still some question marks about PNG and Solomons

Thank you for insofar help regarding my upcoming trip. I still got some concern, although.

1) I start to hear PNG is an extremely expensive. As the main focus of my trip will be this country, it begins to make me a bit nervous. Could anyone shed the light on the cost of transportation (shared vans/buses) and accommodation? As for the latter, i will prefer a budget range.

2) I intend to make the crossing from PNG to Solomons by boat. My plan is to get from New Britain to Bougainville by ferry boat. After reaching Kangu Beach, I am going to hire a banana boat to cross the border as many locals do. However, do i need visa in advance to enter Solomon Islands? As a Czech, I do not need one - i'm eligible for an entry permit, but how about in this case when I enter the country by this nonstandard route? Note I am going to report and get my passport stamped at Immigration office Gizo later anyway, but i dont wanna be possibly sent back or detained when they found i am missing the visa.

3) Where can i secure the local currency upon my landing in Shortlands on Solomon Islands side? I will be holding bank cards and probably some PNG's Kinas.

4) After some time in Shortland islands, my next stops on the way will be Gizo. I still cant seem to find any reliable infor about this passage. Is there any boat link between these two places or do i have to use plane by all means?

Thank you a lot in advance,

jirikoo

Gizo would probably be the nearest place you could get Solomon dollars with an automatc teller machine that takes Mastercard or visa. Solomon dollars are not usually available to buy in Asutralia.
You may be able to manage in the Shortlands with kina. Otherwise, Australian dollars may work, but I suspect you wll get a very poor exchange rate.
You could try the Solomon Islands High Commission (Embassy) in Port Moresby, but they might tell you not to go via Bougainville.

1) Hard to shed more light on this than you can read in the LP guide, as costs vary tremendously.
But in general, accommodation in the cities or in resorts (which you may avoid) tends to be very expensive, while in villages it is either affordable (certainly by Australian standards) or is even on a donation basis. You have been to the Pacific before, so I am sure you don't expect SE Asian prices.

2) When I did this crossing years ago, a visa was not needed. Others found the same, but it seems Solomons immigration officers had become less welcoming to people arriving this way as years passed.

4) There was no regular boat link from the Shortlands to Gizo, and I doubt this has changed (if it has, let us know). I waited almost a week to be able to get on a dinghy for the scariest open-sea crossing of my life. Unless you happen upon a decent bost to Gizo, do fly!