9th March

Here’s a bit of a geography lesson. The Solomon Islands consist of 9 provinces, with a land area of 28083.646 sq Kms. Total area governed by the Solomon Island Government is over 400,000sq kms in size, sea and land area.

The provinces from West to East are Western, which butts up against the eastern side of Bouganville, Choiseul, slightly to the north of Western Province, Ysabel, or Isabel, to the north of Central Province, Guadacanal, south of Central, Rennel and Bellona south of Guadacanal, Malaita to the east of Central and Ysabel, Makira/Ulawa to the east and south of Guadacanal, and Temotu, about 400kms to the east of Makira/Ulawa

Each Island group has its’ own culture, language, some have several languages, flora and fauna. Some are volcanic in origin, some are coral based atolls. The people themselves all have different appearances, Malaitans have dark skins, blonde or reddish hair, very easy to tell where they come from, other island groups have coal black skins, asian features, or Polynesian in appearance. I’m working on recognition. Guadacanal, where I am based is a mix of coral reefs uplifted by earthquakes on the northern side, and volcanic rock on the southern side. Savu Island about a 45 min canoe ride north of Honiara is an active volcanic island, the Savu Island resort, the cheapest in the Solomons, offers a 45 min walk to the lower crater, or a 3 hour trek to the top of the main crater, where you have the dubious pleasure of standing inside an active volcano.

Despite all the languages, toktok pijin is spoken throughout the islands, and in most provinces there will be people who can speak english

Savu Island also has the Megapode bird, a bit like a bantam with long crow like feet, which buries its eggs in the hot sand, and lets the volcano do the incubating.

I’m hoping during the next two years to visit every province, as part of the Botanic Gardens upgrade, to gather endemic plants to propagate and plant in the Gardens.

David is out of hospital finally, his arm will be several weeks, if not months before he is able to use it fully. We had a very good talk together this morning, what he would like for the Gardens to do or be, what I would like to see happen. What I’ve learnt in the past few weeks here, is there may be a lot of talking done, but it is always going towards a conclusion. I’ve been making decisions more or less on my own, to get things started, luckily, they have been in line with what David sees as the Botanic Gardens eventual place in the Solomons.

We both agree that the Nursery needs to be expanded, upgraded, and improved, and more staff training over the next 2 years. I feel better having made those decisions without consultation that they have been in line with what everyone wants to see happen as well.

I think I surprised him with some of the things I mentioned, and how I speak of the Gardens as being **ours**. While we were talking outside, a local drove up, and over onto the lawn area by the stream, in a 4WD, and ate lunch, then dropped the takeaway cartons out of the truck window into the stream. I got to them before they floated away, and had great pleasure in putting them back into the truck while the woman was reversing out over MY lawn, and telling her not to park on OUR lawn, and not to drop her rubbish in MY Gardens. David was laughing so much by the time I got back to him, he took a few minutes to catch up again. We’re putting a post and rail low fence around the parking area this week, using the trees we cut out of the Nursery for the posts and cutting rails as well.

Something that really annoyed me last Friday at the Memorial Gardens, and it’s taken me all weekend to be able to put it in a way David understood, when the tourists arrive there, every wood and stone carver on Guadacanal arrives, sets up their blankets and carvings on the footpath inside the garden, then starts pestering the tourists with **Hello, you like to Buy**

Most of the tourists on Friday were either American or Australian, in their late 60’s, and from the ones I spoke to, were at the Memorial Garden to remember uncles, elder brothers, or just because they had served at a later time in the US Marines or Navy, and wanted to remember various Units that had served on Guadacanal in WW2. The trees there have plaques denoting different Marine Units, Ships, Air force, individuals, who served and died on Guadacanal, all donated by different people and Services Units.

I explained to David that in our eyes, the Memorial Gardens were a Sacred Site, a place for Remembrance, and peace, and to have traders pestering people to buy carvings detracted from it. I used the Tabu Sites here in the Solomons as an example, how would he feel if I went to a Solomon Island Sacred Site, and set up a stall selling whatever I could find?

We’re getting signage made, and the traders will be allowed to sell there, but only on the road verge outside the Memorial Garden, not inside

Small steps, but I think important ones.

I walked over the ridge track to the Kastom Village today, we had a power cut at work again, so I had some time to fill in. Met John, the Village Chief, explained who I was, and that we were starting to get the tourist cruise ships back, and he is calling a village meeting tomorrow, and all the village will be upgraded and spruced up over the next few weeks. Once I get another camera I’ll get pics. The Kastom Village is a small group of people who fled into the Botanic Gardens during the troubles, all from different provinces, and built typical province houses like the ones I’ve been posting.

When my predecessor Eric found them, they’d been living quite happily there for a few years, with no-one being any wiser. Instead of evicting them, Eric hammered out a co-operative deal with the Council, Forestry, Botanic Gardens Trust, and the villagers, so they could stay, on the condition that the houses be retained in Kastom Style, no charge would be made on any tourists coming through, and the villagers themselves were made honorary park rangers, and took responsibility to keep the village area clean, tidy. I was pleased when I got there, it looks like an idyllic setting, river and waterfalls, gardens, some of the houses are a bit tatty, but as I found out, several families have returned to their home province, and there are only 21 people living there now. Chief John will get the area tidied up, house thatch redone, in time I hope for the next cruise ship.

Class today was easy, we went over grafting once more, then I put my 2 volume set of Flora out on the bench, and said they could all have a browse through them. 6 people clustered around each volume, turning the pages one by one, and talking constantly. They would have been there all day if I’d let them. Whenever they found a plant they knew from here, there was a collective gasp, that one of their plants was in the book.

I found some tree geckos in the forest, a lot of lizards, or skinks, there are cuscus living in there, but we think they may have been poached out, no one has seen any for some time. Also, there is a snake living around the lily pond, no doubt eating quite well off the frogs there. I asked if it was a poisonous one, but the only description I got was that it was a Lazy Snake, it rarely moves much in daytime, and the crew know it is there, so work around it when they come across it. There are green tree snakes in the forest, but I’m thinking they will be high up where the bird and animal life is, rather than down at ground level.

Our compost heap from last week is heating up very well, there was a thick cloud of steam coming off it this morning, and it is too hot to put your hand into it very far.
I have chilli, silverbeet, tomatoes to plant out this weekend, my beans, zucchini and cucumber are growing well. Scattered some coriander and capsicum seeds in as well to try.

Pic is a house from Western Province.

8th March

I didn’t get away this weekend, spent Saturday morning at Heritage Hotel measuring the areas for planting, over 500 metres of paths to be edge and bulk planted. There’s no way we’ll have enough plants ready for June, if we’d had some warning, we could have been bulking up stock a year ago, but to propagate, transplant, sufficient stock in 3 months?

Add in the mature palms and trees they want for bits and pieces around the pool area, it’s going to be expensive if we have to get them from the bush farms.

We’ve got Adrian back with us. His wife works for RAMSI, he’s Australian. He’s a freebie volunteer, we got him because his wife is a friend of Keithies, and they thought he’d be useful at the Gardens. I’ve got him involved looking after the Rove Prison Training. A good few months there will be good for him, and us

It’s been one of those weekends when nothing seems to get done. Lost electricity yesterday afternoon till nearly 8pm, then had the usual water problem, and again today for most of the day.

The people up the top of me, seem to be woodcarvers. They started hammering away Friday afternoon, inside the house, so it echoes around the neighbourhood, till midnight Friday, then started again 9am Saturday morning, till 11pm, I finally went up there at 11pm, and asked them if they could possibly leave it till daytime. Lot’s of embarrassed grins and “Sori, sori, sori” Nice people, but just getting carried away with the creative spirit

I’ve decided that buying fish is a real haphazard process here, other than going to the shops in Honiara that charge considerably more for the privilege. It’s close to 30C all the time, today feels like 90% humidity, clothes just go limp in minutes, and the fish at Kukum Market are out on tables with a basic shade screen, and people waving sticks with rags keeping the flies moving. I really felt like a good feed of fish, but changed my mind. It’s a pity, some of the tuna and kingfish are a really good size, and probably looked really good several hours ago, before they sat in the sun all day.

None of the fish are cleaned, gilled or gutted, so you buy the whole fish, then have to clean it. It would be ok, if they’d been kept cold on ice, but in the bottom of a canoe, then on a table in the sun?
I’ve got lesson plans to write up for this week, and I’ll try to have at least 2 assessments ready for them by Friday.

Pic is of the Museum Grounds and the Kastom Houses

6th March

I’m a bit like Sam Vimes*, when I hear the phrase **these people** I start looking for sharp bladed objects. No names, I had to put up with closed lips for a while this morning while someone who probably doesn’t know any better talked about everyone I work with. Or more likely, doesn’t want to know any better.
I’ve had no trouble getting anyone at work to do stuff, there is a bit of male/female bias, I mentioned it a few days back, where the women do the majority of the work, the men do just sit around expecting to be waited on, I’ve got one or two men doing the course that I’m working on about that, but I’ll do it my way. I won’t be told that **these people** only work if you shout at them and you have to watch them all the time. Bit like Dwarves, the little buggers are everywhere, and you never see their women. Shiftless lazy lot, working all day and night, quaffing** and fighting all the time.

Yesterday was chaotic, the class in the morning was fun, we did grafting, using branches from a few hibiscus that were cut out, Sandy constantly amazes me. He never says much, he watches, listens, reads my propagation manual, then just goes and does beautiful grafts and splice grafts. Then comes up after class at lunchtime with questions that are so far above a Level 2 certificate. I need more gardening magazines, horticulture books, anything to do with gardening! Everyone here is so hungry for learning.

Wills called in after lunch. He’s one of the people here that work with Aid agencies writing up Funding proposals, to be submitted to the different countries and organizations that provide aid here. He can write sentences like

**It is envisaged that the positive outcomes derived from the input of capital will enable the indigenous people to determine and ascertain independence, and that the infrastructure of the governing bodies will enable all stakeholders to be active participants in determining positive and ongoing future developments that will ensure equality without race or gender affecting the ideal predetermined input and outcomes that will provide for employment opportunities available to every stakeholder.**

I just wrote that and I haven’t a clue what it means either, but it looks good on the proposals, and the UN and Euro Aid, etc all love it.

I’d have written,

**Give us some money so we can get organised and get everyone working, and stop bloody well interfering**

Anyway, I had to write up my wish list for the Nursery by tomorrow, with reasons for purchase and how I thought the equipment would increase both the ability of the Nursery to produce plants efficiently, and also how the equipment would give more skills and work opportunities to everyone here.

It was fairly brief, 4 pages of explanation about what we have now, with the ladies hand rubbing coconut husk through a hand sieve as an example, and how a heavy duty mulcher would speed the process up, and also help remove waste from the Honiara township.

Then a page of equipment, from mulchers, to water systems, pumps, hand tools, training manuals and educational aides.

So about 1am this morning I had it finally edited and printed out.

2pm we had King George VI School 6th form students arrive for a guided tour of the gardens, emphasis on the ecology, preservation, native plants, rain forest habitat. 40 of them, all with a list of questions they wanted answering. I was pleased to get away from them at 4pm, not that they were a nuisance, but my head was spinning with having to think so fast about everything they asked.

Thursday

We finally got our compost made today. About 2 cu. metres of it, layers of wood chippings, with chicken manure in between. I worked with the ladies for the morning, they’re a lot more fun to work with anyway, always laughing and working steadily. We had to bag the wood chips, and carry them a few metres to where we made the heap, still no wheelbarrow, they worked steadily at the heap with rakes and shovels, carried the bags over, I got the easy bit, shovelling chicken manure between the layers with Jennifer and Doris.

I had the men down the river, digging out river gravel and spreading it around the pathways in the Nursery, so we won’t be walking in mud when it rains.

There is a War Memorial Garden by Henderson Field Airport that we are responsible for. About 250 Carallia brachiata trees, beautiful trees, they grow straight with weeping branches.

About a year ago someone got the idea to try to prevent the bull ants that are everywhere here from getting into the trees, and they obtained some form of tar/glue that is meant to deter ants. I haven’t been able to find what yet, or even the tins of it, but it is constricting the tree trunks, and has killed 26 trees so far in the Garden, some are surviving by growing adventitious roots out above the glue, others have inarched over the glue. I’m trying to find out how to either wash it off, which is the ideal solution, or else I’ll be there with the students cutting branches and they can practise inarch grafting on about 100 trees.

If it works well and good, if it doesn’t the trees will die anway.

Shirleyta at work, her brother is looking after one of the numerous cousins boat, while the cousin is working in Australia, and she is trying to find out when they can organise a fishing trip. I am definitely going to Turtle Beach this weekend, probably Sunday, shopping Sat, and Kukum Market on my way home Sunday.

I might not catch anything, but it looks better to be sitting there with a fishing rod, than just staring out over the water, and gives me something to do, I have a very low boredom threshold.

*Sam Vimes, read Night Watch, or Men at Arms, Guards Guards, from the Discworld series, Terry Pratchett is a brilliant writer
** Quaffing is like swilling, but you spill more.

Pic is the USA War Memorial Skyline Drive

5th March

My apologies, I was up till 1am this morning writing up a funding and equipment list to be presented to the Japanese Grass Roots Agency.

And now I'm at work and out of time to write anything

I'll catch up tonight.

3rd March

I had one of the most pleasant surprises today at work. Annie arrived and gave me a necklace of Malaitan shell bead money as a present. Brown shells, with red and white bands. One of the nicest presents I’ve had in a long time. I’ll have to try harder with the classes, even more incentive to do the best I can for everyone here.

Heritage Hotels have got a ridiculous figure allocated for the landscaping, under $100,000 Solomon, about $20,000 Australian. I’ve done landscaping in Australia that cost that much just for a house, let alone a 3 acre hotel site. Oh well, I’ll have to really sell my ideas to them. If I can make it sound good, there will be more money allocated. I’m basing the general garden area on $50 per running metre for the fill plants, Helliconia, Ginger etc, each Hibiscus will be $75, palms that we have, oil palms mainly for a quick fill, about $90 each, and the larger ones up to $500. All in Solomon Dollars.

I’m going to put some pawpaw and breadfruit trees as well, if I can source pineapple plants to go in, even better. If people are staying here, they’ll see how lush everything is, and I know if they see pawpaw growing outside their room, that is one of the things they will remember.

I’ve had a couple of people that read this ask if there is anything I’d like sent, no doubt from my bit of a bitch session about the quality of stuff here. I personally don’t need anything. My sis is coming up in April, hopefully with a replacement camera and a few bits and pieces, so I’m perfectly happy.

What we do need is a good heavy duty petrol driven garden mulcher, to chop up the coconut husks. If your Church or Returned Services Branch, I don’t know what the equivalent is in America, ex marines and ex-navy organizations, would like a good Aid project to help with, contact me for more details.

I’m only here for 2 years, I can make do, the people that live here need something to carry on with, to improve their lives and employment prospects.

I saw our garden crew in action earlier today, while I was waiting for Tiffany in town. Our island stretch convertible chauffeur driven transport (flatbed truck) pulled up, the road cones came off the side, 12 people jumped off, weedtrimmers, rakes, brooms, shovels at the ready, and started cleaning up around the Telekom roundaroundabout, (I know, it’s not how it is in English, it is in toktok though). 30 minutes later the roundabout was swept clean, the median strip plants had been trimmed, everything was swept up, all the rubbish from the planted circle was picked up, and they were off to the next one. The guys wear their t-shirts tucked over their heads, with an eyeslit, or big bandannas, they look like every mothers nightmare. Add in the betel nut stained teeth, the big grins, great people to work with
.
We got a shipment of overalls today, from New Zealand, one of the previous volunteers had organised it with a company in New Zealand to donate used overalls for us. Everyone was like a kid in a clothing shop. We’re getting SEB (Solo Enviro Board) stencilled on them, everyone really takes pride in working for the Botanic Gardens, and they really want to make Hoinara look and appear better.

It’s a very infectious feeling, I’ve been here 3 weeks now, and I’m talking about our place, our islands, our culture, our town. I can almost distinguish where everyone comes from, the Malaitans are easy, ginger or blonde hair, or so I thought. Then I found out that there are separate islands in the Central Province where the differences are not so apparent. I’m going to be a while yet till I know where everyone is from.

I’m becoming addicted to iced coffee. I have to have my morning hot coffee still, but for the rest of the day, iced coffee, with coffee ice cubes.

William in class is brilliant, ok, I know, they all are, but he seems to be able to ask the questions everyone else is too shy to ask yet. I’ll have to work harder with them to get them to realise that I’d appreciate questions, rather than wait till too late and find out they didn’t understand something. He was asking why all the books we have, (2) always say to store seeds in dark glass jars. Did I ever have to rack my brain for the answers. The best I could come up with off the top of my head was to keep sunlight off seeds that may need light to germinate, like a few Alaskan and Canadian flowers, and so you could check the seeds without having to open the jars. I’ve actually forgotten, it’s one of those things you learn, then do forever after without any more thought. I’ve got research to do

We covered seed raising again, I know it’s only Level 2 we are doing, but they kept asking questions, so we got into a lot of technical stuff with different ways of making seeds react and germinate, like Eucalyptus and Acacia, Callistemon, Banksia. All need fire to break the seed capsule, and or smoke and water. So there went an hour describing smoked water treatment, scarifying, burning sheets of paper around the seed capsule. Selecting the right time for getting seeds, it doesn’t seem to matter how technical I get, so long as I can break it down to things they relate to, the knowledge sinks in.

We’re doing grafting for the rest of the week, hibiscus and bougainvillea.

If anyone collects stamps, the Solomon Island stamps are really beautiful. I’ll get a selection and scan and post here

I finally found out what we pay the staff today, we have several trees on the Heritage Hotel site to remove. Tiffany and I have been working out a price for them, the labour cost for 4 guys for 12 days came to SBD$6,000, $125 each person per day, about US$11, AUD$24, or NZ$28

We charge more for the equipment than the labour.

Then there is tax to be taken off that as well

It’s why the Hort Certificates are so highly prized here, it gets them better pay, a guarantee of work, and a real sense of achievement.

I’m determined to get away soon for a days fishing, I’ll have to stop saying yes to everything people ask me to help with. We have King George IV School 6th form students arriving tomorrow afternoon for a field trip to the gardens to study the ecology and habitat. Tiffany volunteered me for it. She is not being invited to my birthday party.

Pic is of a traditional house from Ysabel Province

2nd March

My class has now grown to 14 people. Which is good as it gives us more funding, and 2 more people to utilise in the gardens and nursery. This morning was spent going back over the past weeks lessons, propagation etc, and a good refresher. For them as well as me, it gave me a chance to see who had missed my explanations in broken pijin and English. By lunchtime I was happier, everyone knew what we were talking about, and felt confident, me included.

Jennifer came back this morning, without questions, but wanting to borrow my book again next weekend. Good luck to her, I have to find someone over the next 2 years to take over the nursery, if the past month is anything to go by, she’s so far ahead of everyone else it is no contest. I’ll wait and see, if the funding becomes available I’ll try to get her enrolled in Brisbane or Melbourne for an Advanced Cert Horticulture course.

We spent 4 hours with Kiethe this afternoon, going over Botanic Gardens plans, future work, funding, sources of revenue we can try for.

I’d really like us to be free of Aid Agency funding, but at the moment, that’s supporting the crew, the Gardens, and it’s getting an education to a lot of people that would otherwise miss out.

We’ve another meeting with Heritage Hotels tomorrow, trying to find out how much they have budgeted for the landscaping. If it’s not enough for the entranceway to be spectacular, they’ll get a load of plants and I’ll try for a 10 yr maintenance contract from them to ensure a steady flow of money.

My yoghurt experiment worked, so I had kumara curry with rice and grated coconut, and cucumber and yoghurt riata. I ditched the flour, weevils left in it or not. I’ll try again this weekend to find some that doesn’t try to climb out of the bag. The Bulk Bin Shop fills the bins out of sacks that are stored in the back room, roller door that almost shuts, sacks stacked on pallets, tin roof etc. So I might have to resort to paying a few dollars more for sealed bags of Australian imported flour from the supermarket.

I’ve mentioned the proximity of Rove Prison before, it backs onto our northern boundary, all razor wire, mesh and concrete walls. Last year there was an Aid Project going that gave the prisoners work for the Gardens, making park tables and seats. The first stage of that finished and we’re waiting for the second stage money to come through now. The Prison Superintendent called up to the Gardens today, and asked if we could run a basic landscaping course for up to 12 of the trusted prisoners to do, so they have some skills to help them find work when they are released. It’s more money for the Gardens, and a bit more work for me, but worth it. It’s just a basic course, paving, planting etc, so it should be fun. Probably 3 afternoons a week, I can work that into the programme now I have everyone sorted and know who will get the work done if I’m not there.

My job description is so far out the window now, it doesn’t really matter. But it’s all good, I’ve got work I love doing, a great place to work in, and great people to work with.

It will all look great on a CV, pity I’m nearly 60, about the only place that would take me on now after this is VSA, so I’ll be a bit of a gypsy for a while after this contract finishes. Go to exotic locations on a pittance, join in the local community, and have fun and work. I could get used to this lifestyle. As Steve told me last week, I’m one of the most low maintenance volunteers he’s worked with so far.

Once I have another camera I’ll be really happy, I’ve almost convinced my sister to call up here in April, while she is in Sydney, and bring the camera with her. It’ll be safer that way, and there won’t be the duty to pay on it either.

I went looking for thumbtacks/pushpins today, the plastic headed sort, to pin up some flags and stuff in the house. I’m getting really frustrated with the cheap shoddy crap here, ok, I know I don’t really need the push pins, but I’m not paying $25 for a packet of 20 that look like the heads would break off in your fingers if you pushed them

When I’m King there will be a lot of people up against the wall for sure

Our trial of putting the coconut husks through the shredder is a bit of a disaster. They are too rotted and wet to go through without clogging the exit vent, we’re going to get the fresh dry husks from the Central Markets and try them next, and I’ll come up with a different method for breaking the old husks down. We get paid to take the husks away from the markets, so it’s got all the things I like about it. Not only are they free, we get paid for taking them. Our potting mix gets cheaper to make by the day.

Pic for today is our shade house and tray of bougainville cuttings

27th February

Every day I spend here makes me so glad to have applied to VSA a year ago. My first approach to VSA was in late January last year, when I was getting so depressed with living in Ireland, the waiting and frustration I had last year, between the interviews, the interminably slow pace of progress with my visa and work permits, were all worth it.

My concept plan for the Heritage Hotel in Honiara, with the waterfall, the carvings behind it, has had every woodcarver and stone carver in Honiara coming to see me today. One man was waiting at work this morning at 6.30am, he came back later in the morning with 2 other carvers, unfortunately, the work they do, despite it being absolutely magnificent, in stone, is not the style I envisage. It was too modern, I’m after the Kastom traditional carvings for the front.

Tiffany bought Kennedy out to see me this afternoon. He is the head carver for the Solomon Islands Museum, I’ll post pics of his works that are in the Museum grounds, I’d seen them last weekend, without knowing who had done them and they are exactly what I want. He arrived, I showed him the architects drawings of the site, and the area I want to showcase. Initially he started describing modern type sculptures, once I told him the effect I wanted was the Kastom carvings behind the waterfall, so that they appeared to shimmer and move, like ghosts of the past, his face lit up, and when he realised I wanted the panel to represent all the 9 provinces, with the ancestors behind the veil of the water, there was no stopping him. We talked about the ties everyone here has with their ancestors, the spirit world is never far away here. He instantly caught the idea that in the daylight, it would look good, but at night, with the uplighting beneath the sculptures, and the water falling and shimmering, they would appear to be moving. As it’s a tourist hotel, most of the visitors would see it initially in the daylight when they arrived, most of the tours arrive back in Honiara at night time, which is when the whole area will be in darkness, with the fountain the only lighted patch in a dark forest of banana and palm trees. And the restaurant will be drawing people in at night as well. They will have to come past the waterfall to the entrance, so it will be a major focal point.

He drew quick sketches, discarded most of them, as he got closer and closer to the idea and feeling I wanted. When he found out I wanted a reverse side as well, with modern style carvings on it for the restaurant side, he really flew. What we’ve agreed on is for the front panel to be the past, with the ancestors ghosts appearing behind the water, as they do to the people here, and with the 9 provinces represented, every person in Honiara will have some link to it. The reverse side, which faces the restaurant, will have modern style carvings, representing the future, no water over it, and downlighting to bring out the forward look of the sculpture.


I have no idea yet how much this is going to cost, I’m pricing water pumps in New Zealand and Australia, we have another meeting with Heritage Hotels on Monday, to show them concept drawings, and also to get an accurate idea of how much they have budgeted for the landscaping. It’s all talk so far, I’d hate to build peoples hopes up, and then find out Heritage don’t want to spend anything, in which case I’ll just fill their hotel grounds with the usual rubbish plants and find another site.

It has to happen though, the idea has spread through Honiara, from the crew at work, and amongst the carvers themselves. I have another man coming around tomorrow, who is also a Master Carver, he is going to have to be good to beat the empathy and insight Kennedy and I shared.

I think it is the size and scope of the carving that has the interest, and the spiritual side with the waterfall giving the impression of spirit beings behind it that really caught Kennedys mind.

I was trying to explain to Kennedy how the whole image just appeared in my mind as soon as I saw the site. There was no gradual process, the whole idea arrived fully formed instantly. His reply was that if the inspiration appears, it is up to me to make it happen, now he is caught up in the fever about it as well.

Jennifer borrowed my Hartman/Kester/Davies propagation manual for the weekend. It’s the Nurserymans Bible, they laughed when I said that in class this morning, but I never saw it being put down and left for the rest of the day. It’s about level 6 or 7, I used it at Burnley Uni in Melbourne, what it doesn’t cover isn’t worth bothering with. I have no doubt that Jennifer will read it voraciously all weekend. And come back with several pages of questions she will want answers for as well.

The people here are so hungry for knowledge. The troubles of the last few years and the things I’m not allowed to discuss, have really caused so many problems. The cost of education alone means that most of the youth leave school at 15 or 16 because the family cannot afford to keep them at school. Then with no qualifications they have no employment, unless we take them on at the gardens, and train them.

My course now has 14 people, and we have hired 6 more people for the crew, our workload has picked up the last week, I’m hoping in 2 years when I leave that we aren’t dependant on Aid money to function, and we are a profit making business. The Botanic Gardens are becoming the largest employer in Honiara, other than the Council, and Government.

We’re covering seed raising this week, after going through the Australian Propagation Course Book, which talks about seed raising trays, seed raising mix, heated beds, spray systems, timers etc, I could see everyones faces falling, wondering how they would pass this unit without all this expensive equipment. I’d asked Tiffany yesterday for as many egg cartons as she had at home, which she bought in this morning. I took a few packets of the seeds I have here, and with the coconut fibre that Imelda and Annie had prepared yesterday, we made out own seed raising trays out of the egg cartons. 12 seeds per carton, packed with rotted coconut fibre, a good soak in water, and into the shade house for the weekend. I looked for the spare cartons that were left this evening as I was leaving, but they all appear to have gone home with the trainees, and I’m guessing the hole in the coconut fibre heap is because it’s gone home in plastic bags, along with the seeds left over.

As I pointed out to them, the joy of using the egg cartons, is that we don’t disturb the plant roots when we plant them out, just rip the egg carton into the segments, plant the nice little parcel the egg space makes, and as it rots into the soil, the roots grow though it.

I have to laugh, at one of the interviews with VSA for this position, great emphasis was placed on could I cope without equipment, tools, resources, basically, everything you would find in a nursery outside of here. Thanks to everyones attitude here, I think we’re doing really well.

We have propagation grit for cuttings from the river, fibre rice bags opened out to use to hold the grit, and we’re going to have a day making palm leaf trays to place the bags in, so I’ll learn how to make them as well, coconut husk to use for water retaining fibre for seeds, egg cartons for seed trays, chicken manure in what ever quantity we need, chippings from the tree pruning and removal crew. Given the rainfall and temperature here, chippings rot in a matter of days, when we put some chicken manure into the heap, it really breaks down quickly.
So there is our bagging mix, with a bit of river sand and grit, coconut husk, it’s as good as I’ve used anywhere.

I was intending to go fishing this weekend, that idea has gone by the board. I’ll be here all weekend doing sketches and detail drawings of the fountain, the planting around it, and writing up a list of materials and equipment for the meeting with Heritage on Monday afternoon.

My screened porch on the side of the house has a table, chairs, so I’ll be out there in the cool breeze all weekend. If only I can remember how to do perspective drawings!

Tiffany informed just as I was leaving tonight, she thought I’d love to give a speech at the Womens Day Parade in Honiara in a weeks time, about preserving the ecology of the Solomons. So she booked me in for it.

I’m not talking to her for the whole of next week

Sunday

Bought my one weekly indulgence again today. Fresh warm wholemeal bread, ($7) and well worth it. The bread shop is opposite the Kukum Fish Market, so it’s just a matter of dodging the buses and trucks on Mendana and I’m happy. Fresh bread, thick cut slabs, butter and honey.

It pelted down with rain while I was at the markets, I was soaked in seconds, muslin top and board shorts, no wariwari, got 2 more large pawpaw ($5 Each), 3 coconuts($0.50 each for 2, $1 for large one), a big hand of bananas(20 bananas $10), some bok choy($5), or what looks like it, dozen eggs($29), I’ve still got 3 kilos of rice, so I’m happy.

Saw a beautiful ripe jackfruit there, $40, far too much just for me, the size, not the price, I’d have bought it, but I’d be wasting most of it. Definitely an acquired taste, once you get past the smell (think of well used gym socks) they are like a cross between pineapple and pawpaw in flavour.

I might buy one next week, it freezes well, apart from going mushy when it thaws, but I can use it in a fruit mix salad.

Yesterday was a mix of good and bad. Good in that Frank Haiku called around in the morning, he’s the wood carver the Solomon Island Government send overseas as our representative to any ethnic symposium on tribal art and culture, so he’s fairly good.

He was here till 3.30pm, from 9am. He had a portfolio of his work, brilliant stuff, traditional and modern styles, then we got to talking about different cultures, NZ, Ireland, the Solomons, and I cranked the laptop up and showed him some of the pics from Ireland. So there went the day for me. He’s ambivalent about the waterfall. If we get the approval and the design is accepted he’ll join in, but as he said, he’s been trying to get more art works and sculpture used here, but hasn’t had much luck. I think he’s got so used to rejection he goes in expecting to be turned down, rather than being positive in his approach and selling the sizzle first.

Found where to get my films developed in town, $20 just for the negatives, or $80 with prints. Scanned both rolls of film, I’ll have to get some fine soft cloth and clear all the dust and threads off the negatives and try again. They came back just stuffed into a paper Kodak bag, with Sellotape holding the rolls together. I lost 3 prints where the Sellotape tore the emulsion off. And the hassle of retouching all the scans to get the bits of dust and threads from the paper off the pics.

It’s still pouring with rain here, nearly 3 hours continuously now, the road looks like a small stream outside the house again, thankfully my little garden is on the one bit of raised ground behind the house.

I’ve got a few diagrams done, trying to do perspective drawings was never my strong suit, even more so when all I have is a 300mm plastic ruler and some pencils of dubious hardness and ability to hold a point. We went shopping for pencils and stuff on Friday, the girl behind the counter just has a blank look when I and Silesa explained what we were after, so it was a matter of accepting the cheap Chinese made stuff, and I’ll make do with that.

I know what I’ll be stocking up with when I get my 12month leave break and go to New Zealand for 2 weeks.

I’m not doing too badly now, if you discount all the stuff I had to pay out for when I arrived to set the house up, wok/pot/mattress, and basic stuff, I’m under $100 a week for food, if I need more rice and coffee it may go to $150 for that week. The sour dough bread got dumped, well the batter mix did, I didn’t look too closely at the flour to start with, when I went to add the flour and make up the dough, I thought it would probably be better to freeze the flour, sift out the weevils, and try again. Thankfully it wasn’t wholemeal flour, I’d probably not have noticed the weevils in that.

I was wondering why every shop in town has sifters for sale, now I know. Tropic heat, humid climate, and flour, ideal breeding ground for weevils. I looked around the bakery today, and sure enough, several large industrial size sifters hanging on the wall by the flour bins.

If anyone ever decides to sell Tupperware here they will make a killing. All the plastic storage stuff here is just absolute rubbish. Two of the large containers I bought last week have already cracked, one across the lid, the other down the side. I keep telling myself it was only NZ$12, but it doesn’t help. $56 Solomon. I’ve seen better quality in the $2 shops in Auckland

The electrical stuff is the same, it’s all cheap copies of the Tiffany and generic Taiwanese and Chinese electrical brands, I don’t know where it is made, but it must be some really low cost country. 250watt blenders, and you know as soon as you pick them with one finger they’ll have trouble blending water, let alone anything with some resistance.

Anyway, I’m living well and cheaply, things I’d probably want in NZ aren’t all that important here, I get fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, sunshine, a good crew to work with, and I’ve got the nursery and gardens to play in.

Making yoghurt this weekend, I’m trying all sorts of experiments in my spare time. I didn’t bring my yoghurt maker, silly, but I’m improvising. 1.5 litre container with the yoghurt mix , inside a 3 litre container with hot water. It seems to be working, it’s going thick anyway, I don’t know if I really need the hot water around it, it’s 30*C all of the time, it would probably set just left on the bench for a day.

I’ve got the washing machine working partly, the washer side anyway. It’s a twin tub, wash and spin drum. It looks as though the motor has burnt out on the spin drum. I’ve seen bigger motors on scaletrix slot cars. Again as above, I can pick it up and carry it with one arm. I think the wash side may struggle with anything more than a couple of shirts, if that.

I was up till 2am this morning sketching and trying to get drawings done for tomorrow, I’ll tidy the rough drafts up tonight, now it’s dark and the rain is cooling the air. Trying to draw yesterday just caused huge sweat stains on the paper, and I had streaks of pencil and colour everywhere.

I’ll go through the blog and resize all the pics so it loads quicker for anyone on a slow connection, they’re all full size at the moment, if you click them. I’ll get them to 600 wide, and put the full size into my webshots album.

Pic is of Turtle Beach