Trip to Tufi Dive Resort, Papua New Guinea flying QF, CG and PX

[Austman]

General

This is a Trip Report of Melbourne to Tufi Dive Resort, Papua New Guinea flying Qantas (QF), Airlines of PNG (CG) and (due to a re-route) Air Niugini (PX), with stops in Canberra, Townsville, Port Moresby and Tufi itself.

Original Itinerary: QF(Y): MEL-CBR-BNE-TSV-CNS-POM, CG(Y)OM-TFI-POM, QF(J)OM-CNS-SYD-MEL (Y service only on POM-CNS).

Actual Itinerary: QF(Y): MEL-CBR-BNE-TSV-CNS-POM, CG(Y)OM-TFI-POM, PX(J)OM-BNE, QF(J):BNE-MEL.


This trip was planned with relatively short notice. I was travelling to Canberra anyway and managed to get CBR-POM-MEL as a Qantas Classic Award for 36,000 points, for the dates I wanted if I was a bit creative with the routing, which meant a stop in Townsville and paying a bit more in taxes. The domestic PNG flights between Port Moresby and Tufi are operated by Airlines of PNG. They fly POM-TFI 3 times a week and I needed to overnight in Port Moresby at both ends of their flights to align with my Qantas flights. Port Moresby hotels are expensive, so I used my Priority Club points to stay 1 night at the Holiday Inn (15,000 points) and 1 night at the Crowne Plaza (25,000 points). All looked good on the Qantas website and I had just to confirm and pay for the taxes, when I decided I'd better book the domestic PNG flights first. That took 10 minutes but when I returned to the Qantas website, I couldn't get POM-MEL in economy class any more! Gone in 10 minutes! But business class for the return was available for 30,000 points more, so I grabbed it with the idea that I'd switch back to economy class if the flights ever became available again... but they never did.

 

[Austman]

Day 1. Flight: MEL-CBR QF818 15:25-16:30

This was a Christmas Day flight. I had luggage to check due to my ongoing PNG trip, so for the first time in years for a domestic flight, I used a check-in desk. All was done quickly but what a shabby mess it was in Melbourne. I suppose it's because NGCI will be coming to Melbourne soon. Then it was off to the Qantas business lounge which was very quiet. They offered a few Christmas extras I noticed, which was a nice touch. The 737-400 flight was lightly loaded and I was up the front of economy class with business class being pretty much, well, empty. I'd flown the past few years on this flight and they had always offered economy class passengers a glass of wine, being Christmas Day and all. But not this time .. well not to all passengers. The first rows of economy were 'sneaked' a glass of wine from the business class bottle - I guess they just didn't have enough for the whole plane.

That night I stayed with my family, so there is no hotel to report.

 

[Austman]

Day 2. Flights: QF 2568 CBR-BNE 15:55-16:55 connecting to QF978 BNE-TSV 19:35-21:30

This was a QantasLink Q400 flight followed by a mainline Qantas 737-800. Check-in was easy and the new Canberra business lounge was almost empty. Both flights were fine, with wine and beer offered with a snack on the QantaLink flight but not with the meal on Qantas itself - it not being a Cityflyer, weekday, after 4pm flight. No matter because I had a already spent a couple of hours in the Brisbane business lounge which was actually busy. I asked and received an exit row aisle seat on the 737-800. The middle seat stayed empty despite the flight being fairly full. A taxi to the Holiday Inn, Townsville cost about $20.00.

 

[Austman]

Day 2,3. Hotel: Holiday Inn, Townsville

Summary:
Townsville Holiday Inn is in the centre of town. It has good rooms, some with spectacular views. Staff are very welcoming and helpful. The restaurant and bar are pleasant. Priority Club status is recognised.

Arriving at Townsville Holiday Inn:
Check-in was quick and friendly. My Priority Club status (Platinum) was recognised. I was given a high floor room and 2 free drink vouchers. There was a bottle of red and a welcome note in the room too.

Townsville Holiday Inn itself:
An older hotel that has been recently renovated. The location and facilities are good. The rooftop pool is worth a visit for the views alone.

Rooms:
The recently renovated rooms are quite spacious and some have great views. There was nothing wrong with my initial room except that in the very windy weather, the balcony door did not seal quite properly and was making loud whistling noises like a kettle. A change to another room solved the whistles but even so the windows rattled quite badly. Finally the weather settled down and the next day and night were fine. The hotel is quite tall and exposed but you can get great views! It seems some maintenance is needed on window and door seals.

Meals:
I had drinks and dinner in the bar/restaurant on the 1st floor. It was nothing very fancy but was very pleasant with reasonable prices and nice service.

Townsville itself: I had one full day here. Luckily the weather cleared. It's a pleasant place with nice walks on The Strand. Magnetic Island is a short ferry trip away.

Leaving Townsville Holiday Inn:
No problems. Check-out was quick and efficient. There is a taxi rank close to the hotel.

 

[Austman]

Day 4. Flights: QF197 TSV-CNS 11:00-11:50 connecting to QF192 CNS-POM 15:05-16:50

Two QantasLink flights today. After a $20.00 taxi trip to the airport, check-in was fine with my bag checked through to POM and I was given both boarding passes. The Townsville Qantas Club was almost empty. The QP staff told me that QF197 was running about 30 minutes late. With a 3 hour transit coming up in Cairns, I wondered if I'd have access to the Reef Lounge in Cairns International and if so, would I need a invitation card like Jetstar give to their Starclass passengers? But I couldn't find a phone number for the Reef Lounge, so I gave the Cains domestic QP a call and they assured me that I would have access to the Reef Lounge with just my boarding pass. And they were right. It's not a QP but it is QLP (QantasLink Pub?).

I was a bit worried about how the Visa-on-arrival process would work in POM. I had no kina and was unsure if there would be a bank or ATM before the VOA process. The rate for kina at Cairns airport was really bad, so I wanted to wait until I got to POM and use my 28 Degrees MasterCard to get cash from an ATM. I had asked the question on AFF and had found out that an ATM did exist before the VOA process. I also chatted to a couple of other passengers in the Reef Lounge and they kindly offered to loan me the 100 kina if needed, for my VOA, should the ATM not work. I'd pay them back on the other side of the VOA process where there are banks.

The flight CNS-POM was fine but I forgot that there is no entertainment at all on the Q400. The 'meal' was really a Qantas snack box but drinks including wine and beer were offered and refilled. It was a wet weather landing in POM and I noticed that Air Niugini's 767 from Brisbane had just arrived before us and was pulling up to the terminal. Great - that meant the queues might be long at migration. We were off the Q400 pretty quickly - they had umbrellas to borrow and they were really needed in the heavy downpour - but I had my own. At the migration area the queues were starting to build as the passengers arrived off the PX 767. There was indeed an ATM there, it worked fine and I soon had my kina. There were only 2 people in front of me in the VOA line, so I got through quite quickly, even quicker than the other lines in fact but by then the VOA line had grown to about a dozen and each VOA takes a few minutes to issue for some reason. I saw the other passengers who had offered me the loan and thanked them for the offer that in the end, was not needed. I picked up my luggage, went though customs quickly and was out the door. My initial impression of arrival at POM was that it is a bit like arriving in Sri Lanka or Pakistan - a lot of people milling outside and quite a security presence. The Holiday Inn had their shuttle bus waiting and we were off the the hotel quickly. I had planned not to do anything that night except except stay in the Holiday Inn. It was rotten weather anyway.

 

[Austman]

Day 4. Hotel: Holiday Inn, Port Moresby.

Summary:
Port Moresby Holiday Inn is close to the airport so is handy if you have an overnight transit stop (as was the case for me). It has good rooms and nice grounds. Staff are welcoming and helpful. The restaurant and bar are OK. Priority Club status is recognised.

Arriving at Port Moresby Holiday Inn:
A free airport shuttle is offered. You need to call in advance if you want a pick-up. Check-in was quick and friendly. My Priority Club status (Platinum) was recognised. On a points stay I received two free drink vouchers for the bar/restaurant.

Port Moresby Holiday Inn itself:
A pleasant enough 4-star hotel set in some nice gardens. The location and facilities were fine for an overnight stop. Like other hotels in Port Moresby, the hotel is surrounded by significant security.

Rooms:
My Garden Wing room was spacious with an excellent bed and a nice view of the pool and gardens. The bathroom was dated but ok.

Meals:
I had (2 free) drinks in the outside garden bar followed by an al-la-carte dinner at the hotel's Kopi Haus restaurant. All fine.

Leaving Port Moresby Holiday Inn:
A free airport shuttle is offered. You need to book with reception. Check-out was quick and efficient. I departed at 12:30 thinking to have lunch at the airport before my 2:30pm domestic flight. This was a mistake: the airport is a pretty bad place for eating and 1 hour is enough time for domestic check-in. I should have had lunch at the Holiday Inn first.

 

[Austman]

Day 5. Flight: GC1672 POM-TFI 14:20-16:15

Check-in at Airlines of PNG was quick but my bag was 1kg over the 16kg limit for checked luggage. I had only a small, almost empty carry-on so offered to move some things into it but the staff said not to bother. The baggage receipt was just a pre-printed, tear-off stub of a label ie not computer printed. It looked a bit like a raffle ticket stub. Before going though the second security point into the domestic departure lounge, I asked if there was a restaurant inside and was told there was. It turned out to be a snack bar at best in pretty dismal surroundings. My 14:20 flight was now showing as 14:40 and I had about 2 hours to kill so I went off for a walk in search of somewhere better to eat. It's an 'interesting' walk between the domestic and international terminals at POM... Some I later met called it frightening... My gosh. I couldn't see anything in the 'plaza' area that separates the terminals so went into the international terminal and found a small place upstairs. Not great but much better than what the domestic terminal offered. After lunch it was back to the domestic departure lounge which was filling quickly. Eventually my flight was called and all passengers walked out to the Airlines of PNG's Dash-8 for our hour long flight to Tufi with a stop in Popondetta on the way. In flight service on these 2 x 30 minute flights was zero. Views from the plane were fantastic!

Arrival in Tufi was great - a small gravel airstrip edging on to the fjord. I hoped the Dash could stop on what looked an impossibly short runway - but it did. There were lots of villagers out to see the plane or meet other passengers. Many were in the single open wooden 'shelter' that was the airstrip's only 'building'. According to wikipedia, Tufi airstrip is being extended 'in order to serve international flights to Cairns'. Ummm, well it seemed to have, err, quite a way to go...

We were met my Matt, the resort manager, who said that our bags would be collected and taken directly to our rooms. Considering we only got 'raffle ticket stubs' as luggage receipts, I wondered how our bags could be identified. Later, I found out that Airlines of PNG hand write each passenger's name on the pre-printed luggage label that attaches to the bag. Quaint.

 

[Austman]

Day 5, 6,7,8,9 . Hotel: Tufi Dive Resort.

Summary:
Tufi Dive Resort is a small 'boutique' resort located in the Oro Province of Papua New Guinea. The location is beautiful and the diving, snorkelling and kayaking are excellent. The resort staff and locals are very welcoming and friendly. The on-site manager Matt is always cheery, enthusiastic and helpful. Accommodation is somewhat basic. Meals are good.

Arriving at Tufi:
The previously grass airstrip near the resort is now gravel and flights by Airlines of PNG from Port Moresby are now operated by comfortable Dash-8 aircraft. Resort staff meet the guests and arrange for bags to be taken directly to the rooms. After a quick drive to the resort, a welcome drink and cold towel is waiting for each guest. All very nicely done.

The resort itself:
The resort's main building is very nice. Most meals are eaten here. There are many tables, lounges ,a gift shop and a bar with a TV. Also a small library, pool table and a darts board. Next to the main building is the resort's small swimming pool. There are some resort pets too including a horn-bill and a wallaby. There is no mobile network at Tufi but apparently that's about to change. It'll be a pity as it will mean a different dynamic with phones ringing and guests texting at dinner etc.

Rooms:
Accommodation at Tufi is somewhat basic. I stayed in a new 'deluxe bungalow'. This is a stretch of the words 'deluxe' and 'bungalow'. In reality it was a small, but charming basic hotel room in a two storey building that housed six such rooms. It was certainly not a bungalow and was a bit-of-a-way short from deluxe - with no bathtub, TV, bed-side tables, reading lamps - not even a chair in the room. A floor level queen sized bed was squeezed in but was such a tight fit that it was only just possible to walk on either side of the bed. The bed-side tables that had been ordered for the room were too big to fit - so the room was offered without the tables - so no place for books, glasses etc. The room was a bit of a squeeze for one person and would be a challenge for two. But it was all new, air-conditioned, fanned, screened and pleasant. And there was a generous veranda, with an outside table and two chairs that had partial water views.

Meals:
I thought the meals, which are included in the daily rate, were very good at Tufi. Breakfast is self serve continental style with some cooked items offered at extra cost. Lunch and dinner are are eaten communally and are presented individually to each guest, in a plated restaurant style. Lunch is a single course but as others here have noted, is too little for many of the guests. If you have been out diving/snorkelling/kayaking for a few hours in the morning you can build up quite an appetite! The possibility for seconds was never mentioned. Dinner is three courses. There is an emphasis on good seafood but no choice of dishes is offered. I think Tufi could try changing this a bit - perhaps by placing side dishes on the table as 'self serve' for the plated main item and perhaps offering one generic alternative if a guest happens not to like a particular main course. There are, after all, no other dining alternatives in the area - you can't just go next door for something else.

Activities:
Tufi is mainly a Dive Resort and in this it excels. I just snorkel but it was the best I have ever experienced. Those doing scuba seemed very impressed. Fishing was available too of course. The cultural activities are interesting and well worth doing but are a bit theatrical. The locals don't live that way any more and as soon as the tourists are gone it's off with the paints and flowers and back on with the football clothes. Still, it's good fun, educational and all the guests seemed to enjoy it even if our experience was a little less than usual because of, we were told, some 'problems' that day in the local village. There is no beach at Tufi Resort itself. But on one day a BBQ lunch was offered at a nearby (10 mins by boat) sandy beach. It was a beautiful location and one of the stay highlights for me. There's not much to do after dinner at Tufi. After a day's activities you can be a bit tired and most guests retired to their bungalows soon after dinner. Some bedside reading lights in the bungalows would be good, especially as there is no TV.

Leaving Tufi:
Organising the day of departure from Tufi could have been handled better. On some days the flight to Port Moresby leaves early in the morning. Just after dinner on the last night, leaving guests were told to have bags outside their rooms at 6:30am - and that was it. But the next morning was confusing - guests had no idea how check-in would be done or when we would leave for the airport for our 07:40 flight. It turns out that you hand your air ticket to the resort manager who arranges the check-in for you. And it took quite some time to settle final accounts - an error or two needed correcting. The result for me was that I missed out on breakfast and was nearly late for the flight because they were ready to go to the airport at 07:10 when the arriving plane was heard. Tufi could handle it a bit better: Why not give guests their account to settle the night before and collect their air tickets, needed for check-in, at the same time? And tell the guests that breakfast which usually starts at 07:00 will be available earlier, at 06:30, as well? Seems practical to me. Why make it unpleasant, confusing and rushed for the guests?


Tufi managment:
Booking my stay at Tufi was a nightmare. At the time of writing this review, information about Tufi exists on www.tufidive.com and tufi-experience.com. Bookings can be made on hostelbookers.com hostelworld.com tufi-experience.com or by contacting management on the email address given on www.tufidive.com When I made my booking all the rates and room descriptions were different on ALL the websites and they were different again when I had to deal directly with booking staff! What a mess! I initially made a booking on hostelbookers.com that was confirmed by email with a deposit taken but it was not honoured by Tufi without a painful email exchange that lasted for weeks. The email address given in tufi-experience.com and used by hostelbookers.com no longer worked. Tufi management said they would update the rate information on hostelbookers.com, but weeks later I see it's still wrong. Other guests also had booking problems. This is a hopeless situation for any hotel business today where on-line bookings are a way of life.

During my stay a group including Tufi owners and managers from Port Moresby arrived. They never introduced themselves, ate meals at a separate table and generally avoided the paying guests as much as possible. But they were pretty loud so it was probably just as well they were separate because they seemed to just to whine on most of the time about all their problems in PNG as expats. On New Year's Eve, usually a festive occasion, when the 12 or so paying guests had no choice but to be at Tufi, the management offered absolutely nothing extra. It seemed to me in general that they had a hospitality by-pass and I wondered why they where even in the hospitality business.

 

[Austman]

Day 10. Flight: GC1673 TFI-POM 07:40-09:05

After the slight drama of running a bit late, all the leaving guests were at the Tufi airstrip in good time. No seat allocations this time and there were plenty of spare seats. I hoped the Dash-8 could make it off the ground from the seemingly too short runway, but it did. About 30 minutes later we stopped for about 10 minutes in Popondetta. Back into the air and on this sector passengers were offered an apple juice and a single Scotch Finger biscuit! So I did get some breakfast after all! Another 30 minutes and we were back in Port Moresby on a beautiful sunny day. I collected my luggage and went looking for the free shuttle bus to the Crowne Plaza. After 30 minutes I gave up waiting and gave them a call - it seems that despite confirming it to me in an email, my shuttle bus booking was not done. The bus however arrived about 15 minutes later. During my wait a person came up to me and asked 'How are you, Austman, do you remember me?'. I thought I didn't, but because he knew my name, I thought it was my error. 'From the Holiday Inn?', I asked. 'Yes!'. He then went on to tell me of his problems and how he couldn't afford things and so on. I was pretty certain I'd never met the man. After 10 minutes he left. I then looked down at my luggage and noticed that Airlines of PNG had again labelled my bag by hand, but this time with just my first name. Clear and in very big letters - 'Austman' was there for all to see.

 

[Austman]

Day 10. Hotel: Crowne Plaza, Port Moresby

Summary:
Port Moresby Crowne Plaza is close to many office buildings in the centre of town. Staff are welcoming and helpful. There is only 1 restaurant now but a couple of bars. Priority Club status is recognised. There are Club Floors and a Club Lounge that has afternoon drinks and snacks.

Arriving at Port Moresby Crowne Plaza:
A free airport shuttle is offered, running on 30 minute schedules . But you still need to call the hotel in advance if you want an airport pick-up. Check-in was quick and friendly. My Priority Club status (Platinum) was recognised. On a points stay I was was given a room on the top floor with club access including a coughtail hour and breakfast.

Port Moresby Crowne Plaza itself:
A pleasant enough 4-star hotel. The location and facilities were fine if you need to stay in the city. The outdoor pool and deck were nice. Like other hotels in Port Moresby, the hotel is surrounded by significant security. I went out walking during the day without any problems. At night I was advised that the streets can be very dangerous.

Rooms:
My top floor room was spacious with an excellent bed and a great view to Ela Beach. After the small room at Tufi it felt palatial! The bathroom was a little dated but ok. My in-room safe was pin-locked with the door stuck open, so I went to call reception to get it fixed only to discover the phone wasn't working! A Catch-22 situation? A quick trip downstairs resulted in maintenance staff fixing both problems quickly.

Meals:
I had drinks in the Pondo Tavern followed by an al-la-carte dinner at the hotel's 'The Cafe' restaurant. Both were fine. The hotel's Rapala restaurant was closed and by the looks of it it could be a permanent closure.

Port Moresby itself: POM looks modern from the air. And there some modern office buildings and some quite fancy looking apartment buildings. Walking around the town near the hotel was interesting but not all that pleasant. There are a lot of locals loitering outside pretty dismal looking shops and cafes. And there are some steep streets to hike in hot and humid weather! Ela beach looked quite nice and I went for a walk along it. Lots of people said hello. It was all friendly. I stopped at the Ela Beach Hotel for a very nice lunch. I think I was the only 'walk in' guest! While in the Crowne Plaza's Pondo Tavern I got talking to another hotel quest who was a regular there. I could see another hotel/cafe/bar called the 'Moresby Inn' across the road and wondered if I could go there for a drink to get a more local feel. The other guest thought my chances of returning alive would be about 70/30 - and he wasn't joking. I decided to stay at the Crowne Plaza.

Leaving Port Moresby Crowne Plaza:
A free airport shuttle is offered. You need to book with reception. Check-out was quick and efficient.

 

[Austman]

Day 11. Flights: QF350 POM-BNE 09:30-12:30 connecting to QF625 BNE-MEL14:55-18:15

I had made sure I had a booking for the 07:30 shuttle bus. It was running a bit late but we were at the airport by 08.00 anyway. An actual fight was happening outside the domestic terminal, despite all the 'security' in the area! Dozens of people were looking on. Over at International, the Qantas check-in line was empty but they made each passenger get an explosions test. Today I was booked to fly POM-CNS-SYD-MEL, all on Qantas, arriving in MEL at 23:40 due to long connection times in CNS and SYD. But at least CNS-SYD and SYD-MEL were in business class as would have been POM-CNS if it had existed. The check-in supervisor told me the incoming the CNS-POM flight was running very late and she feared I would miss my CNS-SYD connection, despite my long connection time. So she offered to re-route me to an Air Niugini flight to Brisbane that was leaving at 09:30 and connect that flight to Melbourne. I said fine if it was all in business class. So I'd get to try PX's 767 business class and get to Melbourne over 5 hours earlier than my original itinerary! For some reason they would only check my luggage to Brisbane and did not issue my second boarding pass - it didn't matter much because I had to collect and re-check my luggage in Brisbane anyway. Off then to the departure lounge to find a shop and hopefully spend the last of my kina. But the only shop was a pretty miserable example of a duty free store so I held on to the kina in the hope that Air Niugini might have a decent in-flight shop. Next was the Paradise Lounge which is for PX business class and Executive Club members but QFF'ers with status and flying on a QF flight number get access as well. It's not the best lounge in the world but far better than the public departure lounge outside. Boarding was on time. Despite the lounge getting quite full and seemingly most taking the flight, business class on the plane was almost empty. It was a very spacious cabin with a 2-2-2 layout and a very generous seat pitch. In-flight service was attentive, food was good, drinks were ok, seats were comfortable, entertainment was on old fashioned TV screens. It was a bit like a Qantas domestic 767 but with a 50" or 60" seat pitch. And I did mange to spend the last of my kina on an in-flight duty free purchase for better prices than in Brisbane.

At Brisbane International I was through migration and customs quickly. I then went to the transit check-in counters. But the Qantas counters at 12:50 were unmanned and had a sign that said 'catch the bus to the domestic terminal'. Pretty coughpy service Qantas! What if passengers have a lot of luggage? There were many other passengers looking pretty annoyed too. The bus came 10 minutes later and went directly to the domestic terminal. It was full to capacity and the driver didn't seem too interested in looking for boarding passes to see if you qualified for a free transfer or not. Not a bad service, but would be a hassle if you had a lot of luggage.

A few minutes later I was checked-in for my Melbourne flight and was even offered an earlier flight option , which I guess was one advantage of not having the bag through checked to Melbourne. But the earlier flight was soon to board and I felt like a bit of business lounge time.

QF625 departed on time and was about half full in the 737-800 business class cabin but service was not started, not even a drink offer, until about an hour after take-off. This delay was partly due to some bumpy weather but mostly due to fact that only one FA was assigned to the business class cabin and she was the slowest FA I had ever seen! I looked back and half the economy cabin, which was quite full, had been served before a single order for anything had been taken in business class. The FA was very nice to talk to (when I eventually got to talk to her!), but gee ... keeping passengers waiting an hour... and it was only a choice of a steak sandwich or soup. No pre-meal drinks and no dessert. Pretty unimpressive really. Oh well, the steak sandwich was tasty at least.

 

[Austman]

Conclusion

Overall I had a great time. I was very pleased I went to PNG. The trip cost approximately $2,400.00 plus 66,000 Qantas points plus 40,000 Priority Club points. That was for all flights, hotels, meals, drinks, transfers, visas and sightseeing.

 

[Tassie Devil]

Ah, the old "do you remember me" trick and then subsequent life is hard story. Yes, i have had that one tried on me a few times. Can't blame them for trying though as some lead pretty dreadful lives, but they are cluey and forthright enough to try it on well to do travellers and I admire them for their initiative.

I am glad you had an enjoyable experience as i have said in previous posts PNG has some beautiful attractions, but i guess now you have experienced the frustrations that become a regular part of travelling there you can appreciate what us regular visitors go on about. You just in the end develop an attitude that you just have to accept that is the way and you try and make the best of it. If you let it get to you, then you won't enjoy what the place has to offer.

Flying around PNG on Dash 8's is great isn't it. It really is wonderful scenery to fly over.

 

[drron]

An enjoyable read.A long time since I was in PNG but it brought back memories.Then again i flew around in a DC3.

 

[ChrisBNE]

Great TR + very interesting.