Introduction

Madang. Tropical wonder town on Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) North Coast is home to a varied collection of villages, pottery, escapes and azure seas. A sweet town, on a coral peninsular, the main hotel then was the Smuggler’s Inn and it invokes Paradise. Any trip to PNG is perfect if you visit Madang as its’ lovely climate, local villages and nearby islands are sure to please. The people of Madang are gentle, friendly and a nearby village makes fabulous pottery by hand. This is Bil Bil village where the women sit on the bare earth, “tap, tap, tapping,” clay with paddles against their palms, until the bulbous pots form. They inlay the lips of the pots with remarkable designs. Why you would runaway in such a place is beyond my comprehension today but events were such that, as a young boy, I ran into the night.

Smugglers Inn

Image via Wikipedia

It’s unusual that a hotel would rate a mention in stories of the South Seas. Smuggler’s Inn, Madang, though was just sensational. Then ultramodern for PNG, the hotel overlooked sweeping seas, with an alfresco dining room to die for. The Inn had clean, modern air-conditioned rooms tucked amongst verdant gardens filled with exotic flowers and calling birds of every hue. My mother ran air charters into Madang, in the seventies, which were always popular.

We all flew there in old World War II DC3 airplanes, unpressurised beasts that still had canvas seats for troops. It was the cheapest way to fly there from the capital. Those air charters were a hit with expatriates in Port Moresby, at the time, and those flights were always jam packed. You could stay at Smuggler’s Inn or any variety of hotels in this gorgeous destination but Smuggler’s Inn was the best. Thirty years ago in this remote land it was well above world class.

A Friend in Need

My parents were friends with Captain Stormer, a seaman who lived in Madang with his wife and their two sons, Damian and Dorian. The boys were my age, so our folk thought that we could play. I was friendly enough with the lads, so Captain Stormer suggested my brother and I stay over the night, at their place. I didn’t give it much thought – I trying to adjust to just being there as it was the second night in town.  That evening we were dropped at the Stormer’s house, my brother and I shared dinner with the family then it was time to go to sleep. I felt uneasy. I much preferred the luxury accommodation at Smugglers Inn. My parents, I found out later, wanted rid of us for a night so they could have time to themselves; you know how it is when you have kids, they seem to always be there demanding stuff and oft times your marriage suffers.