Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

Thursday, February 26, 2009 – RABAUL, Papua New Guinea
Volcanic-ash cloudy! HUMID.
US$1 = 2.73 Kina

Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, and was the provincial capital and most important settlement until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. The capital was then moved to Kokopo, about 12 miles away. Rabaul is continually threatened by volcanic activity due to being built on the edge of the Rabaul caldera, a flooded caldera of a large volcano. It was the headquarters of German New Guinea until captured by the British Commonwealth during WWI, when it became the capital of the Australian mandated Territory of New Guinea until 1937. During WWII, it was captured by the Japanese in 1942 and was the main base of Japanese military and naval activity in the South Pacific. The area is popular for scuba diving and snorkeling. The Tolais are the native people in this region and in 1975, the country became independent. There are approx. 16,000 citizens living in Rabaul and Kokopo and 185,000 in the East New Britain province. Out of the 860 languages spoken in the country, 77 languages are in this province and eight are spoken where we toured today.

Nearly the entire town was buried when Vulcan and Turvur-vur volcanoes erupted on September 19, 1994. What was once the city center is now a ghost town. Roofs and rubble still poke through the ash and mud in eerie testament to the event. The sight is striking. I will never forget it. Never have I seen such damage and devastation and what we saw today is over 15 years since the volcano erupted. The ash is the most destructive element in a volcanic event.

FABULOUS day -- all I could have asked for and more. We were up at 6 to see the volcanoes as we headed from Blanche Bay into Simpson Harbor and past the Beehives (islands). Turvur-vur is very active and was spewing forth all kinds of smoke all day long. The buried hillside neighborhood that frames the port was once home to the elite German ex-pat community. This was a maiden port of call and the men gave a wonderful dance program with drums and sticks, in full costume. Fascinating!

We then had a private welcome ceremony by the men and boarded the only air-conditioned tour bus!! Yes! Thank you so much! Kevin was our driver and Marastella was the guide. We headed up to the Volcanological Observatory, with a great view down to the ship and harbor, and passed many war tunnels, dug into the side of the mountain. We drove through Rabaul (pronounced Rah-baal) and over very bumpy roads to the Japanese Barge Tunnel. Much of the road system has been washed out or ruined with deep ravines at the edge of the road. The group were all great troopers as we bounced along!

The Japanese Barge Tunnel houses approx. five old barges. They were hauled up to a deep and large tunnel and stored there. They are decrepit and decayed and intriguing! We climbed the steps to view them from the top. Several vendors were outside and we learned the meaning of shell money. The Tolai make different size necklaces of very small cowrie shells, and depending on the purchase, a different size split cane necklace of shells is used to pay – such as for a daughter to be wed!

We drove past a British Floating Crane Wreck, still in the water, and another 12 miles (but it seemed like 30 with the bumps and detours from right lane to left lane – although there are no lane markers!) into Kokopo. We walked around the War Relics Museum with WWII artifacts, including a Japanese half-track (my Father was in the American version) and an American jeep. They also had a house of traditional masks (as tall as I am!) and crocodiles in a pen.

Down the road was the very crowded Kokopo local market with fresh fish and fruit. It is open Monday- Saturday. We drove past several schools and saw students in their uniforms. Education is paid by the parents so some children are not educated. They do learn English and are not required to go to school after age 15.

Kokopo was just a small town when the eruption that buried Rabaul in 1994 forced the government offices to be relocated. It is now the official capital. We toured the Museum and Cultural Center of East New Britain with historic displays and photographs of the region as well as many antique artifacts from the war, including the nose section of an American B-17. We stopped at the Red Rooster for some fast food but they would not accept dollars! We stopped for a few sodas and snacks and kept going.

Over 1000 Allied solders are buried at Bita Paka Memorial Cemetery, southeast of Kokopo – Indians, Australians, Pakistani, Fijians and New Guineans. It was a peaceful and colorful cemetery.

We drove back on the same road with the same bumps – we all figured we lost a few pounds, what with the humidity and road conditions! We definitely lost a tire from under the car! I saw it behind the car after we had dived into a ravine and I hit the roof of the car! We continued past the cocoa and coconut trees, fishing wharfs, vendors with hot food, people waiting for the next open-aired truck which is their local bus and huge containers of coconut oil. We know the containers to be used for oil/petroleum but they use them for coconut oil. There were also many wooden churches of great size throughout the province.

In to Rabaul, we drove through the volcanic-ravaged streets to the New Britain Club, which houses the Historical Museum and is next to Admiral Yamamoto’s Bunker and headquarters. The history of the war was displayed on panels, as well as a miniature Japanese land mine. Ash covers the ground. There are no longer any streets. You drive through the ash and is quite solid, not like sand that gives way. But the ash is about three feet high!! And now the trees are starting to grow through it! It is eerie and dark. I felt like I was on the set of a horror film.

The Rabaul Volcanic Hot Springs were out on the most barren land I have ever seen, near the base of the erupting volcano. We were counted as we entered that area as the landowners receive a fee for each trespasser. We could HEAR the volcano grumbling as it spew huge clouds of black and white smoke. We could even see hot springs at the base of the volcano. And there were families selling wares and blond-haired dark skinned children running around playing in the deep ravines of ash. Surreal. And how did these children end up with blond hair??

Our last stop was at the wreck of a Japanese plane. It was in the center of a very dense section of dead palm trees, still standing but dead, in ash (soil). And surrounding the plane were the Matupit people. They live a very simple life and were selling their wares. The boys (we did not see any girls) were running around us, seemingly very excited to see us. And they were not asking for money. They wanted you to buy their goods. It was a sight I will never ever forget. We needed much more time there.

But Kevin drove hurriedly back to the ship as we had felt a few rain drops. When it rains, it means the roads of ash would be washed away and the edges of the road would disappear. We could be there for a very long while if we did hurry out!

Returning to the ship, Mr. Melly Paivu met our van to thank us for our business. Paivu Tours – I would recommend them highly for this region. He asked to be photographed with us and had other employees with him who all asked to shake our hand and thank us for coming.

Quite a thought process I had as I was walking toward this luxury megaship with my back to this town ravaged by ash. We had a fabulous insight into their culture and province today.

Upon boarding the ship, the Rabaul post office was still onboard! We managed to post a few postcards at a huge price each ($2 per postcard just for stamps!!) and settled back into our comfortable cocoon as we headed to the Lido buffet.

I was mesmerized by the volcano (and the rain did come!) as we sailed away. If only they had stopped playing the “Sail Away” party music above us on the open deck, we might have again heard the sounds of the volcano and perhaps understood what the future holds….

Shower, computer work, snack and entertainment tonight is pianist, Caroline Dennis, and Vocalist, Gary Williams.


A dear friend just sent me this card:
“For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see this is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one.”