ABG Suspends Parliament for tourist to visit chamber

Published: 17 March 2011
Link: http://bougainville.typepad.com/newdawn/2011/03/170311-abg-suspends-parliament-by-aloysius-laukai-the-abg-house-of-representative-sitting-was-yesterday-temporarily-suspende.html

The Ocean Discoverer a Tourist Boat from Cairns Australia stopped for Five Hours in Buka.
Pictured is the Ship anchored outside Sohano Island.

By Aloysius Laukai

The ABG House of Representative sitting was yesterday temporarily suspended to allow Tourists from Europe and Australia to visit the Parliament Chamber.

And the ABG House of Representative Speaker, ANDREW MIRIKI welcomed the visitors when they arrived at the KUBU Parliament House.

MR. MIRIKI told the visitors that Bougainville wants to promote tourism in the region and would welcome visitors to visit the region.

He told the tourists mainly elderly that Bougainville will continue to promote its activities and their visit was welcomed.

The tourists were very happy at the special given by Bougainville’s leadership.

The ABG Parliament sitting which started on Tuesday ended today.

New Dawn FM carried Live Broadcast from the Kubu Parliament House to its listeners in Buka town.

Pictures from the Tourist Boat visit to Buka last Wednesday.
A Tourist is being welcomed by a Hangan villager at the Kuri village Resort.
Picture by Aloysius Laukai

A tourist trying to test a Bow at the Buka market.

Nago man MR. WATE selling local Buin Basket to the Tourists.
Picture by Aloysius Laukai

Sales at the Buka Market had alot of varieties for the Tourists.
Picture of Solomon Islanders displaying their items.
By Aloysius Laukai

Visit http://www.coralprincess.com.au for further information. You can also download the Melanesia Cruise info on PDF here and book the 2012 voyage. 

Bosco your best BET on Bougainvillie by BIGPAT

Source Link: http://melanesianwayz.blogspot.com/2010/11/bosco-your-best-bet-on-bougainvillie.html
Published: Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Bosco your best BET on Bougainvillie


Greetings from Bougainville. Today, I am taking a break from our usual adventures with our three mates of Erima to set sail for the island of Buka in what used to be the North Solomons Province.
A short hop across the famous Buka Passage by dinghy takes us to Kokopau from where a PMV ride south leads to Arawa, once the headquarters of the giant Panguna Copper Mine to meet my new friend Bosco. I’ve come here because of a BET — well it’s not a bet shop or gambling parlour. If you see this sign ’BET’ in Buka or Arawa on Bougainville, you will be a happier person for staking your kina on BET for the tour experience of a lifetime. BET stands for Bougainville Experience Tours and you can bet your last two toea that this rapidly expanding tourism company will stretch your kina the length and breadth of Papua New Guinea.
Be in for a BETTER experience with BET when you visit Bougainville. The cost may be fair but the experience is treasured, from bus trekking, trail hiking, mountain climbing, diving, and bird watching to photography tours and village stays, BET is your BEST BET for an enjoyable stay.
BET is owned and operated by an energetic young Bougainvillean named Zhon Bosco Miriona and his family of Arawa, Central Bougainville. It is a relatively new tour company in PNG with limited resources but boundless energy. It specializes on Bougainville experiences that will take your breath away.
Miriona registered BET in 2007 after returning from a tourism expo in Fiji. He now has offices in Arawa, Buka and is setting up a base in neighbouring Solomon Islands. BET also has connections with guest houses in many village stops and tour guides in Arawa, Wakunai, Torokina and Buin.
Ten years after the Bougainville conflict, much of the island’s infrastructure is still in shambles but it is the untouched pristine environment, the beauty of the flora and fauna, and the magical allure of its mountains, forests, rivers, valleys, beaches and islands that BET is marketing to the world. Bougainville, like many of the beautiful islands of PNG, is still a place waiting to be discovered.
The magnetism of Bougainvilleans as the darkest skinned and friendliest people on earth is what BET is trawling as it builds up a visitor base of tourists from far and wide. Bougainville is also famous as a theatre of conflict during World War II and its oceans, beaches, jungles and valleys are strewn with the refuse of war as an added attraction. Among the relics is WWII’s most famous Japanese commander, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s plane, a Betty bomber which was intercepted by allied fighters and shot down on April 18, 1943 near Buin.
Recently, BET rediscovered and mapped the Numa Numa Track, which runs between Wakunai on the east coast to Torokina on the west coast, crossing numerous rivers and the Empress Augusta mountain range.
The experience is worthwhile, the view is breathtaking and the track takes in a lot of flora and fauna that is unique only to Bougainville including the rarely seen and endangered moustache Kingfisher bird. And of course, being a wartime track, the remnants of the conflict are plentiful, although the jungle has reclaimed much of it. In August, Miriona led a team which included Bougainville government officers to map the track to gauge its viability as a potential tourist walking track.
He said that while Numa Numa does not rival Kokoda or Black Cat in blood and guts from WWII, it witnessed heavy fighting and has its share of exciting moments and lots of war relics including guns, mortars, cartridges, bunkers and rusting tanks. Numa Numa Track gets its name from the plantation of the same name at Wakunai, reputedly the biggest commercial coconut grove still producing copra in the southern hemisphere.
The track is 60km long, (36km shorter than Kokoda), and takes a three to four day hike with stops at villages along the way.
Another exciting project is the Mount Balbi bird watching trek. At 2685, it is the highest mountain on Bougainville. What makes it more scenic is the lagoon — Lake Billy Mitchell — near the top. A strato volcano, its last recorded activity was in the mid 19th century and it has remained quiet since.
The Balbi ascent normally starts from the Torokina side of the mountain and takes two to three days depending on group fitness, weather and the track itself. In 2004, a Bougainville resident expat Bob Willis decided to scale Mt Balbi. Willis and his group succeeded in reaching the top and were ecstatic at what they discovered, lots of birdlife, a beautiful blue lagoon and a scenic morning view of the island’s most active volcano Mount Bagana (1730m) to the east.
A book — Birds of Bougainville — by Don Hadden has been the lure for bird lovers to Bougainville. Besides Guadalcanal in neighbouring Solomon Islands, Bougainville is home to the highly endangered moustache kingfisher bird among other popular species. BET has cashed in on the interest in birds and with the new track to be opened; it has bird watching tours booked till 2013 from US, Swedish, UK, Aussie and Kiwi bird fans. Meanwhile, the beauty of Balbi still fresh in his mind, the willing Willis attempted another ascent in early August 2010 with a team of 10 American retirees led by Bosco Miriona of BETS.
The Willis group walked, tracked and had fun on the way, bird watching, camping and drinking a lot of PNG coffee and despite some bad weather; they made it to their objective.
“Beautiful and awesome,” one tourist told Bougainville based reporter Peterson Tseraha.
“It was a beautiful scene, the blue lagoon is fantastic and I hope locals advertise it more so more tourists can come walk this track or up this highest peak to experience one of the beauties of Bougainville.”
The tourists said they only knew about Torokina through reading about the war but advised there was more to see than just the relics. Miriona admits that Bougainvilleans are still getting over the harsh lessons of the crisis years and in some parts of the island, there is still resentment to outside influences. However, he added that through awareness created by BET and the regional government, locals are opening up and are interested in tourism. The Autonomous Bougainville Government is also very keen on tourism with the setting up of Bougainville Tourism Industry Association. Its website is http://www.bougainvilletourism.org.pg/

Miriona allayed fears that visitors’ hold of Bougainville saying the people had suffered through the crisis and learnt a lot of lessons from the conflict and are prepared to go back to a peaceful way of living. “Because of the violence witnessed during the crisis, people think Bougainville is a dangerous place. But let me tell you, before that, we were the friendliest people on earth. After the conflict, we are still the friendliest people on earth,” a confident Miriona beamed. “Come and visit us and see for yourself.”
Indeed I can bet my last one toea I will be coming back to visit Mirix for a try at Mount Balbi sometime next year.

Maybe I might just find the last of the moustache kingfisher. You never know until you try.
Take the plunge with me on email at: bigpatpng@gmail.com or place your bet on 7349 1672.

Did Earhart fly out gold?

Source: Post Courier
Date Published: 08 March 2011
Link: http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20110308/news05.htm

AN AMERICAN group communicating with the Earhart expedition divers on Bougainville are now making preparations to travel to Buka Island to help complete the investigations.


Yesterday the US team based in Pennsylvania told the Post-Courier they are now making arrangements to travel to Buka and should be in the region by end of this month.

The US group who is in direct contact with the State Department back in Pennsylvania told the Post-Courier from the States that they still believed the wreck sitting on the seabed near Matsungan Island was that of Earhart.

“It’s only the fuselage, once the group details to us the information we need we will head straight for the airport and onto the plane to PNG,” the US expert said.

The experts did not want to divulge detailed information on what they were after from the fuel fillers of the wreck but said because the team carrying out the expedition in Buka was still having difficulties with the last bit of investigation.

The Buka team, however, is working to complete the exercise before they transmit information to the US team so they can travel to PNG and onto Buka Island to complete the investigation.

The Buka team is also adamant the wreck is Earhart’s as the leader claims is well versed with the historical story of why Amelia would have made it through Buka Island – because she smuggled gold out of her last destination.

“Why would America spend so much money looking for Earhart and still after 74 years, have not found the wreck?

“My intelligence experience tells me Earhart could not spell out her direct route because she was fearful radio transmissions would show her location as she was carrying something extraordinary. America knows something that we don’t.”

Diver found wreck in 1994

Source: Post Courier
Link: http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20110307/news05.htm
Published: 03 March 2011

Amelia Earhart

SEVENTEEN years ago, a young commercial fisherman from Tasman Island was diving for sea cucumbers deep down on the ocean floor of Matsungan Island, Buka when he stumbled onto a plane wreck.


Tasman Islander Jessy Teolo is now 40 years old and married with six children. In 1994, like every other commercial fisherman, he dived on every reef in the Atolls looking for beche de mer to sell.

Teolo went as far as grade six and couldn’t prosper his education for a higher certificate because of the location and the difficulty in finding a way out to Buka from Tasman.

Mr Teolo instead turned to commercial fishing, spending most of his time diving for a living. In early 1994, Atolls Queen made its maiden voyage to Tasman Island. Sankamap I was also on the island making its last trip to the Atolls before going overseas for a refit. Mr Teolo, like every other young man, got himself onto the boat and travelled to Buka where he thought would return with better diving equipment and to sell his produce.

His dream of going back to Tasman became a nightmare as the vessels were no longer returning to his island home so he was stranded in Buka.

Bougainville has top A grade beche de mer/sea cucumbers on the world market and most of them are found along the low-lying islands of Buka Islands especially Petats, Saposa and Matsungan.

Mr Teolo did not sit back. In the same year, 1994 he linked up with another local fisherman – known to many as Borou – and engaged in a trade where they were diving for beche de mer. Teolo and another diver travelled to Matsungan Island later that year with Borou to dive for sea cucumber.

He dived underwater for “Bislama” as it is known in Tok Pisin and stumbled onto the plane lying on a reef facing the island.

First he thought his eyes were playing up so he gasped for air and took a second dive, this time several metres down where he confirmed the plane wreck lying on the sea bed, covered in coral and facing the island.

That was the first time he mentioned a plane sitting under the water at Matsungan – he communicated this to Borou, the local fisherman, but he took notice of this matter. Mr Teolo returned to Tasman and three years later was asked to come back to Buka to show the location of the plane wreck in 1997.

The sudden urge for the location of the plane came amidst news about Amelia Earhart plane found in East New Britain surfaced.

Old men in Matsungan also told Borou about a plane that crashed in 1937 while he was out at sea all by himself as the lightning struck and heavy rains fell. Borou asked for Mr Teolo to make his way back to Buka to show him where the wreck was.

In 1999 people were now aware of the plane wreck, many theories told and already the Matsungan Island village was now in tune with the story of Amelia Earhart and that’s where it all began.

Mr Teolo fled back to his Atoll home as there was now infighting among groups – basically on who found the wreck and other issues.

But speaking to the Post-Courier last Friday, Mr Teolo said he had a feeling when he first found it in 1994, that this wreck was different from all other wrecks he found during his dive in the Atolls and everywhere else in Bougainville, but he never voiced his feelings towards the crash until this year.

He is now a copra buyer in Fead and the Atolls with financial help from his diving expeditions and since beche de mer trade has been put on hold.

Claims aviation pioneer Earhart's plane found in PNG - ABC News

Source: ABC News
Date: 02 March 2011
Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/03/3154684.htm

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Rumours involving sunken treasure and one of the world's great aviation mysteries are swirling around the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea.




Locals believe a plane wreck could be the final resting place of American airwoman Amelia Earhart who disappeared somewhere over the Pacific in 1937.



Even more incredibly they say there's gold bullion on board and that a giant snake is guarding the wreck.



But an expert on Earhart's disappearance says the claim is "silly beyond description".



Our PNG correspondent Liam Fox reports.



LIAM FOX: The rumour mill or coconut wireless as it's known is always running hot on Bougainville.



Many of the tall tales that fly around the island involve gold. One of them was given prominence by the Post Courier newspaper this week with the front-page headline "Plane wreck believed to be Earhart".



It said there are "strong indications" a plane wreck found off the coast of Bougainville was the one flown by Amelia Earhart who famously disappeared in 1937 while attempting to become the first pilot to circle the globe close to the equator.



If that wasn't amazing enough the report said there was gold bullion on board and a six-metre snake was guarding the wreck.



The man at the centre of the claim is local businessman Cletus Harepa who's paying for divers to inspect the wreck.



CLETUS HAREPA: Somebody saw it when they were diving for fish. And they saw the plane but they don't know that that plane was Amelia's plane until I got my diver to dive 7200 metre down. And I told my diver, go and get something inside.



LIAM FOX: He says a diver found two skulls in the cockpit and three boxes of gold bullion but the bars were too heavy to carry to the surface.



What will you do if you recover the gold? Will you keep it for yourself or do you give it to the government? What's your plan?



CLETUS HAREPA: The government can have some. I will have some. But what I want to do is improve the island. Get a good hospital, a good school, good water supply and maybe a small boat.



LIAM FOX: Mr Harepa admits they're yet to find proof the wreck is Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra.



But he's confident it is the plane because of another, older rumour that female pilots used to smuggle gold out of Lae on the PNG mainland in the 1930s.



Lae was Earhart's last stop before she vanished.



Mr Harepa does say however that the story about the giant snake is rubbish.



CLETUS HAREPA: It's an eel, it's a brown eel that uses the plane as a place to hide.



LIAM FOX: American Ric Gillespie is a leading expert on the Earhart mystery and has spent the last 22 years trying to find her final resting place.



RIC GILLESPIE: These stories about gold bullion and a six-metre snake guarding the wreckage are just frankly hilarious.



There is simply no way that the Earhart aircraft could be anywhere near Papua New Guinea.



LIAM FOX: Mr Gillespie says radio transmissions and other evidence indicates Earhart landed on Nikumaroro atoll in the Central Pacific where she and her navigator later perished from a lack of food and water.



He says the story coming out of Bougainville is testament to the enduring mystery surrounding her disappearance.



RIC GILLESPIE: The whole thing is silly beyond description. But I guess it's just an indication of how popular the Earhart mystery is and how everybody wants a piece of that action.



LIAM FOX: Meanwhile gold fever has broken out on Bougainville with armed men reportedly preventing outsiders from diving on the wreck.



ELIZABETH JACKSON: That's our PNG correspondent Liam Fox with that report.


Ynews ©2010 ABC

Armed men guard wreck

Source: Post Courier
Published Data: 03 March 2011
Link: http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20110303/news.htm

 Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E. During its modification, the aircraft had most of the cabin windows blanked out and had specially fitted fuselage fuel tanks.
(Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart )

 ARMED men are now guarding what is believed to be the last resting place for aviator Amelia Earhart in Bougainville’s low-lying Matsungan Island.
Security has been beefed up on the island by the local group carrying out the expedition as the diving investigation continues.
As the investigation continues on the island, interest in the relic has picked up all over the world, with many journalists, organisations and researchers calling to inquire about the Post-Courier report and also to come over to PNG.
And yesterday the Autonomous Bougainville Government warned that the relic belongs to the State and everything must be done under the PNG laws.
The Post-Courier Buka office has been flooded with reactions from the world, with many saying it was untrue while others gave in to the news.
The Post-Courier Buka office received calls and emails from international journalists, organisations and others who wanted to know about the plane, while some are already interested in making their way to Bougainville.
One of the biggest question callers and those online were asking was “how do this Bougainvillean local group know that’s Amelia Earhart’s plane?” The group had been given a checklist to carry out since their mission 11 years ago. There were given 11 points to confirm by a US agent (named) who has been working with the Amelia Earhart group in the United States. According to the Buka group, eight of the 11 checklists have been done and only three were not completed.
The dive is very difficult for the divers because of the coral covering the left side of the plane. But the group is optimistic the expedition will achieve its objective, now that the world knows about the crash site.
The Autonomous Bougainville Government is fully aware of the relic but has warned that everything is under protection and the Government of PNG remains the legal custodian.
Bougainville’s Minister for Culture and Tourism Joseph Egilio, in a press conference yesterday, appeared worried that the issue may get out of hand. He was referring to the alleged Amelia Earhart plane purportedly found North West of Buka Island.
On an official level, Mr Egilio as the Minister responsible and his officials have not been fully briefed on what is happening but advised they would now have to take charge because it will involve a lot of issues. Egilio said he has been aware of the plane wreck for a long time and commended the local group and the local businessman for taking the initiative to investigate the crash. But he warned that the Government will still have to take charge of the issue once confirmation is made but because the ABG had no policy of its own the National Government was the automatic custodian of the wreck.
“Everything comes under protection. The Government is the custodian of every historical relic. The ABG does not have its own policy so the National Government automatically takes over, which means it is still the legal custodian,” Mr Egilio said.

Earhart in the Electra cockpit, c. 1936
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart )

Divers to confirm wreck

Source: Post Courier
Link: http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20110302/news.htm
Published: 02 March 2011

Amelia Earhart Getting Statue in U.S. Capital
(Source: http://blogs.babble.com/ )

 DIVERs are about to try to confirm the final bit of evidence to prove a plane wreck off Bougainville is really that of the long lost flyer Amelia Earhart.
The Bougainville Amelia Expedition team in Buka have a checklist given to them by the American Group that they have been in contact since 2009 and who has been assisting them from the United States on the mission.
The US group (named) is also establishing contacts with the US State Department in America to try and help the Bougainville team with equipment and assistance they need to do their final investigation and confirmation.
The divers and the local group are currently camping at the island where the crash site is located and have been progressing their expedition to confirm the last thing they are going to need to prove that the plane is really Earhart’s.
And the group, although, have found gold in the plane, are also trying to determine if the gold was smuggled out from the Wau gold field from that era as Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan made their last flight out of Lae before they mysteriously disappeared.
The divers and the local group involved have detailed to the group in the US that they are now checking the fuel fillers of the plane, one of the last things to check before the checklist is complete.
They identified that there are two sculls still in the plane, one at the pilot side.
The expedition has also found that the plane is a twin tail aircraft, the front with antenna loop is still intact, the window at the right side is above the wing, the front rivets are in the middle of the windscreen and the plane’s left wing is damaged and grossly covered in coral.
The disappearance of Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan has been one of the great mysteries in the world.
Yesterday, the oldest man, now 95, Amos Sipiria, said he was a young boy going to school when the plane crashed into the sea amidst heavy rains, clouds covering the sky and lightning on an early morning.

L–R, Paul Mantz, Amelia Earhart, Harry Manning and Fred Noonan, Oakland, California, March 17, 1937.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart )

Bougainvilleans warn visitors to island - By Gorethy Kenneth

By Gorethy Keneth 
Source: Post Courier
Published: 01 March 2011
Link: http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20110301/news05.htm

The route taken by Emelia Earhart is directly aligned with the assumed crash site.
Source: http://www.saipanstewart.com/essays/earhart.html

NO one is allowed to travel to Bougainville and make an attempt to visit a plane wreck of Amelia Earhart, locals warned yesterday.
An aircraft said to fit the description of Earhart’s Lockheed 10E Electra is resting at the depth of 70 metres on a reef at Matsungan Island, northwest of Buka.
The group carrying out the confirmation expedition headed by David Mona and businessman Cletus Harepa have warned that any divers from overseas or outside Bougainville planning a “diving” trip to the crash site would have to seek permission from them.
Speaking to the Post-Courier yesterday, Mr Mona said his group had been working on the expedition for 11 years since 2000.
He said he engaged businessman Mr Harepa to fund the mission. He said so far more than K50,000 has been spent to carry out the confirmation on the wreck.
Mr Mona appeared irritated that the discovery was splashed on the front page of the Post-Courier newspaper yesterday.
He said some information was still sketchy but he advised they were now working to complete their mission.
He said the Autonomous Bougainville Government was already aware of the issue and had been briefed on the diving operation.
Meanwhile, concerns have now been raised by Bougainvilleans living on the coastal areas that the ABG and all marine authorities both on a local and national level should now beef up their security alerts as sightings of illegal ships have been frequently reported.
There have been reports both from Customs office in Buka and from fishermen all across Bougainville and Buka especially about long-liners, fishing vessels and other boats fishing and seen around the coastal areas of the island, mainly parts of Haku, Carterets and the surrounding Petats, Matsungan and Pororan Islands.
They called for all ships to be screened and their activities in the area monitored.

Amelia Earhart in Lae before her disappearance
(source: http://ameliaearhartandpng.blogspot.com/)

Perhaps the last photo ever taken just before Amelia's Electra departed in Lae on 2 July 1937
(Source: http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/conspiracy/q0299.shtml)