Volume 39 2024
M A G A Z I N E PNG Air
ANCIENT CAVES OF BUKA On the hunt for a cave that sheltered the region’s first ocean travellers 30,000 years ago P8
Spirits of the Sailing Canoes P30
Call of the Wild Ocean P20
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MAGAZINE PNG Air
Thank you for choosing to fly with the people’s airline. We are fast approaching the end of 2024 and there have been a lot of uphill battles, but that comes with the industry we are in. We are doing our best to manoeuvre the hurdles that hinder our daily operations, while at the same time ensuring we deliver to the best of our ability without compromising safety. At PNG Air the staff continue to work tirelessly to ensure we get you, our loyal and valued customers, to your intended destinations safely and on time. We appreciate your choice to travel with PNG Air if you are a regular traveller. For those of you who are travelling with us for the first time, we hope your travel experience with us was nothing short of spectacular. I would also like to acknowledge the support of our travelling mine workers from Newcrest Mining and St Barbara Mining, both in the New Ireland Province, and also K92 Mining in the Ramu Valley. As we near the tail end of the year, PNG Air will continue to strive to do what we do best – that is, connecting our people by transporting them safely from where they are, to where they need to be. On behalf of the board, management and staff of PNG Air, we thank you, our passengers, for choosing PNG Air. We look forward to welcoming you on board when you next travel with us as we continue to connect Papua New Guinea. Enjoy your flight.
PUBLISHED BY Pacific Islands Publishing Editor Margo Nugent m.nugent@moore.com.pg Airline Editorial Contact Dalai Thomas dalai.thomas@pngair.com.pg Sales and Distribution Maiyola Steven pipsales@moore.com.pg
Design and Layout Anthony Lingnonge pipart@moore.com.pg Correspondence to the airline:
All rights reserved. © Copyright 2024 by Pacific Islands Publishing, a division of Moore Business Systems (PNG) Limited. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Statements, opinions and viewpoints expressed by the writers are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the publisher, editor or the airline. Information contained in this publication is assumed to be correct only at the time it was originally obtained by the writers and may be subject to change at any time without notice. Any material accepted is subject to revision as is necessary in the publisher’s sole discretion to meet the requirements of this publication. While all care will be taken, neither the publisher nor the airline will accept responsibility for accidental loss or damage. Marketing Manager PO Box 170, Boroko, N.C.D. Papua New Guinea Ph: +675 302 3100 Fax: +675 325 2219 E: pngair@pngair.com.pg Editorial correspondence to: The Editor Pacific Islands Publishing PO Box 7543, Boroko, N.C.D. Papua New Guinea Ph: +675 321 0000 Fax: +675 321 0002 E: m.nugent@moore.com.pg Printer Moore Printing Scratchley Road, Badili N.C.D. Papua New Guinea Ph: +675 321 0000
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Brian Fraser Chief Executive Officer
Cover photo Young girl of Malasang village on the east coast of Buka Island in Bougainville, where the writer tried to find archaeologically significant Kilu Cave “Ancient Caves of Buka” Page 8 Photo: Pierre Constant
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TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT SPECIALISTS
20 “Call of the Wild Ocean”
Contents
08 Ancient Caves of Buka
Cave and underground river enthusiast Pierre Constant set off to find Kilu Cave on Bougainville’s Buka Island – famed in archaeology circles as the oldest known resting place of the region’s first ocean travellers – but although his search was unsuccessful, local guides led him PNG-born and raised champion yachtswoman Liz Wardley – at press time in July paddling solo across the Pacific Ocean on a personal challenge in her 7m rowboat Tic Tac – has encountered everything from aggressive marlin to cyclonic storms while sailing across most of the world’s oceans. But it is PNG that has the biggest hold on the heart of this plucky ‘five-foot-nothing’ adventurer as the place where her love affair with the water was born. to some other ancient caves definitely worth exploring.
20 Call of the Wild Ocean
30 Spirits of the Watts Island Sailing Canoes
Stories of the spirits that protect and guide the master sailors as they navigate the waters of Milne Bay are integral to the rich sailing canoe culture of tiny 3.5km long and less than 1km wide Watts Island in the Engineer Group. It is the desire to share such untold stories and traditions with visitors that propelled the islanders to host a two-day cultural festival last year, the KKUS – Kwaraiwa Kwateya Udi Sailau (translation:Watts Island Yam Banana Sailing Canoe) Festival – which is scheduled to return on September 6-7.
42 PNG Air – News
PNG Air news bulletin and updates. 45 PNG Air – Inflight Games Exercise the mind with
Christina Lovatt’s crossword and puzzles for your enjoyment.
46 PNG Air – Where We Fly
A map of Papua New Guinea and PNG Air flight routes, plus airline contact information, transfer information, and Inflight Games’ puzzle solutions.
30 “Spirits of the Watts Island Sailing Canoes”
48 PNG Air – Inflight Comfort A few health tips and easy
8 “Ancient Caves of Buka”
exercises to help make your PNG Air flight as comfortable as possible.
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ANCIENT CAVES OF BUKA
Pierre Constant www.calaolifestyle.com
Mumuni Cave’s cliffside natural balcony boasts ocean and jungle views at Tohatsi village on Buka Island
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A quest to find archaeologically significant Kilu Cave – the first known site of human occupation in the Solomon Islands archipelago and the oldest proof of Paleolithic people navigating the open ocean 30,000 years ago – led contributor Pierre Constant on a merry chase of cave discovery across Buka Island.
as a water reservoir in the past, but no longer so. It was not really accessible so Dylan suggested we could go to another cave, further inland. A fellow named Hezron resting lazily under his hut was the landowner. How far we would have to walk I did not really know, as we strolled through plantations of sweet potato, taro and cassava, continuing under a coconut grove with parrots and Solomons
M ost people visiting Bougainville will fly to Buka first, since Buka town is the capital. I had chosen to fly to Kieta-Arawa instead and travel northwards, along the east coast of Bougainville Island. The fact that the island is not a common tourist destination in PNG was my main motivation for exploration, the primary interest being my fascination for caves and underground rivers. Nevertheless, it turned out to be quite a challenging task. After a strenuous climb up to Mt Balbi (2715m) through the wet jungle, I got rather dispirited about further walks in the rainforest. At the completion of my first week on the island I caught a PMV (public bus) from the coastal village of Tinputz to Kokopau, and crossed the scenic Buka Passage in a regular banana boat. The next two weeks were to be spent on Buka Island. I happened to be the only visiting foreigner around. Stimulated by the 1987 discovery of Kilu Cave by Norwegian archaeologist Stephen Wickler, I attempted to find this large rock shelter near Malasang
village on the east coast, but nobody there knew of it. Kilu is the name used by early archaeologists of the 1970s but perhaps it’s now changed – it’s quite possible. In comparison to other old caves in the world, such as those in Madagascar, the Yucatan in Mexico, France, Borneo or even Australia – which can be many millions of years old – Kilu and other Buka caves are very young. They result from the erosion of uplifted fringing coral reefs of the Tertiary Era. Their testimony, however, is that they are the first evidence of the occurrence of man’s migration in this part of the world – before spreading across the Pacific, that is. Discovery of human occupation at Kilu Cave includes evidence of the food they consumed – from fish, rat and lizard bones to traces of taro, galip nuts and coconuts – as well as rock tools, broken pottery, perforated shark teeth and shell artefacts. Although I lucked out in finding Kilu Cave in Malasang, a man named Dylan I met there accepted to lead me to Yetsila Cave, at the base of a 40m high cliff on the seashore a
short 20-minute PMV ride north of Buka town. On arrival I could see a small stream flowing out of the cave, and women washing clothes downstream. Considering the dam at the entrance, the cave had been used
Young girls bathe at the entrance of Teama Cave
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After about half an hour of going uphill and downhill, we reached a forested ridge in the jungle. There was the entrance of Malasang Cave – or so it was called. It was very muddy inside. We ventured in for over 50m or so, but there was a pool of water and I feared getting deeply stuck in the mud. The place was inhabited by a loud colony of bats, which were flying around frantically in the light of “The place was inhabited by a loud colony of bats, which were flying around frantically in the light of my torch”
Bats in the tunnel of Malasang Cave, north of Buka
cockatoos flying above. I am always intrigued by the number of endemic birds found in the Bougainville-Buka region, which
is part of the greater Solomon Islands region and quite distinct from the avifauna of Papua New Guinea.
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Outrigger canoes on the beach outside Teama Cave
my torch. From their long dog- shaped noses, they appeared to be fruit bats, resembling small flying foxes, either the Solomon Islands’ naked-backed fruit bat (Dobsonia inermis) – endemic to the Solomons – or one of the Pteropus genus, such as the Admiralty flying fox (Pteropus admiralitatum). A feral dog came running out of the cave, probably hunting bats. Hezron told me he had walked deeper into Malasang Cave during the dry season and once discovered an elevated shelf holding six clay pots with engraved designs. The cave had for sure been inhabited by ancient people. He also said he’d reached a big chamber after that, with a lake inside. Ten minutes beyond Malasang, the village of Lonahan had great
A stairway descends from the top of the cliff at Lonahan
appeal to me as I had read about other caves in the area. Some local women pointed to
a long stairway from the top of the cliff down to the beach. As I was standing there, gazing
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Local children fishing, Lonahan village
Elias of Lonahan village at the entrance to Teama Cave
Stanley Tsora, chief of Lonahan
at the panorama of jungle and areca (betelnut) palms down below, I was approached by a man wearing a red and blue AROB (Autonomous Region of Bougainville) t-shirt. At once he enquired about the reason for my whereabouts. Elias was his name. “I will come with you for safety, but we must first ask permission from the ‘Member.’ It is the custom… you know.” Stanley Tsora, the chief of Lonahan and a political entity, was indeed on the beach. An imposing figure with a broad chest, he welcomed me cheerfully as I introduced myself. He would be coming along.
This little hut – with a makeshift kitchen at the front – sits inside a small cave at Lonahan Beach
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Locals store their canoe in their cave home at Lonahan Beach
Teama Cave was not far away, 200m maybe. At the base of a tall cliff, this was the site of an underground river, with a clear stream flowing out of the cave rather fast. Local women were actively washing at the exit and kids were frolicking happily in the water. “As the story goes, we have a belief that there would be diamonds in the cave… That is why I accompany you to make sure you are not in search of anything!”. Geologically speaking, there is no way that one would find diamonds in a limestone environment. People love to make up stories to give value to a place. I took off my shoes to cross the stream, then walked
barefoot on rather sharp coral limestone. We negotiated the first bend of the river to the left, then right, before I realised further progression
was impossible as a deep lake laid ahead. “We normally use a small outrigger canoe to paddle further in,” explained Stanley. The river continued for
100m before reaching a muddy bank. The tunnel went on into the darkness beyond, supposedly on solid ground. I would have to come
Women do their washing in the underground river that flows from Teama Cave
Women wash clothes in the river that flows from Teama Cave
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back to explore more of the Teama underground river cave. The lake has fish and even big freshwater eels in various colours: brown, yellow, white and black. Cave-dwelling birds called swiftlets roam around using echos of sounds (echolocation) to navigate in the dark. I take a walk with Elias to the other end of the beach where people are living in caves in the cliff and under overhangs, even bringing their canoe into the dwelling. “Geologically speaking, there is no way that one would find diamonds in a limestone environment”
Guide Elias takes us on a canoe ride of the underground river inside Teama Cave
A couple of days later Steven Seru, the friendly owner of Adeeves Guesthouse in Buka, and a self-made entrepreneur, drives me in his 4WD to Kesa on
the northwestern tip of Buka Island. One hour is on a good bitumen road, but then it turns to dirt with many potholes for the next 40 minutes. A dead
end it is, with extensive mudflats and mangrove shoots all over at low tide. On the way back, Steven mentions a cave in the village of Tohatsi, near Ketskets.
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strangling fig with many roots planted tightly together. The archway cave entrance leads to two or three large chambers with bulging stalactites hanging from the ceiling and thick stalagmites covered with greenish mosses and a collection of pillars. Some rounded openings in the roof allow for beams of light to filter through. It is quite atmospheric indeed! No doubt prehistoric men would have lived in this natural cathedral-like dwelling. Archaeologists had come to research this cave in the 1970s. Back then, an underground passage had connected the cave to a sinkhole 4km away along the road, but this passage is now blocked by mud and debris. “That doline (sinkhole) pit, 25m deep, is full of bones from people who had been murdered in the cannibals’ time,” Joel tells me cheerfully. “Rounded openings in the roof allow for beams of light to filter through. It is quite atmospheric indeed! No doubt prehistoric men would have lived in this natural cathedral-like dwelling”
Above and below: Mumuni Cave with its cathedral-like open roof and bulky stalagmites
Below: Guide Joel Korus next to a big stalagmite in Mumuni Cave
Stalactites in Mumuni Cave
guide me into Mumuni Cave. I have to submit myself to the ‘kastom’ (custom) and water is sprinkled over my ankles. It is only a short way down below a giant ficus tree, a
This one is in the cliff, but when we stop to ask permission, the owner is not around. Not a problem, the car will take me back the
following morning after arrangements have been made for my visit. The next day the owners are waiting for me. Joel Korus will
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BUKA ISLAND: WHY CAVE EXPLORERS LOVE IT B uka Island is elongated – 56km long and
“Buka’s caves have been the refuge of the early seafarers who navigated from Southeast Asia 29,000 years ago”
Southeast Asia 29,000 years ago. During the coldest part of the last Ice Age, from 28,000 to 18,000 years ago, Buka Island was part of a much larger 46,400sq.km land mass known as ‘Greater Bougainville’. It connected the present-day islands of Buka, Bougainville, Shortland Islands, Choiseul, Santa Isabel and Nggela (all in the Solomons) into a bigger continuous island separated from Guadalcanal by a narrow passage.
15km wide – with a land surface of 492sq.km, and
runs. from Hanpan Cape in the north to Buka Passage in the south, with the Parkinson Range running along the west coast. A Pleistocene reef complex, the Sohano limestone covers most of Buka, which is rather flat on its eastern and northern half. Somehow, following the beach and the coastline north of Buka Airport, one realises from the conspicuous cliffs that the whole island is actually an uplifted coral reef structure – a lower Miocene platform tilted 1° to the south and west. Made of coral, algae, echinoids, mollusks and foraminifera, the cliffs rise from five to 25m and more in height, carved by wave action and riddled with caves and overhangs. And these have been the refuge of the early seafarers who navigated from
View of Buka Island’s northeast coast from the top of a cliff
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KILU CAVE
W ith the discovery of Kilu Cave in 1987 came the first evidence of human occupation in the Solomon Islands archipelago. It came long after the knowledge of Lapita sites dating back around 3000
At an elevation of about 8m above the ocean, it was found 65m inland from the present- day coastline, an isolation explained by fluctuating sea levels. Radiocarbon dating of a sea snail (Nerita sp.) calibrated it to 31,560- 29,850 BC. After a hiatus during the end of the Pleistocene, the cave was occupied again during the Holocene 9000-5000 years ago. Some post Lapita Buka phase pottery was found in upper layers around 2500 years ago. Most animal bones unearthed at Kilu Cave were due to human predation: shells, fish bones and animal remains such as rodents, bats, snakes, turtles, frogs, but also varanids (lizards) and skinks. Pelagic fish bones include those of tuna (Scombridae), dolphinfish (Coryphaena), jacks (Carangidae) and even sharks. As well as sea snail shells (Nerita undata & plicata), bones from 18 species of land birds were discovered, some of which are now extinct. Five endemic species of rats were identified. Evidence of plant use by the first inhabitants included two types of taro (Colocasia and Alocasia), galip nuts (Canarium indicum & solomonense) and coconut (Cocos nucifera).
Ancient seashell in the mud of Mumuni Cave
years. Kilu Cave became therefore the oldest proof of Paleolithic people navigating the open ocean. The closest land to the northwest is Nissan Island, 60km away. In order to undertake such a feat, prehistoric men had to cross the Wallace line (east of Borneo) to reach the Sahul (Greater Australia continent) before further sea crossings to arrive at Greater Bougainville. Investigated by Norwegian archaeologist Stephen Wickler, Kilu Cave is in fact a rock shelter, 17m long, 33m wide and 4m high.
exact location of Kilu Cave for one. Maybe the future will tell, should I fancy to return one day to discover more caves and underground rivers, elusive or forgotten, under the cover of the deep jungle.
A cave used by the guerrillas during Bougainville’s Civil War (1988-1998)
PNG Air flies from Port Moresby to Buka twice per week For bookings: Call + 675 7411 2644
“Too dark to see anything from the top though…” Mumuni Cave extends towards a wide balcony overlooking
Young girl in Buka town
Solomon Islands hornbill in the jungle
the ocean, with views of the jungle below. Daredevils would climb the cliff down to the beach, but I would not consider it for a second. As I reflect with awe and inspiration on these bygone times, a curtain of rain comes down all of a sudden. It is time to turn back. For sure, Buka still has more hidden secrets, the
Buka town daily market
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Photo: worldstoughestrow
Call of the WILD OCEAN Learning to sail in PNG has sparked a life-long love affair with the ocean for world champion yachtswoman and rower Liz Wardley Renata Laveil and Margo Nugent
ABOVE: Liz Wardley holds up her PNG flag on July 16 after crossing the Hawaii finish line in third place in the World’s Toughest Row – Pacific. With her French rowing partner Lena Kurbiel – who at only 17 set a new record as the youngest woman to row the mid-Pacific – the pair rowed for 37 days 16 hours 33 minutes from California, encountering wild weather, whales, a cracked tooth (for Liz) and even New Zealand warships. After resting for less than a week, Liz set off again on July 21 in her 7m rowboat Tic Tac to cross the rest of the Pacific, this time on her own. Her destination is either Kokopo in PNG or Australia, depending on weather and fatigue. Follow her on Instagram @liz_wardley
W hen her rowboat capsized on a stormy night in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean during her solo race in the World’s Toughest Row in January, Liz Wardley debated the danger of jumping into the dark waves alone to physically turn the vessel back over. It certainly would have been the safer choice for the petite ‘five-foot nothing’ Liz to sit tight
Rowing into English Harbour in Antigua in January 2024 at the end of her first World’s Toughest Row across the Atlantic (note the black PNG bird-of-paradise emblem on the boat’s stern)
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Liz (left) aged 14 in 1993 with her older sister Nicola and father David after competing in a POM fishing competition
Liz with her parents, longtime PNG residents David and Irene Wardley
in her cabin where she had been sleeping moments before and hope the boat would upright itself as she waited for daylight to assess the damage. However the PNG-born and raised champion yachtswoman is built of tougher stuff. Into the ocean she plunged and, fortunately, was able to quickly flip the
7.2m rowboat back over with just a slight nudge to its in-built flotation mechanism. She then went on to finish the
race in record time. “I managed to fish all my (navigating)
Tic Tac due to its compact size and shape – was Liz’s ocean home for the 44-day row, where she lived on freeze-dried ration food packs (macaroni and cheese is a
favourite) and seawater processed through a portable desalination unit. Black emblems of a PNG ‘kumul’ (bird of paradise) on the front and back of the boat were a constant reminder of her roots during the 5000km journey, from the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa to Antigua in the West Indies. Despite the capsizing setback just 24 hours off the finish line, Liz still managed to smash the 55-day solo female race record by 15 days, coming in third in the solo category, with her only crew members being two beloved stuffed toys: purple dinosaur Barney and green crocodile ‘Havi’ (short for Javier). Havi particularly – who was bought in Spain, hence the name – regularly pops up as a comical wingman in Liz’s Instagram reel updates. Liz recalls another
instruments out of the sea,” Liz says matter-of- factly about her close call. Her small rowboat – affectionately dubbed
“Liz won so many trophies for fishing that one year they made one of the prizes a wheelbarrow so she could carry them all home”
Liz posted these photos of her and sister Tiffany (below right) from 1992 with the caption: “my sister and me in full-on ‘water rat’ mode up in PNG”
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frightening moment in her solo row when a massive 5m-plus marlin slammed into her boat, several times. “I didn’t think that was fun,” Liz says dryly. “I didn’t enjoy that moment at all.” Luckily she managed to avoid the fate of one of her competitors whose hull was punctured by a marlin’s sharp bill. Adventures are something that Liz has had plenty of in her 45 years, as most of these have been spent in and on the water. In fact she credits her sailing career to an early exposure to Hobie Cat (small sailing catamaran) sailing in Port Moresby’s Fairfax Harbour when she and her family lived on a wooden Norman Wright design boat called Tusi Tala (Samoan for ‘storyteller’) in the marina of the Royal Papua Yacht Club. Sadly in recent times Tusi Tala fell into such disrepair that earlier this year was scuttled in Gemo Passage at the harbour entrance and has since been stripped for parts. An early mentor for Liz in 1990s PNG was Warwick Bowen, an Air Niugini pilot who also lived on the marina. “My life was on the water. It was all I knew, and then one of the men who I sailed with – Warwick – thought I was the right weight to sail a Hobie so he taught
Liz and the PNG Hobie sailing team
Liz (left) and Joanne Accott from PNG competing in the Hobie Cat 16 Women’s World Titles in Dubai in 1996
Below, from left: Liz aged 11 in 1990 in her Ela Beach Primary (now Ela Murray) School uniform; fishing off the RPYC marina when the family lived on Tusi Tala in the 90s; and with her big sister Tamzin at a Hobie sailing presentation
me everything he knew about sailing and racing,” Liz said. At 16, Liz crewed for Warwick at the 1995 Pacific Games in Tahiti, with the pair winning the bronze medal in the Hobie 16 class. Another major mentor for Liz was prominent local Hobie sailor and
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Partners extends its GRATITUDE and APPRECIATION to everyone involved in making the inaugural Central Music Festival a memorable event and resounding success. TANIKIU BADAHEREA MUSIC FESTIVAL CENTRAL KWIKILA STATION RIGO DISTRICT, CENTRAL PROVINCE MAY 24-26 2024 Partners Supporters Supporters Supporters extends its GRATITUDE and APPRECIATION to everyone involved in making the inaugural Central Music Festival a memorable event and resounding success. TANIKIU BADAHEREA CENTRAL extends its GRATITUDE and APPRECIATION to everyone involved in making the inaugural Central Music Festival a memorable event and resounding success. TANIKIU BADAHEREA CENTRAL extends its GRATITUDE and APPRECIATION to everyone involved in making the inaugural Central Music Festival a memorable event and resounding success. TANIKIU BADAHEREA CENTRAL KWIKILA STATION RIGO DISTRICT, CENTRAL PROVINCE KWIKILA STATION RIGO DISTRICT, CENTRAL PROVINCE KWIKILA STATION RIGO DISTRICT, CENTRAL PROVINCE KWIKILA STATION RIGO DISTRICT, CENTRAL PROVINCE MAY 24-26 2024 MAY 24-26 2024 Partners MAY 24-26 2024 Supporters MAY 24-26 2024 Partners extends its GRATITUDE and APPRECIATION to everyone involved in making the inaugural Central Music Festival a memorable event and resounding success. TANIKIU BADAHEREA
Partners
Supporters
Whether at the helm during wild moments at sea, or fixing something down in the engine room, Liz was an indispensible part of whatever yacht she crewed on. These photos were taken in 2017 while crewing for Turn the Tide on Plastic in the Volvo Ocean Race
Tribal Plumbing owner Mark Laruffa, with whom she competed at international regattas and championships, before swapping Hobies for big yachts and ocean racing. Clocking in over one million nautical miles sailing across various oceans, Liz has represented both
PNG and Australia in the biggest sailing events in the world, including three times in the world’s toughest and longest yacht race, The Ocean Race (formerly Volvo Ocean Race), two of these as part of an all-female crew, then joining the Turn the Tide on Plastic crew in 2017-
2018, which involved raising awareness on the United Nation’s Clean Seas campaign in 12 host cities on six continents. Last year she returned to the Ocean Race to crew with WindWhisper Racing Team, which won the event’s inshore race series. But the first time Liz
really made history was after she left PNG at just 16. Based at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, she started off scrubbing hulls and doing all the dirty work for the wealthy yachties before her big break came in 1998 when she was sponsored
by Phillip’s Foote, an historic pub in
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“Her handyman skills served her well as she would be selected to crew in yacht races because she could fix anything that broke down!”
Sydney’s The Rocks, to skipper her yacht Dixie Chicken in the famous Sydney to Hobart Race. Still only 19, Liz became the youngest female skipper to ever compete in the
race. That year was the deadliest race on record as six sailors drowned and 55 were plucked from the sea during a massive storm. Liz and her young crew were almost across the
Tasman before deciding to turn back into the cyclonic-force winds to rescue another boat in distress and in danger
winning the race in the Performance Handicap System Div 2 class onboard Phillip’s Foote. That same year she was named the PNG Sportswoman of the Year, and won the title
of breaking in half. The next year she competed again,
FOR MORE INFORMATION PO Box 140, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Phone: 321 1700 / 321 1723 | Email: admin@rpyc.com.pg | Terms & Conditions Apply As the premier members-only aquatic sports club in the region, we pride ourselves on setting the standard for excellence in leisure and recreation. With operations seven days a week, our club offers a plethora of amenities and activities designed to cater to every member of the family, such as: Restaurant, Cafe & Bars 50 Gaming Machines Kids Playground & Splashpark Gym Chandlery Diving & Snorkel l ing Sailing Hobies & Lasers Canoeing & Fishing Salon & Spa Safe & Secure Location And m uch m ore ARE YOU INTERESTED IN BECOMING A MEMBER AT THE ROYAL PAPUA YACHT CLUB
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than return to Australia. She remembers being surrounded by nuns and a pussy cat under the table in the birthing suite. The family lived in Hoskins St in Rabaul Town in the highest house on the hill overlooking Simpsons Harbour, and right next to a red flashing harbour light that guided ships in safely. The family liked to joke that they lived in ‘the red light district’. Liz, along with her parents and older sisters Tamzin, Nicola and Tiffany, were all “absolutely mad fishermen”, stalwarts of the Rabaul Yacht Club where they would take out their boat, The Albatross , whenever possible. “I grew up on the scent of fish and diesel,” Liz says proudly. She won so many trophies for fishing that one year they made one of the prizes a wheelbarrow so she could carry them all home! In my phone interview with Liz I am greeted cheerfully in a laidback Australian accent. “Ah gidday. My name is Elizabeth, but everyone calls me Liz.” She tells me she was born in Kokopo but lived in Rabaul until she was seven or eight, describing those early years as very happy ones. “I remember life there as one big adventure after another!” Among the highlights were snorkelling in the waters around the volcano island in the harbour, boating into Blanche Bay to see old ship and plane wrecks from World War II, exploring the Japanese war tunnels and submarine caves along the road that connects Kokopo to old Rabaul town and the submarine base on the north coast, and finally, staying out on the water fishing until the last golden glimmers from the setting sun disappeared over the water. Liz also tells me that her old family home in Hoskins Street was destroyed during the volcanic eruption in 1994 when the moving earth caused a hidden and unknown bomb
Liz aged nine in Brisbane with her older sister Tiffany when the family came down from Rabaul for Expo in 1988 “I grew up on the scent of fish and diesel”
again in 2000. But back to Liz’s PNG origins. Her accountant parents David and Irene Wardley, both from northern England, moved to Rabaul in PNG in 1979 by way of a two-year stint in Hong Kong and three years in Sydney, Australia. The move
apparently was prompted by David’s distaste for wearing a suit and tie! Three months after they arrived, Liz – their fourth daughter – was born, with Irene making the somewhat unusual choice for an expat at that time to give birth in Kokopo’s St Mary’s Vunapope Hospital rather
Liz’s profile pic on her Facebook page is this dramatic shot of her up a mast during training for the Volvo Ocean Race in November 2013 off Lanzarote, Spain. Liz has competed three times in this race, the world’s toughest and longest yacht race spanning close to 40,000 nautical miles and taking nine months to complete. Photo courtesy of Rick Tomlinson/Team SCA/Getty Images
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Liz sailing in Sydney Harbour in a 1999 Sydney-Hobart race warmup with Derek, her sister Tamzin’s husband
Liz’s crew for the 1999 Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race, all wearing PNG Christmas shirts
then to POM in the early 90s, by which time Liz was 11 and went to school at Ela Beach Primary (now Ela Murray) before moving on to POM
cats with her husband Derek Hunter, and remains closely linked to the RPYC, serving on its executive committee, behind the scenes, and in roles such as race director of numerous international Hobie championships and the final Coral Sea Classic yacht race from Townsville to Port Moresby in 2001. In 2009 Tamzin was awarded the club’s highest sailing honour, the David Purdy Trophy and was yachtsman of the year in 2010. She has also led Team PNG to a number of Commonwealth and Pacific Games. After moving to Port Moresby, life for the Wardley family, much like their time in Rabaul and Lae,
buried in the garden – one of the many relics left behind after the war – to explode. Fortunately, the family had left eight years before. “When we were there, the bomb just looked like a rock in the middle of the garden,” Liz said. “We used to play around it, not knowing!” The family moved to Lae first,
International School (POMIS). The family had shrunk to just Liz and Tiffany, as the older two by then had left for university in Australia – although Tamzin returned over 30 years ago and has made such a contribution to sport in PNG she was honoured with an MBE in 2020. Like Liz, Tamzin is an accomplished sailor and racer of Hobie
Right: Liz with her beloved mascots, Barney, the purple dinosaur, who has accompanied her on many sailing exploits, and newer addition Havi (short for Javier, he’s Spanish), a crocodile who came as Liz’s pillow in the cabin but ended up being a wedge to stop her from being rolled about by the waves. On the far right is the shop window in Spain where Liz first spied Havi, looking sad with his nose pressed up against the glass. Now he is a world traveller!
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Lighting flares to mark Liz’s arrival in Antigua after her 44-day Atlantic row in January this year Photo: Georgia Schofield for worldstoughestrow
continued to revolve around boats and fishing. However it was in POM that Liz finally discovered sailing. It was her love affair with this sport that prompted her to quit school part way through Year 10, and move to Australia. “I realised that if I wanted to take part in the international sailing events, I needed to get out there,” she said. “I was at school at POM High (POMIS) doing a lot of international sailing, so I left PNG to go to Australia to get work on boats.” Liz worked for rich owners of racing boats who needed maintenance crews to keep their boats in pristine condition, with jobs taking her to Brisbane, Sydney, New Zealand and finally Europe – anywhere there was an opportunity to work on a boat. “Because I was young, I had to do the ‘bad jobs’ – cleaning up on the boats, maintenance, fixing stuff and getting yelled at all the time,” she recalls with a laugh. “I basically started from the bottom and worked my way up.” In 2014 Liz started working for Volvo in Lisbon, Portugal,
stripping down boats after races, then fixing and rebuilding them, in the process becoming the ultimate boat handyman. Her skills served her well as she would be selected to crew in yacht races despite being small and not physically as strong as some of the male sailors, simply because she could fix anything that broke down! She has worked on two of only eight Volvo Ocean 65 boats in the world, monohull racing yachts designed specifically for long ocean race events. Liz split her time between Portugal and her base in France until the COVID pandemic shut
with gusto!). Here she also met boyfriend Jamie, a local fisherman who shares her love of the water but who she admits she doesn’t get to see much of due to her training and racing schedule. Always ready for her next adventure, Liz was in the gym in Elliott Heads at the time of this interview in May, doing full body exercises every day to get ready for her second attempt at the World’s Toughest Row, this one across 4500km of the Pacific Ocean from California to Hawaii that departed in early June. However this time Liz did not compete solo but partnered
down racing in Europe and she moved back to Australia, finding a new home at Elliott Heads near Bundaberg – a windy coastal town dubbed Queensland’s kiteboarding capital (another water sport Liz has embraced
A smiling Liz before taking off from Hawaii on July 21 on her latest solo row challenge across the Pacific to PNG
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with 17-year-old Lena Kurbiel as her rowing buddy – a French athlete with two national titles under her belt in both rowing and sailing. The average crossing – from the harbour of Monterey to Hanalei Bay on Hawaii’s Kauái Island – is 62 days, but Liz and Lena managed it in 37, arriving on July 16 to a hero’s welcome from family, friends and supporters. The pair led for the first several weeks of the race, but fell back to third place by the end, with Lena setting a new record as the youngest woman to row the mid-Pacific. The trip had its highs and lows – Liz cracking a tooth at the end of the second week after taking an oar to the face was definitely not a happy moment, but an encounter with a massive whale that dwarfed their 7m boat certainly was. “It was the biggest I’ve ever seen,” said Liz, which is saying something given that she has sailed across most of the world’s oceans. “ Tic Tac would have been the same size as the dorsal fin.” At the finish line in Hawaii, Liz told a reporter that, “I was just remarking as I was rowing in that less than six months ago I was still finishing the Atlantic. So I’m pretty tired.” Despite her weariness however, Liz rested for barely a week before deciding to “finish the job” and row the remainder of the way across the Pacific, on her own.
Setting off on July 21, her aim is to end up in either Kokopo or somewhere along Australia’s east coast, but will make that call at the Equator depending on weather systems in the Coral Sea or her fatigue levels. “You have to be strong and mentally fit to survive out there on the ocean,” Liz told me seriously during our interview in May. “For the rowing, it’s better to stay very fit and very strong by staying on a healthy diet and doing some exercise – my boat is in the US, so I train in the gym.” I ask Liz if she has any advice for those who might be holding back in pursuing a sailing career due to a fear of the ocean. “I don’t think fear is bad,” she replies. “The ocean is to be respected – it can be a dangerous place and it’s a whole different world when you’re out there. My parents are into fishing so we were always on the water and they taught us important things like respecting the ocean. “So, have respect for the ocean, but if you get the opportunity, go! Go out on the water. You might fall in love, you might get hooked.” When asked when she knew for sure that sailing the seas was something she wanted to do, there is a pause of a few seconds before she answers, cheerfully once more. “I learned how to sail in PNG. If I didn’t get the opportunity to learn there and then, I wouldn’t be a sailor. It was really just a knock-on thing. If you are given the opportunity to do something, take it and learn as much as you can. It doesn’t take much out of your life, and you don’t know where it’s going to take you.” Left: This large seabird – a red- footed booby – kept Liz company (at a careful distance) after it hitched a ride with her somewhere in the Pacific in late July
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Spirits of the Watts Island
SAILING CANOES As told to Margo Nugent by Mathew Tabunaielo of Watts Island
T he ancestors in Milne Bay long ago believed in all kinds of spirits that would protect them on big sailing expeditions. Whether they were heading into battle or trading in the kula ring – Milne Bay’s ancient inter-island exchange system – before setting sail, each outrigger canoe, or sailau, was fitted with a fragile and sacred piece of white cowrie shell-decorated carved wood called the tabule. Tabule obtains its A fully fitted traditional ‘sailau’ (sailing canoe) with pandanus leaf sail, as used in the kula ring trade of Milne Bay, races offshore at the first Kwateya Udi Sailau Festival at Watts Island in September last year
Shell objects used as currency in the kula ring trade – bagi (necklaces) and mwali (money) – are displayed in a festival hut on the Watts Island shore
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A sacred tabule decorated with white cowrie shells is fastened to the front of a kula sailing canoe (sailau) behind the splashboard (balagai) and supported with a metre- long wooden pole to keep it upright, firm and steady while out at sea. The shells swing and rattle as the bow of the sailing canoe ploughs into the waves, creating a unique music that spurs on the sailors. Photo courtesy of Sanakoli John “Sailors know that before their canoe sinks, before they try to save themselves or others from drowning, they must first destroy the tabule or it will turn into a great shark or sea monster and devour them all”
3.5km long and less than 1km wide island in Milne Bay’s Engineer Group.
“This is part of our Massim (southeast Milne Bay region)
sailing culture and is still practiced today.” The desire to share
Sailors know that before their canoe
Watts Island teenager Serah
sinks, before they try to save themselves or others from drowning, they must first destroy the tabule or it will turn into a great shark or sea monster and devour them all. “As young men are taught the skills to sail, they are also educated about this special tabule and how important it is to respect it,” Mathew says. The tabule is a slender piece of wood and easily breakable with your bare hands or by using another piece of wood, says Mathew.
Aisipen in her grass skirt ready for the traditional dances
supernatural power from the master canoe builders and chiefs who use spells and rituals while they are making it, and this provides protection to the sailors – keeping them safe and giving their voyage luck and success. But beware. The tabule has a dark side. If the canoe was to capsize, it becomes “like a curse” to the sailors, says Mathew Tabunaielo, who grew up hearing the stories on Watts Island (local name Kwaraiwa), a tiny
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A fleet of modern sailaus sail past spectators on the Watts Island beach
An outrigger gets airborne above the waves
“Sailors demonstrate how to spectacularly ride the waves in a tilted craft with one side airborne by a metre or so above the water for minutes at a time”
such unique and untold stories from the Massim culture with visitors is one of the reasons why the KKUS or Kwaraiwa Kwateya Udi Sailau Festival (translation: Watts Island Yam Banana Sailing Canoe Festival) was held on the island for the first time last year, and which is back this year on September 6-7. Despite its small land mass and population of only 600 people, Watts Island is part of an area that is huge in reputation as the home of master sailors. The three master sailors who featured in Danish filmmaker Thor F. Jensen’s award-winning 2023
documentary Sailau , about the world’s first circumnavigation of the island of New Guinea in a traditional 9m sailing canoe named Tawali Pasana in 2016-17, were all from nearby Basilaki Island, and share the same Bwanabwana language and culture of the Watts Islanders. On a 6300km voyage that took more than brother Justin John and friend Job Siyae, along with their apprentice Thor, dodged high seas, treacherous reefs, pirate waters, witchcraft and crocodiles in a craft powered only by wind and paddle. During the KKUS a year, lead sailor Sanakoli John, his
Festival, it is not just the handcrafted canoes – carved from local rosewood and red cedar trees and with sails made of pandanus leaves or modern fabric such as plastic tarpaulins or bits of rice bags sewn together – that are on show. The biggest drawcard is the sailing skill and agility of the Watts Islanders and fellow competitors from neighbouring islands, with visitors able to watch demonstrations and races from the shore of Yanua Mesinale
(Mission Station), or accompany sailors themselves on a wild ride of a lifetime out to sea. Visitors are shown how to hoist a sail, the types of ropes used, how to control the speed and to turn canoes in the water, and how to spectacularly ride the waves in a tilted craft with one side airborne by a metre or so above the water for minutes at a time. One of the greatest skills of the Massim sailors is being able to
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navigate using traditional knowledge, observing the stars, the sun, the currents and the patterns of the waves. “That’s the culture we’re
talking about,” says Mathew, who as the owner of Watts Island Adventure Tours divides his time between the island (where there is no communication tower so no way of connecting with clients) and Milne Bay’s main town of Alotau, about 100km away. “That’s how the boys circumnavigated PNG on Tawali Pasan a. We don’t need to use any technology, just the stars to navigate. Even the mothers in the night have the powers to help them control the nature, to save them if they are lost at sea… the law (of PNG) doesn’t allow sorcery, but these things (powers) are engraved in us and very strong. They play a very
Young Diupen Pama with his prized clam shell ready to sell to a potential collector
important role.” For the Islanders, each sailau is believed to be a woman, and must be cared for and respected in the same way. “Her
stomach is the hull, head is the splashboard, leg is the outrigger and hands are the ropes that hold the canoe together,” says Mathew.
“When the sailau is laden with cargo, it’s like a woman carrying a heavy load, and when the sailors travel from island to island, they
“Kune and leyau is the moment when kula ring trading partners meet, talk or discuss... The meeting can take weeks if they don’t reach a consensus”
Kune and leyau activities that take place during the festival include trading bagi (left) and mwali (right)
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