The legend of Bob

In the tourism industry in Papua New Guinea, he is a legend.

If you talk about opening up the country with light aircraft, the name Bob Bates will pop up.

Bob is a pioneer in nation-building. In Mount Hagen, where he lives, lapun Bob is a hero.

Fifty years ago this year, Bob took up flying in Papua New Guinea, at the South Pacific Aero in Lae.

With the skill of a pilot, and an eye for construction, Bob the builder took off and has never stopped circling the countryside.

Last December, before gathering friends, the 84-year-old legend celebrated his golden anniversary of flying by cutting his cake with his son Michael Bates.

Down at Kagamuga Airport, if you look closely among the planes, you will see a little balus named P2 BoB. That has been Bob’s air taxi for so many years.

When you thought someone in his 80s would be relaxing in the lounge of his hotel, Rondon Ridge, on the hillside of the Moge Agilka clan, no, Bob will be in the air current on short final for Lae or Madang or Wewak or even Mendi where he has tourism interests.

One of his closest ally present at the gathering was former Western Highlands Governor Paias Wingti, the comeback king of PNG politics.

An Australian, Bates first arrived in the Australian Territory in 1964 as a 24-year-old adventurer. He was an engineer with the Western Highlands administration. He later founded his own construction company.

Bates enjoyed a year in Port Moresby, five years in Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province, and spent a solid 53 years in Mt Hagen.

And he was fortunate that he learned his flight training in Papua New Guinea, getting licensed as a pilot in 1973 just as Air Niugini was born.

However, he bought a small airplane himself and used it for his own business.

Bates, ever the adventurer, also flew around the world in places like Australia, New Zealand, Kalahari Desert in Africa, and many more other countries.

He also went to Mt Wilhelm in Chimbu Province regularly and also flew to Mt Everest. He has clocked 11,000.

“People before me trained to become pilot probably they have died already and some must have got old but we enjoyed flying during these days,” Bates recalled.

In 1975 when the country gained independence from Australia, he started his Trans Niugini Tours operator company.

Five years later in 1980 he sold his civil engineering contractor business and concentrated on his tourism business ever since.

Bates owned seven lodges including Ambua Lodge in Tari, Hela Province, Rondon Ridge Lodge in Mt Hagen Western Highlands Province, the Spirit of Sepik, Karawari Lodge, Trans Niugini Tours and few others.

He described Papua New Guinea as one of the wonderful countries with its diversity and rugged mountains he flew over including the big valleys like the famous Waghi Valley.

As a token of appreciation to the Moge Agilka, Bates built a short cut route from the Holy Trinity Teachers College up to Rondon Ridge.

The road was built to his Lodge but it impacted the people a lot because they had seen that he fulfilled their cry for the road.