Military History Tours          On Tour - ANMEF (Rabaul - New Guinea) 2014 - 14 September 2014

At 0430, Valerie from Kokopo Beach Bungalows went to the airport to make a group check in for the group. At 0500 we checked out and left our bags at the front counter of the KBB. We had continental breakfasts. At 0510 our bags were taken to the airport. At 0545 we left for the airport. When we arrived at the airport, and gained our boarding passes and baggage claim number stickers. At 0700 we took off from New Britain for Port Moresby. One of our party stayed on in Rapopo to catch up with his friends.

At Port Moresby we were met again by Jack who helped us to the international terminal where we lodged our bags for our flights and obtained our boarding passes. Jack drove us to the Parliament House where we walked around the outside of the building. The main Papua New Guinean flag flying at Parliament House looked a bit worn; Jack explained that it is officially replaced only once a year on National Day, which would be on Tuesday 16 September.

As it was Sunday, the traffic was light. Jack informed us that there are only 7 sets of traffic lights in Port Moresby. One set, which we drove through, counted down how much longer until the red finished then it counted down until the green was finished. It reminded some of us of the ‘pedestrian walk lights’ count down at Taskim Square in Turkey.

We then drove to the Nature Park which is a combination of botanical garden and mini zoo. As it had started to rain, we had a drink at the café before we commenced our walk. We noticed that other groups, that started walking around, were spraying themselves with Aerogard. So we bought some Aerogard and sprayed ourselves before we commenced our walk around. Jack declined the Aerogard, until he had walked about 10 metres in the Park, then he accepted and used the Aerogard.

The animals in the Park were native endangered species. Some were for specific breeding programs and others were for educating the locals about the importance of the animals. Amongst the animals were pythons, cassowaries, tree kangaroos, crocodiles and many types of birds.

Jack drove us back to the airport where we farewelled him. We passed through the security screening and immigration to the international departure lounge where we waited for our flights to Australia. The standard beer, South Pacific Brown, was K11.5. Two of our party flew out to Brisbane, the rest of the group flew to Sydney where we dispersed at the end of our trip.