Taro Island Baby

Well as of yesterday I have been in Taro for two whole weeks, Its all gone surprisingly fast and has been filled with a hell of a lot of experiences.
Its been both easier and harder than I anticipated being here. The people have been very friendly, although like with anywhere there is that initial barrier to break through. There appears to be a more reserved nature with people here than compared to New Zealanders or Aussies.
There has been a lot of curiosity as to why I have come here and the usual questions about family and if I am married. I have also been lucky in the sense that my assignment is with a truly community based organisation and because of this I have been able to make some good friends who have helped make getting established a lot easier. Gordon and Cassius are both two great local guys who have kept and eye out for my welfare and for that I am extremely grateful.

Last week Cassius called by on his way back to his home Island for the weekend, it was obvious he had a couple of drinks, but it was the sentiment that was important. As he called out from the front of the house he said he had been asked by Jimmy ( who I will be working with as part of my assignment) to come round to see how I was doing, "How are you doing by Brother, I want to make sure that you are ok", he said. With support like this you know your on pretty stable ground and over time as familiarity grows and my Pijin actually becomes reasonable, I anticipate that these connections will grow stronger.

I make pretty regular calls in at the new house that is being built close to the Laru Land Conference office, I must admit that I was pretty stoked with my application of one coat of paint in one of the rooms, after those two hours of painting I was buggered. The heat saps your energy and sometimes even the smallest tasks seem onerous. The boys here though have been working almost around he clock to get the place finished, they start early morning and work till midnight most nights of the week.     

The new place will be a good change for a number of reasons, 1) Its located on a bit of a ridge so will pick up some nice breeze, and so should be a bit cooler than where I am now; 2) Its in an area that gets mobile phone reception; 3) Its closer to central Taro Island, which means closer to the daily market and shops and 4) It will be closer to the people that I will have the most to do with for the next two years.

So all round its going to be a great move.

                                                      

Fish On

Well its been a very busy few days, after arriving in Honiara and getting sorted with a new bank account, pijin lessons and mobile phone, it wasn't before we were back on the plane heading to Nusa Hope for a couple days of staying in the village of Steve's wifes family. The stay was an adventure in itself, both in accessing the the village and the experiences we had while there. We flew initially from Honiara to Munda and then it was about a 50 minute banana boat ride to the village. Close to the village, the dark cloud started to roll in and before long it was raining hard, raining hard enough that the rain stung, getting wet while charging along in the boat has been one of the few times that I have actually been cold while in the Solomons

The following day Steve was keen to get out and check out the marine life, I tagged along as this was too good an opportunity to pass up. We drove the boat out to a headland were the shallow reef dropped off too some very deep water where apparently all the big pelagic fish congregate. Steve and Maka both jumped in, I soon followed and after a while I began to relax and appreciate more and more the surroundings; below on my left was shallow reef full of coral and small colorful reef fish, too my right was deep water which looked seriously deep as I couldn't see any indication of where the bottom may have been. Occasionally a small white tipped shark would swim along the edge of the drop off.  

Steve suggested I have a shot with his spear gun, "no worries Steve" trying to make it look second nature, like I grew up spear fishing. I took a shot at a nice blue fish on the shallow reef, fired, nothing happened the fish was still kicking around alive and well, "Good shot you just needed to be about four metres closer"  was Steves response. Well I tried and as I didin't accidentally shoot anyone who was in the water I considered it a success.    

I had a go of Maka's more 'tradational' spear which was essentially a metal spear, wooden shaft and bit of rubber. The main difference in the technology here was that the spear wasn't tethered so once you shot it you had to go after and retrieve the spear (note to self, shoot as shallow as possible). I took aim at another colorful reef fish and fired and again I missed. Maka being the good natured guy he was, was good enough to go after the spear now laying on the reef.

I now felt like a seasoned spear fisherman and at the end of that morning I felt incredibly lucky to have been given the opportunity to experience such a beautiful environment. To be swimming around in the bluest waters, full of coral and a wide array of tropical fish, surrounded by hillsides covered in lush rainforest, made me think (and not for the first time) how the f**k did I get here again.