Travel Notes from Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands 2007

I just got back from Solomon Islands and PNG, I typed up some travel notes but I am having trouble posting them here...
Perhaps if I reply to this posting with them, then it will work...?

Thanks for this great report - the detail is much appreciated. I am going to Alotau in two weeks time for the canoe festival and then back for about three weeks in January, so your info will be invaluable. Have printed it for future reference.

You're right about the airlines - they are the biggest handicap that the tourism industry has.

Great, they were all really looking forward to the canoe festival. The Wagawaga team were busy building theirs, but it was shielded off behind a fence. Nobody except the building team is allowed to see the canoes until the festival starts.

Anyway, some corrections & additions to my post above, thanks to feedback on it from Gretta.

The Westpac in Alotau now also has an ATM, hours are 0700 - 1900

Pam Swanson is also an owner of Napatana Lodge

Esala Guest House, which I said was closed, is actually still open, I must have misunderstood that.

The Airport Hotel in Honiara that I mentioned has a phone which is 21205

Cheers,

LostScot

Hi, Lostscot,
thanks for the report. I have only been to Western Province once, briefly, so cannot comment too much on that, except to say, Kia is a large village at the western end of Ysabel (although there might be a place with a similar name in the West - it happens.) Most of my travels are in the middle and east of Solomon Islands.
I am surprised that you were only the second white tourist on Liofagu - I travel on the ships regularly, and so do plenty of others. (Though I rarely see another white person on the same trip).

Airport motel and Quality Inn are not the "backpacker-level" options for Honiara, though better value places need to be booked in advance - the St Agnes Transit, opposite Quality Inn, run by Mothers Union is an excellent option. It has ensuite rooms, and access to a kitchen, so you can cook market produce. It is also very well looked after.

What a great report! Thanks! That's what the old (20 years ago) Lonely Planet guides used to be like. Definately will save this for future reference.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>I was apparently only the second foreign backpacker ever to travel on the Liofagu like that.<hr></blockquote>So the first one must have been me, on the same ship 2 years ago! ;-)
Nice of them to still remember...

Funnily, some locals in Gizo tried hard to put me off getting on that ship, telling me in a most serious manner that my life would be in danger aboard with all those Malaitans! :D
They must believe so themselves, as there was only one local passenger on the ship out of Gizo, even though all other ships I saw in the country were extremely crowded.

It seems that the Western prejudice against Malaita is still alive and well. But Liofagu is (like all the blue ships) owned by Langa Langa people, who these days are not at all warlike. It is a pity that all Malaitans are expected to be like the very few who are not trustworthy.
Incidentally, the blue ship I travelon most often is Niutoli.

Hey Laszlo, thats cool... they mentioned a Norwegian architect, who sailed with them from Gizo to Honiara?

Oh well, that's not me.
So much for you being the 2nd only! ;-)

Bugger

I haven't been to PNG or Solomans yet but reading this was inspiring. Keep it up!

G'day LostScot,

Milne bay is kinda like a second home to me and I would like to say here how accurate your report is regarding that area. For those of you thinking of travelling that way, lostscots post here is the definitive guide. Not just accurate for Alotau, but the also the Trobriands as well. I returned to Australia in November from 4 months in that region and my GF is a local from Alotau. Forget LP, it's far too commercial now to be of any real use.

Dude, thanks very much for your kind comments.

Lastscot - Firstly you should be a writer. Maybe you are. Terrific yarn.

I have just landed in Honiara for a 2 year contract building "Correction Centres". First on is in Auki, then on to Gizo.

I just hope that I might be able to get half the experiences you had in that time. Shall try to record my memoirs both in text and images (budding amateur photographer).

Hope to read about your next travel adventure.

Hey, thanks dude!
I sent all that info to Lonely Planet but was gutted to see that I didnt get a mention in the "thank you" section of the new PNG/SI edition!
Laszlo did!

Funny about not getting a mention, Lostscot,
I had a good deal of contact with the writer of the previous edition, while living in Honiara, but didn't get acknowledged either.
A far cry from the days when "postcards" on the website got a free book.

Great report lostscot. I had a good chuckle over the unreliability of domestic air travel around Solomons. I can't count the times my flights were cancelled, disappeared into the ether, were a never-was from the very beginning, whatever. I loved some of the excuses, though, like pigs on the runway, or (the best) two drunk truck drivers trying to race a landing plane; seems it's easier to close the airport than get rid of the drunks.

You mentioned that the minibus fare in Honiara that go up and down Mendana Avenue are K2 to somewhere else in the centre. Shouldn't that be SI$2? If so, the price hasn't changed since 2002 (the last time I was there), which is somewhat surprising. Or is that only in the town "centre?" How about a minibus to Chinatown or Burns Creek or the hospital? If the price is more for out-of-town destinations then that certainly is a big change.

Anyway, loved the report, brings back so many memories.

Unfortunately, the bus fare in Honiara has recently gone up. They wanted $5, but there was so much outcry, I think they compromised at $4. If you consider that many workers only get $50 a week, it explains why they were so upset, and why so many people walk.
Meanwhile, my best plane stories are trying to get to and from Santa Cruz, Temotu Province, with Makira coming a close second. In both these places, there is no other option, unlike Western province, where they can divert the plane. Last year, I had to cancel a trip, as there was no plane fuel in the province. The previous time, I spent an extra unplanned week in Lata, as the plane went 6 hours early without warning. (I was in the Reef Islands, and the sea had been too rough to attempt an earlier crossing). However, I was able to get an insurance payout, which bought lots of town goodies for the family I stayed with.
On one flight back from Makira, we were delayed, and they bumped one or two passengers, but they actually held the international flight to Brisbane in Honiara until we arrived, as one of my former students had a connecting flight.

Oh well... that fuel stuff just isn't gonna get any cheaper...

Watsoff... I am sure that when I was there (Sep 2007) it was S$2 from the hospital to the town centre, cos I specifically remember doing that trip.

Sorry for writing Kina instead of S$, I am as bad as the Lonely frigging Planet book.

I would love to get back to the Solomons one day - but so many other funky places to buy tickets to...

LostScot

It is still one flat fare from KGVI to White River, or anywhere in between.

Thank god I stumbled with this post. Terrific! I'm just a few days off geting in PNG and any piece of information is very imoprtant to me. Thanks for your work and generosity. Should you need reports, let me know.