Rabaul: Jewel of the Pacific

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Tuesday, August 17, 2010 | 5 photos

My name is Kara, I'm 18 years old and trying to find my place in the world. I live in Australia but I was born overseas and I have had the opportunity to travel to Sweden, my home country. But last year I went to Papua New Guinea to visit family living there.

These photographs were taken in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. My Grandmother lives and works in Port Moresby to aid the government in various projects. We stayed in Kokopo not far from Rabaul and the community is still recovering from the devastation from the recent volcano eruption in the 90's. It still releases plumes of volcanic smoke and ash from time to time. My trip there really opened my eyes to a whole new world. There are still remnants from WWII that the Japanese left behind, including many ship wrecks that the public can explore.

This trip only fuelled my hunger for travel and has inspired me to put other destinations on my list. I never really thought about travelling to 'third world' countries but now I feel that if I could get there and photograph the conditions and circumstances and everyday life, it might just make a difference to how people think and therefore act.