Untraveller

We went into town for lunch. One of the staff members was nice enough to give us a lift for the first day. I can’t quite remember where we ate lunch but I do recall it being a cafe of sorts. Not even sure we had anything that could be described as “traditional” food. I think it was sandwiches or similar, maybe something cooked. It was then that we tried paying with the cash that we got from the bank.

Due to the availability of flights we were actually scheduled to be in Samoa for four full days, three of them working with the Samoa met service instead of the usual two. The first day was pretty much like the rest: presentations of the software we were putting together. The Samoan met service was quite large, with one main centre and several out-buildings. We spent our time in a meeting room which was actually quite nice.

Samoa

The story of the trip to Samoa actually beings in Melbourne. I was travelling to the bank to get some local currency (Tālā, I believe). Although I was told that most places accepted credit cards, I was still quite a nervous traveller at the time, and I wanted a backup should the cards fail me. So I went to the bank to withdraw some cash, which was given to me in the form of paper notes (foreshadowing).

We stayed a total of two full days and left on the Wednesday. The flight was via Brisbane and we arrived in Melbourne in the evening. Our flight back.

Our hosts were immensely hospitable and were kind enough to take us on a small tour of the hills around Honiara. We visited the American War Memorial and the Solomon Peace Memorial Park, which was the Japanese war memorial (the War in the Pacific will be a common through-line of our visits to these islands). These were both situated in the high lands, which gave us some pretty stunning views.

We didn’t really do a lot of travel outside the hotel or the met office. We were there to work, and like PNG we were told to avoid travelling without a guide. I was quite an inexperienced traveller at the time as well, and a lot less keen to explore places, so I was quite happy with that. Although I do remember grabbing a few supplies from a small convenience store across the road from the hotel.

Solomon Islands

The flight between PNG and the Solomon Islands was a few hours. We arrived in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day at our hotel. I can’t remember where we had dinner but after doing a few web searches, I believe it was the Heritage Park Hotel. This was before I started taking photos of anything and everything, but looking at the images of the al fresco dining area online back memories.

Sunday was pretty much breakfast, packing, checking out, then driving to the airport to catch our flight to the Solomon Islands. Leaving for the airport. Attempts to catch photos of the met service on the way.

Our flight was Sunday, which meant that we stayed the Saturday as well. Instead of hanging around the hotel all day, one of the senior members of the PNG met services offered to drive us around Port Moresby. We got a good tour of the many of the areas around the hotel, and then drove up the hills near the residence of Australian High Commission, which overlooked the bay. As tight as the security around the hotel was, the residence was like a fortress.

Friday morning involved the hands-on exercise, in which I gave a walk-through of the software. It was also the first time I used a sat-phone, one that we brought along with us for emergencies. Before we left, we created some demo accounts, but when it came time to run the demo, I forgot the logins. So I had to call a colleague back home to reset the password. The sat-phone worked, but trying to understand each other was quite difficult.