Port Moresby
I had a few hours until my return flight. With the inclement weather I decided to just do an airside transit. However at the locked door for international transfers I was told I needed to go through immigration. I headed downstairs and happily let the other passengers past since I had plenty of time. After a brief discussion amongst themselves, the immigration officers were happy for me to transit without doing the immigration formalities. I thanked the lovely ladies and waited for someone to open up transfers for me. However, the airline ground staff said no and bullied the immigration officers into processing me.
That means another page in my passport filled, and a hefty 100 kina departure fee (about A$50) payable in cash. At least the exchange bureau just past immigration had a good exchange rate. While I'd been waiting for the other passengers on my flight to be processed I saw about half the foreigners did not have kina on hand and thus the exchange bureau was doing a bustling trade. Wander through, change money, go back to immigration desk to pay money, get visa stuck in and off to customs. They decided they didn't need to check my carry on and I was landside.
Apparently Air Niugini don't normally open check in for this flight until 2 hours prior to departure, however they made an exception for me as they had no other flights to deal with at that hour. This took a bit of toing and froing between desk and backroom, and I was handed a boarding pass ... for the worst seat on the aircraft - middle rear. My pre-selected seat had been ignored. I gently asked if I could be moved forward a bit and was given the front row of economy instead. I guess they normally just fill the aircraft from the rear forwards? While all this was happening an Australian security guy came over and asked if I was on the flight to Brisbane - if yes he'd need to check my carryon and wand me. I think that must have been related to the use of Qantas aircraft - perhaps the insurers insist on extra security?
I still had quite a bit of time to spare and it wasn't yet pouring down although still very black skies with low cloud. So I went for a wee walk. When we flew in along the valley it looked like the airport was in the middle of nowhere - indeed the view from the tarmac was also of lush hills. However not far around the corner from terminals is the edge of the city. I walked for a while but kept relatively close to the airport in case it bucketed down.