Rabaul, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea - September 2016

It’s not everyday that you wake up, glance out the window and see a smoking volcano gliding by but hey it’s not everyday that you visit Rabaul either. Rabaul would be our last stop on our cruise to Papua New Guinea and instead of waking up to Kochie and Sam we woke up to Mt Tavurvur smoking away out our window, Mt Tavurvur last erupted in 1984 and basically covered Rabaul in a thick black volcanic ash, when the rain came not long after, the combination of rain and ash collapsed many of the old buildings, leaving a kind of post apocalyptic town that is there today. The government moved most of the people to the nearby Kokopo, but Rabaul lives on as the deep water port as well as still being the home to a few hardy locals who eke out an existence in the dust.

This was the view when I woke up this morning.

Now being a deep water port meant that we could actually tie up at the wharf for a change, making a nice change from having to go aboard on the ships tenders. The first thing that we noticed as we descended the gangway onto firm ground was the smell, Rabaul has that pleasant sulphur smell, a milli second after we noticed the smell we noticed the stifling heat, it was only 8 in the morning and this place was already cooking. So taking all that on board we jumped into the back of an un-airconditioned PMV and headed off exploring. Our first stop today was up at the Volcanology Observatory high above Rabaul, now being on a ridge high above town was a good thing as it not only provided for some stunning views down over town and out over Simpsons harbour but it also gave us a bit of a cooling breeze. The observatory opened its doors to us and allowed us to file in and check out all seismic monitoring equipment that was in action, somewhat ominously they had recorded a magna tide 5.4 earthquake as we sailed in a 4am that morning, the scientist didn’t seem overly concerned though, saying it woke him up but wasn’t worth getting out of bed for! After checking out the beautiful grounds around the Volcanology Observatory as well as the ubiquitous local craft market it was time to jump back into the PMV and head to our next stop.

The view over Rabaul from the Volcanology Observatory.

Rabaul had a magnitude 5.4 earthquake earlier this morning, no one seemed to concerned though.

The observatory market, capitalism is alive and well in New Guinea.

Now getting around Rabaul doesn’t involve vast distances but the roads are rough as guts, so not only were we slowly cooking in our own sweat at the very back of the crowded PMV but we were also getting a free arse massage as it crashed through numerous pot holes. After dropping back down to sea level after leaving the observatory we headed through town to the old air field, the further to the east we went the deeper the ash got and the less buildings there were still standing. The road was now black volcanic ash although our guide did say that a metre underneath was the old bitumen road, driving here reminded me a little of the red roads of outback Australia in that they just keep grading and grading until eventually the road is a trench running through the countryside. After crossing the old runways,now totally obliterated with ash, we pulled up at the site of the wreckage of an old Japanese plane, the locals had dug the plane out from the ash and it was now a bit of a tourist attraction. After listening to a talk about the plane and its WW2 history it was time to buy a couple of coconuts (I had somehow managed to forget to bring any water with us today, handy when the sweat was absolutely pouring out of us), wandering around drinking our coconuts we once again had another local craft market to check out as well as one of the local church choirs to serenade us, after leaving a donation for the choir and giving our left over coconuts to a couple of local kids so they could eat the meat, we jumped back into our PMV.

The wreck of the Japanese plane at the site of the old Rabaul airport.

Natures claiming back its own.

It's hard not to leave a small donation sometimes, but then again I am a bleeding heart!

The old Rabaul airport market.

Our next stop was the hot springs that bubble out of the black sand desert beneath Mt Tavurvur, these hot springs are seriously hot and the local authorities tape them off with police tape before the boat load of dim dims descend on them, unfortunately the police tape doesn’t do a lot for your photos though. The Rabaul Hot Springs are worth checking out if you’re in town though, the colours as it bubbles boiling out of the ground make for a nice photo and there is certainly a stark beauty to the black ash surrounding the area. The black sand amplifies the heat though so it was great to see that Princess had provided a drink station for the cruise passengers out here. Once again some of the locals had headed out here to set up another small craft market, I can only imagine what it would be like for them sitting out here on the black sand all day in this baking hot weather. Anyway, after redistributing a few kina it was once again time for this fat sweaty feral traveller to jump back into our PMV and head off to our next magical spot.

The Rabaul Hot Springs, you won't be soaking in these springs.

The hot springs with the smouldering Mt Tarurvur in the back ground.

The Rabaul Hot Springs are a desolate spot.

Christianity is big in these parts, probably a left over from the early missionaries. 

The Rabaul Hot Springs market!

We now headed back towards Rabaul but on the way we stopped for a brief interlude at a small village called Matupit, our guide for the day Alice lived here and we were lucky enough to be introduced to her mum. The village is also home to a bit of WW2 history in an old Japanese bunker and some tunnels. After checking out the tunnels, bunker and beautiful coastline it was almost time once again to jump back into our slow moving sauna, but first there was another craft market to peruse. These markets are the locals ladies best ways of making some money from the boat load of tourist, in some places we visited in PNG they might only have a couple of ships visit a year in which to make a bit of kina. It looks like a lot of the locals re-invest anything they get and buy more merchandise to sell, doing their best to build up their market stalls, it is a hard way to try and eke out a living.

The lovely Alice with some feral looking bloke.

The view from Alice's village.

A Japanese WW2 bunker.

Returning to the ship we had a bit of a freshen up and then headed out to check out the center of Rabaul. With the ship docked at the commercial wharf the immediate surrounds were very industrial but heading inland for a block put us on the main Malaguna Road which is the main shopping strip. Now Rabaul isn’t a pretty town, it’s hot, dusty, smelly and gritty but like all these towns it’s interesting to walk amongst the locals and see how they are living. I reckon that the best place to get a feel for a town is the local produce market, here you can watch the locals going about there daily business without us being intrusive. After meandering our way through the market keeping out of everyones way we took a wander along the dusty main street, I could just sit and watch this for hours….well if I wasn’t about to disappear in a puddle of sweat. With the usual afternoons dark clouds starting to build up we slowly meandered or way back to the ship just beating the monsoonal downpour.

Downtown Rabaul.

Rabaul Market.

All right how about a lesson in Beetle Nut usage.

After chewing the Beetle Nut you mix it with a bit of this cheap coke, err it may actually be lime and not cocaine or it may not....

Once you've got your buzz from the Beetle Nut you use these to clean the red stain from your teeth, although from my feral observations I'm not sure how well these things work.

I can imagine what the young bloke is thinking, 'why's this sweaty dim dim taking photos of the vegetables?'

A little bit of chop chop.

Any breeze was welcome in the stifling humidity.

The Dirt.
Rabaul was our last port of call on this trip to New Guinea, it was an interesting town to finish of on. Unlike a lot of our other stops in New Guinea there was no easily accessed snorkelling or swimming in Rabaul, but there was one unusual and notable thing and that is a smoking volcano. I’ve seen a few smoking volcano’s over in South America before but I’ve never seen one quite as close as I did today. Apart from the volcanology on offer in Rabaul there is also a lot of war history scatted around town. But if I was here for more than a day or two I’d be organising to get out of town and do some diving or trekking I reckon.
Relevant Posts.

Kiriwina Island, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea, 2016
Alotau, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea, 2016

Doini Island, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea, 2016
Kokoda Trail, Papua New Guinea, 2006

Rabaul is a little rough around the edges but we never felt unsafe.

Security was fairly relaxed on our way back through the wharf.

I reckon that would be every PMV in Rabaul lined up to wave goodbye to us.