Come along with me on a typical mornings worth of flying, and perhaps you'll discover why aviation is so vital in this country.
After an hour flight from Goroka we're getting ready to land at Kerema on the Southern coast.
It is truly beautiful as we circle over the bay on approach. After landing we pick up Pastor Soga and his wife, along with some cargo. Then we're off again.
Now we head along the coast for 50 minutes to Kikori, where the local mission headquarters is located. 
After dropping the passengers off, it's time to head back up into the central highlands to the town of Karimui where 5 sick people are waiting to be flown out to the hospital.
Karimui is lucky to be in a relatively flat valley which allows room to have a nice long airstrip. But one must still watch out for the ever present "potholes" and soft spots.
From Karimui it is only a 25 minute flight up the Tua river valley back into Goroka. 
But now you can see why roads are almost impossible to build throughout most of PNG. How many airstrips can you find in the picture? (Hint: There are three.)
After passing over the Nomani ridge we come across the Wagi river.
Here, and in the picture below, you can see that most "villages" are built right on top of the ridge lines. As you can see, it is so narrow that is is only one hut wide!
This gives you a little glimpse of how steep the terrain is. Often runways are built along the spines of ridges because that is the only place to find a small amount of somewhat "level" ground. 
Now we are within 5 minutes of Goroka, and there are a few dirt roads that venture out and around from there. Would be a whole lot more enjoyable on a good dirt bike than a car...
We're flying along at almost 8,000 feet, and yet the Elimbari cliffs are higher than we are.
Around the corner from Elimbari is the Kawkaw gap. This is the last ridge line to cross before we descend into the Goroka valley and "home".
Goroka sits in a large valley at just over 5,000 feet. That's it up ahead and just left of the nose. We actually have two parallel paved runways! And one of the only highways (2 lane road with no shoulders and lots of potholes) in the country that comes up from Lae on the Eastern coast. It's always good to be back home.