Sunday, July 26, 2015

 

Isle of Pines Statues

A special place on Isle of Pines is St Maurice Bay. This is the place where the first missionaries landed in 1848. The Kunie people have placed a statue on the spot where the first Mass was celebrated; some people say it is of St Maurice, but our tour driver says it is of Jesus. They have surrounded this statue with a fence made with dozens of tribal totem carvings. More of these make a fence along the head of the beach. I think the totem poles are fascinating. They also make good climbs for small bears who want a close-up look at the strange faces and patterns. One sad thing is the plaque at the base of the main statue, with the names of 16 Kunies who died in France in the First World War. Comparing the beautiful, peaceful place they left and the horrible, ugly way they died in the trenches is another thing that makes this small bear detest stupid, senseless war.

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Friday, July 17, 2015

 

St Joseph's Canoes

St Joseph's Bay on the Isle of Pines is a place where traditional Melanesian outrigger canoes are still being built. The things that distinguishes these canoes from those from other island groups is the single outrigger spaced out from the starboard side of the main hull, about the same distance out as the length of the main hull, and the overhanging deck on the port side. There were none sailing when we stopped there as all the sailing ones were out fishing or taking tourists to outer islands. The local Kunie people who live here have been fishermen for centuries. They leave their gear in little bush shelters in the edge of the trees. You can see that despite their traditional canoe designs, they all have added outboard motors for those times when the wind doesn't blow.

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Saturday, July 11, 2015

 

Isle Of Pines Beaches

What a lousy week we have had. Mum was carted off to hospital last Sunday night in extreme pain. She has only just been released as an outpatient and will have to be back for lots of more tests this week. I am a bit annoyed because she went to hospital in an ambulance and the paramedics didn't invite me to ride with them. Anyhow, with Mum in one hospital and Dad having cancer treatment in another one I have been really busy looking after the house. Now a really cold snap has hit Canberra and the rest of south-east Australia and it's wet and miserable outside. I hope that it brings snow so I can make my first snowbear. Cold, wet weather makes me wish I was back on one of the nice beaches that my travels have taken me to. These two are on the Isle of Pines. They are close to the pier where the ship's boats let passengers ashore. The top one is Kanumera Bay and it has a good patch of fringing reef for snorkelling. The little island at the far end of the beach is a sacred place and visitors aren't allowed to set foot on it. The bottom beach is at Kuto Bay. This is a good beach for kids as it has a nice sandy bottom, not rocky like at Kanumera. You can see "Radiance of the Seas" moored in the background, and the pier is just off the left side of the image. The tree was good climbing for a small bear.

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Wednesday, July 01, 2015

 

Local Bus, Great Touring

Gosh, it has been a fortnight since my last post. Problem is that Dad is at the hospital every day for his radiation cancer treatment and I need him to check my spelling and grammar. So back to pictures from our last cruise. We usually use local tours rather than those organized by the ship. The standard of transport is not as good, but the local guides are usually very happy to show you their home turf and to tell you stories about it. At the Isle of Pines we took a round-the-island tour on this small bus. That's Mum in the seat by the door; the best views while traveling are from that seat if you can win the rush for it. Dad says that the most interesting thing about the bus, mechanically, was the way it managed with absolutely minimal suspension. Our guide/driver was Christopher, who has lived all his life on the island. He let me help start the bus and close the door before we started. He also has a small family of Aussie bears on the windscreen of the bus (OK, they are koalas, not real bears, but they do look similar to me and I am supposed to be a bear. The Oldies reckon there must be a fair bit of koala in my ancestry). We saw most of the special places on the island and I have some great photos to show you soon.

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