Avid kayaker arrives in Madang

AUSTRALIAN kayaker Sandy Robson arrived in Madang on Tuesday after leaving Germany five years ago on a kayak.
She arrived at the Jais Aben Resort in the North Coast of Madang at around 3pm and spent the night there.
Robson, 47, from Geraldton, Western Australia, went to Germany five years ago to begin her journey back home on a kayak.
“I am travelling from Germany to Australia and I crossed into PNG from Jayapura in Indonesia to Vanimo,” she said.
Robson said she managed to have some locals escort her by boat after she encountered some problems at Sissano in West Sepik.
She claimed that some locals at Sissano had robbed her but she managed to get her kayak back with the help of others.
Robson said she was following the route which paddler Oscar Speck took in the 1930s.
She said Speck pulled into Madang in 1939 during his seven-year trip on a kayak from Germany to Australia.
“It’s a solo expedition and I don’t feel scared,” she said.
“However, I was scared when the men grabbed my boat at Sissano but now I’m okay.”
She plans to make her way down to Milne Bay, Port Moresby and Daru before crossing the Torres Strait to Australia. She expects to arrive in Australia in the next three months.