New Guinea Club & Rabaul Museum
Rabaul
Established in 1933, the New Guinea Club was a businessmen’s club with strict guidelines for membership, although that didn't prevent a young Errol Flynn…
Shutterstock / Ron van der Stappen
Walking the forlorn streets of eastern Rabaul is like stepping into an apocalyptic film. On 19 September 1994 Mt Tavurvur, which looms ominously to the southeast, erupted, spewing huge amounts of ash over Rabaul and the Simpson Harbour and Karavia Bay area. It buried much of this once lovely city in a desert-like landscape of black and brown ash. It’s still active; it announced its latent potency with a sizeable eruption in 2014, and although ominously quiet throughout 2015 you can see it steaming gently or occasionally belching huge plumes of smoke into the sky.
New Guinea Club & Rabaul Museum
Rabaul
Established in 1933, the New Guinea Club was a businessmen’s club with strict guidelines for membership, although that didn't prevent a young Errol Flynn…
Rabaul
A worthwhile site is the Vulcanology Observatory, about 900m off Tunnel Hill Rd, from where you can enjoy million-dollar views over the bay and the…
Rabaul
There are Japanese tunnels and caverns in the hillsides around Rabaul, though nearby to the Rabaul Museum is Admiral Yamamoto’s Bunker. It is rather…
Rabaul
The Japanese Peace Memorial, the main Japanese memorial in the Pacific, is dignified and testament to the forgiveness of the local people. There’s another…
Rabaul
The barn-like St Francis Xavier's Co-Cathedral was built in 1965 replacing the much more attractive original building, which was destroyed in WWII.
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