11th March

Finally, first estimate for Heritage Hotel done, $354,600 just for the plants at the rear, without looking at the frontage. So much for their $100,000 allocation. Add labour costs into that, $500,000 easily.

That’s what happens here when things get left to the last minute. Everyone knows they need the plants, all my suppliers know I need them, so the prices have gone up. I’m paying $450 each for 2 metre coconut palms, and I need 150 for Heritage. They’ve been working on the site, or developing it now, for 5 years, 3 months to go before opening, “oh, that’s right, throw some plants around here please”

Musa, Carica, Cocos nucifera, grow like weeds here, and get chopped down mercilessly, until someone wants them, then you start negotiating $’s

I’m past caring actually, it’s been a headache dealing with Heritage, and my suppliers, and I’ve fallen behind with what I’m actually meant to be doing here

Talked over the possibility of getting the Botanic Gardens declared a National Heritage Area with Steve again today. I’m probably getting close to the boundary of my advisors role here, but given the Councils attitude towards the Gardens, the lack of co-operation, and the constant encroachment into the edges of the Gardens, I think it is the only way for the Botanic Gardens to have any real long term future. Steve is going ahead with arranging a meeting with the Minister for the Environment for next week

We’re having constant power cuts here this week, one of the 3 diesel generators that supply Honiara, hem bugarup, and the replacement is a week away coming from Japan. I went for another track walk through the Gardens for a couple of hours. Found more Cycas bougainvillea, they are supposed to be rare here. I keep tripping over the things now. Cycas circinalis are all in seed, Sago cycas, I’m hoping that the seed is viable, and we’ll propagate as many as possible.

Found a lot of dendrobium orchid flowers on the track, yellow brown speckled throat, they are so high up in the canopy, I’ll need one of the good tree climbers in the crew to go look for them. I can’t find it in any reference book yet, a few close to it, but not close enough to say for definite which variety. Considering there are an estimated 230+ varieties of Dendrobiums in the Solomons, and Bulbiferums, one that isn’t in any reference book isn’t unusual.

We had a Botanist from Germany here last year for 3 months, a year later, he still hasn’t finished cataloguing, naming or describing the plants within the Botanic gardens.

I’m constantly wandering through the tracks, plucking leaves, flowers, going through reference books, catching seed heads as they float down from the tops, a few of the trees I’ve managed to identify are classed as endangered in the wild, due to the logging that is being done in the Solomons and Bouganville, Papua New Guinea. Even more reason to have the Botanic Gardens declared a National Heritage Area.

We’ve got the post barrier erected across the lawn edge. Cut the trees from the Nursery into 800mm sections, about 350mm diameter, and buried 400mm deep.
It was only acacia, but heavy!. 2 person lift for each section, once it was on your shoulder, ok, you could walk with it, but you didn’t want to be dropping it.

And of course, no one came and tried to drive up on the grass. I was hoping to catch someone, I’ll wait.

The swimming hole restoration is progressing well. 2 more layers of tyres and it will be up to the ground level, and finished, then we start on the dam reconstruction. So far we’ve had a few floods down the river without losing any tyres, so the steel pins are working, with the double tyres tied in behind and back filled with river gravel. The crew working on it are happy, now they want to see if my idea of sloping the dam wall back will work, instead of a barrier.

My work permit finally got approved today, so I’m here working legally now. My job description on it reads,’Advisory Position Botanic Gardens” so I’m having fun with Tiffany and Shirleyta over what I do from now on. I’m going to scan it into OCR tomorrow night and re-word it so it reads, “Studying ecological systems and impact on offshore reef structure” as my excuse to get 3 days a week out fishing.

Having seen hardly any geckos for a week, there are now 7 inside here with me tonight. There’s a small 50mm one doing laps up and down the door frame, up one side, across, down, then it runs across the floor, and climbs back up. 3 or 4 times since I first noticed it tonight.

Arrrgh, it’s 10.30pm, I spent 3 ½ hours tonight writing up the Heritage estimate, I’ve spent close to 35 hours outside of work on it, no wonder I’m sick of it.

I’ve been here a month now, and only been once to the beach. When Rosalee gets here, I’m taking a long weekend and we’ll go to Savo Island resort for 3 days. Or 4