On your bike
Motorcycle adventures near Lae
On the 45-minute flight from Port Moresby to Lae, most first timers are stunned at the rugged and mountainous landscape outside the window. With few roads, and fewer settlements, this pristine part of the world is generally inaccessible to outsiders.
But for intrepid motorcyclists, what lies below is nirvana.
Luckily, there are some experienced guides to show the way.
In 2007, a group of expats and Papua New Guineans founded the Morobe Motorcycle Club (MMC) in Lae in order to explore the mountainous Morobe Province on 250–450cc bikes.
The club has put together an impressive list of destinations, and co-founder Peter Boyd and business partner Malcolm Gauthier recently founded Niugini Dirt Adventures to offer guided bike tours of Morobe for international bike riders.
Itineraries are many and varied, and are tailored to the group’s size and riding ability.
Weather conditions often play a major part, with river riding making up a sizeable portion of many trips.
Many rides are day trips from Lae, with Singaua, Igam and the Yalu and Erap areas offering all manner of terrain in under an hour from Lae.
A variety of little-used rivers in these areas offer respite from the heat and humidity of the bush and make incredible riding.
Lengthier trips are offered in Bulolo, Ramu and the Highlands. The Bulolo and Wau region offers a fascinating diversity of experiences. Bikes are off-loaded at Gabensis village, 40 kilometres from Lae, and from there riders traverse the Snake Valley for 50 kilometres, exiting at Mumeng.
The valley floor rises dramatically on both sides and the clear, icy cold water is crossed countless times. When the Snake River overflows, the extremely rough road, strictly for 4WD vehicles only, provides the only access to the Buang district.
In the middle of nowhere, riders arrive at tidy Bulolo township, dotted with old wooden houses on stilts. They stay at the Bulolo Country Club, which offers comfortable rooms and lively conversation with the old timers.
Adventures here include a six-hour round-trip to see the smoked bodies in Aseki. For centuries, until the arrival of the missionaries, the Anga people preserved their dead through a unique form of mummification of smoking to remove all liquids before coating the body in ochre to preserve it.
Local identity Daniel Hargreaves, one of the best bike riders in PNG who knows every nook and cranny of the region, offers accommodation in Wau. From here, riders explore parts of the Black Cat (or Jeep) Track to see a nearly intact World War 2 B17 ‘Flying Fortress’ bomber, which crashed while bombing a Japanese convoy in the Huon Gulf.
During the return trip to Bulolo, via the Bulolo Gorge, riders see abandoned gold dredges and can still meet alluvial gold panners, even though the original gold rush took place in the 1930s.
Motorcyclists who are keen fishermen are also well catered for. Half-day charters
You can visit plane wrecks and abandoned airfields, with access only via dugout canoe. Not for the faint hearted, the dugouts, loaded with motorbikes, are seriously unstable.
around the Huon Gulf on the boat Backload offer the opportunity to fish for yellow fin tuna, mackerel and even marlin. Spear fishers can free dive the clear blue waters around the Fly Islands for coral trout.
Combining riding and the sea has taken a new twist recently, with a group riding to Salamaua from Lae. Dropped at Labu village by banana boat, the riders skirt the tideline, heading inland past Busama before arriving at Salamaua five hours later. Here, you can go snorkelling and jet skiing, sample the local crayfish and check out various World War 2 sites.
You can also visit plane wrecks and abandoned airfields in the Markham and Watut valleys, with access only available via dugout canoe. Not for the faint hearted, the dugouts, loaded with three or four motorbikes, are seriously unstable.
Trips have been made to New Ireland and Mount Wilhelm, with the ride to Betty’s Lodge (the base camp for summiting Mount Wilhelm) at 2900 metres offering stunning views of the Chimbu Gorge.
All in all, off-road riding in PNG offers memorable adventures through spectacular and challenging terrain. When riders arrive in remote communities they are swarmed with friendly villagers whose kids are eager to have a quick ride. It’s all part of the unique charm of exploring in this corner of the world.