The adventure is over, now there are just hours of sitting and waiting!
Friday night, John, the manager of the Coca Cola plant in Rabaul just talked non-stop until moving away on some pretence. God, what a bore - like Pat two weeks ago or any of the others.
Visited Rabaul yesterday - got close to the volcano. All very good but also nothing new: very much like geothermal parts of New Zealand, including the biting smell of sulphur in the air - hard not to cough. After a visit to the hot springs, we met a man who took us to a mostly buried WWII bomber then a Japanese anti-aircraft emplacement. This involved a 10 minute walk up a hill. A man began following us without explanation then a couple of minutes later, another joined in, carrying a bush knife. I went onto high alert again but the situation was diffused when Bert recognised the first man. All OK but I'm still wondering what they were doing there, in the middle of nowhere. Bert said later he thought something would've happened had he not known one of the men.
Bert also told me earlier that his brother had been "cut up" a few weeks ago by rascals. Obviously they were trying to kill him, because the machete blow was to his face - through his cheek, jaw and teeth. He only survived because a girl ran out and told them to stop, he was already dead - otherwise they would've cut up his legs. The men were caught and are now in jail. Bert didn't seem too outraged by it, in fact he mentioned his brother's harsh attitude towards the locals and that the attack was therefore to be expected. His brother also had children by multiple local women.
Rabaul itself is desolate, especially parts nearer the volcano. Matupit is no longer an island - lava joined it to mainland in 1994. The inhabited parts of Rabaul aren't that nice - it's very dirty, run-down and neglected.
We also looked at some barges kept by the Japanese in a tunnel, and earlier, went up to the Volcano Observatory, which had magnificent views out over Rabaul, Simpson Harbour, and all the cones of the caldera. The Sub base and Wotim Island are two sides of another caldera. The whole place is a catastrophe waiting to happen (again).
The flight to Moresby was uneventful, as was the trip to the hotel, overnight, and the trip back to the airport. So, I've survived PNG, including a brief foray into Port Moresby. Soon I'll be back in Melbourne, life will be as it was, I'll hardly feel I was ever away.
