Guadalcanal and Rabaul
Just back to Australia after a few days in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea…… Some highlights to share: Guadalcanal : We spent a fascinating day in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands. Some of you may have heard about the Solomons recently - they have been in the news over the past year due to a “security agreement” they signed with China last year, which – given their proximity to Australia – did not make the Aussies (or the Kiwis or the Yanks) too happy out of fear that it could open the door to a Chinese naval base in the South Pacific. Evidence of China’s growing influence is pretty apparent in Honiara: Historically, Honiara is significant to most Americans as it is on the island of Guadalcanal – the site of a major WWII battle that many of you have probably heard of. In short, the Japanese began building an airfield on Guadalcanal in the early summer of 1942 (about 6 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor), knowing that fro...