What does a Solomon 7th Birthday Party Look like!!!

Well today is the our big girl's 7th birthday. ...... and the celebrations have the same ingredients as back home.....,cakes, games, fairy bread, cheerios, pressies, dancing and lots of excitable girls The celebrations started yesterday as Poppy has her 3 closest friends Angela, Betsy and Azalea over for the afternoon, sleep over and then to the beach today.

Poppy is also very lucky to have Nan and Grandad here from Tauranga for her birthday, so has been great to have them here to join in the celebrations.

In somewhat normal Honiara style the power went off right on tea time and we ate tea by torch light, but luckily came back on in time for the DVD.

The good thing about 7 year old sleep overs is they do sleep - no sitting up all night talking thank goodness....but they are old enough to self entertain and hang out in the pool.

Tonight we will go out for dinner as a family.

and voila...we now have a 7 year old in the family. Seems she has grown up very fast. She is a sparkly, funny, sensitive but somewhat crazy kid with a wicked sense of humour and we are very proud of the way she has embraced the new life she lives here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPS

Its Hard Work Playing House!!!

My friend Fiona ( in Taupo) found this photo of Clean Up Honiara Day on the net. ( Thanks Fiona) Makes it look all very "foreign correspondentish" the khaki's and the smoke!! I didn't look at all that dramatic wearing boring office clothes. Honiara is still pretty clean although we're had huge rain the last couple of nights which means all the drains overflow pouring debris and rubbish over the roads.

Exciting week coming up for us. Carl's parents arrive on Tuesday. Our first visitors so we are really looking forward to that. Then Saturday is Poppy's 7th Birthday. We're bracing ourselves for a sleepover - only 3 friends so should be ok!!!

Clean Up Honiara Day

Today was Officially Clean up Honiara Day!!!
Now you have to have been to Honiara to truely appreciate the magnitude of such a challenge. Honiara is a dirty, dusty, smokey kind of place. There is rubbish everywhere.....and very few services for getting rid of it. On average most Solomon Islanders would create a hang of a lot less rubbish than the average Kiwi or Aussie but with no regular rubbish collection it piles up everywhere. To make matters worse for just about everyone who lives in Honiara they don't call it home or have a heart connection with the place so don't care much about looking after it.

Well today was a mass of action. Lead by the local and RAMSI police forces hundreds of people were out picking up rubbish, clearing drains, cutting grass. Even those of us who work at the Minstry of Finance were out clearing up around our office.

Is amazing to see the transformation. The main drag through town is remarkably clean as are the surrounding areas. Of course there are now little fires everywhere burning the rubbish so is all the more smokey. But for once walking down town you don't have to watch out for piles of awful rubbish.

Will be interesting to see how long it lasts...suspect in a week you may not even be able to remember the day Honiara was clean...but it was fun and great to see so many people getting involved and caring for the city

4 Wheel Drive Fun

The beaches are off limits at the moment due to serious stingers (larvae of jelly fish) so today we went off exploring to find the Lunga River. Not convinced rivers are necesarily any safer as crocodiles live in many but apparently no one has seen one at this spot for a while!! (A 12 foot croc was shot by the police in the last couple of weeks in the next creek over but hey when you're hot and the water is cold!!!!!)

Was a serious 4 wheel drive adventure to get there. What was once a tarsealed road is now totally destroyed and is very rugged track. Got stuck a good few times and took some careful negotiating to get through. Tried to get some good photos but was so hot and muggy in the bush that the camera kept fogging up. All great fun.

Went with our friends Steve and Christa. Their son Noah and Tobias and great little mates.

Boyz Adventure in Brisbane

Tobias and Oscar hang out

Carl and Tobias have just got back from a week in Brisbane. Carl had to see an ENT about a reoccuring ear infection and TO just went for the adventure and to catch up with Bubu and Chapul (my parents). Tobias got to play with his cousin Oscar and also meet his newest cousin Jack. Was good for him to spend some time with grandparents without the distraction of noisy full on sisters.

But don't let anyone tell you men don't like shopping. Carl went crazy (lots of boy things like bits for the car etc and also groceries items that are hugely expensive here!!). A serious denting to the bank account and $200 in excess luggage charges he came home laden with lots of goodies for us all

Dolphins for Sale!!

If you've ever wanted a pet dolphin for the back yard pool the Solomon Islands is the place to come. This is supposedly the only country in the world that is prepared to risk international sanction and outcry by exporting live dolphins.

This week 2 large Emirates planes arrived to transport 28 live dolphins to Dubai. As you can imagine the money involved is significant and for a country with very few exports is all too attractive.

Solomon Islanders don't seem to view dolphins the same way we do. They are extremely plentiful here - I often see dolphins out my window at work playing along the coastline and we've seen them on trips away at the weekend. Dolphin massacres of 100-200 dolphins at a time are a somewhat common and sporting event particularly in Malaita. After a massacre you will often see an abundance of dolphin teeth necklaces for sale at the market - very fashionable items!!!

So while its not likely to be much fun for 28 little dolphins on route to Dubai - those that make the journey are perhaps the lucky ones avoiding massacre for the sake of their teeth!!!!!