The owner of our guesthouse was going to Rabaul shopping and, as Rabaul was our next destination, she gave us a lift. A 4WD beats a PMV any day!
She dropped us off at the Rabaul Hotel. This place, on Mango Avenue, is described as being "at the Paris end of Mango Avenue". It has also been described as being a bit Faulty Towers-ish so we were prepared for anything.
We had arrived early and it took them 1.5 hours to get the room ready. I still had my kidney infection and sat melting in the non-air-conditioned reception. I wasn't too happy. Apart from that though, it was actually pretty good. The rooms were just motel rooms but they were clean and comfortable. Everything is so expensive here. We were paying a bit above Aussie prices as a rule.
The reason we came to Rabaul is its amazing history. It used to be the capital of New Britain. It apparently had grand boulevards, huge European houses and was the most beautiful town in the Pacific. It saw a lot of action in WW2 but the big event happened in 1994 when two nearby volcanoes erupted simultaneously. Lava didn't flow far but ash was blasted over the town for two months. The town was buried. Most houses collapsed from the weight of the ash on their roofs. One of the exceptions was the Rabaul Hotel. Instead of evacuating, the owners stayed and kept clearing ash off the roof. They saved the hotel.
Today, the town is an ash-covered shadow of its former self. Most people moved to nearby Kokopo and the businesses moved with them. Kokopo is now the capital.
Mango Avenue used to be one of the main roads. It had two broad lanes, complete with curb and channelling, with a divider down the middle. Since the eruption, machinery has cleared the road of ash, but only in the most frequently used parts. Elsewhere, vehicles negotiate their way through the black ash that still covers everything.
The once grand Mango Avenue.
You can see here how paths and roads are all a metre or two lower than the ash-covered landscape.
Some roads have only been partly cleared. You can see the white lines on the old road here.
The insides of an old torpedo.
The museum was in the old New Guinea Club. This was a very posh place to go in its time. John put on his best posh look for the occasion but the hat was a bit of a giveaway! Errol Flynn was another suave visitor here.
Nearby was a Japanese bunker from the war. Some parts of it were so hot and stuffy we could barely stay in the rooms!
It was Sunday so we checked out the singing at one of the many local churches.
The market was ok but the rest of the town was fairly unattractive. A handful of Chinese-run supermarkets looked like they were made from shipping containers and there wasn't a lot else.
Our hotel was a bit of a centre of action though and we had a bit of fun there. There were actually other people staying there! There were four Aussies on a boys' trip, two Brazilians, an Aussie/PNG couple and Stijn, a Belgian. It was so good to have people to talk to!
To get out to see things out of town, we had to take a tour, but the tours through the hotels are really expensive. Some resourceful staff from the hotel stood on the side of the road until a PMV came along. They then organised for the PMV to finish his run then come back and take us out. Perfect!
He said he'd be back in 10 minutes. 30 minutes later he turned up and off we went. Agnes, from our hotel, came along for the ride. We've learned that whenever we organise a vehicle or boat just for us, there is always someone else who gets a lift!
First we headed out past the old golf course. Amazing.
Then our route took us along the old airport runway. Note how all the trees are small - it would have taken a while before things could take root in the ash I guess.
Off the end of the runway were some bombed aircraft from WW2. They were bombed as they were parked there.
Apparently, of far greater concern is this innocent looking "little bugger". It's new, so it indicates new activity.
We headed up to the volcano observatory. The views from the top of the hill were superb.
This guy was just hanging out weaving a mat at the top.
Next stop was for fuel on a small road. We pulled up outside a house that sold fuel and a guy came out and put just enough fuel in for our trip. No need to worry about full tanks or fuel pumps here!
Our destination was the Submarine Base. During the war, the Japanese found a place where their submarines could pull up almost to the beach. They dug caves and were able to load supplies and repair subs there. It only took us a few seconds into a snorkel here to realise why it was so ideal. The reef ran out a short way then plummetted straight down for up to 80 metres. It was astonishing! This snorkel was so good that we returned again the next day. These pics are from both visits.
I soon realised they were being chased by two large bluefin trevally. (No, I'm no fish ID expert - I googled it.)
The feature here though were the small fish. It was like swimming in a tropical aquarium. Small, brightly-coloured fish were everywhere.
The wall acted just like the horizontal surface of the reef. Fish swam up and down it just as easily as they swam across it.
When we returned the second day, we brought Stijn, the Belgian with us. We swam all the way to the Japanese tunnels. It was fun to check them out.
Back in the water, a highlight was the human variety of fish! Just as we were about to get out on our first trip, we came across a group of local boys. They were throwing a piece of coral over the edge of the drop-off then diving in after it. Only one or two of them had goggles - the rest just opened their eyes underwater.
John mucked around with them while I took photos. They were so natural underwater. This boy looks like he's just hanging out having a chat!
They loved posing for photos!
All land - and reefs - are owned or managed by families. You can't visit any sites with paying 'kastom' which seems fair to me. Someone is always there to collect a small fee. Paul collected the kastom for our snorkelling and he was lovely. Stijn is on the left.
Back at out hotel I had to laugh at this packet of soap. Pidgin is an amazing language. Many of the words come from English, especially Australian English, and they're mixed with words from other languages. The results can be quite funny.
For example, if you want to say that you like the food you say, "me likim dis pela kai kai tumas". It literally translates as "I like this fella food too much". "Good afternoon" is "avinun". Some Australianisms I've heard are that something is "buggered" or you go for a "stickybeak".
Sometimes, things are spelled phonetically from English. Despite what this soap packet said, it was actually a stinky soap!
We left ramshackle Rabaul and caught a PMV to the next town, Kokopo, just as the heavens opened. It's one thing to be squished into a stuffy vehicle when all the windows are open but, when torrential rain is pouring down, those windows had to be closed. I think I was wetter from sweat than I would have been from rain by the time we reached our destination.
We chose to stay at the Kokopo Beach Bungalows and it was a great decision. Our bungalow was lovely, the staff were great, the food was wonderful and - wait for it - the internet worked well! We had four wonderful days here.
The tropical gardens were gorgeous.
They had some very cool artwork here.
We set out to explore the town. First stop was the museum which largely focussed on war relics.
John manned the huge searchlight.
There were torpedos, tanks, bombs and all sorts of objects that were found after the war.
One room was dedicated to local masks and there were some very cool ones there.
As we were wandering around the museum we heard some singing. A local church group had the full Hallelujah and Amen thing happening, like something from the deep south. Sorry for the soft sound - we weren't that close to them.
The local market was colourful and interesting. People are so friendly. These photos are mostly from the Kokopo market but a few are from Rabaul.
By far the majority of stalls were selling the ingredients for buai, or betelnut chewing. There were tables and tables of betelnuts and mustard.
The third ingredient, lime, was sold in plastic bags and looked like drugs, which I suppose in some way it is!
This lovely lady was selling tobacco. The leaves are huge and they roll up newspaper to smoke it! Note she doesn't have red teeth from chewing betelnut. This is a rarity!
This large vegetable is called pit pit. It's a bit like asparagus with more fibre. It's not something I'm going to add to my list of desirable vegetables!
I bought an icypole from this old lady. She thought it was hysterical that I wanted to take her photo.
The Kokopo market was very organised. Different produce had their own clearly marked areas. In the cooked food area you could buy igir, a mix of foods cooked in coconut milk inside a banana leaf. You can get fish or pork with banana and rice and other variations. We didn't get to try this.
Many people used bags made from old rice bags.
Traditional bags are called bilums.
This is traditional shell money. In this area, shell money can still be used to pay for goods. In most places, it's only used in traditional events.
This little girl was gorgeous.
I grabbed a photo of her mum to show the tattoes that ladies have. They usually indicate where someone is from, but I don't know where this one indicates she is from.
This lady's tattoo on her cheek shows she's from New Ireland.
Another thing I liked about Kokopo was that there were Australian foods here for sale that we hadn't seen for a long time. Steak and mushroom pies! Sausage rolls! Chocolate! And even Vegemite! We saw a lot of locals eating Vegemite in our hotel at breakfast. They love it!
There were plenty of places we wanted to visit here but again the tours through our hotel were terribly expensive. We wanted to go out to some islands so we wandered down to the banana boat area and talked to some captains. Banana boats are apparently called this because they look like bananas. We found Miten, who was from the main island we wanted to visit, and we soon arranged for him to take us out the next day. We also wanted to see Alan Tobing and the Gilnata String Band, a local mucial group that a friend of John's had put us onto. Much to our surprise, Miten not only lived on the same island as him but could arrange a personal performance!
We rolled up at 7.30 the next morning, not sure if Miten would be on time but he was. Miten had excellent English and acted as our guide and another guy captained the boat. We climbed into the boat, the captain pulled the starter cord, and it broke! We all climbed out again. Relatives were called, a car arrived and a mechanic was collected. At one stage the mechanic sat beside the motor and the fuel tank, burning the end of the rope with a lighter! It took nearly 2 hours until the rope was fixed.
Before we could go anywhere though we had to hand over some of our payment for 'zoom', the name for fuel. We drove up to a petrol station on the beach just for boats!
We crossed the fairly smooth waters to the Duke of York Islands. Our first port of call was the island that the next series of American Survivor is going to be filmed on. They were just starting to get things set up here. This mask was hanging from the only building they've constructed so far. It doesn't look anything like the local masks that we've seen so our guess is that they've just made it up for the show.
Survivor Island.
People were out in force in their little canoes. Apparently sea cucumber season has started. For three months people catch as many sea cucumbers as they can. They smoke them and they get exported to China. It's a reasonably lucrative business.
As we approached Mioko Island we were every surprised to see some kite surfers. They were very good and were putting on an impressive performance. The locals were amazed. Many locals stood on the beach watching this incredible show. Most of them would have never seen anything like this. There was even a jet ski. We wondered where on earth these people and equipment had come from as there was no proper accommodation anywhere near here. A while later, our questions were answered. A small cruise ship was anchored further up. There was also a very fancy speedboat ferrying people to a picnic on a beach. We found out later that the boat belonged to a Swiss guy who is the 15th most wealthy man in the world!
For once we weren't the centre of attention as the locals watched the kite surfers in amazement.
Miten led us along the island where we found more cute kids.
To our surprise he took us to his place for lunch. His wife, Rachael, had cooked us up some greens, sweet potatoes and bananas. His two sons were home that day while his daughter was at school.
I noticed the younger son put a milk container into a bin so I asked Miten where the rubbish goes. "Into the sea," was his answer. I was so shocked I didn't know what to say. It turns out they pile all the rubbish up on the shore. Sometimes they burn it but most of the time they let the tide take it out. Unbelievable!
Anyway, we had to move on and we were in for a real treat. A bit further up Alan Tobing and the Gilnata String Band were waiting for us! It was such an honour to meet Alan and all the guys were so lovely. They had put on face paint and traditional clothes.
Alan Tobing.
One of the band members.
We were ushered inside a small room for the performance. This is a pity cos it was pretty hot inside! There were 10 men and about five kids who seemed to be learning the ropes which was nice.
We were treated to three songs, which is all we had asked for. Alan had been at Kokopo when we asked about this performance and he travelled back to Mioko the night before to get everything ready. I can't believe all this was put on just for us but it certainly was. It cost us about $80 which wouldn't go far between all those people.
I filmed most of the performance but I can only put a couple of short clips up here.
What a special time it was.
We headed off again but the weather was getting worse and our poor captain froze as he had to stand up through the rain. I noticed what I thought at first was some sort of unusual tattoo on his body but I think it was grille, a fungal infection that occurs here. I've heard of this but have never seen it so I could be wrong in my diagnosis. It left patterns all over his body.
As we headed into the waves we got a pretty rough ride in places. We were just sitting on a pallet on the floor of the boat and every wave banged through our bodies. We got very wet! Maybe there was some justification to paying the high tour prices at our hotel after all!
We did some snorkelling along a big drop-off like the one at Submarine Base then headed back. There was one more island that I wanted to visit that was supposed to have great snorkelling but by this time I was over the rough ride and just wanted to get back onto land.
The next day I wasn't feeling well and an Australian girl working at our hotel took me to a doctor. He was great and put me on stronger antibiotics. I hope this lot work!
So that's the end of the islands part of our trip. We're off to the Highlands tomorrow!
See ya.
Heather and John.
Lovin' it
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear!
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