Its been awhile...

Hi all, Hannah here. Yep real life got in the way of blogging for a bit there but starting right now I am making amends. I will endeavour to keep all the news on Kabaira Dive as current as possible from now on.
First up: I have a few catch up posts to make, covering some of the other activities that can be had when people come to stay at Kabaira Dive.

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KABAIRA WANTOKS NEWSLETTER 1
31st March 2007
www.kabairadive.com.pg
by Lyn Woolcott

The big news of the day is that Air Niugini has finally agreed to bring direct flights from Cairns to Rabaul. This is a great initiative. At present they have agreed to put 2 flights per month until November. Here on the ground we are all excited about this. If anyone is thinking of coming to visit it would be worthwhile checking with Air Niugini to see if these flights suits you. The more we can support the flights the better chance we have of the flights continuing. Don't forget to let your friends know.

Kabaira is now serving lunches on Sunday and we have had some interesting visitors last month. Glenn & Jenny Fisher from Caboolture came back to revisit Rabaul and stayed at Rabaul Hotel (formally Hamamas Hotel). Anne McCosker whose father Stan McCosker was in Rabaul when the Japanese landed and returned after the war has also come back for a visit. She has written a book "Masked Eden" which is a valuable record of this part of our history. Her web site is www.annemccosker.com. Well worth looking up.

Our divers of late have included some of the research scientists who have been working on the undersea mining program. They have identified that there is gold at the bottom of St George's Channel and it looks very possible that mining could be as early as 2008.

In February, Stephen also took diving the crew on the Australian Navy vessel which was doing surveying in the area. They were also tasked with the job of locating the AE1 - this was the first Australian Naval Submarine lost in World War 1 with all hands on deck. It has remained a mystery ever since as it virtually disappeared on a clear afternoon after patrolling with another Australian Naval Vessel. With their modern technology they are quietly confident that they have located it close to the Duke of York Islands.

The recent tsunami did reach Rabaul but reacted as most of the tsunami's have in recent times. The water level came up to the harbours board wharf and breached Wharf Road in front of Pacific Industries. We are fortunate that this appears to be the extent of most of the tsunami's for Rabaul in this area. The obvious movements of the plates has had an effect on Tavuvur and we have had a couple of days of fairly loud eruptions. As the wind has now moved to the North West, Rabaul is experiencing some light ash.

The best news is that we can escape to Kabaira on the weekend and enjoy a quite day in the PukPuk Bar..