PNG on a Shoestring?

I really have two inquiries:

#1 : I've read lots of information on PNG, and I have decided that I would like to spend a few months there. I'm an Alaskan, so I am used to roughing it, and I look forward to doing so in a tropical paradise. I plan to bring a small tent, and walk from Lae to Madang, around New Britain or something similar , taking small trails and roads, and camping off the trail a ways as not to be seen, and also stay in villages. I am happy with basic food, (yams,rice, fruit, ect.) sleeping on the ground in a tent or hut, and just drinking in my surroundings. Would this be a feasible way to travel PNG? I will have a huge male travel companion, so I am not worried about my safety, and I have lots of experience travelling in poor and developing countries, so I am not frail or fragile to any extent. I just wonder, what is the real cost of village stays, and market food?

#2 : DIVING! My main vice would be diving. I will bring snorkel/mask/fins for snorkelling, and when I am done, I will give them away as not to have to carry them on my walkabout. But my question is, how much is boat diving? I am used to paying $50/day, or so, including two tanks, and wetsuit, BCD and both stages. Is this comparable to PNG? Or is it more expensive. I have foudn information about a dive costing $50, but surely that is one dive/two tanks? If not, I might have to stick to snorkelling!

Thank you in advance for all the wisdom you can provide- any little tidbits of info you think would be helpful would be greatly appreciated. I WILL go, regardless of cost, because research has made me fall in love with PNG, but I would love any insight you might have.

Peace

Trista

1. No, PNG is not Alaska. A walk from Lae to Madang is not doable. PNG has about 5m people, all of them sensitive to their traditional rights to each path, tree, beach and reef. I suggest that you go on an organised trek where all these sensitivities have been sorted out beforehand. If you google Kokoda, there are many companies offering various treks, not just the Kokoda Trail.
   
   2. Diving is more expensive than Asia, but PNG has some of the best dive sites in the world.

Could you please tell why you needed to post this same question a second time within one day?

At least you could have acknowledged the reply to the first one...