papua to aus by boat

has anyone any idea about getting to australia by boat from papua new guinea

wanting to do it later this year

i figure island hopping down to thursday island and then the tip of queensland would be the best bet but if anyone has any experience/ideas

please let us know

cheers

mick

There is no passenger boat and the Thursday Island route is only open for locals.
In fact you need a permit to visit most of the Torres Strait Islands (though not TI) even from the AU side, let alone entering them from PNG.
Finding a yacht from eastern PNG to AU might be your best hope, other than joining the odd cruise.

cheers mate

damn

thats a shame but i guess its worth it for the locals if they wanna maintain any sort of privacy

it would be such an amazing patch of ocean and islands though

know of any yacht sites where you might find some work or rides?

Try asking around at yacht clubs in places like Madang.
And be ready to fly if you fail.

thats the plan

thanks

The problem is not maintaining privacy for locals, it's to prevent illegal immigrants from island-hopping through the Torres Str. islands to get into Austr.

Google the "Tampa" asylum seekers for some background on this issue.

As Laszlo says, private yachts are your only real option.

i am an australian citizen and i am looking to do the same thing. do you know if with an australian passport i can travel by boat with the locals, preferably thru the torres staights but possibly thru thursday island. it is only 4 km from PNG to the north islands of the torres straight, and i read somewhere that papuans with a permit can get across. and once i am in the torres straight islands i wonder if there are there any passenger boats from island to island, or if not is hitching feasible.