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will give us more time for our higher elevation transects.
Laurie Crowley, owner of Crowley Airways and the best "bush pilot" in
New Guinea (than which there is no higher accolade!), shoe-horned Ru, me,
and the rest of our collecting gear into his Aztec, and in seconds we
winged down the runway and over the bow of the Jap freighter still
sticking above the waters of the Huon Gulf. Our flight was made in
cloudless skies, but off to port (north) we could see just a bit of early
morning cloud forming over the remotes Saruwageds. The Cromwell Mountains,
their most easterly extension, were clear in the morning sun, and we had
a beautiful view of the Rawlinson Range, rising steeply out of the Gulf,
as we flew east paralleling its forested flanks. As we approached the
mouth of the Mongi River, Laurie, flying at about 6000 feet, changed
course to the northeast, crossed a high ridge west of the river, and then
followed the Mongi north for a few miles until the tiny east-west airstrip
at Pindiu came into sight. Encircled by hills it is the usual one-way, one-
chance landing strip! Laurie made it look easy. Stan was there to greet
us, and was busily taking moving pictures of the plane's arrival.
The Corporal of the Pindiu Patrol Post had our cargo taken down to
a very good "timber house" at one corner of the runway. We spent the rest
of the morning "lining up" and sorting our gear. Pindiu will be our
supply base for a good part of the expedition. It is less than thirty
minutes flight from Lae, and the local Patrol Officer has been asked by the
District Commissioner and the A. D. O. in Lae to give us all possible help.
However, this is New Guinea, and an hour's walk from an airstrip puts you
on your own! Ru and STan were both feeling crook so we took an early break
and walked west along the strip, and up the hill past the house kiap to our