Our first few days of convalescence in Geva Harbour were blissful. The word 'harbour' is generous by western terms as there was not a dock, pier, mooring or boat in sight. Its definition as a harbour comes from the historical use of the word as a natural habour, a place to hide a boat from weather or sea conditions.
While some locals were fishing from hand paddled canoes along the river banks, we were left to our own devices with a myriad of unfamiliar bird calls, crocodiles slinking below the surface where the water mingled with mangroves, and the wide array of sea life that darted about the coral suffused bay. The mangrove forest ringing crystal clear waters exposing the coral seascape below was a completely unique experience for us. The clear water adjacent mangroves was a stark contrast to those in Asia and Australia as it is usually the muddy meeting point of salt and fresh water. The coral diversity was something to behold, with fan structures and table tops strewn amongst large bommies. The fish life included large angel fish, anemones and countless other iridescent fish darting from place to place. The parrot fish were always relaxing while munching away on coral (so loud you could hear them crunching).
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| Geva Harbour |
Hugh had a go at trying to catch some crabs for dinner. As he lowered the trap complete with a dead fish head as bait, a ghostly white shark circled with keen interest. No sooner was the trap laid than the shark nipped away looking for an early dinner. Alas neither Hugh nor the shark got any free dinner out of that episode.
One day a local man named Reggie was going around the cove in his boat looking for some students who had gone out in canoes and stopped by. We had a chat with him and invited him aboard as it hammered down with rain and learned a lot about the Solomons from his perspective. He told us about the Seventh Day Adventist School where he is a teacher and how he takes his fibreglass boat with 15 hp engine on the 2.5 hour, 30nm one-way trip to Gizo when they need extra supplies. We were starting to get an appreciation for how far the islanders would travel in their boats for small items like sugar, flour or kids clothing.
The Solomon Islands was first introduced to the western world as Yslas de Salomon by the Spanish in the 1560s, though archeologists estimate that local tribes had been habiting here some 30,000 years ago. The British took the island group by 1900, naming it the British Solomon Islands Protectorate to take advantage of the businesses of copra and palm oil export. WWII saw bitter and heavy fighting in Guadalcanal between the US and Japan. The allied victory in the Solomons saw the US set up the new capital of the Solomons in Honiara next to the Henderson Airforce Base on Guadalcanal, relocated from Auki on Malaita. Self-rule was finally introduced in 1974, though the Australian presence cannot be missed in the government advisors nor the aid work and mining activities on the islands. The Bougainville civil war of 1989-2002 significantly impacted the Solomon Islands (being the closest neighbour to those lands), because the blockade of Bougainville by PNG meant that the Solomons became not only a refugee destination but also a medical aid point. This saw the flood of people travelling east out of Bougainville and hiding or resettling in the Solomons western province.
On Solomons ground this time, in 1999 ethnic tensions in the capital Honiara saw fighting erupt between Malaitan people and Guadalcanal people over Honiara land rights, a result of a British decision to relocate some Malaitans to provide workers in the new Solomons capital some 60 years earlier. A coup gripped the Solomons forcing the closure of the Henderson International Airport and stopping the flow of basic supplies out of the capital to the outer islands. Not until the Australian led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) arrived in 2002 did some semblance of normalcy return. The local tourism operators lament the coup and the resultant practical collapse of international tourism which crippled the industry and the local economy, the effects of which we can still see today some 12 years after calm was restored. But that is probably due to the still somewhat unhinged national government which is marred with corruption and nepotism accusations. Honiara having a reputation as one of the most dangerous places in the world is also problematic as it is the only international airport and funnel for tourists entering the country.
An obvious feature of the Solomons is the role of Christianity (largely Seventh Day Adventist), brought to the local villagers by missionaries in the 1800s. They adhere to religious taboos such as not eating shellfish (resulting in an abundance for us, yum!) and respecting the Sabbath from Friday afternoon for 24 hours.
After our break at Geva, we made way south to Gizo, the second largest town in the country. The town has a ramshackle feeling to it, largely owing to the very slow recovery of the built form after a 2007 tsunami devastated the region. It looks as though a stiff breeze would blow over the collection of corrugated iron roofed buildings. The town is small, consisting of one main road which is partially paved, and runs parallel to the water. The street is dotted with small stores selling food (small packets of flour, sugar, milk powder and salt - decanted from large bags), clothing and small electronics and finally an ANZ bank ready to supply us with some Solomon dollars (for the handy fee of A$10 per withdrawal, ouch!). The market is set up on the waterfront with standing height horizontal 'tables' where the locals place their wares complete with price tags.
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| The market is the focal point for the town, stretching alongside the waterfront |
The town gives off a wild west vibe, for me that was largely to do with the muddy and dusty street combined with the consistent chewing and spitting of betel nut (a nut that when chewed gives not only a permanent red stain to the teeth, but also a quick burst of euphoria akin to tobacco, and the requirement to spit bright red stain as the waste byproduct) all over the street, walls and depressingly, even dogs. I could not help but wonder why people do not carry around spittoons like when chewing tobacco was popular. You do not see many cowboys in Gizo, but the RAMSI police force with their handguns on their hips stick out like nobody's business in their blue and whites, the most formal looking people in town. It was as an aside while we were asking Reggie about the likelihood of crocodiles in Geva when he said that after the coup of the early 2000s, the government had required that all guns be handed in. As such the locals had no guns with which to manage the crocodile population, so we should be careful! It turns out that the RAMSI officers are the only people in the country permitted to carry a gun, not even the local police force are to have them.
We managed to find the customs building (above a small mixed business store and tucked away at the back) to pay the high boat fee for visiting before trotting down the road in zig zags to the immigration and quarantine buildings (many visits required to each in different order depending on which stamp was needed or which receipt for which payment needed to be shown). With the formalities ticked off, we sat down to enjoy some local fried fish and sweet potato chips, washed down with a cold SolBrew beer. It is hard to explain the euphoric feeling of sitting down to eat food cooked by someone else after a month of being the full time cook, terra firma at last!
5/10/2014
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