A trip of a life time: March 2014

PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND PALAU in the Australian continent

comprising mainland

possibly Timor, and neighbouring islands.

The continent is sometimes known in technical contexts by the names: Sahul, Australinea or Meganesia, to distinguish it from the Australian mainland.

So, we sailed to Papua New Guinea (still in the Australian continent).

New Guinea composed of 600 islands became Papua New Guinea in 1975. On the south eastern peninsula of the PNG mainland lies Milne Bay Province; 16,000 km of mountainous coastal land and is the gateway to PNG. 200,000 people live here. Alotau is a small coastal village that we visited. Alotau is undoubtedly one of the most laid-back, secure and enjoyable towns in Papua New Guinea. It was the site of the WWII battle of Milne Bay, the 1^st defeat in the Pacific War (August 1942) suffered by the Japanese army at the expense of mostly Australian but some American troops.

We visited the village market, many interesting forms of fruits and vegetables. One of which is

Betel nut is one of the most-used addictive substances in the world, with an estimated ...of use, betel nut chewers will notice their teeth and gums turning orange

Gather the ingredients needed to chew betel nut. You will need the green betel nut (buai), a jar or bag of lime powder (kambang) and a bean-like green called mustard (daka). These can be bought on any street corner .

The temperature reached 98◦F and we returned to the boat after discovering other fruits and vegetable sold in the open market.

A couple of intersting signs about the business and the recommendation to avoid AIDS

Back on the boat, ready to celebrate Valentine's.

The boat decoration

in the special restaurant : Relais & Chateau with our friends

and finish a great meal with crepes suzette.

The next day we arrived at the city of Madang, called the “prettiest town” in the South Pacific. The eastern half of the island of Papua New Guinea’, second largest island in the world, was divided between Germany (North) and Britain (South). The south was transferred to Australia in 1902 and the north taken over in WWI. This continued until independence in 1975. A secessionist Revolt on the island of Bougainville ended in 1997 with 20,000 dead.

The people from Madang can be broken into 4 distinct groups, islanders, coastal people, rural and mountain people.

After Anči finished her dive on a B-25 bomber from WWII and Jost took a beautiful boat trip around the island, we spent our time at a beautiful resort. We were entertained by all the groups with fabulous dancing. These were mostly high school and college students with fabulous costumes and make up. A local type barbeque followed. And we were told not to worry about the cannibals in Papua new Guinea although, Cannibalism and Head Hunting is still happening in the remote areas of Papua New Guinea.

our BBQ

Our next destination: Koror in Palau,

one of the 7 smallest nations in the world. These small islands have been inhabited as early as 2500 BC

from: http://www.infoplease.com/country/palau.html

Explored by the Spanish navigator Ruy López de Villalobos in 1543, the islands remained under nominal Spanish ownership for more than 300 years before Spain sold them to Germany in 1899. Japan occupied Palau during World War I and received a mandate over them from the League of Nations in 1920. They remained in Japanese control and served as an important naval base until the U.S. seized them during World War II. After the war, the islands became a UN trusteeship (1947), administered by the U.S. Palau signed a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. in 1992, requiring the United States to provide economic aid in exchange for the right to build and maintain U.S. military facilities in Palau. Palau became a sovereign state in 1994.with the signing of the Compact of Free has association with the USA.

It was a calm day for us as Anči went Scuba Diving. The group chose a not too difficult spot, diving in Palau is demanding due to strong currents. Sharks, turtles, plenty of fish and the healthiest corals Anči has seen in years.