PNG, the Trobriands, Indonesian Papua and Bali with SeaDream

IMMERSE yourself amongst some of the world’s most primitive cultures virtually right on Australia’s doorstep, and do so from the contrasting ambience of the world’s highest-rated boutique mega motor-cruiser, SeaDream II from Cairns to Bali by way of eight ports in Papua New Guinea, the Trobriand Islands and Indonesian Papua.

Available for a maximum of just 56 couples served by 95 crew alongside experts who will offer onboard lectures and educational sessions, SeaDream II will depart Cairns on February 1 2014 for this 14-day voyage. It is priced from US$10,909pp twin-share including all 5-star dining, drinks from the open bars, wines with lunch and dinner, nightly cocktail gatherings, power and sail water-sports (where permitted,) use of a 30-course golf simulator, a fitness centre, onboard gratuities and port charges and taxes.

Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Western Australia, Professor Bob Tonkinson who has also been expedition anthropologist on countless journeys through Papua New Guinea, Melanesia and the Western Pacific since 1981, will lead SeaDream’s onboard expedition team on this sailing.

For full details see travel agents, or visit www.seadream.com

ITINERARY DETAILS: SeaDream II will visit Alotau one of the key battle sites of Papua New Guinea during the Second World War and where Japan suffered its first land defeat at the hands of the Australians, and then primitive Kitava in the Trobriand Islands – where magic spells are still an important part of everyday life, and where reef diving is amongst the South Pacific’s best in crystal clear, turquoise water.

There’ll also be a visit to Tami Island that became famous during PNG’s 1920s Gold Rush, a sail up part of the Sepik River on which wildlife abounds, and a call to the traditional village of Watam where the 300 inhabitants still live a primitive existence without outside road connections, phones or electricity.

Jayapura that was known as Hollandia in Dutch colonial times, then Sukarnapura when Indonesia took over what is now Indonesian Papua in 1963 and Jayapura from 1968, little Banda Neira island that was once the centre of the world’s nutmeg trade, undulating and miniscule Larantuka with its still-Portuguese influences, and Komodo Island that’s home to the giant Komodo Dragon monitor lizard that’s a descendent of the dinosaurs, are other ports of call on this fascinating 14-days sailing.