To PNG or not to PNG...

I'm planning to travel from Asia (China, Laos, Thailand, Maleysia, Indonesia) to New Zealand. I wanted to travel in PNG as well, mostly because of the nature (trekkings) and the animals. Because of the extra costs (flights to and from and in PNG), relatively high daily budget and the fact that It seems impossible to get there directly (instead of via Australia), I'm not sure if it's good to hold on to my plan.

A few questions:

1: Is there a possibility to fly from Kuala Lumpur/Singapore/Denpasar to PMB and from there to New Zealand?

2: How expensive is PNG; what's a normal daily budget in US $? And what are for example the costs of trekking at Mt Wilhelm?

3: Am I an total idiot to drop PNG while travelling from Azia no New Zealand?

Edited by: dorien

Hi
I am 99% sure that you can only get to NZ from there via Brisbane in Australia. I used to be a travel agent in Auckland and one of my clients went there regularly and I always had to book Qantas via Brisbane. Things might have changed since I stopped work but I doubt it. I know that it is pretty expensive to travel there, much more than Samoa or Tonga for example. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Hope you enjoy your time in NZ.. don't miss the Sth Island, Coromandel, Bay of Islands and of course Wellington.. my home town and the best city in NZ!

Re the cost - my husband and i just got back - we were there for 13 days and I think we spent about Aus$11,000 on the whole trip. That includes flights - Aust-POM-Tufi-POM-Wewak-POM-Aust, 4 nights at the Airways Hotel (this is expensive), a week at Tufi Dive Resort (again, expensive), 2 nights at the Wewak Boutique Hotel, and a private 4 day trip on the Sepik river, and food etc.

Everything in PNG is expensive compared to Asia - even if you aren't staying at 'expensive' places like we did.

The alternate route to New Zealand would be via (possibly Solomons and) Fiji to Auckland (Air New Guinea or Air Pacific). I have no idea how fares compare, and there is probably only one flight a week. Remember, Melanesian countries are much closer to Australia than New Zealand - that is why most flights to NZ are via Oz.

1. I believe there's an Air Niugini flight from Singapore to Moresby, but it's VERY expensive, just like their flight to Fiji.
   Going via AU tends to be cheapest, or if going from Indonesia, you could consider flying to Jayapura, then crossing to PNG overland. Be prepared for some hassle and wasted time getting your PNG visa in Jayapura though.

2. I'd say about 3 times as expensive as SE Asia.
   If you travelled slowly and avoided flying, the minimum could be 30 USD/day. 50/day easier. It all depends on HOW you travel. Mount Wilhelm is cheap to climb, just don't arrange anything in advance. Get your guide/porter at Kegsegul, AFTER reading the comments in the book kept at the East Kege Guest House there.

3. Well, most travellers bypass PNG, though I'd say they don't know what they are missing...
   If you are interested,. make the effort to get there. No one who does seems to regret.

I'm just back from Mt Wilhelm - you've got three choices to get to Kundiawa from Moresby (direct flight, flight to Goroka or Mt Hagen) It cost me K10 on a PMV for the two hours from Goroka to Kundiawa (buy food here in one of the many stores). Then you've got to get from Kundiawa to Kegsugl (another three hours and K10 but this could be more expensive on a Sunday when not much travels). Depending on time of arrival at Kegsugl you can stay the night there at Betty's (K150) or Martin's (a new place going up right at the start of the walking track and currently about K60). Either of them can organise you a guide or carrier (K20 per day) and get you a key to the old ANU Research Hut - this is K50 per night and comes with beds, gas cooking and either hurricane lamp or candles. [I don't recommend the A-Frame the prices there are nominally the same but may vary according to how rich you look. Also members of the family running the A-Frame have taken to extorting money from travellers on the mountain.] It's worth spending an acclimatisation day there - you're at an altitude of about 3500m (about the same as Namche Bazaar) and you still have 1000 metres to climb. When I was there two other parties headed up; 3 out of 10 in the first party made it and 0 out of 3 in the second. Neither party attempted to acclimatise. So spend the extra K50 for an extra night and look around the lakes or go up to look at the crashed WWII Liberator bomber as a bit of gentle acclimatisation.

1. PNG is more expensive than Asia for sure, but not as expensive as Australia and New Zealand. If you include food and other daily needs, I'd budget around $50-75USD per day not including air fares and the usual.

2. It makes more sense to me than going from Asia to NZ, then to PNG. ;)

Last year I flew to Port Moresby from Brisbane, using Airlines Png. I booked the ticket + all other domestic tickets (even the one not operated by Airlines PNG) with the Airlines PNG agent in Brisbane.
All tickets where waiting for me at the check in counter when I departed from Brisbane. Everything went smoothly.
And above all... Airlines PNG is much cheaper then Air Niugine. Google Airlines PNG and see their website for rates and offices contact addresses.

I wrote a trip review about my trip to PNG (Port Moresby, Mt Hagen cultural show 2007, Enga cultural show 2007, Enga province stay, Goroka and the Trobriand Islands) at www.globetrotters.be with heaps of pictures too.

Book most things directly without using an agent when it comes to hotels and stuff and you save tons of money.

Have a great trip !
Eddy