Article 12 April 2002

Mr Beem comes
to Papua New Guinea

(Post Courier, Friday April 12, 2002 )

It has arrived, it being Frank Butler's new BMW F650 Dakar off-road touring Motorcycle. Generally considered to be the Rolls Royce of adventure Motorcycles, it is fully equipped to travel long distances in comfort and to be able to go on once the roads have stopped.

High ground clearance, rally proved suspension and a smooth powerful 650 cc single cylinder fuel injected engine, it was made to go out there and eat up adventure. The bike has just arrived from Cairns Australia and this is the first stop for the machine on its three year around the world adventure. While in PNG, Frank and the Bike affectionately known as Mr Beem will be making some extraordinary journeys.

Firstly, in early May the adventurers will sail with Luthern shipping on their Minigulai service to Rabaul. There they will visit the township and see what a town that has suffered a devastating blow at the hands of nature looks like eight years after the event. In Rabaul Frank and Mr Be' em will be joined by local New Britain explorer Mark Tickel and from there the group will head of along the North coast of the Gazelle Peninsula.

They will stay in villages and at plantation and sample some of the hospitality that East New Britain is famous for. They will continue west until they come to the first major obstacle, the Panda River. Here they will take a short boat ride along the coast until they pick up the trail again at the base of Mount Ulawin, known locally as the Father, Ulawin is a classic volcanic cone, which has minor eruptions regularly very impressive in a dark ominous way. From there it will be on through the township of Bialla to Kimbe the Capital of West New Britain.

Here the Bikes will stay on land and Mark and Frank will take the opportunity to explore the underwater world curticy of Walindi Plantation Resort. Kimbe Bay has long held the distinction of being one of the world's top three dive sites. It is known for its great diversity of both fish and coral. This will be an adventure with-in an adventure.

After leaving Kimbe they will travel south across the Island using old logging tracks and arrive on the stunningly beautiful south coast of West New Britain. This area of the Island is all white sandy beaches, swaying palm trees and picturesque coastal villages. The Bikers will follow crushed coral roads and windy village tracks along the coast through the towns of Gassmata and Kandrian until they arrive at the small village of Omo. Once at Omo they will then head north again over some very rough and mountainous country to the Government station of Cape Gloster on the western end of New Britain.

The journey is only a little over 350 kilometres as the crow flies, but it is estimated that the adventurers will cover over a thousand kilometres on the ground and will take between two to three weeks to complete. Frank Butler said " this is not intended to be a race, or a mission to conquer the country. We want to see the Island and meet the people who live on it, most of all we want to take time to smell the flowers so to speak" he added that " Mr Beem would be first motorised transport to make this journey" he also remarked "that Papua New Guinea is one of the few places left in the world where you can still get out there and do this kind of real adventure activities". We look forward to hearing more about this and other adventures as they unfold.