Flying into Port Moresby on a Boeing 737-800.
As I have read numerous other times on the web, is a good idea to get a visa for PNG before you leave Australia. We are in the 'with visa' queue. This line moved much quicker than the 'without visa' queue. Would definitely recommend you get the Visa before you leave home.
On landing at the airport, we looked about for our courtesy van from the hotel, Comfort Inn, Boroko. Not there. We went back into the airport terminal and asked the Information desk staff to give them a call. They did same and the minibus arrived about ten minutes later. All good !
The hotel, like most other buildings in Port Moresby is surrounded by barb wire and razor wire. The hotel and rooms are quite comfortable, if not a little pricey for what you get ($350 Kina for the two of us per night)
One of the advantages of our hotel (Comfort Inn, Boroko) is its central location. Our first port of call is the Kokoda Track Authourity (KTA). This is where we were to pay and pick up our track permit. The great thing is that the office was only two blocks walk from our hotel (Level 3, Brian Bell Plaza Building). very friendly office staff.
Permit cost was $450 Kina ($300 Kina for myself and $150 Kina for Andrew). Note that we were checked twice during the walk for the permit (Efogi and Owen Corner). When we asked permit checking staff in Efogi what would happen if we did not have one, they said they send people back down the track to get one !
Note the Tour Guide section of the permit is blank. At that point, we had not determined our guide as yet so we had to leave blank ;-)
After sorting out the permit, took a look around the Boroko Shopping precinct. This area is considered one of the safer areas of port Moresby for tourists to be in. Like in any other International city, we tried not to look like tourists ;-)
Back at the hotel, I started to work on our next challenge..... to find a guide. This turned out much easier than I thought. The Duty Manager at our hotel straight away said he could find one for me. Once I mentioned we are traveling to Popondetta tomorrow to catch a Public Motor Vehicle to Kokoda, he said he will ring the Manager at Comfort Inn Popondetta to sort out a guide for us. Lo and Behold, he came back 30 minutes later to us and said he had located a guide for us and that we should ask for Benjamin (the Duty Manager) at the hotel in Popondetta tomorrow. Easy as that !!!!
You quickly find out that everyone is related to everyone in PNG ;-)
I wanted to pick up a cell/mobile phone to keep in touch whilst in PNG. I left my phone at home, on less thing to worry about, Also, phones are REAL cheap in PNG. I bought a cheap handset (see below) from DigiCell. Cost $50 Kina (about $A20) which includes 3 minutes of air time. You can buy $1,2,3,5,10,20 Kina etc top up cards from street-side vendors. Amazing thing is that no identification is required to buy a phone/Sim !
Cheap calls back to Australia at about $K1.20 per minute and text messages at $0.25k. We used the phone in Port Moresby, Popondetta, Kakoda, Hoi, Isurava. It did not get signal again on the track until the Maguli Range near the end of the walk.
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