Meanwhile, back at Wewak

WHERE YOU CAN GAZE AT P-NG's NATURAL

Beauty-Without Suffering

Visitors to Papua-New Guinea no longer have to confine themselves to the old beaten path—that quick look at Port Moresby and then off to the Highlands. Enterprising Territorians with a new slant on tourism are making it possible to see un spoiled beauty spots without either roughing it or having to force yourself on some long-suffering resident.

Tufi, for instance. It’s on the most scenic of the fiords in the Cape Nelson area of north-eastern Papua, just over 100 miles from Port Moresby by air and 60 miles from Popondetta, the inland headquarters town of Northern District.

Tufi has its own airsrtip and now has Mirigina Lodge, run by Mr. and Mrs. Milne who went to the station in a government job, fell in love with the place and decided to stay permanently.

The lodge has accommodation for 10, in small thatched bungalows in a garden setting, and each with modern bathroom. Dining and lounge facilities are in the main house which was converted from an old government residency (Tufi is still a sub-district HQ). In Nov ember, a swimming pool was being built and the Milne couple expected to get a liquor licence.

The lodge is called after the Mirigina waterfall nearby, and the waterfall is named for the early Papuan government vessel Merrie England which, Papuanised, comes out as Mirigina. Tariff at the lodge is only $lO a day, covering acccom modation, meals, tours and use of dinghys.

He shot first

Tufi, in addition to providing re laxation, spectacular scenery, hiking, boating, swimming from white sand beaches, skindiving, snorkling and exploring, has some interesting history.

There has been a government station in Cape Nelson area since the early 1900’s when it was established by the late C. A. W, Monckton, who has left behind several books of reminiscences about patrolling in Papua. Monckton today, of course, is remembered as a guy inclined to shoot first and ask questions afterwards. It was one way of bringing government to primitive

people but even in 1907 it didn’t find favour with Port Moresby authorities and his career in Papua was brief.

The present Tufi station is built on a cliff and looks down the fiord.

Goodenough Island can be seen in the distance and, in the background, are the old volcanoes of Mt. Victory (6,300 ft), Mt. Trafalga and Mt.

Hall.

There are many villages within easy walking distance and the people still are unspoiled and unsophistic ated.

Mr. Eric Blount, of Port Moresby, who supplied the photographs op posite after a recent visit to Tufi’s Mirigina Lodge, described something

of the simple charm of the place: “If the visitor happens to be at Tufi on a Sunday and doesn’t mind a three-mile hike or sitting on a split-log bench, he can hear a church service delivered in three languages and watch a heap of fruit and vegetables grow as the church members file in quietly and deposit their vegetarian offerings on the earth floor. His own few silver coins will look incongruous and in adequate among these better-under stood products of the soil.

“After the service, on reaching the doorway, he will be greeted by a double line-up of worshippers in various states of dress or undress, all anxiously waiting to shake his hand. The line-up finally ends under a shady tree where pineapples have been sliced in readiness for his re freshment.

“To sit here awhile and partake of this simple hospitality can give the stranger an insight into native behaviour that can be easily over looked in the busier, commercialised towns of the territory.”

Meanwhile, back at Wewak

Right at the other end of the territory, at Wewak, two other young generation Territorians, Len and Cathy Peterson, opened the Windjammer Motel last August. It’s at Mission Point, about a mile from the main town on Wewak headland.

The motel is on a 500 ft frontage to the beach, which is one of the few in the territory suitable for surfing. Twelve of the 26 self contained units face the beach and the rest inland. None is more than a few yards from the water’s edge.

The Windjammer offers accom modation on a bed-and-breakfast basis at $7 per night. Other meals can be taken in the Melanesian Room restaurant. The motel is licensed.

Although a great deal of tourist attention has been focused on the Highlands, Wewak has a great deal to offer those who want to see a different sort of New Guinea.

The town is a pleasant spot in its own right; but it is also a good base for expeditions further afield

into the 14,000 square miles of East and West Sepik Districts.

The Sepik River runs for 700 miles through the districts, and for those who are prepared to rough it, trawlers sail regularly from Wewak along the coast and 300 miles up-river. Those who are determined to see the rest of it can do so by canoe, powered or un powered, and probably shoot a few crocodiles on the way.

Those not so tough can make sorties out of Wewak by air to Vanimo, HQ town of West Sepik and only a few miles from the West Irian border; to Ambunti or Angoram on the river; or to Maprik or adjacent Mayfield which was named over 20 years ago, after the present Administrator of Papua-

New Guinea, Mr. David Hay, at a time when he was a young Army lieutenant pursuing Japanese across the Sepik’s grass plains.

It was the Sepik that put New Guinea primitive art on the world map. Tons of carvings and other artifacts have been shipped out to the United States and elsewhere and small fortunes have been made from the trade. Although some carvings are now manufactured with tourists in mind, it is still possi ble to get pieces that reek of antiquity and authenticity.

The Sepik is the home of “spirit houses”. The Haus Tambarans near Maprik and at Angoram are in different styles but are undoubt edly the most photographed build ings in all Papua-New Guinea.

Although Wewak is a hustling and bustling town, a great deal of its growth is generated by govern ment enterprises the fact that a battalion of the Pacific Islands Regi ment is stationed at nearby Moem Barracks has something to do with it. There have, to date, been few basic private enterprise industries to keep the districts moving. For this reason, tourism could be a Godsend to this large and fascinating area.

New Hotel Approved

For Western Samoa

The Western Samoan Government has approved the construction of a 40-room hotel on the south coast of Upolu, at Mulivai in Safata, at a cost of about 5W5147,000. The prime movers in the enterprise— H. and J. Retzlaff Ltd., Mr. Trevor Kyle, of Australia, and the Retzlaff Tour and Travel Office—say that they will invite local and overseas interests to invest in the hotel.

The hotel’s backers hope to have completed 20 bungalows and a central block within the year, and a further 20 units within five years.

Under Western Samoa’s Enterprises Incentives Act, the hotel’s backers will be allowed to import free of duty such major installations as lighting plants, refrigerators, stoves, fans and a truck.

The hotel will give employment to people in what is at present a depressed area. There will be in direct employment for local people who will be able to supply vegetables and meat to the hotel, as well as direct employment (as hotel staff) for 21. After five years the hotel will employ a staff of up to 47 local people.