Australia to PNG

Hey people,

I was wondering if it is possible to go from the northernmost tip of Australia (somewhere near Somerset) to Papua New Guinea by boat. Is it possible to hop from island to island to PNG? Has anybody done this before? If so, is it legal? How long does it take? And what are the costs and dangers?

Thank you,

Thijs

Basically, this is not an option for tourists.

You have better chances of trying to hitch on a yacht from further south, or of course may well end up flying.

Forget the private yacht idea. They can only leave Australia from an official Ports of Entry, i.e. Darwin; and likewise must arrive at a Port of Entry in PNG. Not many yachts cruise PNG waters in any season, very few will be looking for crew with their own travel idea/itinerary. And none will be leaving Australian waters until towards the middle of the year. Given the number of travellers who pop up hoping to use someone else's yacht as a means of transport, this branch really needs a sticky on where yachts sail to and when.

Difficult but not impossible. You can get a ferry from Bamaga to Thursday Island. In the Torres Strait there is an enormous amount of inter-island travel by aluminium speedboat. All private but the locals are helpful. The only customs port in the Papuan gulf that I can remember is Daru, so that is where you would need to enter. Forget Somerset, there is nothing there.

One trouble with the Torres Straits route is that, as far as I know, one needs a special permit merely to enter the Torres Straits Islands, and then also one to leave AU via that route.
Locals doing the crossing regularly do not need these, of course.

I believe these are difficult enough to obtain to leave most people with the options of either sailing on a yacht from somewhere more accessible like Cairns, or flying.

But if this situation has definitely changed, I would be most interested in hearing!

Thursday, Horn and Prince of Wales Islands definitely no permit required. Which others I don,t know. Suggest you try Dept of Aboriginal and Islander affairs website.

Yes, Torres Strait Islands have always been a "restricted zone", esp. when boats were dropping off aliens on the beaches of N. Australia (although not specifically in the Torres Strait). I don't have recent info, but I would follow the suggestions above and do it legit, or you might end up visiting an Australian gaol for some weeks or months.