Goroka-Madang by PMV

How does Goroka to Madang by PMV sound? Any particular safety concerns these days? And what's the cost?

By what I've seen in the 7th edition of the LP guide to PNG (May 2005) it sounds a lot like the matatu transport in East Africa that used to be a big part of my life a few years ago - they don't leave till they're about 200% full, the fares are fixed but there's no schedule as such, you deal with the conductor not the driver, and so on. I remember it well (although not always fondly).

This would be in July next year, by the way, so heavy rain shouldn't be a factor. Is this right?

Thanks for any info on this.

Many PMVs are similar to East African matatus, but the term also covers buses (which also ply the Madang-Goroka route) and even trucks carrying passengers. They are cheap, so don't worry about the fares.

I did the Madang-Goroka route about two weeks ago. No problem at all. I paid 40 kina for the ride so since you will be going in July of next year, you will probably pay something like 280 kina.
I haven't had any trouble with rain so far, but all the locals are telling me that the seasons (rainy and wet) are all screwed up now and unpredictable.

280 kina a year from now? Seriously? What's the story there?

Thanks you both, by the way.

Dude...this place is crazy expensive and the prices seem to be spiraling upward at an unstoppable rate. I've been using the LP which was researched about 2-3 years ago....plan on multiplying every price by about 4 or 5 or 20. I'm in Rabaul now and the cheapest place I could find (I've asked at every place in both Rabaul and Kokopo) is 80 kina a night which is around $30 US. The place is swimming with rats, has a rerally noisy bar downstairs, and has used cndoms in the shared bathroom. It is impossible to travel here and actually do things for under $50 US a day.

Thanks for the warning. I was prepared for an expensive time of it, and I'll set my budget accordingly.

There's something I saw on YouTube about how Rabaul's attracted a lot of drifters and unemployed people and how it's at the mercy of raskals. It makes the point that the undermanned and under-resourced police have virtually given up trying to maintain law and order, so nobody goes out at night and so on and so on. This has resulted in local business people taking on police duties by themselves and patrolling at night, tracking down murderers, thieves and rapists.

How much of a sense of that do you get as a visitor? Is the general atmosphere as heavy as it's portrayed on that report (from Australian TV by the sound of the reporter's accent)?

Based on PNG's image in the Australian media, no one would ever visit the country.
Sure, it is no Singapore or Switzerland, but as numerous posts on this forum attest, most visitors enjoy a good time there.

That's what I've suspected, based on visits and residence in some African countries. The security concerns of residents or expats don't always coincide with those of transient visitors. That's why I'm curious to hear if zachleigh's time in Rabaul either backs up or refutes the general sense of doom in that Australian documentary.

By the way, Laszlo, what do you make of the price structure in PNG as zachleigh in #4 described it? Is inflation a factor here, or a volatile exchange rate, or what?

Prices in PNG have been continously rising over the years.
However he was obviously exaggrating it in that post.
See some recently posted prices here.