Pacific
pp. 156-157 · Read in the full issue
The
Travel in Papua-New Guinea is still for the specialised visitor and not for the average tourist who finds what he wants in West Indies, Honolulu or even Fiji. (We’ll have something to say about the “average tourist” in relation to the Territory in a later issue.) For the intellectual, the adventurer, the scientist and the person who genuinely wants to see something off the tourist beat, there are now ways and means of arranging what they want.
BOTH District Services staff in the outports and private enterprise work together on these special tourist problems and although it takes time to arrange, the results are usually good.
A two-weeks itinerary recently worked out for a party of three Americans, between the young woman in charge of All World Tours, in Port Moresby, and Administration field staff in different districts of the Territory, is a case in point.
The tour is one of two weeks for a party of three, one of whom will stay in Port Moresby for the full time while the two men of the party go further afield. The cost for the three will be something in the vicinity of £A4OO which will not include local air fares by scheduled lines but will include several air charters (at about £A3B per day).
The schedule for the two men in cludes three days in Port Moresby, before going on to Goroka, Eastern Highlands. At Goroka hire of a Land-Rover has been arranged and three days will be spent on the road between Goroka and Mt. Hagen.
Night stops will be made at the Wahgi Guest House or Motel at Minj and at the Chimbu Guest House.
Lunch on one day will be at Nondugl livestock station.
At Mt. Hagen, a sing-sing is being arranged for them. (These are or ganised by the District Office and come in two prices—£A 25 for 30 natives; £5O for 60 natives).
From Mt. Hagen the party goes on to Madang for a day and then
. . on to Wewak where three nights are spent at the local hotel.
On one day a special charter aircraft will take them to Maprik for the full day; and on another, a charter to Angoram on the Sepik is being arranged. The party then returns to Sydney via Lae.
A 31-day tour for an anthropologist and an archaelogist is also
being arranged. The anthropology
section of Native Affairs Dept, is being called in to advise on this one a " d ‘ he ‘ W ° s P ecialists will come in
through Hollandia and depart!
Rabaul, the Solomons and Fiji.
The sort of specialised treat for special travellers is best suit* P-NG in its present state of tc development (or lack of dev ment). In view of the conside: amount of detailed persons pioneering work that has to go it, such touring is not excess priced. The fact that each tour is cut to order and not st: typed will appeal to many.
Drive Yourself In NZ AS part of their drive for toi to New Zealand during the peak period, May to end of Noi her, TEAL/Qantas have incll something new in package ton self-drive in Morris 1000 cars.
Cost of the tours includes econ class air-fare, Australia-New Zeai hire of self-drive cars, and ac; modation at good class hotels.
The 11-day tour of the N Island, beginning at Wellington! eludes such well-known places Chateau Tongariro, Waitomo C the thermal region of Rotorua,, Napier on the east coast, Dist driven is about 1,000 miles plus v ever local sight-seeing the custo might indulge in.
The Pacific Islands Monthly" is a member of the Australian National Travel Association (ANTA) and the Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA), which are pledged to promote tourist travel in their areas.
PORT MORESBY FROM THE AIR. The excellent photograph taken recently shoe the Port Moresby business area and docks. On the right is Paga Hill, which 100 out over the reef and guards the entrance to the harbour. The overseas wh[?] is in the foreground with two ships in, and the slipways and wharf sheds are reclaimed land immediately behind. Wharves for small ships are on the left. T[?] left is Ela Beach. Photo: Department of Territories.
>st, based on two persons per is £AI3B/10/- each; if there are !, it is £125/6/- per person, self-drive tour of about the same nee in the South Island, includ- Vlt, Cook, the glaciers, Lakes and edin and Christchurch, costs 33/2/- on a basis of two persons £AI2O for three, combination of the two above 5, lasting 21 days, costs 29/15/- per person on a basis of persons and £A2O4 on a basis iree. s well as these drive-yourself s, there are special off-peak con ed bus tours and individual tours range in price from as little as 7/17/6. here are also special ski-ing tours ither South Island or North Island AllO for seven or eight days; or I days are spent in a tour of NZ’s main ski resorts, it can as high as £lBO/15/-. As the ski season is considered to end i October, these tours are now ething to be considered for 1963.
II the special tours include return s-Tasman air fare, economy class, ward journey from Australia iot be later than November 30 return not later than December
vel Round-up f Europe in the winter season, holidaying can be of only two ds: Sun-seeking (Canary Islands, rth Africa, Southern Spain, etc,); snow seeking (France, Switzerland, ly, Austria or Scandanavia).
British European Airways, in con junction with Scandanavian Airways System is currently making a big drive to attract skiers to Norway in the coming Northern winter.
Norwegian resorts are less crowded than on the Continent and the cost of the special 10 days winter sports tour to Sinnes, near Stavanger, is around £Stg.39/14/-, including air fare.
BEA has also issued a new guide to ski-ing which lists package holidays at Continental resorts.
Youth organisations in the UK will combine in the 1962-63 season to produce cheap ski holidays for parties of 10 or more youngsters at resorts in Norway and on the Continent.
Arrangements for these have to be made directly through the organisa tions themselves. (The Youth Hostels Assn, of the UK will help). * * * For holidaying Antipodeans, the West Indies are the most difficult and most expensive places to get to, although many would like to visit these fabled islands that rival the Pacific for romance.
Even if included in an American tour, getting to the Caribbean is still far from cheap, although costs after arrival are no more than at any similar international resort.
Several voyages of the P & O- Orient ships will get within hailing distance of the area during 1963 sailings and one, Oronsav, leaving Sydney on April 19, will call at Kingston, Jamaica, before going on to Bermuda and then across the Atlantic.
Announcing this and other voyages, the Line said that Australian pas sengers disembarking in ports in the Florida-Caribbean area will be able to connect with other sailings scheduled in the company’s world wide services.
On the April voyage, Oronsay will call at Acapulco, Mexico, pass through the Panama Canal to Jamaica and go on to Port Everglades (Miami).
She will do another trans-Pacific- Panama-Atlantic voyage leaving Sydney on October 24 but will omit Jamaica and include Bermuda and In the reverse direction, the 42,000 tons Oriana will leave the UK on August 13 and after calling at Bermuda, Miami, Colon, Balboa, Long Beach, San Francisco, Van couver, Honoloulu, Suva and Auck land will arrive in Sydney on Sep tember 17.
Orcades, will leave UK on October 14 and will call at Le Havre, Lisbon, Bermuda, Miami, through the Canal,
Acapulco, San Diego, Long Beach, San Francisco, Vancouver, Honolulu, Suva and Auckland before arriving in Sydney on November 28.
These last two voyages might be regarded as some sort of bonus for Australian passengers who have become used to shipping companies parading all the interesting ports on the trip to Europe but confining ports to a minimum on the voyage from Europe to Australasia.
And somehow amongst those voyages, or combining them with air travel, passengers who want to see the West Indies might at last be able to manage it.
Jamaica has a climate similar to Fiji. The resorts are Kingston, Montego Bay, Mandeville, Port Antonia and Ocho Rios. The high season is December-April, when the island is crowded and prices at the best hotels are probably in the vicinity of £Stg.lO per day. The same hotels in the off-season will probably halve their rates.
There are also guest houses that are modest in price and holiday houses for rental. There are about 7,000 miles of good roads in the 140 miles long island and drive your self cars can be hired from £Stg.3o/a day and up.