Like all good things coming to an end, so was the ninth Earthrounders meeting in Mount Hagen, PNG. We had been the guests of Bob and Pauline.

Twenty seven Earthrounders, relatives and friends came from all over the World.
After welcoming all, CM, following a tradition started by Frank Haile, called the names of Earthrounders and Earthrounders to-be that left us since the last meeting in Saint Petersburg.

They were:
Jim Hazelton,
Babar and Harry Suleman,
Geraldine Mock,
Don Taylor,
Mikail Farikh,

The days were, as in other Meetings, divided in 2 halves with excursions and conferences and speeches. We saw the ‘Skeleton Men’, the xxxx. We saw how fire can be made in less than one minute by rubbing sticks of wood and finally we were shown how face paintings were made, together with a dance and singing group of men and women in local dancing costumes.
During the discussions, the future of the association was questioned and it was resolved to continue as an ‘unformal’ group rather than a conventional ‘incorporated’ one.
CM retraced the origin of the group when he met with the late Hans Gutmann (RTW 1996) in Vienna, Austria in 1998. A meeting was then planned to take place during the Oshkosh 2000 Air Show. During those 2 years Margi Moss, found and invited nearly 50 pilots having flown around the World. An Internet Site was planned and subsequent meetings were to take place every 2 years or so. The rest is history with meetings in Perth in Western Australia, Vienna in Austria, Mexico City in Mexico, Johannesburg in South Africa, Brasília in Brazil, Orlando in Florida, Saint Petersburg in Russia and now Mount Hagen in PNG.
Several Earthrounders did retrace their flights, giving details and information.
Trackers were studied between the cheap but working ‘Spot’, the more sophisticated 'Delorme' and superior ‘Spider Track’. Those last 2 models having the advantage of being able to be used to send messages as well as tracking the unit.
A ‘board’ was to be appointed to help the Web Master. CM explained how to ‘continue’ the Web Site after he may ‘fall of the perch’ and how finance would then be made available.
Finally, it was time to decide where to hold the next meeting. After some discussion, it was decided to accept Wei Chen’s invitation to hold the meeting in China in 2018.
A final diner did close the meeting. Our host Bob was presented with a plaque by 2 young ladies and finally he was presented with a replica of his faithfull Baron P2-BOB by Margi Moss. The flag of the Earthrounders was handled to Wei Chen by Bob Bates and finally the Web Master CM was presented by CarrolAnn Garratt with woven bird ‘falling of its perch’.

A remarquable meeting in an extraordinary surroundings.

Many thanks to our host Bob, to Pauline and all their staff.