The sail in to Rabul was quite dramatic with live volcanoes on the shore. Rabul was virtually destroyed when the most active one erupted and dumped up to 8 feet ash on the entire area in 1994. Most of the buildings collapsed under the weight. The government moved the residents further from the volcano to a town called Kokopo. The ship arrived at 8. We were off it at 8:05. Our tour didn't start until 9 so we were able to be the first to the vendors set up just outside the gate. They had just put blankets down by the side of the road. It was HOT! Most of the people had caps, beaded necklaces and fabric. There were few carvings. We were disappointed. We finally found a man just unpacking who had more unusual items. Turns out he was from Madang where we had been the last time. We bought a sculpture and a mask from him then headed back to the ship to unload. While Mel waited for me outside, I ran up to drop off our items. We had been outside for less than an hour and I was already drenched in sweat. We had asked several people if they would trade for a towel with no luck. I ended up giving one to a cute little girl. I went back to take a picture and she had it wrapped around her in that heat!
When I went back down the gangway I saw Dorothy from our table looking a bit confused. I asked her where George was. He was already sitting on the gangway, just waiting to see what they would be doing. He is 92. From just off the ship all you could see was a warehouse. You couldn't see how far the walk to the gate was or where the vendors were. I told Dorothy that it was about the same distance from the gangway to the warehouse as it was from the warehouse to the gate so they headed out with me. I told them that one vendor in particular had unique items and took them to him. They did very well with their purchases, more later.
Mel and I went back to the gangway to find our tour. We had 3 twelve passenger vans this time. We were to have 11 stops. Our guide was a young woman named Eve who was charming until she lifted her arm. Inside the air conditioned van at that time, when she put her arm across the back of the seat in front of us, which she did frequently, I wanted to gag and get off immediately. Guess they don't have the same hygiene as we do. Our first stop was the Volcanology Observatory on top of a hill overlooking the town. We saw the ruins of the old place later, now totally covered by ash near the base of the volcano. There was a nice view of our ship with the volcano in the background.
Next we headed to the hot springs. We passed thru a wasteland of ash with only a few weeds peeking thru. At some points the road had been dug out so there were cliffs of ash on either side of us. Almost to the hot springs our van got stuck in the stuff. We all got out and the guys pushed it out without too much trouble. The hot springs were on the shore of the bay, not sure if it was truly fresh water coming up or just steam warming the bay water. It reminded me of Yellowstone. There were a lot of vendors set up there, assuming groups from the ship would be coming out that way. Unfortunately they were unfamiliar with the US$ so prices quoted were dollars but usually the amount they wanted in Kina, their money. If something was 10 Kina they would tell us $10 making the item very expensive. Ten Kina was about $4. They did not make very many sales.
In the same area was the old airport, now covered in ash. We stopped to see an old Japanese aircraft that had crashed during the war. There wasn't really much to see. But there were a few vendors. From there we headed to Admiral Yamamoto's Bank. He was the architect for Pearl Harbor and had spent time in Rabaul. We went down some stairs to an underground area. I kept looking for a vault or something, couldn't figure out the bank aspect. It finally dawned on me that Eve had meant bunker. Made a lot more sense. There was one small round room with maps on the ceiling and walls which Yamamoto had used. Pretty interesting. Next to the bunker was a museum which had few artifacts and a few photographs.
We headed back towards town and went to a memorial plaque to the city of Rabaul from the war years. It was the site of a sunken war ship which was not visible from shore. We did get a nice view of our ship. Wherever we went it seemed like there were kids everywhere. As soon as we arrived at this location about 10 little boys appeared eating fish roasted in a banana leaf. None of them were more that 7 or 8 years old. There were very happy and playful. We took many pictures of them by themselves and with us in their group. All the people we encountered on this island were very friendly, always saying hello or good morning with big smiles on their faces.
Our next stop was the Japanese barge tunnel. We have seen tunnels built by the Japanese in many of our ports, memories of WWII. This tunnel had 5 barges in it so was quite large. They had built rails to move the barges into the tunnel to hide them from the allied troops. Of course now they are totally rusty and falling apart. One of our guides daughters was at the tunnel with some of the vendors. We took a few pictures of her which Eve asked us to email to her. She probably doesn't have a camera to take them herself. The girl was 3 years old chewing on a piece of fresh coconut. She started screaming as we were leaving. She wanted to go with her mother.
We drove for about 30 minutes to the town of Kokopo. It was a much larger town crowded with people. The market looked very nice. Wish we had had the time to go. We went to the Historical Museum. There were a lot of old military items sitting in the yard including guns and tanks. Inside were a few artifacts. There was a piece of a plane that had it's name and mascot painted on it, the Naughty & Nice. 
Someone in our van asked if we could stop for water. They also wanted to buy some beer. Eve went inside to see if they would take US$. She told us to come on in. We were taken to the office in back where they would give us Kino, 2 to 1. We declined. The exchange rate was almost 2.6 to one.
The most beautiful place we visited was the Bitapaka War Cemetery. There are many servicemen buried there, most from Australia. The Australians provide for the upkeep of the place and it was very nicely landscaped. I especially loved the huge banyan trees at the entrance, covered with vines and ferns. 
I know, why do we want that? But the carving is amazing and it is a wonderful reminder of PNG.
The Cemetery was our last stop so we headed back to Rabaul. We had the driver drop us at the market which was very close to the ship. The most common item there were betel nuts. The people chew them which turns their teeth red. Someone was told that they relaxed them, someone else was told that it keeps them awake so we aren't sure what the affect is but there sure were a lot of them! I asked the price of a couple of things and it was always the same problem, same amount in US& as Kina. I decided to go to the bank and chance some money. There was a line of about 30 people inside so I used the ATM. It will be interesting to see the exchange rate when we get home. Now armed with the correct money, we returned to the market where I bought a blouse. These native dresses and such are kind of amusing. Not much money so fun to buy. We ran into Eve on the street. She had been looking for us as we had left our umbrella in the van. I had actually left it on purpose assuming someone would return it to the ship. It was a ship's umbrella. We gave it to her. She also returned a HAL water bottle carrier which we returned to the rightful owner that evening. She then said she would take us around and bargain for us so we had a free guide for the next 30 minutes or so. We had given her 3 HAL pins for her kids and a towel not to mention a nice tip. I guess she liked us! We wanted to buy a bottle of beer for a friend so she took us to the "beer store". That was pretty funny. They would not sell just one bottle, I had to buy a 6 pack.
At the market by the pier I had asked the vendor from Madang if he had any storyboards for sale. I had wanted to buy a beautiful one in Madang but Mel said no. We had been told that Palau, our next port, was well known for storyboards so better to buy one there. Our ship did not make it into that port, so no storyboard. This time I was on a mission to find one. We had told him that we would be back in the afternoon if he could bring them to the pier. He brought 2 and they were both outstanding. One was totally 3 dimensional with natives and animals coming right out of the wood, really beautiful. The other was more traditional with a nice border around it, we chose the latter. It was a tough decision though, they were both beautiful. But the seller would say so many Kina then double the price in US$. We should have just gone and gotten more Kina. We settled on 250 Kina or $100. He was not happy with that amount saying the bank would only give him 200 Kina so I gave him an extra $20. I didn't want to walk away with him feeling like this American couple had cheated him.
We carried everything back to the ship, drank a lot of water then went back to the market at the pier. I still had Kina to spend. I bought some cloth. Mel was going to buy a cap but they were not very good quality so we decided to keep the few dollars worth of Kina. In Madang we had never even seen a Kina! At most of the places where there were vendors throughout the day there were little boys dressed in native garb with a towel or something on the ground in front of them to collect the $1 per photo. I handed a towel to one such little boy. I think he was very confused. They were all very cute though.
We took our sculpture to dinner to show everyone but 2 couples were not there. One we knew about, the other just didn't show. After, the one couple that was there returned to our cabin with us to see our purchases. Then later Dorothy came by just all excited to see what we had bought and to show us what she had bought. There had been quite a few masks that looked almost mass produced, almost identical. Like us, Dorothy had found very unusual pieces. The best one she only wanted to pay $15 but the seller insisted on $20. They finally settled on $15 and a towel. I think Dorothy wins the contest as the other couple we talked to forgot to take them and the other couple doesn't really buy very much although they could surprise us tomorrow night. Everyone we talked to really enjoyed their day in Rabaul, both on and off tours. It was so different from any other place we had been. I received a nice thank you note from Dorothy thanking me for walking them to the market. She told us it was the best time they had had on the cruise and were telling everyone the same. It is a lot harder to get around when you are older. Dorothy says that old couples holding hands are not romantic, they are holding on for dear life! :)
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