Salamaua

Salamaua is a peninsula joined to the mainland by a sand isthmus a few hundred metres wide, so that a person standing on it has beach on both sides and the Huon Gulf either way, with hills rising behind and the water clear enough for snorkelling on the reefs offshore. It was a substantial town in the gold-rush years of the 1920s and 1930s, the port serving the Wau and Bulolo fields, and it was destroyed in the fighting of 1943 and never rebuilt; villages occupy the site now. Boats run from Lae in about an hour, and villages on the peninsula have simple guesthouses. It is the standard weekend escape from Lae.

History

In the 1920s gold prospectors used Salamaua as a staging post for the goldfields at Wau, reached over the rough Black Cat Track. After the Rabaul eruption of 1937 the Australian cabinet decided to move the capital of the Territory of New Guinea here, a decision later reversed in favour of Lae; today the villages of Kela and Lagui occupy the site (Wikipedia, Salamaua).

What's there

• The isthmus - the narrow sand neck with beach on both sides.
• Reef snorkelling - the coral off the peninsula shores.
• The village settlement - the communities on the former town site.
• The gulf - the water and hills around the peninsula.

When to go

May to October for the calmest crossings and the driest weather; the wet season brings rough water. Weekends bring visitors from Lae. Boats are arranged at the Lae waterfront.

Things to know

Access is by open boat and crossings depend on conditions. Accommodation is basic village guesthouses. Nothing survives of the pre-1943 town. Facilities are minimal and supplies should be carried.

Nearby

Lae lies north across the gulf; Wau is inland to the southwest.

Key facts