Ask different residents of Hanuabada how long they’ve been building their houses on the sea and the answer will be the same: since the beginning.

Just a hop away from the posh yacht club in Port Moresby you’ll find this village built on gumtree stilts. Each house is supported by roughly 20 trunks. Several have balconies and outdoor bathing areas and a few boast semi-detached pig pens.

In any home, you’ll find a family of five to eight.

Houses are built on both sides of a long, elevated wooden boardwalk that extends far into the water. Walking on this rickety walkway is an adventure on its own. At some points it rocks like a rope bridge, but it never collapses.

There are several of these boardwalks that extend into the sea, built parallel to one another, but they are not connected. Each one is considered its own mini-village where people of the same tribal lines congregate.

The seawater below these communities is filthy from so much rubbish. At low tide, dogs scavenge for scraps in the brackish mud. Because of a recent cholera outbreak, the city has started piping in fresh water for residents to drink, bathe, and wash their clothes.

A few of the houses serve as stores selling basic necessities like soap, kerosene for lamps, canned foods, and cigarettes. Signs are hand-painted on cardboard.

From the last house on the boardwalk, looking left onto the mainland, you can see a large construction lot buzzing with tractors and cranes. Residents say the city will build a huge shopping complex for those prospering from the natural gas boom, for expats, and for what they hope will be a gradual upswing in tourism.

How the houses are made

Gumtree trunks are left to soak in sea water for several days to harden and get heavier.

During low tide, deep holes are dug well into the rock bed under the sand. The trunks are placed into the holes and left alone for two weeks while the seabed settles.

Over these posts a house is erected in a few weeks. The trunks have to be replaces ever two to three years, as the seawater slowly erodes them. They cost 40 kina – about $16 – each.