Last weekend, we took our first trip to another island called Nugu.  The boat ride took about an hour and a half. During that time we say flying fish and a school of about 30-40 dolphins.  They were beautiful jumping out of the water and showing off.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of them because the boat driver didn’t bother to slow down.  

You arrive to 4 straw huts on the beach that contain beds, lights, a porch and a fan.  It is very basic and run on generators so electricity goes off around 9:30.  The kids wanted to go straight in the water and onto an old rope tied to a tree to swing in to cool off.  Of course the masks and fins came out shortly and the sea life was abundant.  The highlights would have been the giant clams and clown fish.  The clown fish were quite territorial and would swim straight up to your mask as it to say “stay away from my anemone”.  It reminded me of the scene in Nemo where he gets caught by the dentist.  

After that, a little bit of kayaking was in order so we took turns paddling around another small islands that the kids thought resembled Jurassic Park.  It was fun to pretend a T-Rex might jump out at any time.  

We also walked through the village and the local kids showed us their school.  It literally consisted of a wooden building with classrooms that consisted of a black board in the front and planks of wood for desks and seats.  Since there is only a few solar panels in this village the fun consisted mostly of soccer, singing and a game played with rocks that was kind of like Jacks. 

Dinner and lunch usually consisted of rice with freshly caught fish in some kind of coconut milk.  Dessert was always fresh bananas.  I was asking myself why are they not serving a beautiful cake made with fresh coconut, bananas and pineapple.  Andrew reminded me that most people here would not have ovens and if they are making a sweet it would be over an open flame which makes it harder to control the heat.  So they tend to make a boiled pudding for special occasions.  

This of course has inspired me to start looking up coconut, banana, and pineapple recipes on line.  I bought my house Mary a coconut scrapper at the market and the baking will begin shortly.  This of course blows my theory that I should lose weight here because it is too hot to eat.  Once the sun goes down and it cools off you can eat coconut cream pie til your hearts content.  

Our accommodation for the weekend. 

Beautiful Island girl. 

Local village school. 

Girls playing game with rocks. 

Kids sucking on sugar kane that grows in the yard. 

Kayaking. 

I will write more next week when the kids have had a week at school. 

Our first week

I am happy to say that our journey to the Solomon Island was a safe and happy one.  Besides being stopped in Brisbane for an extra bag weight checked, checked for explosive powder and being the last on the plane because we wanted a duty free vodka, it was a very enjoyable trip.  

We were lucky enough to get a taxi that could fit all of us and all of our luggage and headed off to our new home.  Alex didn't seem to notice much but I could tell that Elijah's face had a bit of concern on it.  Honiara as a town seems very run down compared to Melbourne.  People tend to litter and the streets have many potholes in them.  The locals never drive very fast because they are too busy trying to avoid the potholes.  Obviously the locals are dark skinned and most of them have stained teeth from chewing beettlenut. We asked Elijah what he thought and of course he said "it's great" but I could tell he was feeling a little uneasy. 

Once we made it to the house we were all pleasantly surprised.  Although it is not big, it has a beautiful garden,  a screened in mosquito free porch and 3 bedrooms so the kids can have their own rooms.  It also has a few roaches and ants.  I have only seen a couple of roaches but ants seem to come out of the woodwork if you leave a dirty plate for a minute or two. I am told that this is very common for this region and although I may try, I probably won't get rid of them completely.  We also have 3 coconut trees, one star fruit tree and a guava tree. 

Alex insisted that we try to crack open one of the coconuts, so we spent about an hour smashing it on a cement block and we opened it enough to get the coconut water out.  The next evening when our new security guard, Eddison came for his shift, we asked him to open one and with a few hits of his machete it was opened with a perfect hole to drink the juice.  When we were finished just a few more hits and it was opened so we could eat the pulp.

Compared to most of the locals we are living in luxury.  I have uploaded a picture of what most of the villages look like.  We have air condition but have not had to use it yet.  I am finding the night time comfortable but the day time hot.  I am trying to be tough and get use to the heat, however it will eventually get turned on. 

 

I have tons more to say but I think I will stop there for now.  We all are enjoying it so far.  I am sure we will have many more stories to come in the weeks to follow. 

One of the cafes that only expats or rich locals could afford.

The major market.  This is where I will do most of my fruit and veg shopping. 

Our New Home

Many locals will live in smaller huts in a village setting. 

Another view of the market.