Papua New Guinea

Finished reading Nicholas Shakespeare’s In Tasmania [Australia: Vintage, 2007]. Toward the end he describes an environmentalist named Bob Brown, whose first reaction to Tasmania was, “I am home.” Then he quotes the novelist James McQueen writing about preserving the Franklin River, “For me it is the epitome of all the lost forests, all the submerged lakes, all the tamed rivers, all the extinguished species. It is threatened by the same mindless beast that has eaten our past, is eating our present, and threatens to eat our future: that civil beast of mean ambitions and broken promises and hedged bets and tawdry profits.” Shakespeare says that local history says about Tasmania, “For Europeans, it [Tasmania] represents the literal end of the world: if you travel any further you are on your way home again.”

Today we were in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. The Japanese fought off the Australians, took over the island and carved an intricate network of tunnels in the volcanic mountains here; then the island suffered intense Allied bombing. Fifty years later the place was bombed by the ash from two violent volcano eruptions. One is still spewing ash [see photos on http://gallery.me.com/herrlk].

Now, my personal notes about Rabaul and Papua New Guinea: friendly and active, in spite of the devastation of war and volcanoes. Not a lazy island. Lots of construction going on in Rabaul and Kopoko. As we drove out dusty roads by lush vegetation, folks waving and calling hello with smiles, tears came to my eyes. Why? Because we are so welcome here? Because the horror of war is mostly forgotten? Because people do not envy or judge us but live by their own beat? Because we are following in the footsteps of explorers without the hazards and dangers? Whatever, it is a privilege to be here and an intense immersion in nature, time, culture, and history.