Day #16 New Guinea Adventure

Wewak, Papua New Guinea

After a restful day at sea our arrival at our next port-of-call is imminent and we are just finishing breakfast as we come in sight of our destination, Wewak.

A jumble of rigging from ships moored in the harbour

Wewak, located on the northern coast of New Guinea, is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea and it’s the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. Between 1943 and 1945, during World War II, Wewak was the site of the largest Japanese airbase in mainland New Guinea. Directly west of the town centre is a peninsula known as Cape Wom, which was the site of the surrender of Japanese forces in New Guinea.

It’s still early, around 08:00, as we approach the wharf, but there are a few curious locals who want to see what we are up to.

Two of the locals in their dugout canoe

It’s not long until we come alongside our berth at a small wharf not far from the centre of town, Captain Frank manoeuvres the Orion until it gently comes to rest nestled next to the wharf.

Mike looks on as the ship is berthed

As we congregate on deck 6 we can see the local performers assembling to present to us their official welcome to the region. Today their costumes are a riot of yellow flowers and grasses.

Male dancer with a ceremonial hand drum

The chief is resplendent in an amazing costume of jewellery, headdress, feathers, flowers and beads.

The chief

There is, from what I can make out, a symbolic representation of a bird with a beautiful painted mask.

Symbolic bird

As well as the Chief and the Bird there are many dancers both male and female who are performing for us.

Woman dancer

Today is going to be a hectic one as we have quite a lot to see and the ship sails early at approximately 14:00 hours. Our first destination is the Cape Wom Memorial Park at the site of the Japanese surrender.

We head through town in our little bus convoy. It’s Sunday morning and everyone seems to be on their way to church. Cape Wom is about 20 kilometres north west of the town, at one stage the road passes right along the coast through a thick mangrove swamp.

Mangrove Swamp

Arriving at the memorial park there is a long colonnade of palm trees leading to a pyramidal cairn which holds a plaque detailing the surrender ceremony. 

Cape Wom Memorial Park

At the base of each palm tree is a small concrete block holding a plaque to those who lost their lives here.
Pte. R.N.Addison of the 2/4th Australian Infantry Batallion

Of course there are lots of curious children who show us around and pose for pictures.
Local kids at Cape Wom

Back in the buses, we head back toward town and a spot called Mission Hill and Boy’s Town. Mission Hill is inland from the main town and was settled by Catholic missionaries during 1912 and that’s where it got it’s name.
View of Orion from Mission Hill

The area is also known as Boy’s Town, a home for wayward boys founded in 1959 and used until the 1970’s. Today it’s a Catholic retirement centre for missionaries. There is a church at the top of the hill and a Japanese War Memorial.
Japanese War Memorial

The memorial has inscriptions in Japanese and English. The memorial reads in English: "In memory of the brave soldiers who paid the supreme sacrifice for their countries Japan, Australia, American and New Guinea during World War 2 From 1941-1945. We sincerely hope that or men will never again engage in war but that a deep spirit of friendship may exist between all"

Leaving Boy’s Town we headed down to where the buses were parked but rather than get aboard we were lead by a couple of guides down a narrow path into the jungle that covers most of the hill. As we trekked down the hill we came across an old Japanese Anti-aircraft gun emplacement that was still in reasonable condition.
Japanese Anti-aircraft gun

Apparently in the jungle around this area there are six emplacements, an old trailer and a fair bit of wartime debris scattered about.
Not much further on we came across another of the emplacements, this time there were a few kids perched up on the gun watching us as we shuffled past.

Kids on the gun - 360 Panorama

After a bit of slipping and sliding we’d climbed back up the hill and this time it was into the buses and back toward town.  As we entered the town and approach the local market there are people everywhere. Now that the church services have finished everyone is out buying food, heading home so the streets are crowded.

We’ve come to the Dagua market, at the west end of the town’s main shopping strip. You enter the market through a small alley between two tin sheds and thread your way past market stalls set up in the alley.
Dagua market alley

At the end of the alley you come out onto a large open area that is quite colourful and there are multicoloured umbrellas shading a wide range of foods. There are a few small trinkets for sale but primarily it’s a produce market.
Selling peanuts

Everyone seems a bit surprised to see us but all in all they are very friendly as we make our way around the stalls gawking at the strange foods on display.
A welcome from one of the guys at the market

Even though it’s a bit overcast it’s still a hot day and climbing around in the jungle makes it feel even hotter.  There’s not much shade in the market itself and the dried fish is looking and smelling a bit ‘ripe’ in the sun.
Dried fish on display

We’ve been warned about buying and eating local food so we steer clear of trying anything but just as we get back on the buses I see that a couple of people have scored fresh coconuts and I wish I had one.

Our final stop before we head back to the ship is a small artefact market selling lots of bilums (string bags) and sculptures. The bags are all under cover in a small dirt floor shed, hanging from the roof beams. It’s quite funny just to see everyone’s legs sticking out under the bags.
Artefact Market

There’s a traditional building just next to the market that has a beautiful painted mask attached near the peak of the roof .
Painted Mask

We buy a couple of bilums but you have to be quick as there seems to be a bit of a shopping frenzy going on, I don’t know how some of these people are going to get these large sculptures back home!

It’s time to head back to Orion and leave Wewak, in fact it’s where we leave Papua New Guinea as our next port of call will be Jayapura in Papua Province controlled by Indonesia.

We’re pretty tired by the time we get back on board so Kelly and I head to the bar and grab a beer to enjoy on the Delphinus deck. Just as we head out on deck it starts to bucket down, but hey it’s warm, we have a large umbrella above us, life is good.
A beer on the Delphinus deck

Day #15 New Guinea Adventure

At Sea, Papua New Guinea

Today is another sea day, and once again that means no landfall but lots of onboard activities to keep the passengers busy. For me it’s a chance to organise all of the photos I shot yesterday for the Virtual Tour.

Map of the region showing our heading -  Google map link

One of the best experiences onboard the Orion are the sunsets and I think the ones I’ve seen, day after day, in Papua New Guinea will remain with me forever and today is no exception.

Sunset on the sea day to Wewak

Tomorrow we are scheduled to arrive in Wewak at 08:00 our last port of call in Papua New Guinea.

Day #14 New Guinea Adventure

Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

This is a little bit like being Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day because today was what yesterday was supposed to be. This morning was a bit of a sleep in so I didn't get to see the sunset, but I did get up on deck before breakfast and took this shot looking across toward Tavaurea Volcano.

Looking toward Tavaurea Volcano

Map of the region showing our heading -  Google map link

So once again we say our farewells as our shipmates once again prepare to head out but this time we are pretty sure they won’t be coming back and a new ship load of passengers will be more that happy to come aboard.

In the meantime, while all of the ship preparation for the new passengers is underway, Kelly and I prepare to photograph a number of cabins for the Orion 1 Virtual Tour presented on the Orion website. It’s pretty much going to take us all the time up to the arrival of the new passenger to get all of the shots done that we need to so it’s a case of heads down, bums up for us.

Around about 1pm the mini buses with the new passengers start arriving at the dock and Kelly and I finish the last of the cabins, pack up all our gear and head up to deck 6 to check out the new arrivals.

As I mentioned yesterday there are 8 of us continuing on from the first leg and we know that two of our friends, Sharyn and Gary, who were on our first Orion cruise, the Gulf of Siam, are amongst the new guests. It’s also going to be a full ship and not an empty cabin or bed to be had.

It’s a hectic time for the crew settling everyone in to their cabins and finalising the provisions but finally we hoist anchor and head out of Simpson Harbour toward a day at sea and our next destination Wewak, near the border with the Indonesian controlled, West Papua.

To welcome the new passengers there’s the traditional “Sail Away Celebration” on deck 6, where we enjoy champagne and finger food while renew old acquaintances and start making new ones.
Yours truly on deck with his new 50-500mm lens

Sailing out of Rabaul we get a chance to catch up with Sharyn, who’s busy taking pictures of everyone, so we turned the tables on her and got one of her.
Sharyn

Then there’s John and Mandy, they are two of the eight passengers carrying on from the first tour.
John and Mandy

We also met this sociable bunch from up Minyama way in Queensland. Two couples Muriel and Neil and Joanne and Max.
Murial, Joanne, Max and Neil

After we’d left the harbour and started sailing West up the coast afternoon tea was served followed by the mandatory lifeboat drill. To finish the day Tracy Griener, the Orion hotel manager introduced Orion to those of us unfamiliar with her and the staff responsible for making our expedition comfortable and enjoyable.

Just after the briefing and before dinner there was the opportunity to stroll around the ship and get some shots of the sunset. The first is from the rear deck in the Delphinus lounge, the second is of the moon just after it had appeared and the third is panorama shot with a fisheye from the forward area of deck 6.
Heading into the sunset

The moon

Sunset panorama from the forward deck of Orion

Day #13 New Guinea Adventure

Rabaul

Ooopps almost missed that damn sunrise again but I made it just in time to get a shot of the of the volcano reflected in Simpson Harbour.
Sunrise across the Harbour

Before we head off for breakfast and more farewells, I take the opportunity to walk around deck 6 and photograph the area around the dock.

Red Tugs - Niguini Trader - Abandoned and rusting boats

Today is the day we say goodbye to all of the friends we have made on this first leg of our journey through Papua New Guinea. It’s been great meeting Nick and Peter, they are truly inspiring and have without a doubt inspired me. Jennine, Nick's wife, what a gal, I’m not sure how far Nick would get without her ☺

There are 8 people, including Kelly and myself, continuing on for the second leg around New Guinea. The rest of the passengers will be disembarking and heading to the airport around 10am. Orion has arranged a charter flight from Cairns to Rabaul to bring in the new passengers for the second leg and take home all of the current passengers.

During the time between the current group leaving and the new group arriving, the ship will have a complete makeover with all of the cabins and public areas being thoroughly cleaned and prepared for their new occupants. It’s a pretty hectic time and Kelly and I will be in amongst it all trying to finish off shooting the cabin panoramas. The other 6 continuing passengers will be heading out at 9am for a expedition and should be back about 3pm. The remaining passengers will be disembarking at around 10am to head to the airport. This will give Kelly and I a couple of hours to shoot some more panoramas.

Well the 6 passengers have left on their expedition and we are just saying our last goodbyes when there is an announcement on the ships intercom that the charter plane from Cairns has been delayed and hasn’t taken off yet.  After the announcement everyone relaxes again and has an hours grace to enjoy the ambience of the Orion once again.

About an hour later, just as the anticipation of leaving reached it’s peak, a new announcement asking us to meet in the Leda lounge is broadcast. We made our way there where Captain Frank announced that the flight was not going to leave Cairns today. Even though a replacement plane had been found because the crew had logged too many hours they would not be allowed to fly!
Captain Frank went on to tell us that the guests departing Rabaul would stay on the ship another night and the guests departing Cairns would stay in a hotel at Cairns for the night.

So after all the farewells said the night before and this morning we are still stuck with them!

The next couple of hours are pretty frantic with people phoning home and to travel agents to change their travel plans. I can only imagine what sort of organisational hell is going on behind the scenes. A further announcement is made that the bar will be an open one until the passenger swap is done. All in all I think most of the people on Orion and okay with the situation.

In order to keep everyone busy, as if they weren’t busy enough, Justin and the expedition crew have arranged a tour of the local market. So we go grab our gear and get ready to head out. We form up our group down on the docks and head on out past the main gates to walk up to the town centre along Malaguna Road. Even this far from the volcano you can see quite a build up of ash on the sides of the road. We head up to the main street and everyone seems surprised but happy to see us walking toward town.

After about 15 minutes we arrived at the main entrance to the Page Park Market and it was full of activity with people buying all sorts of produce and goods.
Justin pointing out landmarks in front of the Page Park Market

Just inside the entrance was an old man selling coconuts and Mike was sitting talking with him.
Coconut Seller

Mike with a couple of coconuts

The market is large and covers quite an area with stalls selling everything from bags to tobacco to betel nuts. In fact there lots of produce I’d never seen before.
Woman buying betel nut

When you chew Betel nut you need three things. First, obviously betel nut, second you also need Mustard sticks and third, Lime. Once you are chewing the nut you can dip the mustard stick in the lime and then put it in your mouth. Here's a betel nut "how to" course.
Mustard stick (Daka)

Young girl selling bananas

The market is such a visual treat with lots of sounds and colours including this somewhat threatening T-shirt!
Handgun T-shirt

Across from the market there was a supermarket and a crowd of people watching something. I could also hear music coming from that direction so I thought I’d take a look.
Local Supermarket

Sitting in front of the supermarket was an old musician playing a combination of ukulele, hooked up to a megaphone, tambourine and harmonica.
Old musician

I sat down on the ground with a group of school kids and watched him perform.
School kids watching the performance

Heading back to the market I caught up with Kelly again and we were sitting in front of a large sign that said “Market Rules” that warned of a on the spot fine of 20 Kina, which is about $8 Australian.
Market Rules sign

Unfortunately all of the things you cannot do are in pidgin, so I had no idea of what you could be fined for! Mike on the other hand speaks and reads pidgin so he gave us a rundown of the list. Now I can’t remember it all but I think some of it goes like this. If anyone has better translations I'd love to know them.

Hey Justin has just commented and provided translations:

Itambu tru long - It is forbidden to

• Kaikai Buai - Chew Betelnut
• Spet Buai - Spit Betelnut
• Simuk - Smoke
• Salim ol Spak Burus- Sell Marijuana
• Toromoi Pipia Nabaut - Throw Rubbish About
• Kalapim na burukim ol flower - go and damage the plants
• Sindaun antap long ol bet na long stone walls - sit down in the garden beds or on the stone walls
• Usim maket long sande na long pablik olides - use the market on sunday or public holidays

halivim lukaut long maket bilong yumi - help to look after our market

Check out Justin's blog - Ramblings of a Global Citizen

We decided to walk back to the ship rather than take the shuttle bus and this time we took some back streets. Close to the docks we came across a group of kids who wanted us to take their pictures.
Kids near the docks

It’s interesting to see, after so long, how high the ash wall is next to the roadway. You can see it in this photograph of Michael showing the kids the shots of them he just took.
Michael showing the kids their photos.

By the time we’d arrived back the 6 other passengers who’d gone out for a days expedition, thinking that on their return, they’d be welcoming a whole new group to the Orion, were incredibly surprised to find out everyone was still onboard.

At the evening briefing we were informed that everything was being resolved back in Cairns, the expedition team were busy working on an alternative travel destination know that we were going to be a day behind and that disembarkation would be as planned for tomorrow morning.

Kelly and I decided a quiet night with a bit of room service was in order and we headed down to the cabin.

Day #12 New Guinea Adventure

Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

Woops almost missed the sunrise again but I managed to get my gear set up to capture what was one of the best we’ve seen so far.
Sunrise over the Bismark Sea

Today we finish the last leg of our backtrack East with Rabaul as our final destination later in the day. For now, we are heading toward a small island off the coast of New Britain called Little Pigeon Island.
Map of the region showing our heading -  Google map link

To get to the island we steam pass Atalikiun Bay and I can see the steam rising from Tavurvur volcano high into the early morning sky.
Steaming Tavurvur volcano

It’s an early start and by 08:00 Captain Frank has anchored Orion off Little Pigeon Island and we are ready to disembark for some swimming and snorkelling.

Little Pigeon Island is only about an hour from Rabaul and we can see the peaks of the volcanoes in the distance.

Map showing the postion of Little Pigeon Island relative to Rabaul

It’s another beautiful morning and we can’t wait to hit the water. There’s a very strategically placed fallen tree trunk right on the water’s edge that makes it a great spot to sit and get your gear on.
Bruce and Diane practice breathing through their snorkels

By this time I’m in the water patiently waiting for Kelly when Bruce whips out his waterproof camera and takes this shot of me.
Hanging out waiting for Kelly

I didn’t have long to wait and in no time we were at the reef watching the parade of fish swim by.
Some of the fish at Little Pigeon

Swimming away from the island there was a lovely drop-off into deep blue water with this very large rock outcrop just before the drop-off.

Reef Drop-off

After snorkelling we took a walked around the island, which didn’t take more that 15 minutes and by 10:00 we were on the last zodiac back to Orion.

Back on board we headed up to deck 6 to wash our gear and have a quick plunge in the Jacuzzi before we had to get ready for Nick’s next lecture which was definitely one we didn’t want to miss.

At 11:00 am we were in the lecture theatre with a fresh coffee ready to hear all about Adobe Lightroom and how Nick uses it to prepare and process his images. I’d known about Lightroom for a number of years now but to see it used like Nick used it was a real eye opener and it’s definitely going to be on our “must buy” list when we get back to Sydney.

Around about 12:30 Orion berthed alongside the Rabaul wharf and we got our first view from Rabaul, across the caldera toward Mount Tavuvera.
A Hipstermatic shot by Kelly of the view to Mount Tavuvera

There are a couple of different options posted for today but Kelly and I have booked ourselves into the Volcano Tour. By 13:30 those going to the volcano are on the wharf ready to hop aboard a motley collection of vans.
Most of Rabaul, the capital of East New Britain at the time, was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the subsequent rain of ash caused 80% of the buildings in Rabaul to collapse. After the eruption the capital was moved to Kokopo, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) away. What’s left of Rabaul is still under constant threat from volcanic eruption.

We head out of the dock area and turn East on the Malaguna Road toward the area of Rabaul devastated by the eruption. Within minutes there are only the scattered remains of buildings and the road is flanked by high walls of grey ash.

Peter Eastway, who’d been here not long after the eruption, expressed his amazement at how much some of the flora and fauna had recovered. His memory was one of a flat plane of grey ash, but now there are native plants populating the area.
Green plants surviving in the ash

Our drive took us right down to the end of a peninsula directly opposite Mt Tavuvera and after several kilometres we ended up in small village. I couldn’t believe that anyone would be living in the midst of this devastation and so close to an active volcano.

But there they were and as we walked down to the waters edge, through the village, everyone came out to greet us. The young boys all had amazing blond hair and seemed very happy to see us. I’m not quite sure though what this hand signal meant!
Young blond haired boy

Everywhere you could still see stark reminders of the destruction and havoc caused by the eruption. The palm trees have all had their tops sheered off or burnt off by the ash.
Burnt top of a palm tree with the rim of the volcano Rabalanakaia in the background

There were three boats with a crew of driver and guide on each one waiting to take us across the bay. With a bit of help from Mike, we managed to get on board and shove off from the shore.

Mick lending the locals a hand

Once we left the shore we headed across the bay toward the volcano.
Two of the three boats going to the Volcano

Unfortunately on our boat there was limited seating and poor old Peter, I’m not sure how he got the short straw, had to make do with crouching down in the keel of the boat.

Poor old Peter missed out on a seat

As we approached and area called Sulphur Point, south of the volcano itself, the stark reality of the place becomes more evident.

Frondless palm trees line the shore

We arrive at the beach and find ourselves walking on a sea of ash. Surprisingly though there are still some green living things to be found here.
Flowers in the ash

We didn’t see them during our trip, but at the base of the Tuvurvur Volcano the locals hunt for megapode eggs. The megapodes, also known as incubator birds or mound-builders, are stocky, medium-large chicken-like birds with small heads and large feet. The ground is littered with the holes dug by the natives and you need to be careful where you walk as the sides can collapse very easily as one of our party found out.
Megapod Bird holes

Pushing on further inland toward the volcano we came across these deep fissures in the ground that seemed to lead all the way from the volcano to the sea.
Fissures in the ground

The sheer scale of the mountain is very impressive and a bit overwhelming, in the back of your mind is a little voice saying, “this is an active volcano you are standing in front of and it could go off at any time”.
Kelly lost in the landscape

Just before we left I found this yellow rock that seemed to contain quite a bit of sulphur. Thinking back to some of the lectures by Peter and Nick I tried to create something a bit different and placed the rock on a jagged ledge and positioned myself looking up toward the rim of the volcano. The intention being to do some of the image manipulation Peter had shown us on it in Photoshop.
Sulphur rock

We got the call to head back to the boats to take us back to the village and then onto the ship.

When we got back to the ship there was a shuttle bus parked nearby. It was about 16:30 and they were scheduled to stop running at 17:00 so we approached one of them and asked if we could just get a quick tour around the town. The driver was happy to oblige so four of us jumped in and off we went.

Leaving the dock we headed down the main street past a large market area and through town. In fact our quick tour became a bit longer and we ended up at Mt. Tavanabatir the home of the Rabaul Volcanic Observatory. The observatory is perched high on the mountain above the town and provides a great overlook of Rabaul and Simpson Harbour.
View of Rabaul and caldera from the Observatory

Unfortunately this evening is the last of this leg of our tour and we will be saying farewell to all those great people we have shared this wonderful experience with. We have had the best time, learnt so much and enjoyed every minute of it.

Tomorrow morning those not continuing on the next leg, there are eight of us going on, will board the return charter flight from Cairns that is bringing in the next wave of quests.

So to finish off in style we had dinner in the Constellation Lounge with Nick, Gennine, Peter and Michael. It was lots of fun, and we were just a bit drunk at the end of it.

Tomorrow we will say goodbye to them and then shoot a number of 360˚ Panoramas of the cabins before the new guests arrive.