20130322 TUFI VILLAGE, Papua New Guinea
We awoke just before 5am to a huge black cloud outside the window, but the sea was flat calm - we were cruising alongside the TUFI islands, and by 6 we were on deck taking photos of these beautiful volcanic islands - it was easy to see where the volcano had erupted, blown out the sid eof the mountain and the long lava flow down to the sea - it must have been amazing to see! The black clouds stayed to the side of us and as the sky brightened we had fingers crossed for a beautiful day to go snorkelling, enjoy the beach, and visit a village and cruise the fjords this afternoon - another busy day ahead!
The TUFI area on the South East coast of ORO Province is one of PNG's best kept secrets and a spectacular place to visit situated on Cape Nelson. Jutting out into the Solomon Sea it was formed by 3 volcanoes whose fast flowing lava created the rias (or fjords) but unlike the fjords of Scandinavia, here the water is always warm and the bays are home to stunning coral formations and tropical marine life - that's why we'll love the snorkelling this morning! They are over 90 metres deep and rise vertically out of the water to over 150 metres - so different than the flat sandy TAMI islands that we visited yesterday. Orion does a great job of an itinerary here with so much variety.
The wide entrances are protected by reefs and funnel into the mountainside where the mangroves form a canopy over the narrow waterways. The vertical faces of the gorges are covered with moss and orchids, and the waterfalls cascade directly into the sea. ORO Province is also home to the largest butterfly in the world - the Queen Alexandra Birdwing which has a wingspan of 30cm (12 inches) but is unfortunately fast becoming extinct as the rain forest diminishes. ORO Province has a dramatc history from the early gold rush days to WWII.
The northern end of the WWII Kokoda Trail terminates at Kokoda Village and from here to the cast and around the beaches of Buna and Gona, some of the most violent and bitter fighting in the Pacific Campaign took place here between the Japanese and the the Allies and it is estimated that over 15,000 Japanese Soldiers died on the Kokoda Track. This area of PNG is still littered with war relics and there is a Japanese plaque commemorating their dead at the Jiropa Plantation on the Buna Rd.
Shortly after the war Mt Lamington erupted wiping out the district headquarters at Higaturu and killing nearly 3,000 peopel. Today the ORO provincial Capital is located a safe distance form the volcano at Popondetta.
At the village we saw printed Tapa cloth, still made here in the traditional way, beating the mulberry bark which is from the hibiscus family. The bark is beaten until all the sap has been milked out and then the cloth is dried in the sun. After drying it is died and coloured by hand and worn by the women as a cloth (sarong) around their skirts - the men wear it as a loin cloth known as a MALO.
AN AMAZING DAY MORE TO COME FOR TODAY!!!!!
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