Military History Tours          On Tour - ANMEF (Rabaul - New Guinea) 2014 - 9 September 2014

About 0500 at the Qantas domestic terminal in Sydney, the group started to identify its members and assemble. The plane departed at 0605 for Brisbane. At Brisbane we claimed our baggage and left the Brisbane domestic terminal to catch the bus to the international terminal. A bus departed as we left the domestic terminal. After a short wait the next bus arrived and we packed into it.

At the international terminal, as soon as we had checked our baggage in and obtained our boarding passes, we headed to the security check and immigration check cattle race. By the time we popped out of the other end of the race, the third boarding call had been made. Brisbane international is undergoing a destruction/construction phase of development. We were not the last to board the plane.

At about 0920 the plane took off. At about 1220 the plane landed at Port Moresby. We exited the plane by steps down to the tarmac surface, walked to the terminal building and climbed up steps to the first level then walked down a ramp to ground level. Here we queued for immigration and then claimed our baggage. As we left the baggage area, we were claimed by Jack who works for Niugini Holidays. The group had now grown to 8. Two who had been on our flight from Sydney and had caught the transfer bus that we just missed. Our Brisbane guest had boarded the plane in good time. Jack drove us to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Port Moresby.

Driving from the airport to the hotel, we noticed a number of points:

• The large number of people standing or sitting along side the road way.
• Most fences were topped with at least a coil of razor wire.
• During daylight hours, three men opened and closed the gate at the hotel.

About half an hour after checking in, we had a group meeting near the bar on the first floor. Ray joined the group. He had flown in from Cairns earlier in the morning. The meeting was a get to know each other, issue of name badges, poppies and a preliminary briefing.

The rest of the afternoon was spent resting, swimming and/or trying South Pacific Brown the standard beer, which was K13.50. The brewery is in Port Moresby.

At 1900 we had a buffet dinner before an early night.