We awake to a sky filled with an ash haze and the ship vibrating as the captain puts in close to the dock. The volcano that destroyed Rabaul in 1994 is belching smoke and ash just across the harbor!
There are two three-hour ship’s tours, but they are in open air, 12-passenger vans for $89 apiece. We have passed on this experience! So about 10:00AM, we head off the ship to explore the town on our own. 
There are many ruins all over the island from the Japanese occupation and in town from the volcano damage. As we leave the secure area of the dock, we have to walk through the maze that is the street market set up for the passengers.
Here we pick up six, 6 to7 year old, boys who follow us around as we walk down the main street to the Rabaul Hotel. There is an entrance to the Japanese bunker system at the back of the hotel, our goal for the morning. 
Along the way, we stop at the Catholic Church that was heavily damaged by the eruption.
We see many houses and buildings that have gaping holes in both the roofs and walls, but are still occupied.
There are many ruins all over the island from the Japanese occupation and in town from the volcano damage. As we leave the secure area of the dock, we have to walk through the maze that is the street market set up for the passengers. Here we pick up six, 6 to7 year old, boys who follow us around as we walk down the main street to the Rabaul Hotel. There is an entrance to the Japanese bunker system at the back of the hotel, our goal for the morning. Along the way, we stop at the Catholic Church that was heavily damaged by the eruption. We see many houses and buildings that have gaping holes in both the roofs and walls, but are still occupied.The people are friendly and there are many children running around. Most of the adults have bright red teeth from chewing on beetle nut. After about two hours, we are soaked to the skin from the humidity and a rain shower so we head back to the ship.
Dick goes on board, but Carolyn makes a stop at the market to buy several bead and shell pieces. There is a man with some very nice basketwork. She stops to admire it and he quotes prices that are dirt cheap, so now we own a really nice basket with a top and a pretty platter. It reminds us of the sweet grass work we have collected from South Carolina except they use a heavier reed with 
which to weave. Now we just have to find a big box on Guam!
which to weave. Now we just have to find a big box on Guam!Security is really tight! A crew member is fishing off the dock and talking to the security guard. Back on the ship, we go for a swim and order lunch from room service.
The ship sails at 1:30PM. About two minutes before they put the gangway up, a small boat docks on the edge of the pier and off loads a group of passengers who have been diving…they were really cutting it close.
The captain does a sail away very close to the volcano so we have a good look at the damage from the eruption and the cone. It throws a towering new column of dark gray ash into the air as we pass and sounds as if a big jet were revving up its engines in the distance. 
We then sail between the islands of New Britain and New Ireland and into the Bismarck Sea along the edge of the Bismarck Archipelago.
The captain does a sail away very close to the volcano so we have a good look at the damage from the eruption and the cone. It throws a towering new column of dark gray ash into the air as we pass and sounds as if a big jet were revving up its engines in the distance. We then sail between the islands of New Britain and New Ireland and into the Bismarck Sea along the edge of the Bismarck Archipelago.Carolyn works on the pictures and the blog while Dick takes a nap.
Tonight is Italian night in the main restaurant. Our headwaiter has made us a special pasta dish…Penne with a good red sauce to go with the Caesar salad that has been excellent. We also have melon wrapped with prosciutto and the minestrone soup. It is nice meal with bottle of Shiraz. What a nice ending to an interesting day. Now we have three days at sea on our way to Guam.
and the culinary demonstration where the head chef prepares two dishes; pesto pasta and a scallop dish. The pastry chef does a custard desert also. It turns out to be comedy show because they can’t get the burners to work right and waste a lot of time which in turn causes the pastry chef’s frozen sample made earlier to melt so it won’t hold the finish decorations!. It is a fun hour and a half!
After lunch, we both go to the two lectures. The first one is “World Famous Ocean Liners” by a Dr. Bradley and Sarah Weber. They have been doing a series of talks on various sea related subjects since the ship left on its world cruise. The talk today is on the RMS Titanic. It is from the perspective of the type of ship and is very interesting. The second one is of interest to Dick, “Custom Villages and Cargo Cults, a visit to the Black Islands of Melanesia”. The speaker is Dr. Pamela Peck. She talks about Vanuatu and its people and mystery. Dick said it was good, but Carolyn only remembers the opening and closing pictures. She had a very nice nap during the rest of it! 
The sun isn’t really out, but it is bright . Other than some pretty, electric- blue coral and a couple of new fish, you could be in Grand Cayman or BVI. But, what the heck, you are on the GBR and you have the picture and the T-shirt to prove it. Actually, she does have fun playing with Wally a BIG blue fish. He was a male Maori Wrass.
After swimming, we have a buffet that was just OK, and then Carolyn does the sub ride and sees the giant clams and some other larger fish. The biggest surprise is the condition of the coral….It looks like Roatan did after the huge hurricane in the late mid-1990’s. Yes, there are a few fresh breaks that, maybe, are caused by human activities, but there is way too much broken coral to be explained that way. 
Fortunately the ride back is smooth.
then walks along the river
and back up by the Post Office, built in the Neo-Classical style between 1871 and 1879, Post Office Square and Anzac Square.
It turns out to be a nice little walk and, once again, the Great Victorian architecture in Australia is nicely highlighted. At 4:30PM, she is on the last bus back to the ship with many of the young crew. They are all stuffing Big Macs and singing in very accented English. It made for an interesting ride back!
All the staff we have met are great so far. The whole feel of the ship is family-like as everyone is introducing themselves to the 80 or so new comers. We also attend the first lecture in a series on the seafaring history of the area. It is about the first voyage of convict transportation to Australia and it is well done. There are a number of sea days with lectures, so this is very promising. 
We have breakfast and get the luggage ready to transfer to the ship. Check out time is 10:00AM and we can only get a late checkout of 11:00AM even though the hotel is almost empty and we only want the room till noon when we can go to the ship. This is another big, black mark on the Australian tourist industry along with the inattention to detail in the non-worldwide chains. Our previous stay at the Sydney Harbor Marriott was very nice. There were no surprises and when we told them our flight left at 3PM, we were quickly granted a 1PM check out which made the transfer so easy.
The QVB is a beautiful Victorian building, built in the 1890’s as a produce market. It is five floors, two underground and three above with a copper dome and a glass ceiling.
Carolyn is still looking for opals so after checking the directory we head to the top floor to a small one-man shop and, with the help of a delightful sales lady, walk out with five stones. They are a pair of boulder opals for earrings, two other really nice, irregular shaped, bolder opals, one with the blue colors and one with the reds, for pendants and a black opal that will match a pair of stones Dana got for Carolyn while she was teaching in Australia in 1995. The search and the wait were worth it.
We also admire Martin Place. It opened in 1891 and is now a traffic free plaza with the beautiful Renaissance style Post office built in 1866.
we head down to the end of the Rocks to Campbell’s Storehouses and an Italian place, The Italian Village, which has been recommended, for an early supper. 
As has happened several times on this trip so far, we are greeted with an Australian version of Italian which is akin to most cruise ship’s attempt at Tex-Mex! We won’t go hungry, but it definitely is not very good or worth the high price! The Steak dinner in the hotel last night was much better and almost half the price. It is still light when we finish so we walk around the area and take some pictures in the good light.
Then we take a taxi back to the hotel and bed. 
At Delemare, a little hamlet in a vale along the coast, we stop and explore an old Uniting Church and a small Anglican Church dating from the 1840’s. We take advantage of the shady parking lot and rearrange the luggage to meet the airline’s standards and head on to Adelaide.
It faces on the Southern Ocean, but the water is not rough so it is good for swimming. We then drive over to the Little Sahara, a collection of high sand dunes that look every bit like a desert. We climb the first dune, only to see two more, taller ones. Carolyn stops at this point but Dick is game for the next dune. He gets about two thirds of the way up and chickens out. Seems as how it has a crest like a wave and he figures he might just go swimming in the sand if he continues. 
Dick is the tiny black spot in spot in the middle of the picture near the top of the tall dune. Back at the car we shake the sand out of our shoes and head to Vivonne Bay for morning tea! 
The area around the Arch is home to a large colony of New Zealand Fur Seals. After a long walk down a board walk, that seems to go right off the cliff face into the ocean, then a trip down a number of steps, (Carolyn doesn’t want to know how many since she will have to climb up them again) we see the prize, the arch! The is a spectacular rock arch that forms the tip of the Cape. The ocean's wave action has formed a shallow pool under the arch and the fur seals use it as their own private swimming pool. We spend a long time watching them play in the shallow, clear water. Walking back up to the car we see a Black Tiger snake, one of the two, very deadly, Australian snakes.
Malcolm drops us at the Flinders Chase Visitor’s center to check out the little interpretive center while he sets up lunch in the picnic area. Again we have a very nice lunch with wine offered, but Dick passes as he had a hard time staying awake after indulging yesterday! The birds, brightly colored parrots, are raising cane in the trees as we eat.
A little further down the road is a 1900's old homestead that has been turned over to the government. It is open to guides with four wheel drive cars and to others for hiking. We drive down a very rough road and park under some trees. Malcolm guides us on a walk around the edge of a large open area. As we walk, looking for kangaroos, he gives us some history of the property and points out interesting plant and bird life. We really enjoy this walk, seeing many kangaroos. They watch us very closely, but most stay put and we get our fill of pictures. 
It has been another great day! Back at The Outlook, Peter has another good meal ready for us. What a wonderful way to end our time exploring Australia.
