A former engineer and ballroom enthusiast from Bude, who traded Eden’s indoor tropics for the high-altitudes of Papua New Guinea, says life is a “high-adrenaline rollercoaster” — which cured the chronic asthma that almost killed him in 2018.

David Moore, 55, an engineer who maintained Cornwall’s iconic Eden project for six years, is back in Cornwall to rave about his ‘later-life adventure’, which involves flying into the jungles of Papua New Guinea, ballroom dancing with his wife in secret, and recovering from a lifetime of chronic asthma. The energetic couple are far from winding down in their 50s, embracing a high-altitude lifestyle surrounded by 450km of jungle and visible poverty.

David and his wife Caroline, 58, a former Civil Servant and assistant at Bude’s Arc Angel bookshop, celebrated their 50s with a 9,000-mile move from Cornwall to Papua New Guinea in 2019. The couple live on a mission compound in Mount Hagen deep in the mountainous Western Highlands, where local culture does not allow men and women to hold hands in public.

David is maintenance manager for Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), the world’s largest humanitarian air service, which operates a fleet of ten light aircraft across almost 200 remote destinations in Papua New Guinea.

David oversees the maintenance of over 70 MAF houses across numerous outstations, along with 18 vehicles, seven aircraft hangars and is training up a team of 18 local maintenance engineers to keep MAF’s humanitarian operations running as smoothly as possible. But he admits sourcing materials is a real challenge with no Screwfix or Amazon delivery service to rely on.

Having had asthma from early childhood, David has been in and out of hospitals and reliant on medication his entire life. In 2018, he caught pneumonia which turned to sepsis. He ended up in ICU and spent three months in recovery. It was a turning point in his life which made him consider a job with ‘greater purpose.’

David said: “I’d heard about MAF as kid and remember being excited about their work – it looked cool, technical and high-impact. But life took over – I had a great career in maintenance and management while bringing up two wonderful kids. Lying in hospital in 2018 made me want to do something with greater purpose. I saw an MAF advert and applied. Our later-life adventure began, and we’ve never looked back.”

Since living in Papua New Guinea, David has seen a huge improvement in his health.

He explained: “I blew my first-ever normal breathing test this year! I’ve been on drugs my entire life for my asthma, but the altitude, clean air and new lifestyle in Papua New Guinea seems to have been deeply healing. It’s a real miracle, and I feel fantastic.”

After their two children left home, David and Caroline discovered a love of ballroom dancing. With a handful of local couples, they began an informal dance group to reconnect after the busyness of parenting. But in Papua New Guinea, it is frowned upon to have physical contact with the opposite sex – even if you are married – so the Moores keep up their hobby in private.

Caroline explains: “There are more than 800 indigenous tribes and even more languages in PNG, but it’s the men who are allowed hold David’s hand! Everything is different, but we still love dancing!”

During the evenings, the Moores regularly draw the curtains, turn the music down and move furniture in their new home to make space for ‘high-altitude dancing’.

“If we’re lucky, we can do a full Argentine Tango in our living room without our bottoms knocking over the TV,” Caroline laughed. “Dancing at 1,677m above sea level is really quite a workout.”

Back in Cornwall for some much-needed R&R, David and Caroline are reporting about their adventures, reconnecting with family, and once again enjoying the benefits of living near the coast. Taking up kayaking in their 40s, the Moores have dusted off a couple of their sea kayaks which they put into storage in 2019, and Caroline has returned to sea swimming – which she used to do all year round when living close to Bude.

“I really miss the English seaside, and of course my wonderful kids,” Caroline admits.