Balalae:

Nemesis – the end of the Pacific War

2 December 2012 | Media

Earlier this year I travelled up through the north Solomon Islands and joined a village boat across from Shortland Island to Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. I wrote it up as taking the Back Door to Bougainville, since it’s not an official entry point into the countr...

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Panguna Mine in Bougainville

1 March 2012 | Places

In February I travelled up through the Solomon Islands and into Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. I’ve posted on my back door route to Bougainville, taking a local boat across from Shortland Island, the northernmost island in the Solomons. I’ve also posted on the sad ...

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Yamamoto’s Aircraft Wreck

25 February 2012 | Places

The Japanese advance across the Pacific had been turned round at Guadalcanal in the Solomons and the Americans were now advancing north. On 13 April 1943 from his base at Rabaul on the Papua New Guinea island of New Britain, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto set out on a moral...

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The Back Door to Bougainville

21 February 2012 | Places

I’ve just travelled up through the Solomon Islands and across to the troubled Papua New Guinea island of Bougainville. You can find various discussions on travelling this route in Thorn Tree. ◄ I started by flying from Brisbane in Australia to Honiara in the Solomo...

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