Expedition Log

Day 5 Sunday, 15th January 2006

Andy Eavis and James Alker meanwhile having risen at 6 am, sorted out loads for the porters. They had breakfast in the logging camp canteen and Andy reported back to Port Moresby by satellite phone. James organised three porters for the walk to Nutuve. They all seemed to be fine but Andy's warnings of porter problems based on previous experience soon came true. The porters only wanted to go to a village half way to Ora (or less) heading north or half way to Nutuve west. After a while they were down to one porter.

They had a ride on a truck full of people to the driveable end of the mud logging road and the villagers working at the camp headed home. The loads were split roughly into six and set off for Nutuve. After a short while the porters stopped but after some discussion agreed to continue. A short while later they stopped again. After more talking at the end of the logging road surrounded by mud and felled trees the porters finally headed off. They were hoping to get to Ora in one day but as hadn't reached Nutuve village yesterday as originally planned they set lower target for today.

By 9 am they left logging track behind and trekked along a narrow path which finally made them feel that they were in the jungle. The track got smaller and steeper and proved to be hard work in the heat especially after a long journey from the UK. It was time to acclimatise. They passed through several small villages, Andy taking GPS readings whenever possible. They had to descend some really steep ground and eventually ended up virtually climbing down into the Ikoi gorge. Several falls were taken, James managing to grab a root after a slip on one steep bit, saving himself from a bad fall. There shins took a quite battering and until eventually they crossed river on a wire bridge which proved to be a great photo opportunity. It looked like the temporary bridge gets washed away with every flood.

After a big steep climb approximately four hours into the walk the porters said they were not going to Ora or Nutuve. The was bad news for the pair of them as they were in the middle of nowhere with lots of kit. After a break and lots of negotiating they managed to find more porters from the main part of village where they had been told no-one lived. The new porters walked really quickly so they obviously had a long way to go, as they would want to arrive before nightfall. They now had six porters including women and children. After another four hours and having crossed the Iso gorge on a wire suspension bridge they arrived in a village on the old logging road about minutes from Nutuve. The logging road was now overgrown and all bridges had been washed away. The people of Nutuve turned out to be very generous giving them coconuts cut from a tree and opened in there in front of them.

They met Max the village medic who spoke English as they walked to Nutuve, a large grassy village centre around a dilapidated church. Max put them up in his “Western” run home. He cooked rice rice for them and they gave him K10 each but he would only take K10 in total. Andy reported back to Port Moresby using his satellite phone and informed the main team oof their progress. They felt it may be better, if using porters, to walk straight up from the coast at Bovo to join the disused road and then on to Nutuve. It would be much quicker and cheaper as no boat needed from Pomio. However organising porters could be a problem.

Ora Camp