Travelling PNG overland ?

Hi !

I'm planning on a trip into PNG from indonesia and i was wondering about the possibilities of overland travel in png :

Is it possible to link the highlands from vanimo easily ?

What's the cheapest local way of transportation overland ? Any idea about the price from vanimo to madang for example ?

Is there a lot of personal cars riding along these roads ? Is hitch-hiking practised in PNG ? WOuld it be worth a try ?

How about safety on the roads ?

Thx for any information !!

Antoine.

Coming back from vanimo it appears the only way to reach madang is the regular ferry. From madang, the road runs fine down to mount hagen or east to lae and moresby. I had no problem hitch hiking around vanimo.