Wednesday 30th June/2nd July

Back in sunny Honiara finally. I was meant to be here last week, but the plane developed a technical problem, and I would have missed my connection flight from Brisbane. I had a choice of going to Brisbane and overnighting and hopefully getting a flight to Honiara, or coming back on Tuesday and flying straight through.

I took the Tuesday option, and had 5 days holiday. Plus Pacific Blue have given me a credit for another equivalent flight to be used within 12 months, so I’m happy with that. I can get back to NZ for free.

The house still looks the same, the girls from work came through last week and cleaned it up for me, but as I found, I still have the bloody rats inside, I bought 2 rat traps in NZ, neither of them have been touched overnight, but the onions I bought at Barak Ba’hai last night have been nibbled through the plastic bag already. And I think they have chewed the wiring for the lights as well, I don’t have lights in the kitchen or the other half of the main room or bathroom.

It’s been busy at work, half the crew are at Auki, planting out the new Courthouse, it’s a good job, and we are being paid well for it. We need a few more of those and things will look good financially.

Planning Dept have held up our application again, they now have 3 Architects that they use for Planning Approvals, and if you don’t use them to check over and give approval, you don’t get anywhere. I’ll try and sort out the problem this week hopefully, it’s on our side, with the decision being made we aren’t to go along with it, and not pay the Planning Dept Architect for their approval.

The little truck is back again, but totally unsafe still. It was in the garage the time I was away, getting the brake drums spun out and having the cylinders honed. It now grabs on the front and almost nosedives into the road. Another thing to sort out. I’m taking it to Mazda here to get sorted properly, after 15 months we still haven’t got it working properly, all from having 2 suspension bolts replaced. I’ve left it at the nursery for the time being till I settle back into life here.

The Nursery area is marked out, all we need is the use of a grader or bulldozer to scrape off the top layer and level the area and we can start on laying out the beds, and perhaps get the propagation hut and seedling shelter built. We still haven’t heard from SIWA about a water supply, without that things won’t get anywhere for a while yet.

2nd July

It’s been a hectic few days, but I’m catching up slowly.

Firstly

In the dark of night a sound was heard
A lych gate banging shut
A prison door should sound so drear
Wee sleekit tim’rous beastie
Foul pestilence upon my door
No more upon my food you’ll eat
No more your droppings from my floor I’ll sweep
Oh how I laughed at 5am
When I threw your body out the door

After 6 months I finally ended the life of the bloody rat that has been a plague upon me. I bought 2 rat traps back with me, they took a little adjusting to get a hair trigger on the mechanism, but oh the joy of hearing it go off this morning. I’ll keep the traps set for a while yet, just in case it had friends, but I think it was just the one.

I’ve got a continual source of sawdust and woodchip finally from Barava Tropical homes across the road from us. Which helps with the continual need for potting mix, and we have a chicken farm asking for us to clear their houses out weekly now. So it is looking good in some aspects.

We’ve moved all the plants down to the nursery area, so Hasting Deering can have their front area back, until we get planning permission for the building the containers will be where they are though. I’ll have to get started on building the propagation house and shade area for cuttings next, get the weed mat laid out and once the irrigation system arrives get that installed.

Our new truck is meant to be here this week, more likely next though by the time Customs and Quarantine check it out.

The little truck, the bane of my life, is still unsafe to drive, despite a $4,000 invoice arriving for the work done. I’ll give them the truck in exchange I think, I’ve got so used to walking everywhere now that it doesn’t matter anymore.

I went to an Environment Seminar on Wednesday, which despite my misgivings was actually about the environment, not AGW. The main thing that came out of the meeting was for the Environment Health Development to ban plastic bags, similar to what Samoa have done due to the damage they do to the fish and reef, as well as the visual pollution created everywhere. All in all, it was a good seminar, a lot of ideas thrown into the basket, for the EHID to consider and start working to get implemented.