After quiet some time at sea level, today was the day, to reach out a bit higher: I was going on an excursion up into the highlands of Papua New-Guinea.

Starting point of the day was in Madang, were we arrived in the early morning and in the middle of tropical thunderstorm with torrential rain.

As the ship made it into port, the rain subsided – and buses got us over to the small airport (with surprisingly untight security), where a chartered Q400 (a formerly Air Berlin plane) was waiting for us. A quick 40-minute flight got us to Goroka at 1600m above sea level. Many of the group had taken along umbrellas for the day, which ended up as our check-in luggage, complete with luggage tags and handled accordingly.

We changed to buses and made our way out of town and up the Highlands Highway to the pass at Daulo Top at an elevation of around 2500m. After a quick look around the small village at the pass and also taking in the (limited) views, there was a cultural performance with singing and dancing. Not only the performance here was different from what we had seen on the trip before – also the huts were build in a very different style and from different materials – the change of environment (versus sea level) clearly showed. Just try to find a palm tree up here with good-sized leaves.

From here it was back on the Highlands Highway towards Goroka – with a stop at a viewpoint to take in some of the stunning highland views.