Love At First Sight

I believe I am one of the most luckiest person, besides my best friend ('TJ') to be actually living and working out of the island of Samarai, Papua New Guinea. The first time I saw Samarai Island was when I visited with my father in 1980 who just got transferred from Port Moresby. I was on school holidays then...............and regretted it. Not that I hated it but because I was not to live there the next two years, as both my parents connived to have me complete my 6th grade in Port Moresby.

You see my father was with the Department Of Transports, Marine Division as a Marine Surveyor and was transferred to Milne Bay Province, based on Samarai Island. I suppose he was based there instead of the main centre Alotau, because three of Milne Bay Province's slipways at the time were located within it's vicinity and along the main domestic shipping route of China Strait.

The six weeks christmas holidays was a blur (come to think of it) but I remember well that I tried to do everything all at once in one day - especially the swimming. In fact I got very sick when I came back to Port Moresby and my mother being a woman of very strong personal opinion decided Samarai was not the place to be for the whole family and insisted my father seek to transfer back to Port Moresby!!! One reason I had to recover quickly to suppress her fears.

We moved and took up resident on Samarai in end of December 1981, my mother, two sisters and two smaller brothers and I went on to attend Cameron High School in Alotau the next year 1982.

We eventually moved to Samarai and took up residency on the 20th January 1982, and I got registered to attend the Cameron High School (at the time a premier high school) in Alotau.

The island's laidback lifestyle and the beauty of it's people is worth mentioning many times over, those in the past, those who passed through on a visit, those who have come to live on it and those who still live there, literally and in their memories.

See some old photo's here from ex-residents with fond memories.

- Photo's of Samarai '83 -84 and some recent ones.

- Old Samarai. Tales of time gone by

Some interesting links here you must follow to gain more insight of the island. I suggest you follow their links too - some are truly fascinating:

- Milne Bay Province. A facebook group formed for those who have connections with the province

- Samarai Isle. Facebook for people who have connections with Samarai Island

- Jack Medley. Who lived on the island a teenager and was married there. Read some fascinating stories of yester-Samarai