Former Gloucestershire Echo news editor Owen Jones is to return to the UK after a two-year adventure in Papua New Guinea, which saw him working as a volunteer for international development charity VSO.

Since leaving the Echo in October 2002 the 40-year-old journalist, who has also worked on the Plymouth Evening Herald and the Exmouth and East Devon Journal, has been helping to train journalism students at a university in Madang, on the north coast of the remote Pacific island nation.

And as he begins to make plans to return to the UK, Owen has urged anyone who is looking for an opportunity to "get away from it all" to consider Papua New Guinea.

He said: "I applied to become a VSO volunteer when I learned that they sometimes found placements for people with journalism experience.

"They asked if I would like to go to Papua New Guinea and - after consulting my atlas - I jumped at the chance."

Ignoring warnings from colleagues about cannibals and headhunters, Owen swapped the Cotswold countryside for tropical rainforest and palm-fringed beaches, and has been sharing his knowledge of news reporting and sub-editing with the future journalists of Papua New Guinea.

He said: "Papua New Guinea is a developing country and the media plays an important part in people's lives.

"It was rewarding for me to be involved in training young journalists and to see several of them finding jobs on the country's national newspapers and television and radio stations."

Owen also spent several weeks working at the Wantok newspaper, a national weekly newspaper published in Melanesian Tok Pisin - or Pidgin English.

He is now hoping to return to the UK regional press - but his departure has left a vacancy at the university for someone with print journalism experience.

Owen said: "If you are looking for an opportunity to get away from it all, PNG could be the place for you. It's an amazing country and is known as the land of the unexpected.

"I had an unforgettable two years and I'd thoroughly recommend it.

"You won't get rich and you'll need patience and a good sense of humour - but it will be very rewarding."