Blogs from Rabaul, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea, Oceania

Another place for a pin, but not much to see here except an active volcano named ´Turvurvur¡'. It first erupted in 1994-95 and almost completely destroyed the town of Rabaul, not from flowing lava but because it was completely covered up with ashes. I have enclosed a photo of Turvurvur as it looked when we sailed away last evening. It was in full glory, spewing forth smoke and ashes which made the air around town most unpleasant. The second photo is of the waterfront and you can see that it doesn't compare at all to the beauty of the waterfronts in Auckland and Sydney. Most of the passengers are not sure just why the Queen Victoria decided to include Rabaul on its list of places to stop for the day. We are now on our way ... read more

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Today was our day to tour Rabaul, Papua New Guinea on the island of New Britain. We had to wait to get into the port to dock because a cargo ship was late leaving so we were all out on the decks and noticed one of the volcanoes starting to put out a lot of steam. It was very interesting, but also a little unnerving. Again we had been told to expect rough roads, tour guides that were students and vans/buses without air conditioning. All of that was true. We were in Toyota Hiace (spelling?), which is a 15-passenger bus, and material to cover the worn seats and dust/volcanic ash all over. Our guide spoke English but very little and she spoke so softly we could not understand her most of the ... read more

March 10, 2008 The day began with a fitness class and Mass and if that doesn’t prepare one for the day then I am not sure what else I can do to get ready. But the programs were about to start - first was a program on “Making the Most of Rabaul.” Our stop tomorrow is Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. We have been told to expect very rustic tours - meaning no luxury air conditioned buses - in fact maybe they will not even have buses at all and we will have students as our guides and their English is not all that good. We will know when we get there. Our next program was by David Horner with the program, “Rabaul Left to Wither on the Vine.” He talked about the battles fought over and ... read more

Papua New Guinea (PNG) New Britain Island - Rabaul Arrived at the pilot station on time, 6:00 am. Waited 30 minutes for the pilot. I guess island time applies even to an island the size of New Britain, PNG. While we waited, I got a good look at Turvur-vur, one of the many active volcanoes in the area. We are on the Ring of Fire here and a caldera on the flank of Turvur-vur was spewing steam into the sky. In 1994, Turvur-vur and Vulcan on the other side of the harbor both erupted at the same time and blanked Rabaul with cinders and ash. The town is slowly rebuilding. 7:00 am. We are now drifting at the entrance of Simpson Harbor. We’re scheduled to dock at 8:00 am so I’m guessing that the authorities are ... read more

Well Welcome to the second port of out PNG time. It has been amazing time. Rabaul is so great. The area is so nice with nature and what not. There was an active volcano about 1 hour walk from the ship. There was also a nice mountain right in front of the ship. I did a bunch of early morning hikes in the past few weeks. Its great, get up early before it get to hot and go out hiking ! I hope you enjoy the pics ! God Bless BEN... read more

Hi everybodysorry about the delay of info but finding internet in papua new guinea has been a bit of an ordeal (as well as finding anything here). So what has been happening for the past few weeks, well after reaching the capital of the soloman island, Honeara, we all disapeared from the boat for several hours to get on some dry land. Even though there was not to much to do in town we found some nice spots to relaxe, and shop through a v. small market. not much to report from that city and the most interesting things to happen were the random locals buzzed on bettle nuts (a nut, which when chewed with lime powder, will give you a mild high) and the fresh water that the girls got and made into a shower ... read more

Rabaul, on New Britain Island, used to be one of the pearls of the Pacific. Despite frequent volcanic activity, the German colonisers, and later the Japanese invaders, had turned the town into one of the largest and one of the most attractive towns in Papua New Guinea. This reality changed rather abruptly in 1994 when the volcano Tuvurvur exploded, with little warning, completely destroying Rabaul. The town was covered in several meters of ash, and in the weeks after the eruption, the roofs of Rabaul's buildings caved in one by one... I have lived in Port Moresby for 6 months now, since January. A long weekend in Rabaul was my first trip outside of Central Province and the National Capital District. It took way too long for me to get out. Despite really enjoying my life ... read more