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Sailing Cairns To Lae in Papua New Guinea - 1976
Alotau PortAustralia CountryFiji CountryNew Caledonia CountryPapua New Guinea CountrySolomon Islands CountryCairns PortKiriwina Island Port
We sail from Cairns to Lae in Papua New Guinea. On the way we see the Osimoya Dancing at Kaibola in the Trobriand Islands and A welcome ceremony in Tufi for the Governor General of PNG, Sir John Guise. The first of a set of videos about a 15 month cruise in 1976/77 in a 36t yacht from North Queensland through Melanesia. We visited Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tikopia, Fiji, New Caledonia and back to North Queensland across the Coral sea via the Chesterfield Reefs. We departed 10th of September 1976 sailing from Cairns to Samarai Island to clear Customs, then on to Alotau in Papua New Guinea. We arrived in PNG just before the first anniversary of PNG's first independence as a sovereign country, so there were celebration events happening in Alotau. We continued on, first into Sewa Bay on Normanby Island, then continuing to the Catholic Mission on Fergusson Island where we walked out to look at the volcanic thermal springs there called DieDie, perhaps an ominous name? Then we travelled north to the Trobriand Islands, especially Kaibola on Kiriwina Island where the locals were doing their annual Osimoya Dancing, at that time a local custom, not a tourist thing. Following that we sail back to Tufi on the mainland PNG where a special ceremony including traditional dances was done for the official visit of Sir John Guise, At that time the Governor General of Papua New Guinea. From Oro Bay we do a land trip up to Kokoda, an important part of Australia's war history. There we meet a Danish rubber tree plantation owner who had just completed building a 54 foot cruising yacht. Finally on to Lae, the second main city of Papua New Guinea, Remember that any video sections are digitised from 50 year old super 8 film. Photos are digitised from 50 year old 35mm slide film.