You shoulda seen the place before 1994 - I and a few others were going to join PX, have homes on the harbour in Rabaul and commute. Then we lost everything in the volcanic eruptions and that was that. We joined PX and took CNS basings instead.
Rabaul was paradise on earth - I loved living there so much - had my boat at the Yachty (21' half cabin with a 225hp Evinrude). I used it so many days a week I used to leave it tied to the yacht club jetty rather than on its trailer in the club. Pulled it out every few weeks for a good clean and flush through.
Diving the deep wrecks, trolling with a beer in one hand as the sun set...as I got airborne in our company 404 with Tuvurvur erupting a nm behind me I glanced over towards the yachty and saw my boat tied to the jetty on the most stunning Rabaul morning and just knew it was all over - never saw it again but a mate went looking for his 25' Bertram some months later and found mine upside down on the bottom, half buried in volcanic ash/mud, about 20m from the jetty.
