Wewak Next

My three weeks in the Territory are up and I phone Dave Scott in Port Moresby. He is surprised to hear I was only going to stay three weeks. He had asked Urs for a permanent electrician, not a temporary one. Naturally, he wants me to stay. (Another ‘porkie’ from Urs). I have come to like life in the Territory, so I agree to stay for at least three months. Dave is very happy with that. I ask him to get Urs to ship my car up from Brisbane, on company expenses, of course.

We stay another couple of weeks in Rabaul and when we have finished all the services, we return the hire car and book a flight to Wewak. Another Fokker Friendship takes us there and from the airport in Wewak we take a cab to town. We stay at the Wewak Hotel right at the end of town, which is built quite high above the ocean. We look down about 100m to the beach below. We move into our rooms and find a hire-car place.

The hotel at Wewak is up on Wewak Hill

At dinner time we walk into the dining room and Ted heads for a table with a chap sitting there already. Why can’t he pick an empty table?

Ted introduces us and the chap tells us his name as well. He is another traveling salesman in town trying to sell medical equipment to the medical practitioners and the hospital.

I’m from England, Ted announces. So am I, the salesman replies. 'Where abouts', he asks. Ted comes out with some unheard name of a small village in Surrey. This gets the other chap very excited, So am I he beams. I shudder, this is going to be very good. I wait.

That’s when Ted backs down, 'well no, he says, 'actually I am from the United States. My mother came from Surrey'. Nice one Ted.