Myself and 3 of my best mates just got back yesterday from one of the best and most eye opening experiances doing a kite surfing trip to Pupua New Guinea. We have a bunch of pics, and movies are being edited, though for the moment anyone that is looking for a cheap amazing kiting, surfing, fishing, adventure of a life time, and has been thinking of PNG or looking for a destination I would love to beable to help someone get ideas or plan for a trip like we just had!
The places we stayed did everything from pick ups at the airport to helping plan our customised trip, with 4x4s, boats and villages to stay along the way. Truley amazing! And I was back home after 2 weeks spending much less than what i had budgeted for!
We will be sure to give more info on this trip!
cool, was hoping to catch up before you guys left.
glad you had a good time. the crew here in pom are all heading to hula this weekend to camp. can't wait!
I'll be inserted to hear your story. I spent about 8 months travelling back and forth to POM each week for work, but never managed to get the time to go any further than that. Hopefully next trip over.
nice one! keen to see some stuff.
cant wait till our trips kicks off for this winter. the boat and crew are ready for another year of boat cruise explorations with lots of waves, reef, lagoons and untouched places to be discovered
PNG is simply amazing, especially the lonely islands and outer reefs..
Hey Jase, i was looking forward to meeting you, though the day you met Phil with Guy Adam and I were lost in POM from a big night out and.... we didnt get to meet. Thanks for all your help with the maps and info, we had such an amazing time, didnt get to do the down winder from Hula due to conditions though it was still amazing! Ben, Richard and the family in Hula were amazing as well, was so cool to meet the, stay with them and travel with the boys!
Have fun there this weekend, im sure you guys will! I totally love it down towards the river mouth, help and changed my kiting! Say hi to Ben, carl, richard, val and the family from us boys in Aus when you see them!
I am seriously interested!
Do you have a break down of the costs, where you stayed, what you did etc?
Might take a bit of time, but I had no idea that you could get to PNG and go Kiting on that sort of a budget!
Any info you got would be great!
hey josh
yeah should have seen guys face when he was out looking for you guys after the big night out. glad you made it back - i never got to here the rest of the story of what happened that night! state of origin finals is a mad night in PNG :)
by the sounds of it everything went well I hope the local families see the potential of grassroots/backpacker style tourism in their villages. and they can build on your trip/input and start to earn a small living from it in the future. what you guys did is really cool, its not for everyone but shows that PNG is not as scary and dangerous as its made out to be. especially in the regional areas. the people here are extremely welcoming and want to show you what their place and lives are like. as they don't get many visitors its as much fun for them as it is for you. as you experienced PNG can offer an adventurous traveler a trip of a life time!
keen as to see the pics. i'll have a few to share when we get back after the weekend.
The trip we went on was amazing, and the reason josh is plugging P&G is, as Jason says, in the future it will have the potential to affect the P&G people in a hugely positive way. There is one kid and his brother already kiting at Hula beach, Benny and Carl. They are killing it with an old kite Jason gave them, a wake board and a seat harness. When we first got there, benny couldn't jump and followed us everywhere on the kite. By the end he was landing airs and three sixty's.
Another reason for plugging P&G is we made real connections with real family's, and these family's will benefit from an influx of kite tourists, and are super keen to get involved. The people in P&G are amazing, I cant stress this enough. They have nothing and will offer you everything.
As for safety, this country is a frontier. At Taurama, at Joan and Jason Fernandez place, it is behind an army barracks, and our gear was safer than it was in Australia, even spread out. No one would dare steal from Joan! In Hula, we had a few things stolen from the first family we stayed at, because they where not expecting us, but they helped retrieve some of it and the community frowned upon it. At Richards house (benny and Carl's dad), our gear was as safe as in Australia. When Jason Fernandez turned up, he bought Richard and Alex, both Police men and both champions. Not one did we ever feel threatened or unsafe.
You still have to be prepared, tents, mosquito nets, a diet of fish and rice. If you are willing to rough it a bit and get of the beaten track,P&G is for you. It has waves, flat water, fishing, diving, and very very consistent wind. if the wind does die surfing, spearfishing, wake boarding, are just a few options. I see this place becoming what kite beach is as to Caribbean.
Hey dude eppi here rom exmouth. Lost ya number send it to us. Good to hear ya back in the water. How's the eastern state eaton ya or ya back over the west.?
we have a few slots left for these two years exploration cruises:
Aug 27 to Sept 5 Misima to Misima
Sept 5-14 Misima to Alotau
pm us if you interested. the Land of Lahara is once in a lifetime experience
also u can find a bit more info here:
www.intheloopkiteboarding.com/blog/papua-new-guinea-kiteboarding
You have convinced me.
So much so Im heading there asap
Sunday this week is about as soon as I can leave.
Not flying though. Think I'll kite across!!!
See: www.5thelementexpeditions.com
Ok, So In a nut shell:
We all flew into Port Morsbey, we were either were picked up from the airport of made our own way across town to Taurama (taxi is about $15 Aus) where we made our base. Joan Who owns pretty much the only place you can stay at close by is so amazingly accommodating and helpful! She has been on the coast pretty much her whole life and knows the areas well, and if she doest know something, then she sure as hell knows someone that dose, and will get you what you want!!!
Our plan was to go South East of Port M to Hula Village where we met Richard and his family who helped us more than we could imagine! 2 of there sons, who are pretty much the only local kite surfers that we saw on our trip and quickly became part of our group and adventure. we stayed in Hula Village for the best part of a week, kiting on the flat water and also good left and right reef breaks (upto 6Ft faces a few of the days!).
The plan was to go futher south, though we were running out of time. The plan then became doing a 80+km down winder back to Taurama, supported by a long boat. But unfortunately the wind stopped the day that we were leaving and we were not able to do the kite back.
We stayed in local villages on the way back, and surfed the reefs, went spear fishing and did a bit of wake surfing behind the boat, filling in time while we waited for the wind to come back.
I will say that, this may not be the style of traveling for everyone. We did this trip in a way that a lot of people could call 'ruff'. We are not the sort of people that cared to much for where we slept, nor what we ate, we didn't do the trip looking for extreme comfort, but instead, living with the locals, and finding a cold beer after kiting in a off the beat track and untouched destination!
We are not saying that we know this area as well as other people may, we are purley trying to help anyone that is looking or has been looking for a new destination, and doing this trying to help a few of the locals and their villages on the way!
PNG is not at all what the media may make it out to be! we saw very little crime on the way, which could be comparitable to just about any other counrtie I have been to. Everyone along our Journey was so helpfull and accomidating, taking us into there homes, villages and lives!
If this isn't the style of traveling that you are looking for, and you would prefer a little more comfort and structure then the 'Golden Dawn' could be a better option for you!
To get in contact with Joan In Taurama:
joanofarcfernandes@gmail.com + 675 7111 5777
To get in contact with Richard in Hula:
+ 675 7237 7995
To get in contact with the Golden Dawn:
www.intheloopkiteboarding.com/blog/papua-new-guinea
hi josh
we didn't get to hula this weekend - talking to the crew down there they said we should stay away this weekend. as the elections were coming to a close and there were lots of ring ins hanging about in the village waiting for a result. so lots of partying and drinking going on.
we instead had an excellent weekend in pom. and did a big down winder out along the reef to fisherman's island. nice overhead waves :)