PNG

PNG

Arrived Friday 28^th and the views from the plane were excellent, the weather was warm and wet and the welcome was equally warm and wet (South Pacific (SP) Beer, Patrick’s G&T, wine etc...) Nate and his housemate Patrick cooked home- made Pizzas – what a way to live! After camp cooking for three weeks it was a treat to have something cooked in an oven rather than the frying-pan or saucepan.

Nate hired a car the next day and we explored the sights of Port Moresby. PNG is a place of contrasts. On the one hand it is a geographically stunning landscape with amazing plant-life and on the other an urban streetscape that displays a certain randomness and dilapidation that detracts from the overall cohesion of the city. The people are engaging, friendly and welcoming but the appearance of razor wire around most of the buildings and residences belies the level of insecurity felt by the people living here. We were reminded by Nate of the need to be aware of personal security and this aspect of Port Moresby limited out ability to fully experience the place. Never-the-less, we were able to get to see much of the city including a walk around the botanical gardens.

The Ela Beach Markets are the main artefact and flower markets in Moresby. They are only open one Saturday each month and we were able to time out arrival to coincide with this. Every type of local craft, weaving, carving and painting are on display. Tia took advantage of this and made some strategic purchases. Strategic because they had to be able to be packed into a Jeep back in Cairns that has only just been relieved of excess baggage – see last blog; I think this was a well planned clearance to make room for the PNG purchases! So we will again be packed to the gunnels when we get back with our new excess baggage.

Sunday was a quiet day with Ash leaving to fly back to Sydney after being in Moresby for two months.

GOROKA

Monday morning we caught the early plane out to Goroka. This is where Nate spent his first spell in PNG with AT Projects. Goroka is located in the Eastern Highlands and again the flight offered some amazing views. After driving part the way up the rough track to where Nate used to work we headed back to Dauli Pass. We couldn’t go all the way to AT Projects because the track deteriorated severely and it may have been touch and go with the hire car (a 4WD Hilux Dual cab) to make it. On the subject of roads (my favourite topic of this blog) I have never seen roads like these. The wash outs and landslides make for interesting driving. The local practice of dumping a load of dirt and rocks on the road just before a landslide is simple, cheap and effective. If you look at the photo of the landslide above (you may have to tilt your screen to get the horizon oriented) you can see the undercutting of the road. This landslide reduced the road to just one car width but semi-trailers still seemed to be able to negotiate the obstacle at speeds you would be proud of on the F3. Dauli Pass is at 2480mtrs and this is not the highest peak (Mt Wilhelm 4500mtrs). When you consider Mt Kosciusko at approx 2100mtrs it puts the PNG landscape into perspective. Finally, just before heading back to Mick and Celine’s place (Nate’s friend from his previous stay in Goroka) for an afternoon nap we visited the local food market. There are rows and rows of local produce on sale. I didn’t know there were as many varieties of banana as existed in these markets. You could buy almost any vegetable you want and the quality was excellent. Fruits were all tropical and also great quality. We had to buy something so bananas, sugar fruit (like passionfruit but larger) and peanuts were the choice. It should be noted that these markets are for the local population. We tended to stick out as the only westerners amongst the locals. It was a bit confronting and yet interesting to be in the minority for once.

PNG does not have a national rail system or a Greyhound bus service. They have PMV’s. A PMV is a Public Motor Vehicle and they are privately run. They go wherever people generally want to go but there is no scheduled service. It helps to have a guide who speaks fluent Tok Pisin (Pigeon) and Nate proved to be more than adequate for the job. Quite strange to hear him conversing with the locals and clearly getting respect for his ability to speak in their own language. PMV’s get their passengers from a central location where they drive around in a sort-of circle shouting out their destination. Our PMV driver and his mate went like this:

“Madang gadang gadang gadang” This was said quickly running all the words in together in a high pitched voice and sometimes with a sort of yodel at the end – very entertaining.

This was repeated continuously for two hours as we drove around the market trying to pick up enough passengers to fill (or over-fill) the bus. The bus was a Toyota Hiace. “Toyota – oh what a feeling” I can assure you at the end of a very long day cramped up in the Hiace, I did not have good feelings about “Toyota – oh what a feeling” But I am getting ahead of myself.

We finally got under way and about ten minutes down the road we encountered a Police road block. Remembering that we have already been in the PMV for two hours, this was an ideal opportunity for a comfort break. What about toilets I hear you ask! No, there are no toilets, just the roadside bush. This is okay if you are a bloke (of which Nate and I easily fit in) but if you are a woman then the prospect is more challenging. Add to this the fact that the ground drops 3mtrs just a couple of metres off the road and Tia is now seriously challenged. Does she stay on the road-side where the likelihood of being observed is high or risk life and limb down the bank. Preservation of dignity over-road personal safety and whoops! Down the bank she goes. At this point a kind woman on the PMV takes it upon herself to guard over Tia and help her up the bank. This lady becomes Tia’s wee buddy and they share more exciting lavatorial experiences before the trip is over. This lady can be seen in the photo above of Nate lying down in the PMV. She is looking over him. As an aside, I was concerned about including this photo in the blog as it may have given you the wrong impression of 1^st class passage. The seat Nate is lying on is the seat that all three of us shared for the 9hrs of the trip.

Roads, roads, roads. What can I say? I am incredibly impressed how far you can go in a Hiace with very good tyres and a very good driver. He took us over roads that I would have baulked at in the Jeep. He managed to keep the vehicle on the road when the landslides had destroyed all but a couple of metres of the road. He negotiated pot holes that where literally as big as the Hiace. His wheel placement and judgement made what was a harrowing trip less harrowing. My only concern was in his judgement of where and when to overtake other vehicles, especially a large semi. The semi tried to run us off the road and nearly succeeded. Double white lines are only advisory in PNG and playing chicken with on-coming traffic has unwritten rules about it that I still do not understand.

Oops! A tractor has jammed a farm roller on a bridge and blocked the road (see photo). This would normally require the assistance of a tow-truck, crane or some other heavy lifting equipment. Not so in PNG. Everyone from our PMV and other PMV’s jump out and with a little bit of coordination the roller is moved. While all this is happening and Nate is lying down – photo above – Tia is having her next lavatorial experience. This time it is peeing in unison. The girls go down to the river, behind some bushes to commune with nature in harmony. Not surprising this is a new experience for Tia and after some stage fright managed to relieve her overworked bladder.

We finally arrived in Madang and more G&T’s and beers! The knees have gone beyond pain from being cramped up. The backside is numb and the back is saying “you are not 25 anymore you know!” Despite this, we are glad we experienced the PMV. The views were fantastic (seriously need to check the thesaurus for more superlatives). The contact with the locals is humbling as they are all so friendly, cheerful and helpful. We feel that we have experienced a small part of the everyday life of Papua New Guineans.

MADANG

Madang is picture perfect in terms of its waterways and islands. The main town has a similar appearance to all PNG towns with local markets and dilapidated shops. The Madang Lodge where we stayed is beautifully laid out with well kept gardens and impressive carvings everywhere. Service is excellent and very accommodating. The next day was spent snorkelling and diving off the islands near Madang. This was my first scuba experience and it was very weird to be breathing under water. You may have noticed the absence of a beard in the photos. It had to go because the seal between the mask and the face would have been difficult with the beard. A quick visit to the hair dresser in Madang Resort soon sorted this out. I couldn’t help taking a big breath before submerging just in case the air didn’t come through. It did come through however and the ability to swim down to 15mtrs and spend some time observing the fish, coral and war relics was captivating. Mind you, if I was concerned about getting enough air under water I shouldn’t have been. Our diving master was a Japanese woman who smoked constantly when she was above the water – a bit difficult to smoke while underwater I guess. It seemed a bit incongruous diving and smoking.

The snorkelling was equally interesting with most of the most colourful coral and fish residing at 2 – 3 mtrs. We were out on the reef for about 5hrs and the cost in A$ was very reasonable. The day was capped off by a lazy walk back to the Lodge with drinks in the seaside bar watching the sun going down. I didn’t have any idea of what the rest of the world was doing at that moment and I cared less. It was just great to be in the moment.

We flew back to Morseby the next day and have just been chilling out at Nate’s place. His apartment overlooks the Port Moresby harbour and it has been a constant source of interest for us watching boats come and go. The added bonus of watching the sun set over the sea with Nate and Patrick has made the time in PNG all the more enjoyable.

We fly back to Cairns tomorrow and pick up the car to begin the next phase of our adventure. I am looking forward to getting back on the road and to our white water rafting. Assuming we survive this experience, it will be reported in detail on the next blog.

Love to all,

Alan and Tia.