Tuesday 11th December.

-1 days to go.

I finished all the packing and getting rid of anything excess this morning. I took all my stuff across to Tweetys room. We decided to end the way we started, we all had breakfast at the Lime Lounge.

I am still decidedly unwell. I have a temperature and feel a little nauseous. I have to last another 5 hours to catch the plane.

The political situation enters the High Court to argue if the GG needs the PMs permission to recall Parliament.

I returned my laptop and mobile phone to the company who provide our admin. Tweety and I went out for lunch and then back to the Office. I then picked up all my luggage and off to the airport we go.

Of all the time I spent in the Solomons, today was the only day with tropical thunderstorms at 1700. Every other storm has been after 1900 until today. There was a delay because the ground crew could not refuel the aircraft until the lightning abated.

We were later still because of people who did not board the flight. The last passenger got on the aircraft at 1720. The last group, I saw in the terminal when I was checking in. People who treat airline travel like a bus trip should be left off the flight. Why do they think they get people to checkin 90 - 120 minutes prior to the flight? The departure times of aircraft are the times they are supposed to lift off, not the time you get on board.

Can we please go back to the days where they closed off the flight and tell people who turn up late to re-book a later flight?

The flight into Brisbane was quite smooth, except for the final 20 minutes into Brisbane.

Well this adventure is nearly over. I will possibly only have 1 or 2 posts left. In the last one I will try to provide a link to photos I have not been able to post. I will also do an update on the political scene in the Solomons to round everything off.

Monday 10th December.

0 days to go.

Well, here it is my last full day at work. It starts off on shaky grounds. I am feeling a little weak and not 100%. It is obviously a left over from my stomach bug. A light lunch is in order to help restore the balance.

Today is an admin day. I have cleaned up my laptop. Most of it has just been deleting files and emails mainly. I have also transferred photos to a flash drive for transport home. I have been doing the same to the shared hard drive at work. Once all the stuff has gone it will free up some needed space.

The afternoon was as exciting as the morning. I did a bit of driving around, went to the airport, on business! I was not checking it was still there.

Other than the above, the most exciting it got was in the SS it says the PM has decided that Parliament should meet on the 24th December. The Speaker of the Hose has said it will be the 13th as far as he is concerned. He will only change the date if the GG tells him otherwise.

If the PM and Cabinet do not show up and the Opposition do have the numbers they will get rid of the Government in a 26 – 0 vote. I presume that then it will all kick off in the Court as to the legality of the GG being able to recall Parliament.

After work Tweety and I went to the pool for our last evening swim. We picked up Duke afterwards and set off for the Mendana for dinner. Afterwards, it was back to the King Sol to finish packing.

Sunday 9th December.

1 day to go.

It was another slow start to the day. It is a nice lead in to a quiet Sunday. I went outside and into town to take some photos of the buildings, the shops and other premises without a lot of people wandering around. I forgot to mention that Saturday was the final of the Solomon Cup. It was played between East Honiara Lions v Central Honiara Eels. Central Honiara went into the final without 4 starting level players, they are Seventh Day Adventists and will not play.


Well the above was what I intended to do, but I had some sort of stomach bug. I stayed in my room all day and ate about 5 pieces of toast and drank 1 cup of tea.


A real anti climax for a final Sunday!

Saturday 8th December.

2 days to go.

I was up at the crack of 0730 this morning. A nice leisurely breakfast was consumed and I watched a bit of telly, none of your “day time TV” here. This was a show about the rise of Islamic Terrorism in Europe.

At about 0930 Tweety and I headed for the market. In a veritable shopping frenzy we bought souvenir after souvenir. The market has not seen such a hit and run raid since the last time someone did it.

We took my washing out to Nemos place and threw it in her washing machine. We returned to town where I took Tweety in hunt of some more purchases. After this ended I dropped him off and returned to pick up my washing and then back to the King Sol to hang it up and then in to work.

By the time this happened it was 1200. I occupied myself with some emails and a little internet surfing. I also started to sort out some photographs. The laptop and mobile phone go back on Tuesday so I have started to tidy things up and get ready for a major erase of files and return the machines to “factory setting”.

The SS has a story that the Parliament will meet, as requested by the Governor General, next Thursday. The High Court has dismissed the Opposition case against the AGs claims. The case of the AG v GG and others will start next week. It will not finish before the appointed recall of Parliament. It will be interesting to see what will happen. Parliament needs a quorum of 24. Each side claim to have the majority, 25. So if the PM and his supporters boycott the proceedings and the Opposition all attend with their 25 the PM will be ousted. Stay tuned folks to the same bat channel at the same bat time for another thrilling episode.

The afternoon consists of some reading and relaxing and then some swimming. I am going out to dinner again tonight and again tomorrow night, although tonight is with Tweety, Duke and a mate of Duke. We went to the restaurant in the Pacific Hotel / Casino, it has re opened after 20 months. It was one of the places burnt out after the riots last year.

Quiet end to the evening, watching telly then off to bed. I am eagerly awaiting a final Sunday.

Friday 7th December.

3 days to go.

The former Prime Minister Sir Allen Kamekeza was sentenced to; surprise surprise, 5 months in jail. He was also fined $7000. Here in the Solomons, if you are sentenced to more than 6 months in jail, you cannot enter Parliament. Sir Allen is the person who holds the balance of power. The PM and the Opposition each have 25 votes. Sir Allen is the remaining non aligned Member of Parliament. He must serve 2 months as 3 months was suspended. He has also appealed the sentence.

I have been trying all day to confirm my flight. Solomon Airlines do not want to confirm it. I just get handed around from phone to phone. Maybe I will have to alter the “days to go” number.

We had a farewell get together this afternoon. Tweety and I have only been here 3 months, Duke, will be leaving after 18 months on the same flight as me.

We had plenty of food and drink; beer, wine and soft drink accompanied with rice, curries and stews as well as vegetables and trays of banana, watermelon and pineapple. All functions like this have strict planning. An agenda was printed and passed around.

The MC organised everything, we then have Grace. This is followed by eating which is led by the guests of honour then the important people!. After that is complete we have a couple of speeches. This is followed by the presentation of gifts to the outgoing advisors. The final speeches are from the outgoing advisors.

After the speeches the locals sing traditional farewell songs. We then have the closing prayer and everyone stays until the drinks have finished.

It was a great ceremony. Most of the local staff made sure they came up to the three of us and thanked us individually, not only for our efforts, but for coming along as a friend of the Solomon Islands.

After this came to an end, Tweety and I had a dinner engagement with one of our friends we made here. She is a nurse from the Medical Centre. We headed off to the Iron Sounding Bum, in the middle of the biggest storm we have had since we arrived. It was just like a typical Tropical thunderstorm. I wonder why that was? We got soaked in seconds even with an umbrella. The water was about calf length when we got out of the car. After dinner there was no standing water and it was just a wet looking parking area.

Thursday 6th December

4 days to go.

The papers are reporting the court proceedings of the High Court challenge by the AG. He gets his chance to respond to the allegations of vexatious and self interest in the action. A new Deputy PM has been announced. Patterson Oti. He was most prominent recently for a statement he made at the UN accusing Australia of invading the Solomon Islands by sending RAMSI in to help.

At work, Duke is being kicked out of his accommodation. He has the day off to oversee the uplift of his possessions. After 18 months here he is leaving on the same plane as I. Tweety and I went out to his house to pick up a couple of tables to take to Nemos place.

Duke will be joining Tweety and I in the King Sol until Tuesday.

All things yellow seem to attract Tweetys’ attention. Today at lunch he got really excited by the sight of corn. Just because we have been eating lunch at the same place for the majority of our time here and they have always had the corn sitting in the bain marie.

He raced up to the counter and bought a cob. For $6.00SBD or 0.92cents, when you consider that his toasted cheese and onion sandwich cost him $24.00SBD he said “shoulda bought 4 of theses! Another meeting is arranged with a Lawyer at 1610 today; I am trying to get some information from the Lawyer to help one of the guys here do his job. I think it is handy for him to know what parts of a prosecution case a defence Lawyer looks at.

More pool tonight, the temperature has risen from 31 to 32deg C and the minimum is equally rocketing up to 24 deg C. Tweety said the week long forecast indicates these temperatures up until Sunday where the maximum is tipped to be 26 with heavy showers and Thunderstorms. It looks as though the rainy season has arrived. I will be happy if there are clear skies from Honiara to Brisbane in between 1700 and 1900 on the 11th and the same between Perth and Brisbane on the 12th.

Wednesday 5th December.

5 days to go.

Remember me saying no new projects yesterday?

Well, I did start something and had 44 pages of it by lunch time. Not the most exciting of documents, but it filled in the morning and how!

I went to a Planning Meeting for lunch and stayed for a short time afterwards. I did a small information session on a change to process for about 15 minutes.

I then listened in on the meeting while one of the Managers gave an update on progress towards the Corporate plan etc for 2008. It is the same process we use, if this continues our permanent advisors will have done a great job. They really are taking big strides.

Politically there is some posturing and positioning going on. New Ministers being sworn in and the PM is appearing more confident that he has the numbers required to defeat the No Confidence motion next Thursday.

A case that was hastily presented against the Opposition Leader has been thrown out of Court. The decision was that it should not have been heard in the Court, but similar to the failed case against the Former MoF.

The High Court case against the GG by the PM and AG started also. The GG and Opposition are saying that the case should be dismissed for 2 reasons, it is vexatious and has only been filed to delay Parliament re sitting on the 13th and that the PM and AG both have a conflict of interest in this case. The suggestion is that the time to question this aspect of the Constitution is when Parliament is sitting.

pool is getting better, we can almost see the bottom again. My legs now only look a light green when they are under the water.

Tuesday 4th December.

6 days to go.

Stats went home today. I shall not see him for a while, if ever. If I get to come back here it will be after his project is completed. I hope to run into him on either his or my travels in the future.

I ran into a guy I met at fatboys too. He is a med student. He is doing some work here as part of his study. He is Swiss. He is in the Solomons with another med student. They were working at the Gizo Hospital, helping to look after victims of the tsunami.

Now they are doing their final bit at the hospital in Honiara. It is titled the National Referral Hospital. Many people refer to it as Number 9. It was originally set up during the War by the US. It was the 9th MASH unit. It is now staffed by Taiwanese, Cuban and local Doctors, along with European med students I suppose.

Nothing too drastic is going on here. I am not starting any new projects as I will most likely not have time to finish them.

I found out today that the court case I was to appear in is not happening, well not for me anyway.

The Lawyer rang me to tell me that the Defendant did not turn up on Monday. He is defending himself in the Supreme Court, which I must admit is gutsy. His Lawyer didn’t show up either.

I had to then hurriedly cancel the video conference I had arranged. I know it was not the Prosecutors fault, but the things I had to go through I mean!!!

The pool was nice tonight. It still had the sign up advising not to swim, but it was almost clear. The staff said it was OK. It has been off limits for about a week.

Monday 3rd December.

7 days to go.

I have forgotten to explain the daily entertainment Tweety and I have provided by the King Sol. As close as we can calculate, there is a device in the Hotel containing all the numbers of the room. They use this device as a Random Room Number Generator. They set the device off, which ever room number comes up wins a gift of the day. Don’t be ridiculous I can hear you say dear reader. However we can not come up with any other explanation as to the arrival and disappearances that occur in our rooms. Let me tell you some of the experiences.

Both Tweety and I have at times had a vase and flower arrangement placed in the room. They may stay for any length of time, I have had some for 1 day, 2 days and 3 weeks before they disappear. The space without flowers is also as random. Sometimes the empty vase stays on the table some times it doesn’t. On one occasion the milk in the room, (UHT longlife milk sits on the bench until opened, then it goes in the fridge) was on the bench when I went to work. When I got back it was gone, the 500ml carton was replaced with a 1 litre carton of UHT whipping cream.

Cooking equipment disappears and reappears with regularity. Some days I have 2 frypans, 2 small saucepans and 2 large saucepans. Other days I have 1 of each. The combination of cutlery and glassware fluctuates too. The best effort however was my front veranda. Went to work all was fine, returned in the evening and I had to balance on 2 beams to get the key in the door and get in. The ground was about 10 feet below the veranda. It was replaced over a few days. Tweety got home to find people removing and replacing his flyscreens. There were no holes in them, they were just being replaced.

I received a new inner spring mattress and a new shower curtain last week, Thursday I think it was. On any day I have between 1 and 7 towels. Now this is not a complaint, just the sequences etc give us something to look forward to. When we both get home we look in all the rooms and cupboards. We then get changed and go to the pool. If either of us have a particularly good find, or loss, we sit there with a stupid smile on our face until the other asks “what did you get?” or “what did you lose?”

Nothing too exciting is happening in the world of Solomon Island politics. Bubbling away beneath the surface no doubt.

Sunday 2nd December.

8 days to go.


After 3 previous attempts we finally made the “End of the Road” trip to Lambie. The 4 of us set off, Tweety, Stats, Nemo and I at about 1200. We had an uneventful trip until we got to the river crossing. The crossing is about 5km from our previous best attempt.
Tweety was in command, last time we crossed the river we had a laugh at the bow wave from the vehicle and the height of the splash. It started out that way this time, for about 1 second. Then when we saw the water coming over the bonnet and we had to put on the windscreen wipers our expressions changed. I laughed, but I was in the back seat, Stats and Tweety had other things to say!!


Another couple of kms along we came to a section of the track that was mud. This whole section was maybe 500 metres long and a metre deep. We made progress through it, being pulled from side to side and we bottomed out a couple of times. I think Tweety was as relieved as anyone that we made it. Even though we were all happy, we knew one thing, we had to come back through it, there is only 1 road! The next section of the road was heavily and deeply rutted.


I think it was just like the previous section only dried out. We spent the next few minutes being thrown about the interior of the green machine. We had to negotiate another river, then a sharp turning high rising section of track then down the other side. As we crested the hill we saw our objective. It was a beautiful sight. There were several bays of azure blue water framed by golden yellow sand, if there had been grass skirted natives on the beach I would have thought I was in a Hollywood movie set. It is really a beautiful place. The village was large and clean, people waved and said hello. We thought that this was heaven on earth, until we came to a large area under some trees. This is where things changed.


Some of the locals had been drinking, we arrived at about 1330, we had no idea how long this had been going on. There were some family groups, not many, the majority were males and nearly all had cans of beer. Again, it was a small minority, some defiantly stood in our way, others tried to pull them out of our way for us to go through. Some started becoming agitated we thought we should get out of there. We were sworn at and a couple banged their hand on the side of the green machine. Once we were away from this area everyone was waving and smiling.

It was only a small proportion, maybe 6 people in a large village, but it made us more reserved in our outlook. The people are outwardly friendly, as their culture clashes with the 21st Century it is repeating the errors of the past. We read of similar decay caused by a rapid modernisation, in Canada, USA and Australia the indigenous people all went down this path, I hope this can be stopped here.


On a similar note, RAMSI had to step in and assist the local Police as a riot broke out at the National Soccer Stadium, Lawson Tama. It is the Solomons Cup, the national u23 competition. Malaita were playing a team from Honiara. Honiara scored what is said to be a controversial goal. This ended up being the final score. The Malaitan fans then set about on a rampage. They smashed the Offices of the SIFF Solomon Islands Football Federation. Windows were broken, stones thrown at cars, fights broke out and the crowd moved towards Chinatown. This was the scene of the last riots in March 2006. The previous riots were caused by fighting between Malaitans and Honiarans. It all blew over quickly, well a couple of hours anyway.


That was my excitement for the weekend over. I think the following week may be an anti climax!

Saturday 1st December.

9 days to go.

Here we are again, back to one of the dead days. I woke up this morning, bwaaa, bwaaaa, bwaaaaaaa, sorry, this is not a blues song! I was expecting a hangover after last night. I did not drink that much, maybe the equivalent of a bottle of wine, but I have not consumed that amount of alcohol for quite a while. Luckily I just feel a little off, no headache or the normal trappings of hangover.

Today is a landmark day in the Solomon Islands. I can successfully dine out in years to come, on the story “I was in the Solomon Islands the day their first Saturday paper was released.” Yesterday we did not get our SS. It was apparently delivered late. As good conspirator theory we were again convinced it was a Government ploy to censor the news. After lunch Duke returned with a copy. This morning, however my copy of the Saturday edition arrived.
The price of the new Minister of Aviation was announced. He was given a portable saw mill that was to be delivered to a member of the Opposition. I shall have to read it more carefully over the weekend.

Today was to be the day that Stats, Tweety and I travel to the mythical village of Lambie. We have tried 3 times so far, on each occasion the drivers, Nemo, Tweety and then Guru gave up. I am not sure of the real reasons, Nemo was put off by a river crossing, Tweety thought we must have passed it and not seen it and Guru got scared when the mud on the tracks reached the hubs of the 4WD. For whatever reason, we have calculated that we got to within 3 kms of the village.

Seeing today is the day that New Guy returns to Oz, he came out for a pre posting briefing and a look at the place, Tweety is taking Stats and New Guy up to the mine site. I believe we set off for the trip to Xanadu tomorrow.

Today is a Christmas party for the work Football team, so I popped in for a short time. I am still a little under the weather and do not stay long. It is a little bit of lounging around the pool then up to the room to prepare dinner and do some reading.

The pool is currently closed for maintenance, in typical Sol style they could not tell us when it will be back in use. I suppose I shall just have to stay at work longer each afternoon.

Its an exciting life I lead, but if not for people like me the papers would not have anyone to write about will they.

Friday 30th November.

10 days to go.

This morning Tweety and I came into work and picked up one of the local guys and then headed off to the only Gold mine in the village er Solomons. It was about an hours drive from work, 25 minutes East then 35 minutes South. We saw the open cut area of the previous operators and where the new holes were being drilled. From the observation point we went to the processing area.

The site has been trashed by the locals who live around the mine. Everything that was not bolted down was removed. They then started on the bolted down stuff. They took all the power lines from the main road to the mine. They took the cladding off all the buildings and left the skeleton. The laboratory area, the sheds and the accommodation as well as the offices were stripped. The insides were removed and anything they could move was taken.

In the power plant, they had 11 50KVA generators. All the wiring was removed and gauges, filters starter motors were taken too. In general they have to decide which parts of the equipment and buildings they can repair and what they have to destroy and replace. Which ever they decode they plan to be in production shortly after June 2009.

After returning to Honiara at 1100, work was, well, work. At 1700 we returned to the King Sol to get ready to go out to a Christmas function courtesy of GRM. GRM do several things in the Solomons, but for us they are our Admin area. They supply our office equipment, arrange the lease of our vehicles etcetera. It starts at 1730 and ends at 2000. Well this is one version we have heard.

The dress standard is neat casual. I have spent the previous week informing Tweety that he must improve on his normal standard and make a concerted effort to meet the required standard. He did not disappoint me.

He selected his blue shoes that ideally matched the blue in his shirt, he also selected a shirt with a great yellow colour which matched his shorts. I will post a photo, although it may have to wait until I return to Australia as the speed of the internet has prevented me in posting photos for a while. I chose the elegant combination of a checked blue shirt, with highlights of white and black, a contrasting pair of shorts and the extremely elegant black crocs. Stats, although not directly involved was made a special guest for the occasion, was resplendent in his choice of trousers and shirt and a fetching pair of sandals, with socks. New Guy was nearly as colourful as Tweety, his chosen ensemble included a polo top similar in colour to a Harlequins Rugby shirt, although the colours were more restrained.

All in all it was a great event. A band appeared at about 2100 and played on til 2300. A mixture of reggae and 80s pop hits as well as some Beatles ensured the crowd with a wide age gap enjoyed themselves. I drank a little more than I normally do, I have been used to maybe 1 with a maximum of 2 for the last 3 months. This night I had a bit more. Not too much, but enough to feel I might regret it in the morning.