Links
Aussie Advisory
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Smartraveller has updated its web page dealing with travel to PNG. Please visit the page for the latest information about PNG from and Australian perspective.
http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Papua_New_Guinea -- and -- http://www.dfat.gov.au/missions/countries/pg.html -- and -- html://www.png.embassy.gov.au/
See also -- http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=62291 -- and -- http://www.thenational.com.pg/102006/nation2.htm
Sepik River
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9066795/Sepik-River
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-14300/Oceanic-art-and-architecture
Nadzab
http://home.st.net.au/~pdunn/ozatwar/heyn10.htm
http://www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/png_nadzab.html
http://aviation-safety.net/database/airport/airport.php?id=LAE
PNG Japan
Specialist Inbound Tour Operator catering for the Japan to PNG market -- http://www.pngjapan.com.pg/index.htm
Tawali Resort
Tucked away, only accessible by boat, sits what may be PNG's best kept scuba diving secret - Tawali Resort -- http://www.tawali.com/tawali/
PNG Aviation
http://aviation-safety.net/database/country/country.php?id=P2
http://www.airlink.com.pg
http://www.airniugini.com.pg
http://www.apng.com
http://www.balus.gov.pg
http://www.billpurc.com/aviation.htm
http://www.maf.org.au
http://www.michie.net/balus
http://www.tnt.kenmore.com.pg
http://www.pngbd.com/travel/flights.php
http://www.nca.com.pg
http://www.PNGAir.com
http://www.helifix.com.pg
http://www.exkiap.net/forum
Of course there are other sites that may deal with aviation within
PNG. I haven't looked at the SIL site for a while. They do fly around
the country so maybe a visit to their site may reveal something about
PNG aviation -- http://www.sil.org.pg. If you know of other PNG aviation
sites please let me know.
Rugged PNG Tours
http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/10/19/62921/612/travel/A&%3BK+Gets+'Rugged'+in+PNG+for+2007
Orchids
PNG is truly paradise when it comes to orchids. Many have been classified but how many more are waiting classification and importantly how many more are not even discovered yet? Thirty new species of orchids have recently been discovered in the PNG rainforests by scientists from the international conservation organisation WWF.
see
-- http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2006/2006-10-16-01.asp
-- http://www.orchidspng.com
-- http://www.ncbg.org.pg
Black Manta
Here's a photo of a black manta ray submitted by Hiro Watanabe, who runs Alotau Dive & Tours -- http://www.finsonline.com/blog/fins/20061022/black-mantas-in-milne-bay.html
See also -- http://www.pananufa-web.com/e/diving_e/
News Items
Earthquakes and Volcanoes
A strong undersea earthquake off the island of New Britain on last
Tuesday sparked a warning of a possible local tsunami. The 6.5 magnitude
earthquake struck at 11:25 a.m. local PNG time about 229 km (142 miles)
southwest of Rabaul. The depth was recorded at 58 kms (36 miles) below
sea level. In July 1998, two undersea quakes measuring 7.0 created
three tsunamis that killed at least 2,100 people near the town of Aitape
on the north coast of PNG.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/ustyac.php
There are further fears that areas of the West New Britain province
may be wiped out by a tsunami if the Mount Pago and Mt Ritter volcanoes
erupt. The province is experiencing three to four big earthquakes every
day since Mt Tavurvur in East New Britain province, exploded two weeks
ago.
MV Milne Bay
Has the MV Milne Bay started PNG's first viral marketing campaign?
If email filters are any indication then the answer is a great big
yes. It would seem that everyone in every company in PNG has received
at least one copy of the inside and outside of the MV Milne Bay. The
cost of email in PNG ranging from a roughly a Kina to two Kina a megabyte
and the MV Milne Bay images are costing companies anywhere between
K5 and K10 for every email received. Multiply that by 100 or 200 employees
and the cost of doing business escalates rapidly.
UniTech
A vote by students at the University of Technology over whether to
allow the sale of beer on campus has been overwhelmingly defeated.
Of the 669 students who voted in the referendum, 527 voted against
the sale of alcohol on campus. 448 males and 219 female voted. There
are 2,253 registered students at Unitech.
Service Stations
The number of service stations in PNG is set to be reduced yet again.
BP was taken over by InterOil recently and some stations have closed
with others being rebranded. Interoil is now set to take over the running
of Shell service stations in PNG under the name of IPL. The move from
Shell to IPL branding hopes to be as easy and smooth as possible with
the stations looking like Shell stations for a few more months to come.
Koroba - Lake Kopiago
An amount of K1.8 million has been allocated to link the Koroba -
Lake Kopiago electorate to the Highlands Highway. The link will benefit
up to 85,000 of the population.
Political Peace
If there is such a thing as political peace in PNG then peace was
made between two political rivals in the Western Highlands recently.
Paias Wingti (People's Democratic Movement) and Paul Pora (National
Party) in a move never thought possible in their life times made peace.
The coming together of the two leaders and their parties is bound to
have ramifications among followers of both parties as the count down
to next year's election narrows. Mr Pora was heard to say "Our
campaign must be friendly. We must get 55 good MPs into Parliament.
Never mind parties. Now, it is a friendly and friends campaign." Is
this a direct result of the limited preferential voting where the preferences
from one or more political parties may influence who gets into power?
Starving to Death
It has been reported that 13 people have starved to death as a direct
result of food shortages in Pangia, Southern Highlands province. The
MP for the area and Opposition Leader has sent K90,000 for relief supplies
and at the same time he has instructed the provincial and district
administration to visit the worst affected areas and report back to
him. More than 60,000 people are affected by the food shortage. Some
of the food shortages have been attributed to prolonged bad weather
conditions in the area.
The Opposition leader and MP, Peter O'Neill, has said that the first
lot of food supplies into the Ialibu/Pangia area had already arrived
from Mount Hagen. Mr O'Neill could not confirm the reported deaths
as some of the areas were only accessible by walking and officers from
both the provincial and national governments were still in the area
assessing the situation.
Starving Athletes
Athletes at the PNG Paralympics - national disabled games - in Lae
may are starving because the organising committee have no money to
provide three square meals daily. Read the full report in The National
-- http://www.thenational.com.pg/101806/sports1.htm
A couple of weeks ago students at Keravat National High School in
East New Britain, burnt down a vacant dorm because they claimed they
were starving as they had missed out on breakfast after returning late
from morning work parade. I don't think the students have anything
to complain about after reading about the ordeal people in Pangia and
the athletes have to deal with.
Vanimo General Hospital
The Vanimo General Hospital will open a new pediatric ward early
next year. The hospital has been without a pediatric ward ever since
it was built in the early 1960s and children have to be admitted to
the adult's medical ward for treatment.
Vanimo Electrocution
A Malaysian employee of a company in Vanimo died instantly when he
accidentally electrocuted himself at his work place. See The national
for the full story -- http://www.thenational.com.pg/101906/nation7.htm
Mobile Woes
Users of mobile phones around the country are complaining that SMS
messages are often being delivered more than once and each delivery
is being charged as a new message. Many people do not check how many
credits they have until it is too late and their account is put on
hold. Many other people complain that although they have sent messages
that they do not arrive in a timely fashion or at all. Many school
children walk home after sending a request for transport to their parents.
Moti's Escape
According to prominent lawyer, Camillus Narakobi, the escape from
PNG to the Solomon Islands by a man wanted by the Australian Police
has shown that the country has once again showed that it failed to
observe the rule of law and its international obligations. The Ombudsman
Commission has instigated its own independent enquiry into the matter.
This is separate from the one started by the Prime Minister.
Illegal Flight
The PNG Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said that escape flight
operated by the PNG Defence Force (PNGDF) CASA aircraft was illegal
as it was not operating under an emergency or war time situation. The
Civil Aviation rules require all operators to advise air traffic services
of any aircraft movement within the Port Moresby flight information
region. According to CAA deputy director (aviation safety) Wilson Sagati
it appeared that the PNGDF aircraft operated without authorisation
and that its operation was not in any way connected with an emergency.
The breaches could see PNGDF pay fines of up to K200,000 if CAA pursued
court action.
Defence Force
Three high ranking Defence Force officers have been suspended over
their suspected role in the escape of a man wanted by Australia. Julian
Moti, an Australian citizen, was allowed to flee PNG using the Defence
Force CASA aircraft to as remote airstrip in the Solomon Islands.
Illegal Alien
An illegal alien from Morocco who has resided in PNG for many years
will be returned home soon. The Moroccan is having his travel expenses
met by the Moroccan embassy in Australia and the international community
in PNG. The man has been paralysed and confined to bed at the Port
Moresby Hospital for nine years.
Telikom PNG
It has been alleged that the consultants employed by Telikom PNG are
not registered to practice as engineers in the country this includes
the new CEO, David Waterehouse. It is debatable whether the CEO position
needs to be held by an engineer.
Friends Foundation
Tessie Soi's Friends Foundation has buried 97 unclaimed babies from
the Port Moresby General Hospital Morgue since 2004. Ms Soi said many
of the babies were still born or died during birth but none of them
had died of HIV/AIDS as many predicted.
Helicopter Crash
Four people have been confirmed dead after a helicopter crash near
the Tolukuma gold mine. The helicopter, a Bell 206, was on a trip to
drop of a man who had died at the company's health centre after seeking
medication.
Over Paid Consultants
It has been reported that the Southern Highlands Provincial Government
is paying a consultant the equivalent of K1 million a year. The contract
for a period of eight years was signed on the 30th of July 2003. The
consultant is paid K45,000 a month. Other allowances such as travel,
accommodation and meal allowances push this figure even further.
Civil Aviation
The runways lights at Wewak's Boram airport have been destroyed. The
lights are required so that flights into Wewak can be made after dark.
This means that the regular late flight operated by an Air Niugini
F28 will now be cancelled until further notice. Security at all airports
around PNG is little more than a rusty fence often broken down so that
people can get from point A to point B in as short a way as possible.
Some airstrips require the pilot to overfly the runway first to ensure
that it is clear to land.
Cannibalism
The Post Courier has reported the alleged cannibalism of a young girl
in Madang province. The 14-year old school girl was allegedly killed
as a sacrificial offering and then eaten by her biological mother and
a cult leader in Madang. The cult leader is on the run from the police
over his cult movement which has a big following in the remote area
of the province about an hour's drive from Madang town.
PNG Web Hosting
Interested in creating your own PNG Web Site or any web site for that
matter? Worried about the cost? It may be cheaper than you think. Take
a look at pricing offered at the PNG Web Hosting site -- http://www.pngwebhost.com -- Sites with space for 15,000 MB of data, 300 GB transfer per month
and 24 hours a day / 7 day a week ticket / phone support for less than
US$5.00 per month. The larger web-hosting plan at US$9.75 per month
offers 25,000MB of disk space, 400GB transfers and the ability to host
up to 10 domains and 32 sub domains on this one package. All sites
come with a web site builder to make web site making easy! As an added
bonus several PHP and MySQL options are available. The best way is
to visit the web site and see for yourself. Oh, and by the way, DOT
COM Domain Names are as little as US$9.00 per year.
Remember there is no need to spend hours and hours learning HTML code
or graphics editing. No need to worry about details with PNG Web Hosting.
Let the tools such as the Joomla! or Mambo Content Management System,
help you on your way. If that seems too much effort then there is also
a "fill in the gaps" html web site builder available free
of charge. So if you are looking for a permanent home for even just
your email address then take a look at -- http://pngwebhost.com
Milne Bay Canoe Festival
Thanks to Gretta Kwasnicka Todurawai who has pointed out that the
date of the Milne Bay Canoe Festival is from the 3rd to the 5th of
November. I had it down as from the 6th to 12th of November. To help
everyone remember, especially me, Gretta says it is always the first
week of November.
New Anti AIDS Plan
The Australian government is taking a new approach towards the HIV/AIDS
awareness campaign. From next year it will implement a new 10-year
programme in PNG. The new programme will be incorporated with the PNG
National Strategic Plan and will be coordinated by the National AIDS
Council AIDS secretariat.
Coming Events
Kiwi Ball -- The fabulous ball held by the Kiwi's will be held this
weekend on the 28th October.
Morobe Show -- Lae Showgrounds -- 4th and 5th of November -- Coca
Cola Amatil has once again picked up the major sponsorship of this
event.
Ex KIAP Reunion in Victoria, Australia will be held on the 5th of
November at Sandown Greyhounds Tabaret -- http://www.exkiap.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=18&sid=08742471a618eb419d5af702a6bf87bb
Milne Bay Kundu and Canoe Festival, Alotau -- 3rd to the 6th of November
2006 -- http://www.pngjapan.com.pg/Photo%20Kundu%20&%20Canoe%20Festival.htm
Miss Traditional Judging. -- The judging of the Miss Traditional segment
of the Miss PNG Red Cross Charity Quest 2006 will be held on the 19th
of November at the Port Moresby Country Club from 1pm to 6pm.
32nd Gaming Fishing Association of PNG titles will be held from the
7th to the 16th of April, 2007
Do you have an event that you want advertised? Send email to -- PNGNews[@]pnggossip.com
PNG Media
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