Qualla: Rabaul

Rabaul: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. The 1A bus takes about forty minutes to get from Kokopo to Rabaul, K3.50 in dry weather and K5 when the rain chases it onto the higher road, and somewhere along the way the landscape starts to tell you what happened here. The traffic thins. Buildings appear in partial profile - some rebuilt, some half-buried, some given over entirely to the lava-gray dust that covers everything. Then the harbor opens up, and the dark cinder cone of Tavurvur comes into view on the right, still smoking, still alive. Rabaul is a town that was twice destroyed and once warned itself in time, a place where you dive onto Japanese wrecks in the morning, climb volcanic ridges in the afternoon, and eat dinner at the Phoenix Room in colonial-era decor while 1994's ash is still settling somewhere in the hills.

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Image: Public domain

Rabaul: Getting There

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Notafly, CC BY-SA 3.0. Air Niugini runs daily flights from Port Moresby, with additional connections from Lae, Kavieng, Hoskins in West New Britain, and Buka in Bougainville. The original Rabaul Airport was destroyed in 1994 and was never rebuilt in place, since its approach ran directly over the Tavur...

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Image: Notafly | CC BY-SA 3.0

Rabaul: The Tolai Coast

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Chief of Engineers. U.S. Army Topographic Command. (9/1/1968 - 7/1/1972), Public domain. Rabaul sits on the Gazelle Peninsula at the northeastern tip of New Britain, in the traditional country of the Tolai people, whose language gave the town its name. Rabaul means mangrove in one of the local Tolai dialects, a reference to the swamp the German colonial builders recl...

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Image: Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Chief of Engineers. U.S. Army Topographic Command. (9/1/1968 - 7/1/1972) | Public domain

Rabaul: Diving the Harbor

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Thilver, CC BY-SA 4.0. Simpson Harbour is one of the great accidents of Pacific diving. A large enclosed caldera surrounded by volcanic ridges, it served as the Japanese Imperial Navy's main South Pacific base from 1942 to 1945, which means the harbor floor is scattered with ships that Allied bombers n...

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Image: Thilver | CC BY-SA 4.0

Rabaul: Climbing the Rim

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AusAID, CC BY 2.0. Four extinct volcanic hills surround Simpson Harbour alongside the still-active Tavurvur and Vulcan. The highest, Mt. Mother - also known as Kabiu - tops out at 700 meters and is usually climbed in the early morning from Matalau Village, before the heat and the afternoon clouds c...

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Image: AusAID | CC BY 2.0

Rabaul: Where to Eat and Sleep

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Thilver, CC BY-SA 4.0. Kai bars and chicken shops are everywhere in both towns - cheap, hot, and reliable for a quick meal. Markets and supermarkets stock excellent tropical fruit. The resort restaurants overlooking the harbor serve the most dependable sit-down meals, and seafood is the safest order ne...

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Image: Thilver | CC BY-SA 4.0