Growing up in the highlands of Papua New Guinea in the 1960's and 1970's was really an enjoyable and unique experience for me as child. The Asaroka Lutheran High School campus was the area that our family lived. My dad was the headmaster of this school whilst we were living in Papua New Guinea. I often remember spending hours of my free time after school riding bicycles, climbing the trees and small cliffs around my home, spending time with my 2 brothers and friends, (both European and local P.N.G.friends.) I also spent many hours generally interacting with the people in the local areas. Having learnt the local language, "Tok Pisin" as a child made it easier to communicate with the local people.
  
 It was a time of carefree experiences that involved making our own fun and entertainment. A common occurrence was having our four wheel drive Landover, stuck on the road on our trips between Goroka and Asaroka High School. We use to spend time pushing the vehicle out of the deep ruts on the roads and then continuing on our way. Sometimes the roads were very muddy during the wet season.

 During the wet season the rain arrived about 3.30pm each day and poured for about an hour. As quick as it came, the rain disappeared leaving the sun shining and warming up the surrounding bush and vegetation. Towards the end of the 1960s' the roads were graded and resurfaced, making them easier to drive on each day. We travelled to Goroka town each day for schooling, which was a half hour to forty minutes drive.   

There was no television and we had local light power only. Our power for the lighting of the school came from a large diesel powered generator that operated between 6.00pm and 10pm each day. Sometimes the power went out early due to a mechanical fault in the engine. This left us all in the dark searching for the kerosene pressure lanterns. These types of experiences made it a completely different lifestyle than what was experienced by the people in Australia at the time.

 Tree Houses
Building trees houses in the tall trees near our house at the Asaroka High School was something that caught the imagination of all us young children. (This happened in the late 1960's) Some of the tree houses were very well built as they had a floor, walls and a roof. Others were just a basic platform and all were made using local timbers. Hammer and nails were used to build them. Occasionally someone fell down from one of these tree houses, resulting in cuts and bruises. It was amazing there were no broken bones on those who fell down. Our parents often said to be careful, even though they knew the risk of injury. They encouraged us to enjoy ourselves,    

Butterflies
There was a time when some of us at Asaroka High School took an interest in catching butterflies. This was done by using butterfly nets and it took some skill as some varieties of butterflies were harder to catch than others. There were so many different types of butterflies and the ranges of colours were incredible. To this day, there are some butterfly collections hanging on the wall in the staff room at the Asaroka High School. On our recent trips to P.N.G. I have not noticed so many around at the school; however they may be more common in different times of the year.  

The Earthquake  
The evening when we had a large earthquake at Asaroka was an experience that I will never forget. It happened in the year 1970, and during the early hours of the morning. We were all sleeping when all of a sudden there was a large jolt. We had been struck by a large earthquake. The house moved back and forth, some of the different things fell out of the shelves, with a large rumble noise heard beneath us. Yes, it was a 7.5 Richter rating and lasted for about 1 to 2 minutes. I ran outside fearing that the house would collapse. Others stayed inside, being more confident of the structure of our house. (All the buildings at Asaroka are of a wooden construction, so they appear to be fairly flexible.) Even though all the school was shaken badly by the earthquake, none of the buildings at the school ever collapsed. We thank God all was ok; a little shaken up as a result of the experience. For the next few weeks after this we experienced more earthquakes. They were not as large as the first one.

 During this period of time there were some other areas of P.N.G that also experienced earthquakes. A few of the trees in these areas were partially swallowed up by the ground moving, opening up and cracking the surface of the ground.  
               To be continued…….