MAKING VANIMO

I brought my young family from Sydney to Port Moresby in 1990 on a three-year work assignment for the national PNG telco. The capital city was a pretty rough back then. Friends back home thought we were mad and wondered if we’d come back alive – they’d read the usual worst stories of people being eaten, raped and robbed. I’d done some thorough research and reckoned it was an opportunity for the adventure of a lifetime, so we went for it, no worries!

After landing, we were picked up from Port Moresby airport and taken to our hotel. While driving the five kilometres to the hotel, a gang of armed robbers