Happy Tycoon

The dirt road in front turned into an asphalt road, which surprised Yang Jing and the others. Howard explained with a smile: There is a small peninsula in front, named Matupit, and there is a settlement where people live There are about 900 people, and this road leads to that settlement.

After a pause, fearing that Yang Jing and the others would not understand, Howard continued to explain: The former Rabaul occupied the entire east coast of Simpsons Bay, counting from where we turned just now, to the southernmost tip of the entire peninsula, They are all the east city of Rabaul, and this is also the main urban area of ​​Rabaul. The Japanese headquarters was also stationed here. Sigh, do you see this flat area in front of you?

A piece of flat land appeared in front of them, with a large area, which surprised Yang Jing and the others. Along the way, apart from the fact that the mountains are hardened volcanic ash, it is rare to see such a large and flat area.

After a little hesitation, Chris said, Mr. Howard, was this an airport before?

Howard held it with one hand and snapped his fingers loudly with the other hand and said: Mr. Button is still smart, yes, this used to be Rabaul Airport. During World War II, this was a field airport built by the Japanese. Later, after the war, This became Rabaul Airport. But the volcanic eruption 20 years ago completely razed the airport to the ground.”

Yang Jing looked up at Tauru Volcano, which was less than two kilometers southeast of the airport, and felt that the Japanese devils back then were a bit brain-dead. You said that if you don’t find a good place to build the airport, you have to build the airport at the foot of an active volcano. Isn’t that courting death?

If we don't leave tomorrow, I can take you to the Rabaul War Memorial to have a look. There are many precious photos from World War II in that memorial, and one of them is very interesting. The scene of the Japanese fighter jet pilot at the airport, and behind the pilot is Tauru Volcano.

Hearing this, Yang Jing couldn't help showing a strange look on his face. If the devil pilot knew that the volcano that served as his background had directly destroyed 80% of Rabaul fifty years later, I don’t know what he would think.

Of course, if the volcano erupted suddenly at that time, presumably the US-Australian coalition forces could take Rabaul directly without bloodshed!

Along the way, Yang Jing finally understood why both the Germans and the Japanese built the main urban area on the east coast of Simpsons Bay. In fact, the wide and flat area here is much larger than the northern urban area. The widest distance from the coastline to the foot of the mountain in Beicheng District is only about 500 meters, but on the east side, the narrowest part is about one kilometer wide, and the widest part is even more than two kilometers wide.

It's just that although the geographical conditions here are good, it's a pity that it is too close to two active volcanoes. A casual sneeze from these two active volcanoes can bring disaster to the city.

A group of five people rode bicycles to the former site of the airport. Howard said: Further south is the settlement, and there is nothing to see. If you are interested, we can now climb the mountain on the east side of Tauru Volcano. An extinct volcano, at that position, is the best observation point to appreciate the surrounding scenery of Rabaul, every time I return to Rabaul, I will climb that Mount Bayai.”

Guo Xiaoxiang hesitated for a moment and asked: Captain, are you sure that the mountain is okay? What if, I mean, what if that volcano erupts too, wouldn't we all lose our lives?

Yang Jing shook his head helplessly and said: Fatty, you're not too young, how can you ask such a low-level question? Even if the volcano is going to erupt on a large scale, there will be various signs long in advance Appeared. Before any volcano erupts, there will be extremely strong signs. Don’t expect a volcano that has been silent for an unknown number of years to erupt before there are any signs of eruption. That is impossible. matter.

Okay, brother, you won, I was really brain-dead just now.

Yang Jing is right. Volcanic eruptions are different from earthquakes. It is difficult for human beings to predict earthquakes, but they can easily predict volcanic eruptions. The reason is that before any active volcano erupts, there will be obvious or even strong signs of eruption, often a few days or even dozens of days in advance, which seems to remind people, if you don’t want to die, hurry up Stay away from me, buddy can't help but want to erupt

As for the two volcanoes in front of me, even though one of them has only erupted for 24 years, it is still quiet now, with no sign of eruption at all.

However, Howard's words moved Yang Jing's mind.

Apart from climbing a mountain in Mount Hagen a few days ago, these days he was either floating on the sea or flying in the sky. To be honest, Yang Jing really wanted to experience the magnificence of climbing high and looking far away again.

In particular, the extinct volcano named Baai that Howard mentioned is located on the coast. Although the height is only about 500 meters, it is conceivable that once you can climb to the top, you will definitely see the spectacular scenery of the sea and the sky of.

Ignoring Guo Xiaoxiang, Yang Jing asked Chris and Adrian: How about it? Shall we just climb?

Chris spread his hands and said with a smile: Boss, I don't have any objections. The mountain is not high after the earthquake, and it can be climbed up in half an hour at most.

Adrian: You are the BOSS, I will follow your arrangement.

Yang Jing waved his hand excitedly: Come on, let's go and climb this extinct volcano.

Everyone rode southeast along the flat airport, and saw a fairly flat dirt road on the way. After walking along this dirt road for a short distance, they saw the culprit who destroyed Rabaul 24 years ago. Mount Tauru.

This active volcano has no temper at all now, and is as quiet as a little girl. It's just that although this mountain is less than 200 meters high, and the crater on it is still missing a large piece, no one dares to underestimate this volcano.

As long as it is an active volcano, it is one of the scariest things on this planet. It is quieter than anything else if it does not erupt, but once it erupts, it will be more irritable than anything else, absolutely no one can provoke it.

Moreover, although this volcano is now quieter than the quietest little girl, compared with the gloomy mountains around it, the vegetation on this mountain is sparse, especially near the crater, where there is not even a tree. I can't see it, it's a fight with Ge You.

You must know that this is a serious tropical area. The equator is more than 500 kilometers north of this mountain, but there is no vegetation on this mountain. The stark contrast is enough to explain the horror of this mountain.

The dirt road skirted the foot of Mount Tauru, took a sharp bend and continued on.

Several people stood at the foot of Tauru Volcano and looked up at the terrifying volcano quietly for a while before moving on. Along this dirt road, they soon came to a relatively flat grassland.

This grassland is located at the foot of Mount Baiai and is very flat. There are some wooden houses and some tents on the grass. It is clear that this place has become a meeting point for tourists as well as locals.

More than ten years ago, after the Tauru Volcano completely calmed down, some tourists who came here established a small tourist gathering point with the cooperation of the local people. Whether they came to appreciate Tauru Visitors to the volcano or Mount Paibai will rest here for a while before continuing their journey. We can put the car here and go up from here, but there is no way to ride the car.”

Under the leadership of Howard, they came to a large wooden house on the edge of the grass. A man in his fifties walked out of the house. He could tell from his complexion that he was a local.

The local man seemed very happy after seeing Captain Howard. After giving Howard a warm hug, he began to talk enthusiastically with Howard in the local language.

After the two communicated for a while, Howard came back and explained: This is my neighbor when I was a child. We can put the car here and he will take care of it.

After everyone put the car away, they greeted the local man again, and then began to climb the mountain under the leadership of Howard.

Although this Bayai Mountain is the second highest in Gazelle's half way after the extinct volcano in the north, it is not difficult to climb. The hillside is very gentle, and tourists have stepped on several paths on it. Each of them walked up the path with a western wooden stick. They only need to pay attention to the snakes and some insects that appear from time to time. There is no difficulty.

Howard collected some unknown wild flowers from the side of the road while walking, and when he was about to reach the top of the mountain in more than 20 minutes, he already had a large bouquet of wild flowers in his hand.

My grandfather's mausoleum has long been buried by volcanic ash, and now I can't find the exact location, so every time I go back to Rabaul these years, I climb up this mountain to pay homage to my grandfather, and at the same time pay homage to the buried Lost Rabaul, there are too many memories of my childhood here.

Only then did everyone understand why Howard collected these wild flowers on the road.

The top of the mountain was quickly trampled under the feet of everyone. It's just that the top of this Bayai Mountain is not big, only more than 100 meters long and 70 meters wide, and the center of the top of the mountain is slightly sunken, and the surrounding edge is slightly higher than the center.

Obviously, this is also a volcano, but I don't know how many years it has been silent, and the original crater has been almost filled up with ashes.

After Howard reached the top of the mountain, he went to the northwest corner of the mountain alone, where he could overlook the entire Rabaul.

But Yang Jing and the others did not follow, but walked towards the southeast edge of the mountain.