Nondogul

Destination: Whagi Valley Guesthouse
Closest town: Banz
Accommodation:Whagi Valley Guesthouse
Cost: K80/person/night
Difficulty: Accessible by 4WD, with 40min stepped walk up hill from village to guesthouse.

Contact: Lawrence, mobile +675 7381 2034

A parent from school told me of a scenic drive, the "skyline drive" that had a guesthouse at the end.  It wasn't too far from Hagen.  She didn't have a contact but knew where the owner worked.

A few phone calls later I made contact with Lawrence (mobile +675 7381 2034) whose family owns a lodge at Nondogul.  Lawrence is the manager of Malolo Plantation Lodge.  I haven't been there but have heard good things about it.  Anyway he organised everything for us.

This is a 4WD only adventure, so Susie drove.  What a great job she did.  Susie grew up on a coffee plantation at Banz so I was keen to visit her old stamping ground which was on the way to Nondogul.

When we arrived at the village we were told we had to walk about 40min to the guesthouse.  Would have been handy to know that before we left town.  We would have brought less!  I also would have packed for the possibility of walking in the rain.  Being the afternoon it started to rain and I madly tried to get clothes etc inside of plastic bags.  I have learnt that the "rain hood" on my backpack cannot deal with the heavy PNG rain.

The rain didn't really come down and we arrived in just under 40min dry and pleased with what we found.

The lodge was lovely, the beds comfortable and well presented.  The bathroom was clean with a septic toilet and a shower.  Ok it was a cold shower but they boiled water for use to have a warm wash.  We took our own food and could use the kitchen to prepare it.  So we ate well and slept well.

We were only staying one night so we didn't get a real chance to explore all the area had to offer but I'd visit again.  Staff were nice and lodge was very pleasant.