Irian Jaya (West Papua) in 1992

One of the great attractions of working in the Middle Eastern desert was the amount of time off. As well as short (2-3 week) breaks every few months, there was an extended time off after about a year. My first “long vacation” was October through December 1992, and I joined a Trekforce expedition to Irian Jaya, now called Papua, the Indonesian half of the island known as New Guinea

Trekforce (now Trek-Papua) organized the 1992 expedition such that paying participants, such as myself, helped fund various scientific projects while volunteering alongside the scientists. It was a large group with several different research projects.

The trip started with some orientation on the coast. This included some survival training and some down time.

In the interior, we set up a base camp. We constructed a main shelter and latrines, working with Indonesians and the local indigenous people. We had time to explore the area which was remote, unmapped, and wild with rickety bridges over the rivers. I think this was in the Baliem Valley.

A subset of the group hiked further up into the mountains, to help with some research at Lake Habbema. On Google Maps, there is now a Lake Habbema Car Park, but it was very, very remote in 1992. One of our tasks was mapping the trail with a very early, rudimentary GPS. We discovered that a mountain was placed incorrectly on a map, so we say we moved a mountain. We set up our satellite base camp near Lake Habbema and explored around the lake when not involved in the scientific work.

The main research that I helped with was investigating water mites with Dr Roy Wiles from the University of Buckingham. We collected water samples from the lake, identified the water mites, and then he examined them closely to identify the species. We found many new species and Dr Wiles named them after the project members. So I have a species of watermite named after me: Corticacrus irelandi. This is described in this 1997 scientific paper about the water miles of New Guinea.

At the end of the trip, the locals roasted a pig for us:

While I was fortunate to take lots of photographs, I unfortunately did not write a journal or take notes. I only remember a few names: Paul Richards (expedition doctor), Ros Portway, and Pam McGrath (from Australia). Pam’s parents worked security at the Australian embassy in Moscow, and we all met up there for a vacation.

This was an amazing adventure. My main regret is not having more records to help me remember!