Fiji
Solomon Islands
Vanuatu

Samoa
New Zealand

Venise borrowed a 4x4 from a friend and took us on a little tour of the immediate environs of Honiara. Once you leave Honiara things start to get better. Although Honiara means "Place of Gentle Breezes", there is not much respite from the heat and humidity. As you move inland you also gain altitude and so the climate improves. Venise had intended to take us up to a resevoir some way out of Honiara but we had to abandon this idea because, even though we were in a 4x4 the road had been washed away on a very steep stretch of road. If we had been able to get down it in one piece then there would have been very little chance of getting back up it.

Even though we were unable to reach our intended destination the trip had been very interesting since it took us along a little used road up into lower reaches of the tropical rainforest. I must admit that the rainforest, like that we were to encounter in Samoa proved to be somewhat of a disappointment. Whilst certain trees are very impressive, because of their height or girth, or because of the multitude of plants growing in, on, or hanging down from them, there is actually very little to see. I am sure that this is not the case and can be attributed to the untrained eyes of Lucy and myself. It is possible to hear bird calls coming from within the canopy of the trees overhead, but it is very rarely that you actually see a bird. The most frequently seen animals are small lizards and geckos which scurry away or hide themselves under the dead leaves and fallen branches and twigs that cover the forest floor. There are very few brightly coloured flowers, but the foliage of plants that grow on the forest floor leaves a lasting impression. The leaves of the plants range from the palest of yellows through to greens so dark they could be black, just for good measure there are purples and reds thrown in as well.

Although I was been forwarned, by a friend, of insects of legendary proporptions in the Solomon Islands I had not expected to encounter the butterflies. Although there are butterflies the size of a hand, what is more impressive are the smaller ones. These congregate in thick clouds of white butterflies and yellow butterflies, whether they are the same species or not, I do not know. In some places they actually lie like autumn leaves covering the road where they have died.

On our return to Honiara we stopped off first at the Japanese war memorial, a rather lonely and sad affair, being constructed of what appears to be concrete. It sits or the breast of a small hill over looking the development of Nada. It dos not appear to be visited regularly and litter lies around.

We also stopped in at Betikama Seventh Day Adventist School, one of many schools run in the Solomon Islands by the SDA church. There is a small gift shop selling carved wooden products and panpipes. Pupils at the school learn how to carve so that they can both raise money for the church and have a way of supplementing their income when they leave. They quality of the Solomon Island wood carving is the best we saw anywhere in ther Pacific and actually saw it for sale in Fiji and Vanuatu. If you get the opportunity take a look, it is of course necessary to be discerning because there are items produced for tourists and those produced for personal enjoyment, the later being of the higher quality, but harder to come by.