

[drobbo]

Originally Posted by aussie

When you fly into Lae, you have to land at Nadzab airport which is some 40 minutes drive out of the town centre depending on the state of the roads.

Welcome to Nadzab Airport :

I remember flying into Nadzab and the pilot having to abort the landing while a man was apprehended walking along the tarmac. He told the authorities that he thought it was a road. God I miss the innocence of the place. Shame, I was too young to appreciate it at the time.

["xtc"]

I dunno what all the fuss is about the Raun Wara not being a safe place to swim in. We used to swim around there in the late 60s and early 70s, best place to be after school and the weekends. If I remember correctly there was a 44 gallon drum halved lengthwise we used to paddle about in during those wonder years. Some of the kids even had fishing lines in to try to catch the talapia.

However when I visited again during the 80s and 90s the council or provincial government had let the sylvania weeds and plastic bags and bottles cover the whole "raun wara".

Then recently (? 2-3 years ago) the governor Luther Wenge and the city council decided to clean up the pool again. Kids are now swimming and fishing in it again and wild ducks, pelicans and Ibis are there. There is still a lot that can be done to turn the raun wara into a beautiful park and I guess the same can be said of the once beautiful Lae Botanic Gardens (which used to be one of South Pacific's greatest gardens).

[Ex Lae Paul]

Originally Posted by aussie

When you fly into Lae, you have to land at Nadzab airport which is some 40 minutes drive out of the town centre depending on the state of the roads.

Welcome to Nadzab Airport :

Nadzab was constructed from an old military airport while I worked in Lae. I think it opened 1978. Doesn't seem like 30 yrs ago. I must come back some time and see what Lae is like now.

[Lucy22]

Lived in Lae from 1997 - 2001 great adventure and would have to say Madang is the place Id love to live. Worked for a company and owned a business now Im in New Zealand with my own busness but looking for any oppotuninty to get back there! PNG is a great teacher!

[nette]

I was born in Lae in 1967. My mother was surprised to find out that I still feel like Lae is home because we came finish in 1974. She assumed that because I'd been brought up in Oz since then (apart from a 2 year stint on Bougainville during which I came down here to school) that I was home in Australia. I will always miss Lae and never be an Aussie. I had the best childhood there and still wish I could have given my kids that upbringing.

[tonester]

Originally Posted by nette

I will always miss Lae and never be an Aussie. I had the best childhood there and still wish I could have given my kids that upbringing.

I feel exactly the same. Except I did most of my primary schooling in Lae during the 70's.
You can still give your kids that "ex-pat PNG" upbringing, but it has to be in Moresby or anywhere but Lae at the moment. I'm doing it as I type. I gave up one of the best jobs in the world to do it as well.

You would be very disappointed in Lae as it is today. The only thing that remains the same is location, greeness from the rain, the weather and the potholes.

Tony

[nette]

It's sad that Lae has changed, but I guess it happens everywhere. All children deserve to have a place like that to grow up in.

Sadly, my kids are grown now and, because I made the mistake of marrying a boring Australian male, have never had the opportunity to travel like we did. My son, like his father, is somewhat adverse to change, though he did enjoy a cruise that he did with his girl around the South Pacific. However, if he does travel any further, it will be because she motivates him. My daughter and I plan to move to the UK to be with my mother in 2 years because we are well and truly over this country and she, like me, needs more from life.

[Shay]

Thanks to Aussie for posting these photographs, they really do bring back happy memories. I was in Lae from 1992 - 2000, and I enjoyed every day of it. I would love to go back there again to stay another few years if possible, if not, I'd just make do with a holiday sometime soon.

[Tess Perth]

we lived around the corner from Roun Wara. i used to go fishing there with my younger brother Rommel and my friend from LIPS Angela Robertson and her older brother David (back in '85 & '86). we swam in there once and came out so muddy that we got in trouble with Mum when we got home so we never swam in there again! didn't stop us from looking from snakes though....

Tess (Anna)

Originally Posted by aussie

Lake near the Lae Showgrounds :

I was dared to swim across this pond when I was about 10. I did it. Not sure who was there at the time, but it was quite dagerous, as the weed was very long and close to the surface. I was was aware of it the whole 150 metres I assure you. Hope my son never does this **** for a dare. Like I have proved here, I can't even remember who dared me 25 years later young and stupid.

Has anyone else swum across the Round Water?

This is not a dare. Don't ever attempt it.

Shane