Last Sunday Roger and I flew seven Union officials up to Rabaul to visit some of our church educational institutions. What follows is a few pictures along the way. Here we have left Lae (the point Emelia Earhart took off from on her last flight) and have reached the first island group to the North.
Here we are flying along the Southern coastline.
On approach into Rabaul, the tower gives a report of which way the ash is currently blowing from the active volcano which is within 15 miles of the airport. A number of years ago the volcano exploded massively destroying the town of Rabaul including the airport. They have now built a new airport just across the bay. The town has a new section across the bay, but much still lays buried in ash.
Here are most of the Pastors as we unloaded. Two others are not in the picture.
On departure, we turned right a bit to stay well clear of the volcanic ash.
Here you can see what is left of the older volcano and town area. What used to be the airport is now just a massive mud slide area in lower right of the picture. Needless to say, one always wonders when the volcano will erupt again?
After island "hopping" back, we are just crossing the Northern coastline of the mainland and you can see some of the mountain range as we head back for Goroka which is located in the highlands.
The flying in PNG is as varied as the weather. A big variety of flavors on any given day.
