Day #4 New Guinea Adventure

Map of the Region showing our heading - Google map link

Alotau, Papua New Guinea

Whoo hoo, we are out of the Coral Sea, it’s much calmer, the sun is shining and Kelly is feeling much better.

This morning we are heading for the town of Alotau. It’s the capital of Milne Bay Province, and is nestled on the edge of the bay named by Captain Moresby in 1873 after Lord Milne of the British Navy. Alotau means “Bay of Views” in Suau language.

Approaching Alotau

Our ETA to Alotau is 13:00 hours so there is time for a bit of brekkie and a couple of lectures before we arrive.

It’s great to see Kelly up and about again and we both head off to breakfast looking forward to a great day. By the time we get to breakfast the tables are filling up quickly and we see our first glimpse of Papua New Guinea.

We have sailed from the Coral Sea to the Solomon Sea and are passing Sideia Island in the Louisiade Archipelago. The weather has cleared completely and the clouds just tower over the shoreline.

Dramatic Clouds in Milne Bay

Peter Eastway’s first presentation started at 09:30 hours, and he gave an amazing overview of his work and presented a slideshow that gave us an insight into how he created his vision of what he saw when taking a photograph using Adobe Photoshop. It was inspiring, and I can’t wait to apply similar techniques to my photography.

Not long after Peter had finished, Mark gave a presentation on the Battle of Milne Bay. This area is significant to Australia as several battles were fought and legends created in this region, none more known than the story of Kokoda. At Milne Bay, Japanese marines attacked the Australian base on 25 August 1942, and fighting continued until the Japanese retreated on 5 September 1942. The battle was significant as it was the first in the Pacific campaign in which Allied troops decisively defeated Japanese land forces, forcing them to withdraw and completely abandon their strategic objective.

Around lunchtime, we sighted Alouta, and at approximately 13:00 hours, we berthed at the dock in Alotua. There was a lot of interest in our arrival from the dock as well as from local kids paddling out and circling the ship in their outrigger canoes.

Young boy in an outrigger canoe

There were, however, a couple of guys who didn’t really seem all that interested in our arrival.

Couple of guys not too interested!

The dock itself seems to be mainly used for loading Copra as we could see inside the dock buildings large stacks of bags containing Copra and smell the distinctive coconut aroma in the air. Copra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut. Coconut oil extracted from it has made copra an important agricultural commodity for many coconut-producing countries.

Coprah Warehouse

During an Orion cruise, you can usually select from a number of Shoreside expeditions. Kelly and I had decided that we wanted to do the Bat Cave Adventure. Hell, as a Sydneysider, we have an affinity for the little guys, and any description that says you are going to get dirty and down in bat guano has to be fun.

Our tour was due to start about half an hour after we docked. After a couple of shabby-looking four-wheel drives arrived on the dock, we disembarked.

The expedition team briefs the group every night before arriving at a new destination. When they discussed the Bat Cave, they showed a picture of a large furry spider and said they were present in the cave. Half a dozen people changed their minds after that and signed on for the History Tour instead. I envisioned something out of Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the guy’s back is covered in hairy Tarantulas.

Well, I’m sure we’d survive, so Kelly and I piled into one of the vehicles, and Mark, an expedition member, and a few others got into the other one and off we went. Of course, as soon as we are off the ship, it starts to rain again, but this we discover is pretty standard for this part of the world: sunshine in the morning, rain in the afternoon.

We head out of town in our convoy, with our vehicle in the lead. We pass the market and the local fishing boats on the way out.

Fishing Boats

The ride out of town is pretty good; it’s a bituminised road with a few potholes that we have to navigate around and lots of friendly locals waving to us as we pass. Every so often, these little roadside huts are a bit like the Papua New Guinea versions of 7-Eleven’s. I like the Pidgin “Winim LCD TV” on the Maggi posters.

Roadside Stall

As we head further out of town, we pass through a huge Palm Oil plantation.

Palm Oil Plantation

According to our driver, this used to be a Coconut plantation but was cleared for Palm Oil because the return is much better. As you drive through, large piles of seeds wait to be collected.

Palm Oil Seeds

After about 20 minutes our driver pulls over, turns around and heads back to town. He tells us that the other vehicle has broken down, and he needs to go back and see if they are okay. After about 10 minutes we are almost halfway back and there has been no sign of them, suddenly he pulls over and turns around again. Apparently, they were only about a minute behind us when they broke down, and our guy just drove straight by them. So we got to see the Palm Oil plantation all over again.

After meeting up with the other vehicle, which now seems okay, we kept going. After another 10 minutes, we turned off the main road onto a jungle track.

Jungle Road to the Bat Cave

It seemed like we travelled along this track up and down hills for another 10 minutes until we pulled into a small clearing to be met by our guide, who we found out was named Roger.

Roger, our guide

Roger was very happy to see us, and we headed off into the bush to the Bat Cave with some other local guys. I thought we would climb up for some reason, but we went into a valley instead. By this time the rain had eased off but it was damn humid and every thing was slippery so by the time we made it to the mouth of the cave we were hot and exhausted.



Scramble in the Jungle

Getting into the cave was another experience, basically it was a matter of sliding down on your butt, watching out you didn’t smack your head on the overhanging rock. All the time, we were looking out for these large furry spiders we’d been told about.

By the time we had all made it into the first part of the cave, we were all sporting examples of bat guano on parts of our bodies, mainly our butts! The guides provided us with as many flashlights as they had. I missed out, but at least Kelly had one, and we headed into the cave.

Now I thought the cave would be cool and a bit refreshing after the humidity outside, but no, it was just as humid if not more inside. The floor of the caves was sort of squishy and consisted of compacted bat guano deposited over the years. I have to say the Adventure side was a bit of a letdown. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun to do, but the large furry spiders, well, we never saw one. We saw many cockroaches, a couple of frogs, a spindly spider and some very elusive bats.

A Frog and a skinny spider

After about an hour in the cave, we climbed back out. Coming back out was a bit easier than going in, and by the time we had all made it back up to the top of the hill where the vehicles waited for us, we were pretty beat and a sorry-looking lot, except for Roger. He looked pretty dry, clean, calm and collected.

Tony & Roger

We thanked Roger and the other guys, got back in the vehicles, and headed back to Orion. We were looking forward to a shower and getting out of our bat-guano-splattered clothes and boots.

Just clean again, and Captain Frank comes over to the ship's public address system to let us know that a team of Papuan New Guinea cultural dancers will perform for us on deck 6 at 17:00 hours.

We grab our cameras and head up to see what will be the first of many cultural presentations on the trip. The dancers and singers were fantastic, the costumes amazing and it was a welcome to Papua New Guinea we would never forget.

Leader of the Group

Male Dancer

Female Dancer

After the welcome, we thanked them all personally, and as they left the ship, Captain Frank prepared to undock the Orion, and it wasn’t long before we were sailing out of Aloutau as the sun set, off to our next destination, Samarai and Kwato Islands.

Sunset over Milne Bay

We finished the night with a Seafood Extravaganza out on deck in the Delphinus Lounge, tired but elated with our first day in Papua New Guinea.

Day #3 New Guinea Adventure

One of the many Boobies following the ship

At Sea

Today is a sea day, which means no landfall but lots of onboard activities to keep us all busy. Unfortunately, we are still in the Coral Sea, and there is a bit of a swell, so Kelly is still not well despite taking seasickness tablets.

I’m feeling okay, so I’ve decided to start with a stretching class with Dianne, the ship’s masseur, at 07:30 on Deck 6. The weather is pretty unsettled at the moment, and there are lots of rain clouds about, but about ten of us, a couple of guys included, make the best of it.

After that, I’m off to the Delphinus Outdoor Café for breakfast, where a great spread awaits me. A chef with a small two-burner grill makes fresh omelettes or eggs as you like them. There’s also a buffet with fresh fruit, yogurt, and muesli and a hot buffet with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, etc.

I go with an omelette and in no time, Emil, one of the Orion waiters, has brought me a coffee to have with my breakfast. Before I finish up, I ask Donny, another waiter, if they have gluten-free bread, and amazingly they do so. I ask him to make me some gluten-free toast so I can return to Kelly.

There are a couple of lectures happening today, the first is at 09:00 and it’s a presentation by the Expedition Team of an overview of the expeditions we will be going on during the trip. Mick Fogg, the expedition team leader, takes us through the amazing places we will visit and the various options we have regarding each location.

This is our first trip with Mick, and from the start, he seems passionate and enthusiastic about the places we will see.

After that, it’s Justin Friend’s turn. Now, we met and travelled with Justin on our first Orion Expedition cruise from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City in October 2009, and it’s great to have him back on this cruise. Justin is the Expedition Program Manager, developing and managing the expedition destinations. He tends to work out of Sydney now but he’s onboard because the second leg of our cruise is termed a “Voyage of Discovery” as it’s the first time the ship has been to these destinations. Justin has scouted them out, but that’s about it.

Justin’s presentation provides a great background on the History and Culture of Papua New Guinea, which has had a long history and is in a very different state now.

Justin giving his presentation

By this time it’s lunch and I’m about to head back to the Delphinus café for more food!  But before I go I spend a bit of time on the deck overlooking the bow watching the Boobies wheeling above and around the ship. They are swooping down on flying fish leaping out of the water as the Orion glides by.

Booby in flight

Boobies are large birds with long pointed wings and long bills. They hunt fish by diving from a height into the sea and pursuing their prey underwater. You can read more about them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booby (If anyone can identify these actual Boobies can you let me know and I'll update the description)

After lunch there’s the Zodiac and Snorkel briefing where the expedition team brief those who haven’t travelled on Orion before and hand out the snorkelling gear. As we’ve both been on the Zodiacs before and we have our own gear with us we don’t need to attend.

As I don’t have to attend I’ve booked a massage with Di and I head up to deck 6 where she’s got her small office. Once I’m on the table Di asks me how I’m feeling and if I want a relaxing or remedial massage. I make the mistake of telling her my right shoulder has been a bit achy!

For the next hour Di goes to town on me, oh my god, she is a very strong girl. About quarter way into the session I tell her the only other person that inflicts as much pain on me is my trainer. Di asks me who that is and I tell her Phil Cunningham. Well can you believe it,  Di and Phil know each other, turns out that Di is from Rozelle and she use to be at Balmain Fitness when it first opened.

The funny thing is that knowing I was training with Phil she seemed to want to inflict more pain, must have been a competitive thing!

So after an hour I’m feeling muscles I never knew I had and I’m hurting in lots of places. Di cheerfully tells me I’ll feel great tomorrow and asks if I want to book another session. I tell her I’ll let her know and escape down to my cabin.

Poor old Kelly’s still not feeling too good so she can’t join me in the Cosmos lecture theatre for Nick Rains lecture introducing us to the fundamental controls of your digital camera. Even though it’s basic stuff I still learn new things about how the camera works and Nick is more than willing to answer dumb questions!

After the lecture I return to the cabin and Kelly isn’t getting any better so finally I get her to agree to see doctor Anna. Anna comes in and gives Kelly a whacking big injection into the muscle of her arm. About 30 seconds later a smile comes over Kelly’s face for the first time in days and she mumbles something about feeling sooo good and drifts off into sleep.

I leave her sleeping peacefully and head out to the welcome reception in the Leda Lounge and then down to the Constellation Lounge for dinner.

Hopefully we will be out of the Coral Sea later this evening and into the shallower waters around Papua New Guinea.



Day #2 New Guinea Adventure

We started the day trying to repair the damage done by the Chocolate Hazelnut pudding the night before by heading to the gym. We slightly diminished the damage after a good hour of stretching, biking, rowing, abs, and weights.

This morning, we are off to take the wheels that Adam gave us back to him, grab a coffee, and then head back to the hotel to pick up our bags and grab a taxi to Orion.

Cairns caters to holiday travellers; many bars, cafes, backpacker lodges, and event booking places exist. But not so subtle advertising.

Now that’s my kind of advertising!

Once again, time gets away from us, and after we’ve dropped off the wheels and picked up some essential supplies, it’s back to the hotel, checked out and headed off to the Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal.

The new Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal

As we arrived early, about two hours before most quests, there was no one at customs or departures, so we got through the bag inspection pretty quickly. Once through, we are met by Andrew, who shows us the room we need to shoot the 360 Panoramas of.  Today, before we sail, before the quests board, we have to have 3 rooms photographed! It was a bit of a rush but we managed to get a number of the rooms shot, there are still more to go and we will get to it at the next ship turnaround in Rabaul in 10 days.

By about 3 pm, all of the passengers were onboard, and we cast off from the Terminal and headed out of Cairns for the Coral Sea and the first port of call in Papua New Guinea, Alotau.

Leaving the Terminal
Looking back at Cairns past lifeboats
Tony shooting as we leave 
One of the Orion deck crew 
Hills around Cairns

Leaving the Terminal

Looking back at Cairns past lifeboats

Tony shooting as we leave 

One of the Orion deck crew 

Hills around Cairns

Once we were on our way, drinks and snacks were served on the sun deck.

Kelly on deck 

During welcome drinks I got to meet Nick Rains and Peter Eastway for the first time and introduce myself.

Nick Rains (left), Peter Eastway (right) and Justin Friend (back to us)

Shortly after that we had our lifeboat drill, our mandatory briefing on all things ship wise, an introduction to the Expedition Team and our first meeting with the infamous Mick Fogg, Expedition Leader.

Tony in lifejacket

Kelly in lifejacket

After that it was the first of the many Serge Dansereau dinners we would experience onboard. Unfortunately about halfway through the meal Kelly wasn’t feeling too good, there was quite a bit of a swell as we made our way through the Coral Sea, so she took off to the cabin while I finished up in the dining room.

Poor old Kelly had a bit of a rough night of it as we ploughed on through the Coral Sea. Hopefully it will be calmer up around New Guinea.




Day #1 New Guinea Adventure

Packed, cleaned, and packed some more until it was so late or early, depending upon your point of view, that it didn’t make sense to go to bed.

Our flight to Cairns was scheduled for an 8:45 am departure; we’d booked the car into the long-term parking and figured leaving by 7 am at the latest should give us plenty of time to make it to the airport, park, check the bags in and a leisurely stroll to the gate.

Is this starting to sound slightly like our experience at Johannesburg airport?

By 7:30 a.m., we arrived at the long-term park and were waiting at one of the many bus stops. About ten minutes later, a bus pulled up about ¾ full of people and bags. We struggled aboard with all our bags: two large duffle-type bags (with wheels), two North Face backpack bags, one backpack (with computer and gear), and one roll-on (with camera gear).

Unfortunately, the bus had to make a couple more stops until it was chock a block full of bags and people stuffed everywhere, but finally, it headed out of the car park.

We arrived at the terminal's arrivals level instead of the departure level just before 8 a.m. and joined the bag drop line. Both check-in lines were quite long, and we were getting close to boarding time by the time we had our bags heading down the chute.

There was a bit more stress, as the lines through security were long, but to cut a long story short, we made it to the departure lounge with a few minutes to spare. Of course, it was the one at the end of the terminal!

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Standing in the alley at the Cafiend Cafe in Grafton St, Cairns

We landed in Cairns to find one of the Gravis bags had lost one of it’s wheels. After a quick check at a local skateboard shop who were super helpful we found out that Ollie from the café across from the shop had had the same problem and had a spare axel the only bit the skate shop didn’t have. Anyhow to cut a long story short the base that the axel screwed into was shot, the whole thing was in vain but it taught us that there are some very nice and very helpful people living in Cairns.

View of Cairns from the Holiday Inn

Later that evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner on the waterfront at the Waterbar and Grill. We indulged a bit in an amazing Chocolate Hazelnut pudding before retiring for the night.

The remains of a great Chocolate Hazelnut Pudding