Journey to Wewak

On Friday 3 July we left Madang to visit Wewak which is close to theIndonesian part of the Island of which PNG forms a part. We left at 4pm precisely! That is VERY unusual here in PNG but a bit disconcerting to have someone on the quay side telling everyone to behave and then ending with a long prayer for a safe journey!

It was great to see the coast from the sea until it got dark. At twilight we saw loads of dolphins and what a performance they put on! They were amazing and talk about synchronised - totally! After the young ones had shown off we then saw two huge dolphins swimming in the opposite direction! All the youngsters on the rather crowed lower deck kept shouting and pointing when they saw each new set, quite a carnival atmosphere which was great. Not sure anyone had seen two old white skins on board before!!

So what was our accommodation like? Basic to say the least. On the top deck there were 6 sets of 8 bunkbeds with the plastic covered mattresses one associates with hospital trolleys! But functional! We opted for two lower ones right at the back of the ship. My Tok Pisin teacher's mother had made me a bilum to keep my purse, mobile in for safety away from the rascals! One wears it around your neck so being obedient I did and slept with it round my neck. Going out the ship was really full but not so bad coming back.

I did take 191 photos but so as not to bore you they are in different folders, well they will be when I can get connected to sort.

It was so interesting to see how people got together to tell their stories especially the women!! All night some of them were going on!! We slept OK! Looking out was so pleasant as long as you missed the beetle nut [buai] spittal zooming by you and got up wind of the endless cigarette smoke!!!!

We arrived in Wewak right on time, 10am to go to our hotel, so next instalment coming up!!