Visiting Rabaul for the first time was quite special. Then a charming colonial town with as much history as what you will find in those parts was simply beautiful. The town, sadly, is right under three volcanoes – Tavuvur, South and North Mother – that blew their top in 1994. Rabaul was all but obliterated. Gone were charming grand colonial administrative buildings, a modern Travelodge Hotel and all the vestiges of history. Today, the main centre for East New Britain is around Kokopo, just to the West. Rabaul’s streets are ashen.

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To Market, to Market – Glorious Market
Rabaul was famed for her incredible market. Due to the natural soils, bursting with volcanic fecundity, this land produced an amazing bounty. Giant watermelons, fist sized mangoes and over sized bananas made the market in Rabaul the talk of the nation. I visited it in 1981, filling my billum (string bag) with giant avocados. I recall sharing them with Mum, Dad, a Peace Corps volunteer and his pretty girl, one Sunday lunch and all our eyes popped. That avocado must have covered the entire dinner plate. Now, I know not what has become of the Market, but hopefully, it has relocated still giving us those exagerated fruits.

Festival Frangipani of Yore
Another feature of Rabaul, which I think may have been relegated to the pages of history after the 1994 conflagration, was her grand Festival of Frangipanis. Then, for a week, Rabaul would burst to life as the town covered everything with frangipani flowers. A magnificent parade would then be staged through the boulevards with a Frangipani Queen being crowned. I never saw that parade but wanted to. When South Mother volcano angrily spewed her gaseous revenge on the town in 1994 no floral queen was again to be crowned. I was bitter. Never would I get the chance to dance bedecked in frangipanis with the joyous Tolais (the local tribe).

Tavuvur and Vulcan Volcanoes
New Britain is the most volcanic region on the planet. In 1934, to the dismay of residents, Mt. Vulcan, near Kokopo, spewed gaseous ash from the under Simpson Harbour. Within days a ginormous volcanic cone had formed. A new volcano was born! It was a revealing time for volcanologists as no-one had ever seen a volcanic birth. Today, Mt. Vulcan stands proudly in Blanche Bay, gently puffing away above nearby Kokopo. Whether he bursts again is really up to destiny. Mt. Tavuvur, next to Rabaul did in 1994 continuously spewing gas, ash, sulphur, larva, aa and pumice ever onto historic Rabaul ever since.