It’s been a busy couple of weeks.
Having Peter & Gilly, Tim & Ben here was a real delight. We were so grateful that the passport issue didn’t delay them any more than one day. I couldn’t take any time off work, so Nicki showed them around the delights of Hagen during the week – the market, the second-hand shops, the different MAF compounds with their various types of play equipment and so on.
One afternoon after I had finished flying they came out to the airport and I showed them around ‘my’ aeroplane and introduced them to the little one that they’d fly to Madang in a couple of days later. During the weekend we drove out of town towards Enga Province to give them a taste of the countryside. The time with them was over all too quickly.
They flew down to Madang on Wednesday morning for a couple of days at the Resort before flying on to stay with friends in Brisbane for another couple of days before heading back to the UK later today (Sunday). In the meantime, also on Wednesday, I flew to Tokua, on the northern tip of New Britain, one of the large subsidiary islands that make up PNG, for a conference organised by the aviation regulator, CASA PNG, for the rest of the week.
Like any conference, there were some presentations that were very good and particularly relevant, and others that weren’t. Nonetheless, it was extremely worthwhile and PNG is fortunate in having an aviation industry that is small enough for there to be very good interaction between the regulator and the different operators.
One afternoon after the sessions had finished the MAF team went for a drive out to Rabaul with John Bromley, an ex-MAF pilot who now heads the PNG Rural Airstrips Agency. Rabaul was almost totally destroyed by a major volcanic eruption in 1994, our first year here. I’ve flown to Tokua once, but this week was the first time I’d been outside the airport.
After paying a small fee to local people just outside Rabaul town, we had a closer look at Mount Tavurvur and the stream of boiling water running across the beach and into the sea. Jets of steam bubble up from the bottom of the stream and the local folk cook eggs and other food in the free supply of boiling water.
The conference itself was held in Kokopo, the town that expanded as the new provincial capital of East New Britain after Rabaul was destroyed. Although Rabaul still exists, it is only a fraction of what it once was. Huge amounts of black volcanic ash are still piled up in places, and buildings with ash two-thirds or more up their walls poke out in places.
There’s a lot of WW2 history in the area as Rabaul was a huge Japanese base. Caves have been carved into the hillsides were submarines were pulled out of the sea so that they could be serviced and supplied out of danger of allied bombing attacks. On the lookout over the harbour there are smaller caves where presumably personnel could shelter.
A war museum close to the hotel provided more historical background, now curated by an elderly gentleman whose father was in the PNG government prior to independence.
There is a line of volcanoes just off the north coast of the PNG mainland and this extends up through the island of New Britain, forming part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Rabaul harbour is a huge volcanic caldera with the active volcanoes of Mt Tavurvar and Vulcan, which caused the destruction in 1994, and the former erupting again to a lesser extent in 2014.
On the flight back on Saturday morning a break in the clouds enabled a brief glimpse of Lolobau Island and Mount Ulawun, both active volcanoes and Mt Ulawun producing a bit of steam or smoke in the same way that Mount Tavurvur still is.
Back to normal this coming week! I’m doing a pilot’s recurrency training on the Twin Otter, so will be busy flying, especially during the second half of the week. When possible I’ll also be catching up in the office.
Having Peter & Gilly, Tim & Ben here was a real delight. We were so grateful that the passport issue didn’t delay them any more than one day. I couldn’t take any time off work, so Nicki showed them around the delights of Hagen during the week – the market, the second-hand shops, the different MAF compounds with their various types of play equipment and so on.
One afternoon after I had finished flying they came out to the airport and I showed them around ‘my’ aeroplane and introduced them to the little one that they’d fly to Madang in a couple of days later. During the weekend we drove out of town towards Enga Province to give them a taste of the countryside. The time with them was over all too quickly.They flew down to Madang on Wednesday morning for a couple of days at the Resort before flying on to stay with friends in Brisbane for another couple of days before heading back to the UK later today (Sunday). In the meantime, also on Wednesday, I flew to Tokua, on the northern tip of New Britain, one of the large subsidiary islands that make up PNG, for a conference organised by the aviation regulator, CASA PNG, for the rest of the week.
Like any conference, there were some presentations that were very good and particularly relevant, and others that weren’t. Nonetheless, it was extremely worthwhile and PNG is fortunate in having an aviation industry that is small enough for there to be very good interaction between the regulator and the different operators.
One afternoon after the sessions had finished the MAF team went for a drive out to Rabaul with John Bromley, an ex-MAF pilot who now heads the PNG Rural Airstrips Agency. Rabaul was almost totally destroyed by a major volcanic eruption in 1994, our first year here. I’ve flown to Tokua once, but this week was the first time I’d been outside the airport.
After paying a small fee to local people just outside Rabaul town, we had a closer look at Mount Tavurvur and the stream of boiling water running across the beach and into the sea. Jets of steam bubble up from the bottom of the stream and the local folk cook eggs and other food in the free supply of boiling water.
The conference itself was held in Kokopo, the town that expanded as the new provincial capital of East New Britain after Rabaul was destroyed. Although Rabaul still exists, it is only a fraction of what it once was. Huge amounts of black volcanic ash are still piled up in places, and buildings with ash two-thirds or more up their walls poke out in places.
There’s a lot of WW2 history in the area as Rabaul was a huge Japanese base. Caves have been carved into the hillsides were submarines were pulled out of the sea so that they could be serviced and supplied out of danger of allied bombing attacks. On the lookout over the harbour there are smaller caves where presumably personnel could shelter.
A war museum close to the hotel provided more historical background, now curated by an elderly gentleman whose father was in the PNG government prior to independence.
There is a line of volcanoes just off the north coast of the PNG mainland and this extends up through the island of New Britain, forming part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Rabaul harbour is a huge volcanic caldera with the active volcanoes of Mt Tavurvar and Vulcan, which caused the destruction in 1994, and the former erupting again to a lesser extent in 2014.
On the flight back on Saturday morning a break in the clouds enabled a brief glimpse of Lolobau Island and Mount Ulawun, both active volcanoes and Mt Ulawun producing a bit of steam or smoke in the same way that Mount Tavurvur still is.
Back to normal this coming week! I’m doing a pilot’s recurrency training on the Twin Otter, so will be busy flying, especially during the second half of the week. When possible I’ll also be catching up in the office.
