West New Britain

We arrived home today after nearly a week in West New Britain - the first 4 days planned, the last 2 not so much!  I'll save that saga for the end of the post.

We flew from Lae to a small provincial airport, Hoskins, near Kimbe on the northern coast of West New Britain.  It's about an hour and a half by plane.  We were picked up there for the hour drive to the resort where we were staying.  The road has some Botswana level potholes - large, deep and close together! - but little traffic so mostly avoidable.

The resort was lovely.  Extensive grounds with lush gardens.  The best thing was having the freedom to just walk around.  The pool was  great and the view out to distant volcanos and small coral atolls was there even when the birds weren't.  The owner is a (mostly) retired agricultural scientist so we had lots of chats about agriculture in PNG and the oil palm industry in particular - her field of interest.  The rain season is just starting so we had some heavy rain at various times but it didn't slow us up.

  

There were always fresh flowers everywhere.  Frangipani flowers all year around and the hibiscus is beautiful.  Our bungalow had excellent views out to sea and there were always amazing butterflies to look at.

I had quality time reading and relaxing by the pool but also went snorkelling, circumnavigating an atoll about half an hour out by boat.  The fish were colourful and plentiful, also sea cucumber, sea stars and shells of all shapes and sizes.  The coral is looking a bit sad - bleached by high sea temperatures over the last few years.  My only problem was sea sickness - not on the boat getting there and back, but while snorkelling, because of the swell.  I didn't even know that was a thing.  Anyway, the fish enjoyed my beef burger and chips.

We had an early morning walk through a local village and part way up a small, dormant volcano.  We walked through cocoa orchards and past food gardens in clearings in the forest.  

There were some huge old trees and lots of interesting fungi.  There was a spot where we could see out to the bay through the trees.

 

Naturally we did lots of birding, some of it in the oil palm plantations and adjacent forest.  Steve and the guides found some of the birds he wanted.  The megapode was not at home but we saw the nest holes.  The oil palm industry is a huge employer in WNB.  We saw the nursery where new plants are grown.  The new varieties start producing fruit when they are 9 months old!  Many women are working picking up fruit that is left behind after the main harvest goes through.  These 'Lus frut Maris' are paid by the kilo for what they collect.

We had a great time but had to be back at work on Thursday so packed up to leave Wednesday morning.

Getting home was a saga taking three days instead of 90 minutes and involving lots of time in airport waiting rooms.  Wednesday we were in plenty of time for our flight with PNG Air direct back to Lae.  The check in officer asked had we checked in on line.  Yes, we had, and had electronic boarding passes to prove it.  "Good" he said, telling us the plane was full because schools were just closing for the year and there were plenty of people on the move.  We moved on to the boarding lounge and waited.  

Steve has a Flight Radar app.  We watched our plane approach and almost land, we watched it circle above us, and we watched it fly off towards Lae.  We, and a dozen other very cross passengers, headed back to the check in counter to find out what was going on.  "Weather" we were told, meant it couldn't land.  The more likely explanation was filling our seats with other passengers in Rabaul and no space for us.  We were told to come back at 9 the next morning and we'd be on the shortlist for any unfilled seats on the next day's plane.  The resort driver was still at the airport waiting to see if we'd successfully left before leaving himself.  He took us back to the resort as we did not have AVI permission to stay anywhere else. 

The next morning we were back in plenty of time - the resort got us there at 7:30 - to be told they wouldn't know until 12 noon if there were any 'no shows'.  Midday came and we were told to be patient.  One o'clock and we were told no seats.  An email had come from PNG Air to say we'd been booked on to the next available flight - on Sunday Nov 30!  Not OK!

We'd had a discussion with the Air Nuigini check in officer about flying home via Port Moresby.  Tickets and seats were available she said.  We booked our flights and also booked a night at the Sanctuary Hotel in PM because the return meant an overnight there and an early start on Friday morning.  We were upgraded to waiting in the business lounge which meant a cup of coffee and a sachet of Scotch Finger biscuits.  

Boarding time came, and went.  No plane.  Our friend who sold us the tickets said yes, yes, it's coming; until eventually, no, it's been cancelled!  Steve unbooked the Sanctuary Hotel and I sought permission from AVI to stay at the grandly named Hoskins Airport Resort which is not very grand, certainly not a resort and its greatest crime - Dry! - so no beer or wine to drown our sorrows.  Still, it was fine for just the one night and we were back at the airport at 5 am this morning.  The security team were so used to us that they didn't bother screening our luggage any more - a manual job of poking around in the bags as no X-ray.  The plane in from Port Moresby was late - naturally! - but it was still a relief when it landed.  

Of course we missed our connection to Lae.  We were told at Hoskins that they would email and phone ahead to explain our troubles and I don't know if that happened but at Port Moresby airport a "Protocol Officer" found us as we neared the Customer Service desk (which was mobbed!) and said he would get a woman named Ronny to sort us out.  And she did!  She produced new boarding passes, found our luggage, took us to the front of the queue at check in and made sure we got through into the departure lounge.

Another 3 hours of waiting, hearing 4 flights cancelled and 2 delayed, and our boarding call finally came, over a half hour late but so welcome!  We finally arrived back at Lae airport about 2:30 and were home by half past 3.  Next job is explaining it all to the travel insurance company.  I was totally exhausted  but a swim and a beer at the bar have sparked me up and I am enjoying a magnificent sunset.

We have a busy few weeks ahead.  Will tell you all about our International Volunteers Day event in my next post.

Leave a comment if you can , or email me.  We love to hear from friends and family. Jenny