PNG has some lovely, isolated islands where life has remained unchanged for thousands of years with very little external influence excepting for some brief visits by Christian missionaries. We were able to spend a day each on Kitava, Kiriwina, and Doini Islands.

Whilst some of the cruise ship guests remained on the boat and others just plopped themselves down on the beach for a sunbaking and swimming day, we did walk into the villages and tried to get a feel of life for the Papua New Guineans. The villages are very tidy with swept earth paths and open woven huts set up about a metre above the ground to allow for monsoon waters to rush under. Many chickens and the occasional pigs wander around. They have very limited possessions with not a satellite dish or TV in sight and consequently many many children!

There was much happy singing and laughing and the children loved falling in step with us and practising English. Of course, as the mainstream cruise boats have only just started coming to visit them, they are so very eager to show the best side. Hopefully these islands and islanders won't succumb too much to our acquisition hungry world of wanting and needing so many possessions.
 
The Trobriand Island group of which Kitava and Kiriwina belong have a tradition of playing cricket, but it is quite different to what we know - it is definitely a game of its own and very island style! We watched a game in Kiriwina in the pouring rain - of which seemed of no concern to the players. Only the spectators huddled under bits of tin and plastic.Trobiand cricket can go on for days on end and the number of players is unlimited as long as each team is evenly matched.

They were first exposed to the game of cricket by the Christian Missionaries who thought the game would discourage war among the natives. However, the game was quickly adapted to Trobriand culture by expanding the number of players, adding dances and chanting, and modifying the bats and balls. Since war between groups on the island was banned, cricket began to incorporate many of the traditional practices associated with war for the Trobriand people.

Visiting the islands had added another dimension to the PNG experience.