Wednesday 2nd September
Well, isn’t it interesting when google sneezes, the whole world catches cold. Still no word on what caused the outage, well, not by the time I finally logged off at work anyway. Plenty of complaints and worried people though, especially the ones using google apps for their workplace.
I thought for a moment this morning that it was just a crap Telekom connection but firefox opened and I found a news feed about it. It was just the start of a day that got progressively worse unfortunately.

I’ve mentioned before about how close we sail financially each month with income/expenditure. It all caught up with us today with 2 cheques taking longer than normal to clear, with the consequence there wasn’t enough in the bank to cover the wages. Very embarrassing to have to front the work crew and ask them to wait till Friday. I would have covered it from my own account, but I’m in the same position with my monthly paycheck still waiting to clear.
Then we had Clement from Forestry call in, he’s not too bad to deal with, at least he gives a straight answer when asked. The bad news is that he wants to move into the office with his people by the end of the month, and the Head of Forestry won’t let us stay in the Botanic Gardens. As Tiffany and I found out, Forestry are intending to build a new Administration building, 2 storeys, and 20 or more houses for the Forestry employees in the Gardens, which makes a mockery of calling it a Botanic Garden.

I’ve written an article for the Solomon Star, venting a bit. Once I’ve run it past Tiffany tomorrow I’ll send it in with any alterations to get it in the public view. I had a letter in the Star today about the tree at Town Ground being ringbarked, along with the comment that I doubted Honiara would ever make it to village status, let alone a town or city with the attitudes and behaviour of the people that live here.

I can’t see my position lasting, once we leave the gardens the chances of getting funding for a Nursery fall away without the Botanic Gardens as the main focus. So I’m taking my frustrations out in letters and articles about the corruption, short sighted attitudes, and loss of amenities in the name of building an empire for Forestry. I may have to take Steve up on the offer to go to the outer islands and run sustainable farming courses. Just don’t mention global warming.

Tomorrows meeting with Solomon Tourism is going to be good. They promote the Botanic Gardens on the website, and in all the brochures. I’m going to let them know exactly what will happen to the Gardens under Forestry, from what we were told, the village will be evicted, and 20 or more houses will be built through the gardens, and most of the forest will be gone. I’ll make sure we take the bridges down, and the orchid house, we’ve never been paid for any of the work done there, and the timber in the bridges will be useful.

This is the rough draft of the article for the Solomon Star.

Botanic Gardens To Go

Forestry plans for 2 storey Head Office and housing estate for employees in Botanic Garden grounds.

After 10 years involvement with the Botanic Gardens, re-establishing the tracks, paths and bridges, establishing the Nursery and Orchid display house, organising and running Level 1 and Level 2 Horticulture Courses Solo Enviro Beautification (SEB) have been told to leave the Botanic Gardens so that Forestry can build an Administration building and 20 or more houses for Forestry employees.

The Nursery, and all associated work that SEB have been involved with in the Botanic Gardens will cease once SEB leaves, the people living in the Village will also be evicted and most of the Botanic Gardens will be turned into a Forestry Housing Estate.

Solo Enviro Beautification (SEB) CEO Tiffany Tuihaka feels that this is a huge step backwards after the work that SEB have put into developing the Botanic Gardens on a voluntary basis. The Gardens are the last open ground area that is accessible to the people of Honiara for recreation, out door gatherings, barbques, and are used extensively by the local schools, SICHE, for ecology, horticulture and geology lessons.

“We have groups using the Gardens for social gatherings, Jehovahs Witnesses, the Womens League of Honiara, Woodford School Crosscountry Race, weddings, birthday celebrations, there will be nowhere left in Honiara for those activities once Forestry shut the Gardens and create the housing estate. Along with the many tourists that visit, and the teenagers who use the Gardens as a quiet area for study, and a safe meeting place for their friends away from the streets.”

“Head of Forestry has stated that Forestry cannot work alongside SEB in the Gardens, which SEB finds hard to believe. We have different activities, and there is no overlap of work. SEB believes that Forestry want total control to prevent anyone noticing what they are doing within the Gardens. Once Forestry start work it will be too late to replace or reclaim the Botanic Gardens and the last remaining open recreational and natural area in Honiara will be lost”

“The historical history that is here will be lost, the British Hanging Site, the Japanese war caves in the cliff faces, along with the last remnant of lowland forest in Honiara.”

It is the loss of the forest that concerns VSA NZ advisor Warren Nash. “This is the only accessible area of natural lowland forest left close to Honiara, some of the tree species are becoming rare and endangered in the wild due to logging. The collection of ngali nut, breadfruit, noni fruit, palms, ficus species are the ones that we should be preserving and propagating to ensure their survival, not felling them to create another housing estate..”

“As a Botanic Garden we should be encouraging the preservation of the trees, and establishing propagation facilities and offering the people of Honiara an area of land that is theirs to enjoy as a passive recreation area”

SEB have requested to be allowed to stay in the Botanic Gardens and base their activities in the existing Nursery, but Forestry have repeatedly turned down this request.


Our little truck is still getting comments through town, with the wooden tray. Every time I get alongside a truck with the usual 50 people, pikininis, dogs and produce on the back there is always a comment made about it, good ones thankfully. Parking it anywhere in town attracts people like ants to honey. I’ve usually got at least 6 people waiting to see whose truck it is when I go shopping, all of whom ask if we built it and where.

The new shopping mall steel work is nearly finished in town, 3 storeys of shops, restaurants and offices going in there. As if we need another 200 shops. The other 2 malls opposite are at the fit out stage, and Town Ground Stadium is at the exterior plastering stage now. By the end of this year there will be nearly 400 more shops opening, with the big mall scheduled to open next year. And still no reliable or safe water supply, electricity, or sewage system. Or any work for people to earn the money to spend in the shops. I think the idea is to employ everyone as shop assistants, then have them spend their pay in the same shop. Or one of the relatives shops. They are all Chinese owned, so the money will not be flowing back into the Solomon Islands.

I’ve notice with the low rainfall now, the stream is starting to grow long trails of green algae from the nutrients, presumably the sewage from the houses further up the valley. I hope it is the runoff from septic tanks, but somehow I doubt that it has been treated very much. The fish and eels are still alive though, and people are still swimming in the river. I get the impression if you live to 10 yrs old here, there isn’t much you could catch that will kill you after your immune system gets a good workout growing up.