GBR Dives, PNG Plans
North Australia’s climate is supposed to be tropical, which means there is a ‘dry’ season (right now) and a ‘wet’ season. These definitions, however, are just general rules; So of course when I go to dive, it is rainy.
It didn’t interefere much with the dive itself, just made the journey there (2 hours by ship) a bit bumpy, and the waves did cause the visibility to be less than usual - we had a 10 meters visibility. The dives themselves were nice, but not exceptional. The most interesting part was when I got to feed a sea turtle from my hand, by holding an alvae infront of its face. Other than this, I held a few sea cucumbers and nudies (underwater worms) - they are surprisingly sticky, which probably helps them remain attached to the corals - and saw a nice cattlefish.
Today the storm continued (it even grew stronger) so it is rainy and cloudy. Normally I love this weather, but today it is not so fit - even more not because I start to feel my throat and I am afraid of getting cold before my PNG journey.
About PNG: I have it all aranged. I got my visa (that woman is amazing. She did send my passport to Brisbane, and had them issue me a visa and send the passport back to Cairns during the weekend. She also showed me lots of tips other Israeli travelers left with her for people like me:-) and she was 10$ cheaper and two weeks faster than any travel agency here.) and my flight tickets. I also found a place for my car - I will leave it for free on the internal parking of the hostel I’m staying in (it is called ‘beach house’ eventhough it is very far from the sea), and they will alsp pick me up from the airport!
My PNG plan right now goes like this:
I fly on AirNiugini flight PX93 on Thursday at 12:00. I will wait 1:30 hours at Port Moresby airport, and than catch AirNiugini’s domestic flight PX962 to Goroka, which is in the highlands. I arrive there at 7/7 around 17:15. I will stay a day or two in Goroka, and than go - probably by PMV - to Lae. From Lae (which is on the north-eastern coast) I will get to Rabaul (which is on an island at ‘East New Britain’ province) either by flight or by boat - I will see when I get there. I want to be in Rabaul for the mask festival in the 13/7 or 14/7; after the festival is over I will go to Kavieng (on a different island with a different festival) and get there somewhere around the 16/7. After their festival is over, I am still not sure where I will go - I now tend to give up the Sepik (too distant, too expensive, too dangerous) - so I will just decide on the spot. Anyway, my flight back to Australia is AirNiugini’s Px98 flight, which leaves Port-Moresby at 24/7 on 18:25.
July 6th, 2005 at 8:54
Good plan, good for you.
Dry seaoson usually means that it should not rain as much as during the rainy season- not that it is actually “dry”.
Do’nt forget to take your antimalaria drugs when in PNG!
Enjoy the festivals and take a lot of pictures
Daddy