2012 - A Time for Change

The movie hypothesis of  ‘2012-time for change’ is that 2012 is when a 5000 year Mayan calendar cycle comes to an end and as a result global change will occur, while I don’t necessarily agree with what are often considered apocalyptic predictions.  I think that the concept of 2012 as a time for change or reflection as suggested in the movie is at least a good point for discussion, this trip to Australia has re-affirmed that there needs to be a consciousness change and that society can’t just continue to just immerse itself in consumerism in the hope that the problems with the state of the world will go away. 

This trip to Australia for Christmas holidays has shown me that change is already being forced upon people and there is little possibility that a continuation of existing ways of living and thinking can continue. It’s been surprising the level of financial pressure and job insecurity in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The shear pressure of urban living at this time in Australia appears to be increasingly untenable, exorbitant rents in Sydney and increasingly unaffordable house prices were a frequent of discussion. Friends told me how they would have to sacrifice an entire salary for mortgage repayments and live of the other spouses salary meaning this couple would both need to work full time which would require putting their young son into day care. While I am aware this is not at all new, it’s the first time that I have really connected with just how the world that we have created for ourselves is not at all sympathetic towards young families trying to survive and create some sort of quality of life for themselves.  

In other situations people were either out of work or struggling to find new work, quality jobs look far more difficult to obtain now than they would have been say four or five years ago when I first arrived in Australia looking for work myself. Being out of work or and unable to find means a number of people are trying to reassess their personal identity post-employment. 

Food prices also seem to be pretty high from what I remember and there looks to be a lot of poor quality food available and quite a lot of food wastage.  

What is pushed by mainstream commercial magazines and also mainstream Australian TV is still encouraging people to buy a certain product or look a certain way once you purchase a certain product or look a certain way as a fast track to happiness. It’s a message that seems to be avoiding the real issues of this particular time in history, but it’s so pervasive and widespread here with nothing much to counter or challenge it.      

Another thing that I have observed and maybe I have only noticed this because I have lived in a place where people are pretty laid back is that there is an underlying tension and irritability in a large number of people in the places I have visited, I’m not sure if this is more a perception coming from one way of living and interacting to another that’s vastly more stressful and complex, but it doesn’t seem healthy or balanced and ultimately socially sustainable.        

           

So the systems broken but people haven’t got time to fix the system as they are too busy caught in it trying to survive.

Maybe 2012 will start to see an awaking or consciousness that the system needs to change and that people have the ability to create that change. Maybe we will start to see a transition away from employment that doesn’t allow for time to strengthen community and family to employment that allows for flexibility, maybe people will be supported to address the increasing rises of living costs through urban agriculture and more comprehensive public transport, maybe the economy also needs a complete revamp to be more sympathetic to nature and community in a time of drastic change.             

Big Happenings - It's the annual Premiers Conference

It’s been over two months since I last wrote anything and it’s about time I put something down as life is moving along here.

The work here and I guess my purpose for being here has been given a new lease of life through the redefining of my assignment and directing most of my efforts towards the Provincial Government, this actually suits me well as most of my conservation and environmental work has been directed through roles in local governance of some sort, so it’s good to be in a similar role although how local governance works here is reasonably different to either Australia or New Zealand due to the political and cultural context it operates in.

The organisation is fantastic with many great staff,  these staff face a daily David and Goliath struggle to represent the people of Choiseul /Lauru in the face of overwhelming issues related to climate change, logging, mining, social, health, communication, information accessibility and storage, asset renewal and maintenance, centralised governance and the list goes on. From what I can tell so far ensuring good staff come out here and are happy enough to stay for a long time is going to be one of the biggest issues for the future of the Province and ensuring that they can tackle the big issues.           

The Premiers Conference that took place in late October was probably the biggest party Taro has seen in a long while. The Premiers Conference is basically a meeting of all the Premiers representing all the Provinces of the Solomon Islands and is held on annual basis with the location being a different Province every year. While listening in on the presentations given, it became very clear that the concern about the condition of the environment is shared by many of the Premiers. There were also concerns raised about financial resource allocation and the smaller Provinces expressed concern about how remoteness is a real hindrance to development that the other more centralised Provinces experience. In hindsight it’s that same remoteness that has probably contributed to Choiseul/Lauru being less environmentally degraded than it could be as most of the more accessible Provinces look to have lost most of their Primary Rainforest cover already.           

I had a brief but informative discussion (well I’m hoping it was for him) with the Premier of Makira Province and told him about the importance of Makira for the 12 or so endemic bird species that the Island is home too, if anything he was only mildly interested in learning this, as you would expect a non-birder to be but at least now he knows. 

The event itself represented a great free feed at both lunch and dinner time, which was great as it saved me cooking and being a volunteer you are forced to be fiscally conservative. Now technically it could be argued that I wasn’t actually part of the Conference as I was not officially a Provincial representative or ancillary staff, but through my partly self-proclaimed role as Provincial Government photographer and real role as a planning advisor, I considered myself eligible.

The food was unbelievable and it really went to show the quality of the food available from the natural environment; Mangrove crab, Taro, Crayfish, Fin fish of all kinds, shellfish and one or two green things thrown in for good measure. Mistakenly I even ended up eating Turtle as I mistook it for chicken, don't worry it won’t happen again as I’m not inclined to consume endangered species.     

Just before the Premiers Conference began an event to select the theme song for the Premiers Conference was held. It was a chance for the five groups to present their original songs to a public audience, the performances were all vocal performances performed to pre-recorded tracks and it would have been great to see and hear people play instruments live, even so it was just really good to see people have the opportunity to perform and show there community what they’ve got. The entertainment that was part of the Premiers Conference itself included live performances from a number of groups, the one that I was impressed with was the group that used plastic pipes as a percussion instrument that they hit with slippers (SI), Jandals (NZ), thong s(Aus).  The only down side was that these pipes were originally supplied for the purposes of water supply projects and then converted into these instruments, bugger!          

The entire Premiers Conference had such a positive upbeat feel that made most for those few days feel upbeat. It’s really the only occasion where I have seen a really good party atmosphere and people really let loose in public and just get up and dance. Maybe this is another reason why Kiwis and Solomon Islanders get along so well as we share a similar level of public reservation.        

The one blight on the landscape for this event was the shortage of flights to and from Taro and access to banking facilities. I let both companies know what I thought of their service provision for this period, but it seems that in this instance both companies took advantage of peoples reluctance to complain openly and also used the remoteness and difficulties in communication to their advantage, here we are ‘out of sight and out of mind’ to many in Honiara.            

Its hardcore living

Living in New Zealand or Australia there are so many aspects of life that are already taken care of by technology, washing machines, power tools, ovens; basically all the things that you don’t find here rule. Mainly because there is no mains power and even if there was many of those things would be so expensive due to high taxes put on imported goods that most would struggle to pay for them. How much we take for granted the time savings that technology gives us is always noticeable here, when I have to hand wash my clothing under the water tank or even just the simple act of cooking over an open fire as I have had to do this last week due to all the gas supplies on Taro running out and the next shipment a week away.

But there is something rewarding about doing simple tasks such as washing or cooking in such a situation. It slows time down a bit, the task itself takes on far more importance, it’s always rewarding to look at the clothes on the line that you have just spent the last hour washing or sitting around the fire chatting about small daily issues, what was on sale at the market, what people have planned to do tomorrow and maybe hear what’s wrong with one of the kids after they went to the doctors that morning. 

There is an older relative here, an uncle in his late 70’s that came in from a village to go to the main Hospital to check out a health issue. As I sit on the balcony of the office working on my computer I watch him walking around doing various odd jobs, cutting firewood, building a makeshift looking table/seat in the kitchen house, always endlessly busy. As he walks around rather stiffly I realise that at that age here your well and truly old, it’s so damn physical that by this age all the years of working on raising a family, gardening, fishing, making and repairing many leaf houses, have pretty much taken its toll. One of the kids told me that he was speaking to the ‘old man’ as they always call him and he said to me that "he wants to die now, but Gods not ready for him just yet". As I watch him I think that guy must have seen some amazing sights, he would have seen the end of the war, the Solomon Islands achieve independence from the British and must have stored in his head many of the customs of his people. But maybe most of all what he created was with his own two hands; supporting his family and his community through what he could make, grow and work.                                                            

Taro-Honiara-Brisbane-Christchurch and Back

It’s bizarre how you can step outside of a place you have been for a long time and all of a sudden the memory of living there and all the associations with the place disappear as if they were only a dream.  It’s hard to believe also that it’s been so long since I wrote my last blog; my priorities between then and until my arrival back became largely about more immediate concerns with my health and the state of my assignment.

Back in May I left Choiseul in a hell of a rush and not knowing when I would be back but hoping that it would be sooner rather than later to avoid breaks in continuity of the assignment, but also realising that there a number of road blocks that needed to be sorted by others before I could continue working.

So it was a hustle to get a seat on the plane at the time that I was trying to get out; the twin otter was out of action getting repairs and in its place was what looked to me like a tiny toy plane. At first the airline agent wasn’t buying my desperation to get out, so I was trapped, I needed a plan. After visiting the local Doctor I eventually got a letter backing my case, with a bit more pleading and attaching myself limpet like to the agents front desk , I was on the next flight to Honiara. I was very lucky as I was up against a number of others also trying to make a case for getting on the plane. In the end I was relieved to get a plane ride out as it the only other option to get off the Island would have been a four hour plus boat trip over some rough seas to Gizo.    

Arriving in Honiara I landed on my feet in the flashiest of all the hotels in town (thanks insurance) and then headed off to the Doctor who then sent me to Honiara hospital; previously I had been to the hospital but this time was surprised anew at just how run down it was, just outside the room where I was to get a blood test was a lovely deep open drain with soupy black polluted water, inside the facilities were well and truly falling apart; I was just hoping that the needle that would be stuck in my arm would be one that hadn’t been used before.  But here in the Solomon’s even though they don’t have the facilities and equipment like NZ or Australia, they do a pretty damn good job with what limited resources they have available. My concerns were as they so often are here, unwarrented, as they had a whole bag of clean ones.

Eventually the results came back showing nothing significant which was a good thing, but still didn’t resolve the issue of what was really wrong so the insurance company suggested a trip back to New Zealand for further tests to get to the bottom of what was really was going on, who was I to argue as I was languishing in Honiara.

Christchurch; it ain’t Choiseul

Getting back to Christchurch happened quickly and before I knew it was flying back over the Southern Alps and touching down in my home town.  I hadn’t been back after the big February quake and it wouldn’t be for some time till I really got my head around the full extent of the damage that had occurred, but it was nice to be home; the last 8 months out in the Solomon’s had been trying and at time very frustrating so it was nice to not have to worry about all that side of life for a while and just focus on getting better and hopefully issues with the assignment would be resolved in my absence.    

Over time it became clear what the earthquake meant to people in Christchurch.  It appeared that eastern Christchurch had been hit the hardest while areas on the west had suffered minimal damage or not even hit at all. As is so often the case those with the least resources get hit the hardest and this was the same with the Christchurch quake, the east of getting hammered while the wealthy on west could continue on almost as per usual. The quake I think reinforced the east west divide that has always existed in Christchurch more starkly than ever before.

The family home has been buggered essentially, lots of movement has created many cracks in the walls and the floor in parts of the house seems to run downhill and the roof of the garage has a big dip in the middle were the concrete foundation has dropped significantly. Years of investment and building up a family home have largely been destroyed; it was a very hard time to be there. What the future of the only home that I have known is unclear, but the suburbs and the area where I grew up will never be the same again and that was difficult to fully accept;  This house so full of memories. 

In crisis situations like this, aspects of both the best and worst of human nature are highlighted and it appeared that there were clearly two distinct groups. There were people that were constructively dealing with the situation and looking to the future and then there were those that were trying to gain as much from the situation as much as possible. A number of contractors fell into the latter category and sadly I heard of a number of stories where residents were doing the same. It was an even split from what I could tell, but those that are working to promote visions of a new city and working on building stronger sustainable communities have  the upper hand, the Avon  River Park proposal being an example of  one of the brilliant concepts to come out of post-quake Christchurch.      

Largely the time was nowhere near as productive as I would have liked it too be, but I did manage to spend time with a number of friends, many of them in the ‘green business’ restoring the Christchurch and Canterbury environments.  It’s always been a strange anomaly of New Zealand ecology scene; the ambitious and visionary work largely being done by local government staff and not for profit organisations in urban Christchurch. While most of New Zealanders praise efforts to clear pests and restore offshore Islands, development of predator proof sanctuaries in North Island bush, or captive breeding  of endangered native bird species; the work in Christchurch continues to deliver huge environmental dividends largely unrecognised by the wider environmental community in New Zealand.     

The work many friends have been doing in urban Christchurch will in time get the full recognition it deserves. But for me I am happy to count these people as friends and to be able to appreciate that even in uncertain times these people and their projects are positive examples of the good people can do if given the resources, time and opportunity.  

Eventually I started to find some solutions to my health and it was a lot simpler than I had expected. I worked with a physiotherapist who massaged a point at the top of my spine, eventually it became clear that all the knocks I have had to the head had created this issue of on-going headaches and thankfully it wasn’t some inoperable brain tumour.  Eventually after almost 2 full months it was time to head back. It was going to be a struggle to head back to uncertainty and leave mums cooking, cooler temperatures and a malaria free environment.          

But my assignment still had a lot of time left on the clock and I was hopeful that there would be some new projects to work on and a house to move into when I arrived back, so it was back on the plane with bags fully packed taking everything I could possibly need for myself and for friends in Choiseul (including soccer balls, soccer boots, fishing rod, muesli bars, books etc.) This time it needed to be Choiseul 2.0. 

        

        

                 

                                 

      

        

   

Take that mining and logging companies

Not quite a knock out blow, but a small victory all the same.

We embarked last Wednesday down to Ogho Village for an environmental awareness programme. Initially I was just going to be going along for the ride, but at the last minute things changed. J's wife was going into labor and there I was in the hot seat now it was up to me to give the main presentation. J had prepared it and knew it inside out. I had a few minutes in the morning to quickly look over it before jumping in the boat  to leave.

We all leave quite a bit later than I expected and it was early afternoon before we were underway. The boat is very heavy and as is often the way, we stopped and picked up a few people on the way out. All up we had nine people and a very heavy boat plowing rather low through the water. Boats are the buses here.

On arrival at Ogho it was clear they were very happy to see us. They had made a request some months ago to get some more information about conservation and what they could do to protect their reefs and forests.

Then we kai kai, which is the custom way for a community to welcome new visitors to a village. Before dinner there are the usual pre-dinner prayers and during dinner a number of Chiefs and elders speak and express how gratefull they are that we had come. It had become abundantly clear to me that the expectations for our talks were high.

As we set up the projector, computer and makeshift screen the audience pour in. By the time that we had finished setting up there were many many children, with the adults gathering at the back and at the very back are the women.

Mike did the introduction for the three of us in language so I had no idea what he was really saying although I asked him earlier to make sure that he describes what I do as capacity building as it's kind of broad and doesn't just give the impression that I'm just a good source of grant funding.

Then I was up. I had been thinking for some time since the morning that this talk could have some significant influence on the conservation direction this community takes, its me versus the loggers in this very talk. If I communicate well, then maybe the community will pursue more sustainable options for their natural resources, if I don't then maybe the option of logging becomes more attractive. This is one of those very rare moments where the rubber hits the road. I'm pumped, my pijin is good enough to get me by and if I use it to the best of my ability then I should be flying.

As I go along I am quickly going slide by slide and trying to tie it altogether into some coherent message. Its going well and I am  feeling good about it. The pijin is flowing and the adults are looking attentive (the kids just want to see the movie 'Home for Hawkesbill' that we had brought along). Its nice to be speaking to this group, its big, probably 150 people and quite a number of Chiefs from neighbouring villages. All in all it flows well and I wind up, buggered but on a high at the same time. I sit down feeling very relaxed knowing that I gave it my all.

Then we show the movie 'Home for Hawkesbill', the kids love it as the message is told in a simple story and it flows well. Then Solo is up, he does his talk on Climate Change, again it goes down very well and there are some good questions from the crowd. There are also a number of people in the audience that are starting to hold the Chiefs accountable by asking some very direct questions to those same Chiefs. Its good to see village democracy in action.

It's close to 11.00pm and we ask if anyone wants to see one more movie. The last one is about Mortlock Island and it show how sea level rise is impacting it. I am not too surprised that about 50-60 people remaining are keen to see it. There is no tv, no Internet and very few books  in these communities and out here they love these opportunities to see and learn new things. In the end we end at about 12.30pm and after packing up and then heading back and talking with the Chiefs in our leaf house, I end up in bed at about 2.30am. Its been a great night and I still relatively energised by the time I get to sleep in the nice and cool leaf house to the sounds of the frogs in the near by coconut plantation.                  
                                             

     

          

 

              

My assignment hangs in the balance

Well my assignment is at a cross roads, essentially my original assignment was to do some quite obvious tasks. These included such things as assist the organisation to improve project management, financial management and generally improve systems where possible. It now seems that there are issues with doing these tasks and there is resistance by sections of the same organisation that I am meant to be assisting, whether this is from poor communication between parties who originally determined my position description or from people within the organisation who feel threatened by change, is difficult to tell. This is a situation that I did anticipate to some degree. The issue from now on will be how it’s resolved and what the outcome will be.

The most important point will be for all parties agreeing on new tasks for me to do that benefit the two key partners of who have placed me here. Another factor that’s critically important is that I need to be doing something that’s actually benefitting me and that’s providing me with some satisfaction. It’s a two way street everyone needs to be getting something from this gig.

As my very wise boss said, it’s a long haul to be out there for two years if you’re not doing something that’s not providing you with little satisfaction.    

   

There was a passing mention by him of being assigned to another province altogether, Makira is a long way from Choiseul but the birding there is damn good. Could be a great move.

Let’s see what up and coming discussions resolve, when all the main players converge on Taro.       

                            

6 months have flown by

The first six months of my assignment have flown by and I must admit that they have been a hell of a lot of fun. Doing things that I wouldn't ordinarily do. One of the things about getting out and living a bit more is that you end up putting yourself in situations that potentially could be risky. While diving in South Choiseul I was chomping through the oxygen so fast that I quickly ran out and on my way to the surface I had to buddy breath with my dive buddy, jumping of the riverbank and into the river at MBoe Boe just upstream of where the crocs live and while playing with kids in the sea close to home, the kids threw me backwards into the water which resulted in me landing on my head and which had me worried for a while that I may have been some spinal damage. All in all though, in this situation you just have to get out there and enjoy the experience and the accept that there are going to be risks associated with really living.

In regards to the work I am doing here, the end of the 6 month period has seen an end to the honeymoon period of the assignment. The real barriers to progress have now become extremely apparent and I can see that I am going to need to be careful to ensure that those potential barriers dont impede what can be achieved in an assignment such as mine. Even with the barriers taken into consideration, they are minor compared to other work environments that I have worked in and there is a lot of scope to do some really great work. There is a lot of support from the community at large for developing a protected area network throughout the province and thats something that I really want to focus my energy on.

So after six months the real assignment begins, I have been starting to look at this assignment in 6 month blocks and not thinking of it in terms of a two year assignment. Its more important to stay focused on the short term goals as things can be very fluid here and a short term focus with just an eye on the longer term allows flexibility but ensures a focus on the here and now.               

                       

The Big 34th

As I reach my 34^th birthday I have to ask myself; where the f**K have the last few years gone! It’s at points in life like this that you begin to wonder what have you have actually achieved and how the hell you have actually gotten to this particular point. I have been thinking recently about key crossroads in life, people I have met, places I have lived and jobs I’ve had. To get to this point in life and in a situation like this I am extremely lucky (or just extremely single minded), not many people follow their dreams and I often wonder about what’s motivated me, exactly what has driven me to be here? Why not just settle for the comfortable suburban life, drinking endless coffee and buying endless consumer goods I don’t really need?

My only answer is that in some small way I like to think that I can make a small but positive difference to the state of the world.

It’s abundantly clear that the planet’s not in a happy state, socially and environmentally. We humans have given the planet and each other a pretty hard time (recent events in Egypt and the continued oppression of Palestinians are two examples) and even though the evidence is clear that we need to change how we do things, that change is certainly not the overwhelming tide it needs to be to substantially improve humanities future prospects. So I guess being here at this point in time is my small gesture to do the best I can and although my background is environmental ‘management’ what I do is as much about people as it is about the environment, as without social equality there can never be environmental sustainability. I am simply working within my sphere of influence to the best of my ability.                      

 The actual path or process of getting to this point has been as interesting as the motivation and it’s been a long path. I guess the motivation to get here was set at an early age, but to arrive here has taken a number of ‘tours of duty’ in local government in both Australia and New Zealand, jobs in three main centres within these two countries and numerous other small contract and permanent positions, volunteering and independent research (sadly none of it published).

This role signifies a distinct and necessary change in the path I was taking. After a period of time of working through these various roles I began to notice that as time went on my ability to actually make calls to protect the environment based on any experience was diminishing rapidly; to the point where the actual process of working became far more important than actual tangible outcomes. It became obvious that organisations like the one I was most recently working for were not fulfilling their obligations to protect the environment for future generations and were more concerned with defending organisational process from criticism, irrespective of whether or not this process actually delivered good environmental outcomes.  At this realisation it became clear that a stark change was needed. At the time on offer was a position in Armidale doing urban environmental restoration which would have paid over AUD$70,000, so it would have been the highest paid position I have ever had and then also on the table I had the offer of a volunteer opportunity in the Solomon Islands that didn’t even pay the equivalent of the unemployment benefit in New Zealand. It was an easy choice to make!                         

Of course it’s not all plain sailing and the one thing that I have noticed quite starkly is how pursuing this dream has had significant implications on friendships. In the short time I’ve been here communication has steadily dropped away and I am not really too surprised at that as it was always going to happen. So as time ticks over it will be interesting to see who stays in touch and how do different friendships evolve. Do friendships become stronger or weaker from my time here? I am realising more and more just how significant proximity is to the maintenance of friendships and relationships. 

One thing is that I have really come to appreciate the efforts that people do make to stay in touch and there have been some great gestures, such as a great chat on Skype with friends in Christchurch who I don’t really catch up with much these days and an awesome parcel sent from a friend in Australia with a pocket sized survival kit. The thought that went into putting this together was quite evident and it so good to receive gifts like this. There have been a number of other very meaningful communications. Each email, Skype or phone chat takes on increased significance the longer I am here.   

Although the last few years became increasingly frustrating, the skills learnt in the past few years have allowed me this opportunity and this opportunity feels like being back on track, fighting the good fight. So here’s to being 34 and as one of guys I work with says ‘solid as bro’.     

P.S One of the features of this blog is that you can look at the stats on in which countries people view your blog from and so It’s with some satisfaction that I can say I am extremely popular in Guam, in the last month I have had 16 views from Guam with the United States some distance behind on 6 views. I love Guam.       

          

           

Wheels in motion

It’s been a hive of activity at the office last week. I had a feeling that soon after coming back from Honiara we would be getting very busy with projects and people coming from all over the place (ok, if you call New Zealand, Australia and Honiara all over the place) there are a number of great things about this activity. Not least that it pulls people together and creates community spirit. The setting up of the VSAT has been a great example of people pulling together and during the week everyone came together. I think everyone knew that getting this thing built meant we would be out there in the wider world; ok, we always were with dial up but this new system will make communication with the outside world a lot easier.

Two of the boys were mixing cement, J was in the ceiling cavity, an older builder guy was on the very high roof in scorching temperatures installing the solar panels to the roof, David was taking care of the electronics and one of the kids was up and down Coconut Palms retrieving drinking Coconuts for us and there I was trying my best to match it with the young Solomon Island guys and give the impression that I do hard out physical work every day of the week.  For some reason whenever I go to do anything physical the guys say, “No Scott I will do that”. I’m left thinking, wow, I really must look that soft.

At the end of last Monday alone we had achieved a hell of a lot. There were solar panels on the roof, a nice metal pole concreted into the ground and the whole systems wired up. At the end of this very hot day it was all into the sea for a swim.

There was another pleasant surprise for the week with the arrival of an older kiwi couple in the bay. They were from Whangamata and were ex dairy farmers originally with a farm on the Hauraki plains. It was nice to see some kiwis and that familiar welcoming kiwi attitude and an openness that I always associate with kiwis. Their catamaran had everyone here really impressed as it was at probably nearer the larger (and more costly) end of the spectrum of recreational yachts. I honestly can’t remember the last tourists here and I am not sure really if the 3-4 whitefellas I have seen about town in the past 3-4 months have been tourists, with NGO programmes or RAMSI. It’s more likely they weren’t tourists.                       

Ngaire and Lloyd invited me onto their yacht for dinner and with kiwis, no matter what generation, there is always some degree of common ground. I thought to myself that these guys are definitely true blue kiwis when they started pulling out the family photos for me too look at. It was a very kiwi touch to a great evening.

According to the other kiwi volunteer who is here, there is meant to be another kiwi on their way out to work in a police mentoring role. So that will mean the kiwis will be the largest ex-pat group, actually I think we are the only ex-pat group here now. If only we just had another eight we could field a soccer team to challenge Sipuzae FC.

Being out here with minimal distraction and urban stress allows a fair bit of time for the mind to just wander and the outcome of this so far being 1) A resolution to investigate doing a masters with a focus on some aspect of ecology/sustainability in the Solomon Islands 2) Investigating writing a book about the relationship between New Zealand and the Solomon Islands (WW2, missionaries, volunteers etc). There are at least two stories in Choiseul alone where kiwis have made their presence felt. There was formally a missionary  by the name of Lucy Money (sp), who was based in Sasamunga and translated the bible to Babatana, the local language of the area and probably the most commonly spoken local language. There is another story of a kiwi guy with a wartime connection to the Island and as a result left this organisation a reasonable amount of money when he passed away. It would be awesome to find out who this guy was and what he was doing on Choiseul.                  

As I have the time and space while here it would be silly not to try and be as productive as possible. Ideas just seem to come at me out from out of the blue here and usually in the mornings, only to be quickly forgotten during the heat of the day if I don’t actively write them down.

Now that it’s early Feb I am more than a little aware that I am closing in on another birthday and this one’s a biggy as it feels like I am closing in far too quickly on my mid 30’s. It’s a scary thing when I stop and think just how incredibly fast the last few years have gone.

           

This one’s for the Birders - Part 1 - Garden Birds

        

One of the great things about living on Sipuzae Island is that it has pretty good bird diversity even in the garden around my house (yes this one really is for the bird nerds). The part of Sipuzae Island I live has seen a fair bit of recent subdivision so much of the taller forest has been removed and the vegetation remaining is continually getting a hard time from guys with chainsaws who are creating more garden space or turning the last few large trees into firewood or building timber. The gardens themselves still contain a lot of vegetation, it just now happens to be dominated by food plants and not rainforest trees. Irrespective of all this there still seems to be a good array of birds kicking around.

In the last few months I have seen some pretty good birds and prior to Christmas the diversity was even better than it appears to be now. If you were to compare the birds I have around me here to what you find in a suburban backyard in either Australia or New Zealand the diversity here far surpasses what you would find in suburban backyards in either country. Prior to Christmas there were regular sightings of a Pacific Baza (to any non-birders still reading this it’s a small hawk) flying over the garden early most mornings and because its occurrence was so consistent I suspect that it may have been nesting close by before Christmas. Osprey is also pretty regular overhead and I also suspect they are resident on the Island. The most uncommon of all though is the Brahminy kite and I have probably seen these on no more than about half a dozen occasions, although I did disturb one in mid story in a coconut plantation in December which is certainly the closest I have approached these birds while here. I have very fond memories of seeing these birds for the first time when I travelled to Malaysia; to watch one of these birds casually drop down into the river and pluck a fish straight out of the water was an impressive sight for someone coming from a country with only one common bird of prey which generally only feeds off easily scavenged carrion.              

There are three species of parrot that are reasonably common in my garden. These are Du Corps Cockatoo, Eclectus Parrot and Cardinal Lory. The Lories are by far the most common of all the parrots, but usually spend most of their time high in the surrounding Coconut Palms. Du Corps Cockatoo will often feed on Paw Paw and when there is not much activity in the garden I have often watched them come down and feed quite close to my house. The Eclectus parrots on the other hand very rarely venture into the garden and are more wary than the Cockatoos and if they are feeding on Paw Paw, even the slightest disturbance will see them take flight. One thing I will miss about this place when I do move into the new house, will be the flocks of Eclectus Parrots heading to their evening roost. Often there will be more than 100 of these beautiful parrots fly over in an evening. When I lived in Australia it was always a bit of a goal to head to Cape York to see these birds, so I feel pretty chuffed that what was such a localised bird in Australia is such a common feature of Island life.

Of the smaller birds in the garden there is reasonable diversity, but really the small birds have been a bit disappointing. There are the usual Yellow-bellied Sunbirds which are common but certainly not as abundant as I have seen them in other places in the Solomon’s.

When present, Singing Starlings are often in good flocks of 10 or more birds but at other times not even single will be present. There were quite a few juveniles present in the flocks visiting the garden prior to Christmas and this makes me think the period from when I arrived in early October to late December was when the bulk of the breeding occurred.

White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike are present but generally only as individuals or pairs and they are often usually higher in the canopy of the taller trees on the boundary of the garden. It’s quite normal to only see these birds one every 1 or 2 weeks in the garden.

Willie Wagtail are present only as individuals and sometimes are not present for a number of days on end.  Possibly as a result of the recent rains the birds I have seen have been in full song. So it’s likely the rain may have triggered some breeding activity.  

Yellow-faced Myna where present before Christmas and usually a single bird would appear at least a couple of times a week.

Uniform Swiftlet when present are usually in small groups of 2-4 birds and will spend a short time hawking around house then leave, not to be seen for a few days on end. Due to their mobility they are tricky to watch with Binoculars and I can’t think of a time since being here that I have had good view of these birds.

The Claret-breasted Fruit Dove is the only pigeon or dove that I have seen with any consistency and occasionally they will visit a fruiting tree close to the house. When they land in the tree they are pretty difficult to locate due to their green colouration and small size.    

I guess the small rainforest birds are always going to find cultivated areas with little familiar habitat, high numbers of predators and quite a bit of disturbance difficult to adapt too. Sadly there are no Yellow-legged Pigeon or Black-Faced Pitta (both super rare forest birds) running around my garden, but I hope to see these birds or other uncommon forest birds when I get to spend more time on the main island in some of the better unlogged primary forest.   

The one bird that is always great to see in my garden is the Melanesian scrub fowl. The eggs of scrub fowl are an important food source in the Solomon Islands, but here on Sipuzae I think their days could be numbered due to the number of very feral and hungry looking cats cruising around and I suspect breeding success is pretty low with these cats taking out many chicks. Basically it looks kind of like a chicken with an unusual body shape that looks like it tapers towards a small head and quite dull dark brown plumage over most of its body. They are very timid and when I do come across them they disappear into the closest undergrowth as quickly as they can.    

There have been a few things that have made an appearance but only fleetingly in the garden or flying over. 

One such bird is what I am 90% certain was a Nicobar Pigeon and the very brief view that I had of the bird was of one flying quickly and quite low level through the garden beside the house. It was enough of a glimpse to be pretty certain it was in fact this bird as it was big, blue and pigeony.

Only on three or four occasions have I seen Blyth’s hornbill on the Sipuzae Island and these birds are amazing. The first time I saw this bird was while lying in bed and hearing the distinctive whoosh, whoosh, whoosh of its wing beat before I looked out the window to see this quite large bird fly over.  Any day that starts with getting a new ‘tick’ from your bed is a good day. 

           

Let it rain

It’s strange that even thinking about water starts to make you thirsty. It was 4.30am and I was parched.

In the last few days I have come to realise how severe the water restrictions are on both Taro and Sipuzae Islands. Most household rainwater tanks are close to being empty and how much water is in your rainwater tank is the prominent topic of discussion whenever I walk about.

It’s got to the point where the provincial government and hospital now shut at midday so that staff can go across to the main island and get water from the river.  I think I am ok for the present time, but if it doesn’t rain within a week I think even I will be in a bit of trouble (hopefully not to the extent that I have to drink my own urine). There have even been reports of water ‘theft’ from some rainwater tanks, although I suspect that in Melanesian society resources are viewed as largely communal and those with resources share with those that have a little bit less.

Waking up this morning I was thinking how do I ensure that the one tank that I have lasts until it rains, I could possibly put a lock on the tap from the tank that is easily accessible to all, but then do I just become the tight arse whose not willing to share resources with the community.

From what I have been told the constant winds that we currently have are contributing to no rain falling on either Island and although I appreciate being nice and cool due to the constant breeze (this house has a tendency to get very warm due to not having power for fans or air-conditioning and also being set back a little from the coast), its quickly getting to the point where stress in the community from not having access to adequate drinking water is going to increase substantially.    

              

All good things must end

It’s with a fair degree of mixed emotions that I arrived at Honiara domestic airport an hour before the flight was meant to leave. There was no one about and thankfully the taxi driver stayed around until some other people turned up. Waiting around in the dark gave me time to contemplate my last three weeks in Honiara. It had been such a busy time and a time in which many so many different experiences occurred.  A friendship was established with another volunteer that was the foundation for my stay in Honiara and it was largely due to their goodwill that I had a place (or places) to call home for this period as well as someone to discuss and compare our respective volunteer assignments.    

Another thought was at the forefront of my mind while standing in the dark listening to my Ipod (Talk Tonight by Oasis being the song of the moment). Near the end of my stay I met a very unique person. Now on my assignment there have been many interesting and unique people who have already passed my way in the few short months I have been here. Some you form strong connections with and others who you simply don’t connect with on any level whatsoever. But this individual rattled me a little, I wasn’t expecting to come to Honiara and leave feeling this way and to be honest the way I felt brought home (again) how far I was from other people who I most easily can connect with and who share similar cultural backgrounds. It  reminded me (as if I really needed it) that a 2 year assignment in a remote location essentially means you are forced to resign yourself to the fact that even if you had the opportunity, it would be difficult (bordering on impossible) to sustain a relationship.      

I also started to contemplate time, how much of your life will just pass you happily by and then you come to small specks in time that you wish you could slow down and make last longer.  Before you know it those special moments pass you by and quickly become history. There were a number of times while in Honiara that I wished I could slow down, just so I could appreciate the moment more. Strangely enough I was aware at the very time these events were occurring that these experiences were unique to this time and place and may never come around again. 

Flying back over Choiseul it was a sense calm that started to come over me knowing I was once again back in my beautiful and picturesque province. The thoughts and feelings provoked in Honiara will in time be resolved and I felt reassured by this.  Flying from south to the north, right up the centre of the Island (not the usual route of planes flying in from Honiara) I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the virtually continuous rainforest covering the Island. We were flying low and you could almost see the (presumed extinct) Choiseul Crested Pigeon standing in the canopy of a rainforest tree as we flew over.  I leaned over to the other ex-pat volunteer on the plane and said “Mate, the Choiseul Crested Pigeon it still exists, I’m sure of it”.  My New Year’s prediction is the rediscovery of the Choiseul Crested Pigeon.  It was good to be back in paradise.       

Roll on 2011

Well the last week or two have been absolute social whirlwind. Who would have picked that the social scene in Honiara would be far more busy than anything that I have experienced in a long time. Christmas was awesome, a real kiwi Christmas (even though there were only 4 kiwis present the rest of the group being from Austria, Taiwan, Wales, Spain, Australia and India). My experience was only marred slightly by the fact that I had a a ripper of a flu and this took the edge of my ability to communicate. Since Christmas day there has been poker games, dinner parties, movie nights and a few days spent at Savo Island for New Years period.

On Savo Island it was me and five women. Now spending New Years with this many women may sound daunting to most guys, but it was actually a surprisingly good time and we shared a few good yarns and one very informative game of spoons (truth or dare). For me the highlight of the trip was the walk to the top of this volcanically active Island. It was approximately a four hour round trip and at the summit it became clear that Savo Island is still a very active volcanic area. It served as a brilliant reminder that the Solomon Islands are a geologically dynamic Island group and this is one reason why they are biologically so diverse.

The time on Savo has had me thinking more about my assignment in the year 2011. Many people are surprised when I tell them the duration of my assignment. But for me, less than the two years I have been assigned would not allow me to build the connections and relationships that I really need to be successful and longer than two years would be quite a long haul indeed and may have social and career implications. Not having the access to such a social network in my assignment location as ex-pats have in Honiara is also something else that had me wondering if I would have been better to accept an assignment based in Honiara. But I keep coming back with the same answer and that is that I have a very unique assignment in a very unique location and I love the fact that this will be my life for the next two years. I also think that this assignment will define me and lead to more personal development than another assignment would in a location where I could unintentionally surround myself with ex-pats rather than local people. I also think about those great people out in Choiseul and specifically my Island where I live, they are my community and I am going to fight tooth and nail to help them in whatever way I can.     

So roll on 2011, no doubt there are going to be more challenges than I can possibly anticipate. But one things for certain, 2011 ain't going to be a repeat of 2010 and for that I will be grateful.