A friend of mine Jamal Abreu and I are heading off to Papua New Guinea on 17th December and fly back to Sydney on 8th January. Our aim is to be totally immersed in the culture and nature of Papua New Guinea, we want to not only surf but explore the variety and diversity PNG has to offer, off the beaten track.

High level plan

• Fly into Ports Moresby, then catch connecting to Madang
• Surf undiscovered spots
• Avoid the tourist hot spots and go off the beaten track
• Camp out with the local villagers
• Learn as much as we can about the cultures we encounter
• Visit the Volcano Manam
• Climb Mount Hagen
• Surf wherever we find breaks
• Fly to Ports Moresby an fly to Syndey

Route

The route is simple. Land in Madang, climb mountain Hagen, head back to the coast, surf our way up to Vanimo, using Public Transport, Tractors, Donkeys, Boats, Foot, whatever we can climb onto, and umm PMV’s.

Stars on the map represent our main waypoints.

 

Equipment

Travel as light as possible, this means, very small day pack, and surfboards.

• Surfboard bag with makeshift wheels
• Hammock (Tenth-Wonder-Hammocks-and-Tarps) , Non Waterproof – keep it as airy as possible.
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• Water proof Tarp (hex shape)
• Camp gas stove, flints
• Medical Kit  + Tea Tree Oil
• Antibiotics
• Cheap ass phone (not getting machete’d to pieces for an IPhone)
• Water purification bottles (Aquapure-Traveller)
• two shorts, two shirts, long sleeves, hat , perhaps some underwear
• waterproof leggings + thin shell jacket (Mountains)
• light airy hiking shoes
• Mosquito repellent
• rash vest, reef boots
• torch
• camera (need to figure out what to take that is not advertising MUG ME)
• Surf boards ( 2 or 3)

Vaseline (Very useful, umm for lots of things)

Local Knowledge

Have met a local Australian, who lives in the Jungles and with the tribes of PNG, hooking up next week to get knowledge and tip on how to act and behave with the local tribesman. I think there is allot of misconceptions about PNG, so will document and found out how the place ticks first hand. There is not allot of information out there on PNG, so hoping this will be the first of many trips back to PNG.

Surfing

Here is a nice inspirational video on surfing in PNG. Click the link to view.

PNG Surfing Video

There is a surf association in PNG, and we keen to meet up with some of them in Vanimo, however, we will be spending our time finding un-surfed spots.

PNG Surf Association

Safety

From what I have gathered from the Lonely Planet guide, Papua New Guinea seems to be a surprisingly friendly place once you get out of the major cities. In fact it is encouraged to travel the same way the locals do and most villages will accept, and offer a hand to stay with them for a few days, that to me is even more friendly than our urban jungles. How many strangers in London would let you stay for a couple of nights, no obligations?

Of course, with any place you go to, you need to me friendly and courteous to others and of course have some street smart savvy with you.

Some Pictures from the net

I guess, this is how people see PNG to be, I think with over 800 languages, there will be all sorts of cultures, definitely keen to meet with them, hopefully and I am sure that most are friendly.

 

Keep this https://romikoderbynew.com/category/adventure/booked marked if interested on how the trip pans out, will update it as time flows.

• Adventure