BELOW us stretched a vast expanse of lush road-less jungle bisected by meandering tributaries of the Sepik and Karawari Rivers. We were about to set down on famed Karawari Lodge's remote landing strip near Amboin, a jungle wilderness where rivers serve as highways.

There was nothing ordinary about the welcoming committee. Masses of local villagers in traditional dress emerged from the jungle and proceeded to dance ceremoniously around the plane. Had we landed on the set of a remake of King Solomon's Mines or the recreation of a Lowell Thomas travelogue?

No, it was simply the prelude to what would seem like we were characters in an exotic film. But what we were about to see was no act, but the genuine article. Although there were river adventures ahead through dense tropical jungle and mind-boggling villages that prompted me to scribble in my notebook it reminded me of The African Queen.

Like Ambua Lodge up in the Highlands, Karawari Lodge is another jewel in New Guinea's tourism crown and both are absolutely must-stay places even if you go nowhere else on the island.

The main large lodge centre at Karawari is of dramatic traditional construction resembling a spirit house, decorated with a priceless collection of native artefacts accumulated over many years along the Sepik River. And our group did their best to help deplete their supply . . . although a long rack with positions for trophies of head-hunters was too gruesome to consider.

Traditionally, each clan or tribal group have their own spirit house known as Haus Tombarand where the spirits live . . . or the masks that represent them are kept. The main building with its grand views out over the jungle to the Karawari River is definitely remarkable.

Extending out from it are 20 thatched roof bungalows connected by roofed walkways, thanks to tropical rains that appear with regularity. Yes, it's hot, often steamy and when returning from boat trips around the river, there's an iced towel offered at the dock to cool down.

To label this another world would be an understatement. Who could forget sitting entranced in bed late one night under protection of thickly woven mosquito netting, mesmerised by the most dramatic tropical lightning and monsoon storm this traveller has ever witnessed.

Or the magic of mornings when misty haze rose up from the water's-edge village far below, along with scent of cooking fires so important in their life. When one passed large dugout canoes, passengers were often tending a small fire contained in their boat for fear of losing it.

Yes, mosquitoes and malaria are serious, along with other health problems found in such remote tropical areas. Besides anti-malarial pills, I wore protective lotions and hung one of the chemical pest strips in the bathroom and centre of the main room. We were warned mosquitoes like to lurk in bathrooms under sinks.

Anyone with serious health conditions should absolutely consult their doctor before attempting such a trip. Medical care is not easily available.

Flying here often contained an above average level of excitement. Sometimes it involved not only luggage being weighed in, but passengers stepping onto large scales as well. You're often on small bush planes where weight is an important safety factor and you're warned not to bring too much along. This traveller didn't because shopping opportunities for rare native art were fabulous.

Dense jungle and lack of landmarks can sometimes make locating your destination a problem, even for the pilot! En route to Bulalo from Madang, this traveller was seated directly behind the pilot on an unusual British-built aircraft with a door for each row of seats.

My tension level increased as the pilot flew ever lower over the jungle, studying his map intensely, peering out the window in all directions, then opening it for a more extensive view, obviously searching for landmarks, hopelessly lost.

Finally, he was forced to turn and land at Lae Airport to ask for directions. It was not encouraging to read a plaque there recalling this was the last place aviator Amelia Earhart was seen before going missing during the last leg of her around-the-world flight in 1937.

Our ten days here covered so many diverse sights, it was like visiting another planet. Isolated villages along the river explored by boat out of Karawari Lodge were incredible, not from another century but another millennium. Artefacts made there are valued by collectors around the world.

Some time was spent at very comfortable Mandang Resort Hotel to explore battle sites where Australian and American troops fought to reclaim the island from Japanese who conquered it early in World War Two.

The resort has impressive gardens, an abundance of orchids, rare birds like cockatoos and hornbills, plus a number of locals creating crafts for sale in this very pleasant setting.

From here we went out exploring adjacent islands, villages, and searching for wartime plane crash sites. They exist in abundance, poignant rusting remains eroding away with time. Who could forget the sight of a Japanese zero . . . a palm tree growing through its cockpit.

We were told an interesting, little-known story about an event involving late President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1942 he was a Texas congressman and US Naval Reservist sent out to the Pacific on a fact-finding mission by Congress. It became far more than just acting as an observer.

Johnson joined the crew of a B-26 Marauder on a bombing run against the Japanese. Just before takeoff, he changed from the plane he'd been originally assigned to, joining another. Attacked by Zeros over the Huon Gulf, that original plane was shot down and the entire crew lost.

SO many surprising sights filled each day. One afternoon it would be discovering enormous gold dredges flown in piece by piece during the boom-time gold rush of the '20s and '30s. One, considered largest in the world at the time, was many tons once assembled. Tasmanian-born Errol Flynn had been there as a young adventurer.

Then we'd go back to the comfort of Bulolo's Pine Lodge and get ready for the next day's "can you top this?" sightseeing. In this case, it was a drive through still more dazzling scenery to the village of Aseki, definitely an experience unlike any before or since . . . except perhaps crawling down into the lower level of an unusual burial chamber at Sakara, Egypt with a famed archaeologist and coming face to face with a newly-discovered mummy whose face had just been unwrapped with long eyelashes visible.

Etched forever in my memory is the recollection of being led to a thatched traditional New Guinea hut by the chief to meet some of the most respected members of his family. Stepping inside in very dim light, I observed three men sitting beside each other at a table.

I also suddenly realised they weren't alive! Unlike Egyptians who mummified their dead, these relatives had been smoked! If I hadn't felt so fatigued, not my usual energetic self, I could have climbed up a local peak to see many more such relations preserved under an overhanging cliff. It later turned out I had an abscessed tooth that required a root canal once back home and the infection had worn me down those last days of the trip, or I'd definitely have taken that steep climb.

It was a long but very scenic drive back to Pine Lodge. On arrival I was immediately thrust from the Stone Age back to this century when a lobby television was broadcasting WGN Chicago's report of a Chicago Cubs baseball game. Talk about culture shock.

What to buy will be a challenge. We were presented with so many opportunities, travelling to such remote areas where best of the artefacts are made. Travellers are very limited because these small planes have understandable weight and size restrictions. The mere fact that they can even get into some of these road-less, far-out places is in itself amazing.

Once back in Hawaii, gallery prices on the most exceptional of the pieces we had seen soared. Realising what I'd paid for the really collectible ones, then seeing what the shops wanted was enough to induce cardiac arrest. Negotiating in pidgin, our only common language, was also a great challenge. For starters, there was a very unusually shaped story-board and vintage medicine man's pouch from Karawari Lodge's impressive collection that were real treasures. Others were tempting, but too large.

Next came an encounter with a local villager painting decorations with his own locally made "paint" for his tribe's Spirit House. It was being done on a large, irregular, thick piece of bark peeled from a tree. It was roughly two and a half feet by one and one half feet, and he agreed to sell me one. How I ever managed to get it and all the other treasures home was a marvel.

Doesn't everyone need a small wooden headrest, favoured by wigmen as a "pillow" for sleeping, so as not to disturb their elaborate hairdo. Carved in the shape of animals, mine is definitely a conversation stopper.

THEN there are the masks, the best ones sought by collectors around the world. Availability of all this varies by region, with certain villages along the Sepik and Karawari Rivers exceptionally tempting. Then as one reaches more developed regions, things are more in the souvenir category produced for tourists, but still interesting.

A favourite decoration among many tribesmen we met was the wide Kina pearl shell necklace carved like a golden half moon. Some chiefs had connecting rows of three of them.

It took some searching to find a perfect one. Some had deep notches, sometimes as many as seven of them. Finally, I located a real flawless beauty. Only later did a local tell me those I had rejected were old ones with each notch signifying a head taken. Whether true or not, cannibalism was definitely once part of their culture and I'd prefer not to have such a reminder around my neck!

You've probably heard about exciting recent major discoveries of rare species discovered in the Indonesian section of Western New Guinea.

Scenes shown in that reporting were very reminiscent of the Highlands, where we were unable to sight a bird of paradise, but certainly learned a lot about the ones regularly seen in that region from ornithologists.

And there were also local Highland sightings of a very rare bower bird, which so excited researchers on this recent expedition.

4 Next week: Anniversary observances crowd 2006 calendar.