Part 2/4: Wewak + Yuo Island
Wewak:
In Wewak I stayed at CBC Guesthouse for 110 K per person per night. It is a good, comfortable, safe and central place. Outside of the town peninsula are some cheaper places (40 – 70 K), but I do not know more about them, just drove by and asked for the price.
The city itself is not beautiful. Don´t stay long and just arrange your things (money, supplies, etc.) for your next destination.
There is an outside bar if you come down the hill with CBC guesthouse and turn left to the beach front along a 100m road. At the end turn left again into a small path and go up some stairs. A can SP is 7.5 K and you can get down to the beach near an old club which is under renovation now.
The food at Vanilla Room restaurant was nice and not expensive (35 K for a decent steak with sides). You can also cater yourself in CBC GH.
Everything shuts down on Sunday. There are also very limited to no PMVs on Sundays coming or leaving the town.
The banks open from 9 am – 4 pm. ATMs are open 24hrs but can be out of cash quite often.
Shops are open from 7/8am – 5 pm.
The post office is open from 8am – 3 pm.
Regarding safety, you should be especially careful in the 3 streets of the city center and the big bus stop area. It is not dangerous during the day, but pick-pockets are still around. Think rational and take care of your belongings, which you for sure should not show in big public. Beeing in a group always helps. Avoid that area during night and stay at home. However, a 10 min walk to Vanilla Room restaurant from CBC GH is fine and the guard can escort you home.
Yuo Island:
This beautiful small island west of Wewak is a great place to spend some days and relax/recover after an exhausting time on the Sepik river.
There are two guesthouses on the island (Naigboi GH on south side facing mainland and another one north side facing Kairiru island).
The prices of the other guesthouse are 40K per night plus 5K per meal. It looks simple but nice and is also situated right at the beach, but I do not have a phone number of the owner.
We stayed in lovely Naigboi GH run by Robert and his family for 115K per day (75K per night + 10K B, 10K L, 20K D, food is great, bring your own beer from Wewak) as we also did not know about the other GH before our arrival. Their son Tony acts as a island guide and will show you around for 20K per day (which will be collected anyway…).
There are nice and clean bungalows with comfortable beds and mosquito nets. They can host 10+ people, but it is rather quiet with 2-4 guests max. There is a shower and a flush toilet, both run by rain water opposite the bungalows. They also have a generator, so you have light in the evening and can charge your phone or batteries in case you do not have a solar charger.
Call Robert (+675 7276 1483) ahead to let them know you are coming (they prepare rooms and food) and arrange transport. You can ask for boat pickup from Wewak which is 1 hour ride and cost 100K one way or you can take a PMV for 5K to Poihin c catholic mission on mainland opposite the island and let them pick you up there (15 min, 30K).
On the island, you have several options to spend your day:
1) You can read a book in a nice beachfront hammock and relax
2) Nice and relaxed walk around the island partly on the beach, partly on a path leading around it. It takes on slow pace about 2 hrs and there are lots of picturesque spots. Also visit the center of the island with the old church ground, the graveyard with German missionaries on it and some WWII relicts.
3) Watch weaving birds and flying foxes in the trees.
4) Kayaking and fishing
5) Trips to nearby islands (e.g. to climb Kairiru mountain for lake and the hot springs)
6) Snorkeling: This is a great activity on Yuo. They have masks and snorkel, but in bad condition. They do not have fins. Bring your own mask and snorkel if you can. Go to the eastern tip of the island and get into the water. You will have so swim out for 50m to get to the edge of the reef. It`s good snorkeling there. Then continue and let the current take you along the southern coast line back towards the guesthouse. That´s a nice drift. Right after the tip around the corner, there is a 200m wide stretch of nothing but sand and dead corals, but once you got past this stretch, the reef becomes good again!
We enjoyed or stay at Yuo with this welcoming and friendly family!
For a link to the pictures of my trip check out Part 1/4.
To continue on Part 3/4: Rabaul + Kokopo, see the respective forum entry.
Best,
Alex
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