The end of December was nearing when Dylan, Michael and I started out journey towards Madang. As you might know from my previous posts; the journey is a long one if you travel by pmv. So we decided to stop over in Goroka and stay with some friends. They had some siblings over so we had a jolly good time in Goroka that night. The next morning we hit the road again with driver Dylan behind the steering wheel.
You might have a look at the number plate. I can tell you this is no coincidence 
When we came to Madang we quickly settled in our humble accommodation.
Meet the Kamai, a huge catamaran used to do diving by the people that run the dive shop in Jais Aben resort located on an idyllic spot close to the sea. Fortunately for us the engines were broken so we could stay there for a low rent. Even us volunteers could afford it.
Michael decided to do his PADI “open water diver” certificate. Like so many times in my life I made an impulsive decision and it worked out well. I decided to do the course as well. So I geared up…
and started with the course. After a day of training in a swimming pool we were allowed to dive of the jetty. During these two dives we had to do some special skills and after this we were allowed to do dives off shore.
Here we’re of to “planet rock”. This is a volcano underneath the sea level. The ridiculous picture you saw in the first post was when Michael “snapped” me while I was taking this picture. I’ll probably never see so many things again in my entire life. Too much to see. See stars fish, fish in all sizes and colours, coral, anemones and they’re clown fish (now called nemo due to the cartoon), wrecks of ships and planes sunken in World War 2 and warm water.
When the two open water dives were also finished I received my certificate.
The next day was New Year’s Eve and we went there with Dylan’s brother who had arrived by then. They are half brothers. PNG people use a great expression to clarify this; tupela spia na wanpela bilum (two spears and one stringbag/womb).
After New Year’s Eve it was time for me to go back to Hagen and let the rest continue their holiday to the East-Sepik region. I did not have the money to join them. Fortunately for me the others wanted me to accompany them to the Sepik. After some discussion and internal conflict I decided to give in and join them.
We took a pmv north west.
Here you can download a map from the Madang province and a map from the East Sepik province. The pictures are too big to post here.
In Bogia we stayed in a lodge and in the night we went to the local truck stop where Dylan and I amused the kids with card tricks.
Along the way we had a dip in the sea, because like I said before; it’s extremely hot on the coast. See Michael on the left and Dylan on the right.
Michael took some stunning pictures during this trip.
Picture taken by Michael Cebon
Picture taken by Michael Cebon
When going to the Sepik from Madang you have to take a boat trip from a river to the sea and back into the river again. It was a rough ride with huge waves rolling in. Just before this adventure Dylan and I were blissfully unaware.
When going to the Sepik River coming back into the river system you have to take a shortcut using a little river through the jungle. We felt like regular Indiana Jones in there.
In the middle of this river the boat got stuck and we had to free it. So I went out and tried to stand on the patches of lilies floating by. They of course gave way so I sank in. Not a problem there; it was hot so I welcomed the cold dip. Pretty soon we were on our way again. Only afterwards I heard that there are crocodiles everywhere. Lucky me. Truth be said; I haven’t seen a single crocodile during my stay in the Sepik. Must have been hiding…the bastards.
But finally, there it was…
the mighty Sepik River. It reminded me somehow of Dutch rivers. Except of course the Sepik River is bigger and there is other flora and fauna and of course other people and…basically it’s nothing like it.
People here live on and around water all their lives.
Picture taken by Michael Cebon
Picture taken by Michael Cebon
We went to Angoram and stayed there for a night. The next morning we decided to go all the way to Pagwi with a stop in Tambanum (see the Sepik map; halfway between Angoram and Pagwi). When going to Tambanum we found out that our guide and boat driver did everything in his power to get more money from us. This meant that going to Pagwi would be too expensive. A good lesson for us, because people on the Sepik are used to tourists unfortunately. Sadly they also create a bad name for themselves in return for the short term advantage of fast money.
We decided to stay in Tambanum for the night and go back the next morning. This was the house we slept in by the way. I can tell you that it is pretty awesome to sleep in a house like that.
Next morning we bought some masks and we got some for free and set of for Angoram again to go to Wewak. Unfortunately road conditions weren’t that good so we had to pull the truck up a mountain, because it kept slipping down.
We stayed in a rather nice hotel in Wewak and the next day we did what every adventurer dreams of doing in the weekend. We took a boat ride to a nearby island and did some diving. After the diving we continued the boat ride and went to another island with a volcano. We climbed the volcano. On the top of this volcano was a lake.
Picture taken by Michael Cebon
It was nice to climb up the mountain and to go from the very hot weather to the colder top of the mountain with its misty clouds. This was sadly enough the last adventure of this holiday so we had to go home to Hagen. We said goodbye to Jeremy and took off.
One other little thing I have to show you. Dylan booked a plane ticket for us from Wewak to Hagen. He could not remember my last name, so he invented one. Why he came up with this one I’ll never know. I could actually get on the plane with the name. Only in PNG…
