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 from it they could dominate combat operations in the South Pacific.  To secure this strategic airfield, and with the goal of using it to support a campaign to eventually capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul in Papua New Guinea, American commanders selected Guadalcanal as their first target in the Pacific Campaign – in fact, it was the first American land offensive of WWII.  

American and Japanese land, sea and air forces battled desperately for control of the airfield for six months after US Marines landed on August 7, 1942, including at the famous battle of Bloody Ridge, until February 1943 when the island was finally secured.  Upwards of 24,000 Japanese troops died on Guadalcanal, while 1600 Americans died in combat, and thousands of others died from malaria and other tropical diseases.  The Americans named the airfield Henderson Airfield after a Marine aviator, Lofton Henderson, who was killed at the Battle of Midway, a month prior to their landing on Guadalcanal.  To this day, the airfield serves as Honiara’s international airport (though since the Japanese paid to construct a new terminal there in the 1990’s, it is no longer known as Henderson Airport.  Go figure…).  Artifacts from the war, as well as a memorial surround the airport.

For those who are interested in learning a bit more about Guadalcanal during the war (but who are not interested in reading actual military history books), I have two recommendations:  Watch the 1998 movie The Thin Red Line to get a sense of what the fighting was like on Guadalcanal (if nothing else, it has an unbelievable all-star cast, including:  Nick Nolte, Sean Penn, John Cusack, Adrien Brody, George Clooney, John C. Reilly, Woody Harrelson, John Travolta, Elias Koteas and Jared Leto).  For another interesting take on life on Guadalcanal during the war (as well as the subsequent horrific Battle of Okinawa), read Buzz Bissinger’s (of Friday Night Lights fame) 2022 book The Mosquito Bowl (thanks for the heads up on that one JP!).

Rabaul:  Our visit to Rabaul in Papua new Guinea was a combination of visiting WWII historical sites, as well as a homecoming of sorts for our mate and traveling companion, Mark.  It was fascinating to stand inside a Japanese barge tunnel, in which Japanese boats were hidden from Allied bombing raids, as well as the bunker of Admiral Yamamoto (of Pearl Harbor fame (or infamy)).

Most of the city of Rabaul was destroyed when one of the local active volcanoes erupted in 1994.  Mark and his family were living in Rabaul at the time and were evacuated by the Australian Air Force after the volcano started rumbling, but before it erupted.

We capped off our time in Rabaul by paying a visit to the Rabaul Yacht Club, Mark and his family’s former favorite watering hole in Rabaul.  Though it clearly has not regained its pre-Volcano opulence (I suspect it was never particularly opulent), we had a chance to throw back a few shots of JD along with the local beer.  We even treated all of the other guests of the RYC to drinks (in fairness, “all the other guests” meant our driver, our guide and the security guard).

Kiriwina:  Another Papua New Guinean island, we opted to take a pass on the WWII historical site (I think you can guess why):

Conflict Islands:  We finished off this part of our PNG visit (we'll be back in the interior highlands of the country next month searching for the famed Birds of Paradise) with some great snorkeling on the surrounding coral reef at the Conflict Islands (surprisingly, the name of the islands does not come from any “conflicts” there, but rather from the name of the survey ship that first mapped them in the 1880’s).  We were lucky to “find Nemo”, and even luckier to avoid being stung by one of the blue bottle jellyfish (also known as a Portuguese Man o’War) many of which were washed up on shore – luckier than one of our fellow snorkelers that day who had a very painful raised welt most of the way around his neck from where the jellyfish’s tentacle had wrapped itself!

We’ll be tooling around northern Queensland for the next couple of weeks enjoying the warm weather, doing some hiking, aboriginal cultural tours, and scuba diving before heading off on our next real adventure – a camping trip to Uluru – in Australia’s Red Centre.  Back at ya on the other side of that trip.

But before I go, the answer to the wilderness first aid quiz in the last post is:  it depends (on whether or not you like your hiking partner).  If you do, leave your partner laying on the ground immobilized while you go get help.  If you don’t, help your partner walk/run/limp to the nearest first aid station.  And if you really don’t, you can pee on them (which won’t help – yes, that’s for a jellyfish sting if you don’t have vinegar handy) and then make them hobble to the nearest first aid.  

Hope summer is off to a great start for everyone!