New Guinea monotones

These two pictures were captured at the foot of Tavurvur volcanic crater in Rabaul, New Guinea. One looks like a few old bones (they are twigs, settled into the ash), the other is what remains of a once flourishing landscape. 

Walking around the ash-blanketed beachfront and seeing the remains of foliage still standing in its petrified state is weird – life has lost all its colour.

After coming from the mainland of New Guinea with its brilliant, tropical colours surrounding me at every turn, this black and white world feels apocalyptic. There is still smoke curling into the air and, since the last almighty eruption in 1994, the look of the immediate area beneath and around the volcano feels like it happened a week ago. An eerie experience but an up close and personal look at what nature is capable of.

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New Guinea moments

Just passed a beautiful long weekend in Sydney - but there was a definite chill in the air. Got me thinking back to this time last year visiting Papua New Guinea – and it was very hot. The pictures featured are at a dive resort in Tufi – accessible by plane or boat only. I was with a few other travel writers and we had taken boxes of books, pencils, notepads and some fun stuff to add to a classroom. The school on Tufi has 'rooms' with a floor, half walls and a roof. Damage has been done over the years with bad weather and there is no money to finance the school with equipment.
The majority of the students paddle from around the coast (sometimes for three hours) to get there. We distributed the gifts as discreetly as we could but the teachers introduced us to the children and they all welcomed us and thanked us with hearty applause.
One of my companions played soccer with them – and like kids from anywhere, they liked the outside bits of school better than the inside. If you are on a cruise in that region you may stop at Tufi - if you do perhaps drop some pencils, medium size shirts (for the teachers who earn almost nothing) and some good will.