Looking for Guide for Tari and Middle Sepik

A quick background:
My brother and I were born in Brisbane and lived in PNG when we were little. I was almost 6 when we moved to the US, which was enough time to really shape my formative years. My parents were missionaries in Finschaffen and Kabwum.
I will be returning to PNG for the first time since we left 30 years ago. My mom and brother will be going to. I have done extensive research trying to put together a trip on a budget. We are not wealthy and this is a once in a life time kind of deal. The airline prices were contingent on certain flying dates, so we will only have about 8-9 days in PNG, and a few in Australia to see old friends before returning to the US.

My mom never got to go into some of the highland areas that she wanted to while she was there, so I am arranging to travel to Tari from Fri., July 21 - Mon., July 25. The plan is to then head to Wewak on Mon., July 25, arriving in the afternoon, which should give us time to get supplies. I have gotten conflicting information about PMVs. I have heard that they run Monday night to arrive at market in Pagwi early Tuesday morning but I have also heard that they wont leave Wewak until they are full or that there is no consistent schedule for transport. Can you confirm or deny any of that information?
I would like to hire a guide and a canoe, and while I know they are extremely expensive, we are on a tight time frame and a limited budget. Assuming we got to Pagwi early Tueday morning, we would have all of Tuesday and Wednesday in the Sepik, and probably most of Thursday. Our flight from Wewak to Port Moresby is Friday at 11:10 am. We don't want to miss that, but it would be good to know if we would have to go back to Wewak on Thursday or if we could go early Friday morning and maximize time in Sepik. We would really like to do Chambri lakes, Aibom, and Palembei--more if time allows, but we know thats probably all the time we will have.
I have seen Johannes name a lot and he seems to be popular. Do you know of any other guides and/or contact information? Perhaps a suggestion for other alternative?
I was also looking into seeing if MAF could take us directly from Tari to Ambunti and go from Ambunti down the river over a few days and catch a PMV back to wewak from Pagwi and then fly out that way.

Any wisdom would be very welcome!

Wow would love to hear afterwards how PNG has changed in last 30 years.

Re your trip, I find it very ambitious to pack both Tari and Sepik into 8 days. Flights as well as PMVs can be unreliable and get cancelled. So I would urge you to have buffer in your plans, especially towards the end.

To get the most out of the 8 days I would suggest to focus on the Sepik only. Alternatively consider Enga instead of Tari. Enga province is accessible from Mt Hagen and this will cut down on logistics. MAF might have a direct flight from their Mt Hagen hub to the Sepik. Though MAF will not fly in bad weather.

Thats just my 2 cents

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