Our time in Papua New Guinea (Niugini in Pidgin) was short but full – we saw a lot. Australia has a significant presence and is a big part of PNG’s history, administering the territory from 1914 until its independence in 1975. It is a country so close to Australia that people have jet-skied to it from Queensland! We’re neighbours.
The locals in the remote areas are extremely friendly, and the rare few that surf offer you set waves with a smile – try to name a place where that happens. If you hate surfing with crowds, wow, there’s no one out there – and you are guaranteed to surf solo 99% of the time. We roamed the New Ireland Province and surfed about 5-6 different reef breaks in a week – 1 was even unnamed, and we just saw it in the tinny. I feel there are so many more undiscovered waves there, but they do not get a lot of swell, and it’s pretty soft, like the Maldives. The biggest the region gets is 4-6 foot but expect 2-3 foot. We scored a few epic days on the tail end after a very tiny start to the trip. Phew! Or the groms would drive us mad on a boat.
The Bondi program continues tomorrow.
:: uge
P.S. I’m not working for any tourism body or airline; I just wanted to discover a new area and see if I can snag some epic artwork shots for my gallery.