Kavieng

Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island of the same name. The town is located at Balgai Bay, on the northern tip of the island. As of 2009, it had a population of 17,248. Kavieng is the main port for New Ireland, and is both a trading and tourist destination. Several dive companies operate from the town, as the area is known for its diving, both for natural sites and wrecks dating from the Second World War. There are plane and shipwrecks in Kavieng Harbor itself, as well as several more nearby. The town is serviced by Kavieng Airport, with daily connections to Port Moresby. It lies at one end of the Boluminski Highway which runs 293 kilometres (182 mi) of sealed road to Namatanai. Kavieng has all the usual services of a local administrative center: local government offices; shopping; hotels (such as the Kavieng Hotel, the Malagan Beach Resort hotel and the Kavieng Club (the former "colonial club" in the town)); a hospital providing general medical, pediatric and surgical services; and a weekly market. There is also a large wharf for copra export on the town's edge, which allow deep-water ships to load copra and oil directly from land. Visible from Kavieng are the many islands of the archipelago lying between New Ireland and New Hanover, including Nusa Lik, Nusa Lawa, and Nango Island (which was formerly the site of a fish cannery in the 1960s and 1970s). Nango is also the site of a new marine research center for the PNG National Fisheries Authority. Its opening was overseen by the Governor-General of PNG, Mr. Paulius Matane, in July 2009.