travel talk

some ideas for those who want to travel and for those who just dream about it

Do you want to see Papua-New Guinea? There are de iils here on how to get there, how much it will cost, and what J see when you do arrive. And for Islanders planning their olidays abroad, there is some help—and some warning—about ’hat to expect on overseas airlines.

I Pacific

ng P-NG—How Much ; it Cost? ;E cheapest way—and most comfortable in many respects— to see something of Papua and Guinea is to take a round trip me of the Burns Philp or the Guinea-Australia Line vessels, i BP’s Bulolo, the first-class mum fare Sydney-back-to-Syd calling at Brisbane, Port ssby, Samarai, Lae, Madang, brum (Manus) and Rabaul, is ; on one of the NG-A Line sis it is £125, calling at most of same ports as the BP ship ex- Lombrum but with the addition lavieng and sometimes Wewak. le NG-A vessels are about half gross tonnage of Bulolo and only a fraction of the number mssengers, but some seasoned itory travellers prefer the ler vessels, mostly because they m foreign articles with a foreign ; and they say the service is :r; the BP vessels have Aus an crew, including stewards, has two other passenger-carry imaller vessels on the Australia service, but for obvious reasons larger Bulolo is preferred by round-trippers). the vessels mentioned above about a month to make the d trip—give or take a few days, rding to weather, cargo to be id, etc.—and as the cost of d goes these days, it can be that the price range, £125represents something of a travel ain. e biggest disadvantage in round sea travel to Papua and New tea is that as all these vessels mimarily cargo vessels, it is im ble to nail them down to a and fast schedule, and for any who has to make his travel 5 long in advance, or keep to tht schedule, this can be dif r those who have limited time ho must keep to fixed itineraries,

air travel to the Territory is the only alternative.

Both Sydney-New Guinea airline operators, TAA and Ansett-ANA. are offering conducted tours this year, and as described in the January PIM, the inclusive cost of a TAA, 14 days, Sydney back to Sydney tour, including accommodation £261/14/-. groUnd transport ’ ls These tours cover the mainland only and if you are the type who likes to go under your own steam there are alternatives—although mnrp pynpncivp . p , .

It is possible to get a Sydneyback-to-Sydney air ticket for £144/9/-, which will allow you to travel to Port Moresby and Lae by trunk line service and then on by local service to Madang, Wewak, Manus, Kavieng, Rabaul and back to Lae, where you join up with the Sydney service again.

If you wish to visit the Highlands between the Lae and Madang leg

of the journey, it can be done at a small extra cost. You may, of course, break your journey at any of those points—all of them, with the excep tion of Manus, have hotels.

If you like flying just for flying’s sake, or if you wish to see odd and fascinating places, the possibilities in the Territory are endless—the only drawback to this being that the odder and more remote the place, the less likelihood there is of there being a hotel there.

However, if you are a special visitor, or have some special reason for wanting to visit any particular place, arrangements can usually be made, once you are in the Terri tory.

But once you depart from the round-ticket basis of flying in the' Territory, the cost goes up and bears no relation to the type of aircraft you will use.

As an example of this, the fare by Mandated Airlines DC3 freighter from Madang to Wewak, a distance of about 200 miles, is £lO. (However, this same company will carry you from Wewak to Lae, via Madang and Goroka, and allow you to break your journey at both intermediate stops, for about £20.)

A Little Each Way

For those who like a little each way, it is possible to fly to Port Moresby and then pick up a ship for the voyage Port Moresby back to Port Moresby, returning to Australia by air. The cost of the return air fare Sydney-Port Moresby is £92/5/, and the minimum fare (for two or three berth cabin) on Bulolo, Port Moresby round the group and back to Port Moresby, is £7O.

This part of the voyage should take approximately two weeks, and in some ports such as Lae or Madang, there are opportunities for

day air trips to the New Guinea Highlands.

By combining air and plane travel you have more control over the time the whole expedition would take, as it would be possible to leave the flight from Sydney to Port Moresby until the vessel was actu ally approaching Port Moresby.

There are now 17 licensed hotels in the Territory as follows: HOTEL MORESBY, Port Moresby. Bed and breakfast, £l/11/6; full tariff, £3 per day.

PAPUA HOTEL, Port Moresby. From £3/15/- to £4/3/- full tariff, per day.

BOROKO HOTEL, Port Moresby. From £3/8/- to £5/10/- full tariff, per day.

ROUNA HOTEL, about 20 miles up in the ranges behind Port Moresby. From £2/15/- per day. full tariff.

HOTEL CECIL, Lae. From £3/10/- per day, full tariff.

PINE LODGE HOTEL, Bulolo, Morobe District. Bed and breakfast, £2/5/- per day; full tariff, £4/4/- per day.

WAU HOTEL, Wau, Morobe District.

From £3/3/- per day, full tariff.

KAINANTU HOTEL, Eastern Highlands.

Pull tariff £3/10/- per day.

GOROKA HOTEL. Goroka, Eastern Highlands. Bed and breakfast from £2/10/-; full tariff from £3/5/- to £3/15/- per day.

Mt. Hagen Hotel, Mt. Hagen,

Western Highlands. Bed and breakfast, £2/10/-; full tariff £3/15/- per day.

MADANG HOTEL, Madang, New Guinea. Full tariff £3 to £3/15/- per day.

Wewak Point Hotel, Wewak, New

Guinea. Bed and breakfast from 33/-; full tariff from £3 per day.

MAPRIK HOTEL, Sepik District, NG.

Pull tariff, £3 per day.

ENGLAND’S HOTEL, Angoram, Sepik River. Bed and breakfast, 38/-; full tariff 58/- per day.

KAVIENG HOTEL. Kavieng, New Ireland. (Latest tariff not available).

HOTEL ASCOT, Rabaul. New Britain.

Full tariff from £2/15/- to £4 per day.

Cosmopolitan Hotel. Rabaul, New

Britain. Full tariff from £2/10/- to £3 per day. (All quotation in Aust. currency, £AI = 16/- Stg.; US = $2.25.)

Touring Abroad

Other Peopled Airways

Even if you go to Europe by

sea, the chances are that some

time during your visit you’ll be

using airlines and airlines in

Europe differ in a few funda

mental details from those we

know down here in the South

Pacific.

begin with, flying in Europe on the whole costs more than domestic services do in Aus tralia, although there are some cheaper “package deals” if you know where to look for them.

For example, for some reason best known to Europeans, night flights come cheaper than day-time flights; and there are also excursion-rate tickets that are valid for several

veeks and represent a big saving on the normal rates.

“Normal rates” in Europe usually mean what we down here call “tourist class”. If you want to go first class you should say so when asking for your ticket, otherwise you’ll probably find yourself travelling tourist.

Tourist class means high-density seating arrangements—three seats on one side of the aisle and two on the other; and if you are travelling British European Airways, it means that half the seats will be backwards-facing and half forward-facing.

Where Legs Meet It appears that some people actually like being pulled through the air backwards, even apart from the fact that these seats are sup posed to be safer in a crash landing.

However, it’s inevitable that the front-facing and back-facing seats meet somewhere, and if you happen to be unlucky enough to get any one of these 10 seats, you are going to spend a miserable journey with your knees touching your opposite number and your eyes, every time you look up from your magazine or book, or from chewing your lunch or dinner, peering deep into those of the him or the her opposite.

All of this can be hell, so watch out.

Which brings us to the most disillusioning part of European air travel for those who have been brought up in the more civilised style of Down Under.

Except for first class air travel, no seat tickets are issued, and the best seats therefore go to the best runners or those who have no scruples about using their boots and their elbows.

If you are pregnant, infirm, o or have small children you cs complain to the ground hostess ai she will arrange to give you a he£ start at the top of the queu otherwise you are on your own.

An added hazard in this depar ment is the fact that in Europ the aircraft don’t often come rig] in near the terminal buildings h anchor way out on the tarmac.

Passengers are brought in fro

There is scenery for all in Papua-New Guinea, and New Guinea residents themselves aren't aware of many of the sights. These falls are within a couple of miles of the District Office at Lorengau, Manus, and are an ideal picnic spot. You can canoe yourself to the foot of them. Round trippers by sea could visit them.

aircraft or taken out to them in s, and the first person into a isn’t always the first one out. So ire—don’t get yourself wedged a bad position in the bus. Get aisle seat, near a door, if ble. iiere loading is done straight the terminal into the plane, it ausing to see people forming up leir queues or manoeuvring for ion for a good getaway—until yourself get caught up in the end of something and find self with the worst seat in the you are travelling in a party, may care to divide it in two— lalf to carry the bits and pieces take its time; the other half Hop into the plane and bag the !

Go Foreign

is method of loading planes, ugh infuriating in its way, does, >urse, get back at the pest we down in this part of the world: person who has to be called imes over the public address m before he can be persuaded ike his seat and then makes ostentatious entrance when thing is set for take-off short heeling away the steps, st British people in the UK ling an air trip to the Con t naturally think of British pean Airways. There is utely nothing wrong with BEA ipt its infernal backward facing ), but give the airlines of the ■ countries a try, too. you are going to Spain, try a Airlines going out and BEA ag back; if to Germany, lansa going out and BEA com •ack or Air France for France, air for Switzerland, or SAS for dinavia. these national airlines, plus ti KLM, Belgium’s Sabena and s, shuttle about all over pe and beyond, and are all ally excellent airservice-wise. fc each has a distinct personality ts own, too, and can be inteed to supply some little nal facet to delight the Her who likes to collect the

and the interesting.

example, on Iberia you will panish food and a small booklet states the experience and 3ncy of the air crew which has safety in its hands—and then, i extra assurance, commits you e care of the Blessed Virgin, fch the Spaniards, religion is or Sundays only, but as much t of every day life as breakfast lunch.

Do You Eat Mutton? sse remarks on the over-all lence of airlines generally r rnP man .y Asian airlines, as The Indian Airlines Corpora

tion, which runs the internal air services in India and down to Ceylon, conducts its business with the painstaking efficiency that Indians give to most things they have inherited from us.

Their service on and off the ground is excellent—but don’t be surprised if the booking clerk asks you before departure if you “eat mutton”. It seems to be his way of finding out whether you are a vegetarian or not.

And for airsick customers they provide cardboard cylinders, like the containers that are used for posting maps.

No one buys air-travel in the expectation of being sick—but if it has to be, it is a matter of opinion whether it is easier to perform the feat in a paper bag or a cardboard cylinder.