Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Solomons to PNG border crossing Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea
blbecek 04:27 UTC 13 Feb 2009 | Hello, we are going to attempt to travel from Honiara to PNG via Bouganville. I have read a few posts about going from PNG but none the opposite way. Does anybody know? The biggest problem seems to be the stupid requirements for return ticket to PNG without which PNG Consulate in Honiara doesnt want to give us visa (BTW the ticket is around USD 800!!!). The question is, if somebody knows the area, if it is possible the visa in Buin or go without a visa all the way to Port Moresby? Probably stupid.... Any other ideas how to sort this out? Also warning about traveling to Honiara from Brisbane. We both one way ticket with Pacific Blue (really cheaply), but check-in officer would not let us board the plane without return ticket. So we were forced to buy one on the spot. Upon arrival to Honiara (of course) nobody cared whatsoever about return ticket. Thanks a lot |
ozziegiraffe 13:45 UTC 14 Feb 2009 | You need a ticket out of Solomon Islands before they will let you board a plane in Brisbane. They ask you in Honiara how long you are staying, and write that date on the passport stamp they give you. They know that you couldn't have left Brisbane without a ticket out of the country. If you had had an onward ticket to Port Moresby when you left Brisbane, you would have been OK too. I know of an Australian woman who thought she was trying to help the Bougainville people, without respecting borders, etc, who tried to cross the border into Bougainville and got deported. She caused a lot of problems for Australian officials in Honiara. You would be wise to take the advice of PNG or Solomons officials. At the moment, I would not be making the crossing from Solomons to Bougainville by sea for any reason, as it is cyclone season, and the weather in the region has much been worse than usual this year. | 1
Laszlo 10:31 UTC 16 Feb 2009 | When I was in Buin, local police were both checking my passport and actively trying to stop me from crossing the border there, which makes getting a visa there seem impossible, and even getting to POM without one tricky. And things seem to have gotten worse, rather than better, since then. If you still insist on trying to cross, do whatever you can to get a PNG visa in advance. | 2
blbecek 05:21 UTC 17 Feb 2009 | Thank you for your replies. Our visa are (hopefully) on the way - we had to buy a refundable ticket to Port Moresby. However we still have one more question. Provided we do manage to get pass Buin, with visa, where can we actually check in the country? Rabaul? Or is there immigration in Buka? We are now off to Malaita, will be back next week. If we do manage to cross to PNG we can post some info here as well. | 3
Laszlo 06:32 UTC 17 Feb 2009 | It should be possible in Buka, and there is definitely immigration in Rabaul. Let us know how it went! | 4
ozziegiraffe 13:17 UTC 17 Feb 2009 | Hi blbecek, How far are you going on Malaita? | 5