Weekends in Hagen

All my life I’ve been spoiled with access to country getaways. As a child, the excitement of visiting my grandparents’ farm in the Western District of Victoria was a joy reserved for Christmas and Easter. More recently, my man and I relished city life in our beloved Melbourne town but would escape to his parents’ property in Romsey for some country air. To get away in PNG, I go ap antap.
I might have mentioned already that Mt Hagen town is not really all that much to look at. Just a few dusty main streets crawling with locals entering and exiting basic trade stores and kai (food) bars, footpaths stained red with buai (betel nut spit) and roads badly in need of repair. In stark contrast, just 15 minutes’ drive away, Haus Poroman Lodge perches on the side of verdant Mt Kuta and is my little piece of sanity. In fact, some days, the thought of a pending trip ap antap (literally “up on top”) is what keeps me here.
Despite the fact that it’s still the wet season, most days are sunny and mild in Mt Hagen. And you can pretty much set your watch by the rain – about 4.30pm. So when a group of friends and I do our last-Sunday-of-the-month early morning walk up to the lodge, we’re pretty much guaranteed almost an entire day of sunshine in one of the most picturesque settings you could dream of.
But the walk from town up the mountain is no stroll. Sure, the first four kilometres or so are a breeze – no incline – just a trek past hordes of smiling families in their Sunday best, walking in the opposite direction towards their weekly lotu (church) worship. Then you get out of the city limits and start seeing some of the roundhouses and kunai grass thatched huts peppering the landscape. Finally, the asphalt ends and the last hour of walking is a cardio nightmare if you’re trying to beat last month’s time and not trip on the large rocks on the mountain track in the process. After sikirap maket (‘scratch’ market – because the vendors scratch out a spot on the ground), beyond the local church and primary school and just past the lodge’s generator house, the entry appears on your right and a valley fit for an Impressionist-era painter opens out to the left. A village shelter sits just outside the main entrance and so arriving visitors can often catch a glimpse of an inter-clan court proceeding or local kids mastering the art of rolling tyre rims around with sticks in the dirt. The entrance is at the top of the hill and so a quick descent around a corner and into the grounds lays the entire lodge village bare below. Little roundhouse accommodation rooms surround a central traditional main thatched lodge and meticulously maintained tiered gardens filled with poinsettia trees (nothing is pot-plant-sized here, guys!), orchids and greenery frame the pathways at every turn. The main lodge serves as a dining room and lounge area surrounding a central fireplace, where visitors are often found with their feet up and an SP lager in hand. Wood, wood, wood is everywhere. Sepik carvings of crocodiles, shields and arrows adorn the walls and only some of it is for sale. Smiling staff potter about and offer regular chances to improve your Tok Pisin. On walking Sundays, we enjoy cold glasses of cucumber and pineapple juice around a solid slab table on arrival before venturing outside for volleyball and soccer with the kids. Lunch is a must and, for the truly adventurous, the walk to a nearby waterfall might be a little hazardous but if you fancy an icy swim to cool off, then it’s bliss!
So if you haven’t all gathered by now – I think you’re all MAD if you don’t take the opportunity to visit while I’m here!!! I’m pretty sure you can guess where Nick and I will be staying when he arrives in 40 sleeps!! (But who’s counting?) ;)
Ap antap pics...

A typical Highlands view on a Sunday walk complete with PNG washing line

Mumu haus win: an outdoor house under which a mumu (typical Highlands feast) is cooked. Traditionally pig, sweet potato, greens, taro, corn, etc. are wrapped in banana leaves and left to steam in a hole placed on top of hot coals. The hole is positioned under the haus win

One of the lodge workers - a local elder and medicine woman - preparing a mumu

Me with friend Bernadine - Haus Poroman Lodge manager and daughter of Maggie Wilson (of First Contact fame)