In 2005, Trevor Hattersley travelled to Rabaul on business. He captured some excellent shots of the volcano erupting. The photography is his. I only mildly Photoshopped them to prepare them for the web.

Here’s a nice one along the road to the volcano:

Since I’m playing journalist these days, I thought it might be fun to interview Trevor about his experiences. I had my notebook out on the boat and I managed to get his attention away from Karen long enough to extract the following nonsense:

Q – Okay, Trevor. What were you doing in Rabaul?

A – I was there to sell delicious, non-gritty Globe products to the hungry masses.

Q – Nothing different there, eh?

A – Right.

Q – Did you see any evidence of volcanism while you were there?

A – I looked around for Mr. Spock, but he wasn’t there.

Q – Ah . . . okay. Actually, I meant volcanoes. Did you see any of that stuff?

A – Oh, yeah. I took some snapshots of the volcano from the balcony of my room at the Queen Emma Lodge. Nice place. Great bar.

Q – Did you get close to the action?

A – I ran into Susie Alexander at the Hamamas Hotel.

Q – Uh . . . yeah. I mean did you see the volcano up close?

A – Yeah, yeah, we drove to the base of the volcano. There was a hot spring there.

Q – What was that like?

A – It was hot.

Q – And . . . ?

A – There were boulders the size of Volkswagens falling on the side of the volcano. You could hear them thumping all around. And lightning too . . . thumping. And flashing.

Q – Wasn’t that a little dangerous?

A – I reckon.

Q – Did you take a dip in the hot spring?

A – I thought about it, but then I cooked some eggs instead.

Interview Terminated.

If the above sounds a little bizarre, don’t be concerned. It’s only because you’ve never tried to get a straight answer out of Trevor Hattersley.

Ask anybody.

So, here are some of Trevor’s shots. The volcano huffing:

And puffing:

A distant shot from Trevor’s lair (quite nice, actually . . . good show, Trev):

And closer up:

Beautiful shot, that one.

And closer still, the sun lighting up the plume of noxious stuff belching out:

And there you have it.

Nice job, Trev.