Alotau - Milne Bay

Alotau is the provincial capital of the Milne Bay Province Papua New Guinea. In reality though, it is a regional outpost township that has only recently received any real facilites to speak of and only a couple of minutes drive from the township leads you back in to typical PNG village life.

Having Gurney Airport nearby and a deep water port capable of handling medium sized tanker and freighter movement has naturally led Alotau to become Milne Bay's regional capital. The town itself is more of a township though, which village life and villagers mixing with modern small mini-marts and banks and yet retaining the well known frendliness of the Milne Bay region. The market at Alotau which runs daily from early to late is a wonderous affair. You won't find any tourist stands here selling all the tourist trappings, rather, you'll only find items of use in daily village life.

This is our stepping off point for our Milne Bay adventures and a wonderful place to begin immersing yourself in the local culture. Milne Bay has a reputation as being one of the safest and friendliest places in the whole of Papua New Guinea and you'll often find yourself in long 'story telling' sessions with curious kids and adults.

We change where we stay in Alotau based on availability at the time, but we often stay at the following places which really have a local feel to them and are run by local families.

Napatana Lodge
Masurina Lodge
Driftwood

Current weather and 5 day forecast for Alotau and Milne Bay.

Services in Alotau

As most of Milne Bay's services are located here, it is a real melting pot of cultures from the more remote island groups. People from these outer island groups visit Alotau occasionally, usually by fast dinghy or by one of the wooden island trading boats, once or twice a year and camp either with clan members in nearby villages, or along the shores of the harbour itself.

There are 2 banks here with 3 ATM's (Not 24hr and sometimes not working). Westpac has 1 ATM and the Bank of South Pacific has 2. Obtaining cash through your credit card is often (But not always) possible but may require your passport for ID.

There is a fledgling internet cafe here as well (Dial up only) that charges about 6 kina for 15 minute blocks, that's about say $2.80 AUD. Check the current exchange rate for Papua New Guinea. You can even print if you need to.

There is an Air Niugini and Airlines PNG office here as well as TNT and DHL couriers.

Small supermarkets here carry most common foods westerners are used to and there is also a couple of pharmacies here, although supplies of medications can sometimes be unavailable.

There are no Scuba Diving facilities here. There used to be a dive shop at the Alotau International Hotel, but there was not enough tourists and so it closed. That's a shame as the diving in this region is world class. You can buy simple fins and masks/snorkels in town, but they are imported chinese products and usually inferior to the quality most divers are used to.

You may find yourself aproached by someone wishing to sell a carving. The wooden carvings from the Trobriand Islands are highly prized with art collectors around the world and these carvings often find themselves in Alotau, looking for a buyer. It's possible to get these carvings for next to nothing but considering that many pieces take months to carve, we recommend you come to a price that gives the carver fair reward for his or her effort.