4 April 1974

Kolo Ridge

Honiara

British Solomon Islands Protectorate

4 April 1974

Dear Mum & Dad,

The mails to & from here are very erratic & in fact it is very easy to feel quite isolated from Australia. It is strange that Nauru is 800 miles further north but apparently in greater contact with Australia & far more Australian in its way of life. To be honest I have been relying largely on Andy’s trip down to re-establish the communication link. Andy rang me yesterday & I was very surprised to hear of Dad’s 2^nd operation. Andy also mentioned Mum’s letter which as yet I haven’t received. It is very frustrating sitting up here in the “dark”. I sincerely hope that Dad is on the improve & out of hospital as soon as possible.

Presumably Andy will fill you in on our doings since we left Nauru. As you know I am up here by myself. It really is lonely without the family & I will be glad when they are back. Still, Andy was so disappointed when Barbara & Peter decided to get married while we were supposed to still be in Nauru & now she has the opportunity to be there. Also Shane is to be christened on the Sunday following the wedding in the same church we were married in.

As far as my new job is concerned I have never had so much work in all my life. At the moment I am working 10 hours a day & weekends. It certainly is a change from Nauru. However the interest is there & the company operates internationally with contacts in Manilla, Hong Kong, Seattle & of course, Tokyo. Quite a lot of the accounting involves importing & exporting which is an area I haven’t had much to do with before. The manager is a pom & only been here 2 weeks longer than me. The only other European was a mechanic who finished after 10 years with the company last week. We have recruited another mechanic from NSW who is due here in 2 weeks. Between the manager & myself everyday is a new experience, still we have something in common & so far we are getting on extremely well. Last weekend was the end of our financial year (31 March) so stocktaking & all the other horrors of an end of year are with us.

Since arriving here our biggest shock has been the cost of imported food. It is very much dearer than Nauru prices. The only offsetting factor is the very low cost of fresh fruit & vegetables available daily from the market. It doesn't seem to matter what it is, it is always 10 cents a bunch. Local beef is very cheap. So far we haven’t been tempted to buy anything other than the essentials which is a change from Nauru where everything is a tempting bargain. I was shocked to find that the Triumph car that we bought just before leaving Nauru would cost $120 to import to the Solomons. Still it is now paid & the old girl is in the Solomon Motors workshop getting a complete tune up. So far they are doing a good job & it sounds very good. It still has to have a roadworthy from the PWD.

Our “2^nd car” is a result of a bit of weakness on my part. When we first arrived, Solomon Motors had a Mazda RX4 coupe on the floor for about $3,350. It was the last one, the next shipment due in May with an average of $200 increase in price. My contract includes the right to purchase a Mazda at cost plus 10%. Anyway it boiled down that I could buy the Mazda by financing it & the interest would cut out the increase in cost & discount. The same car in Australia costs approximately $4,200 so that in 15 months when we can take it back to Australia duty free we should be able to retrieve most of our purchase price.

We had a couple of pleasant surprises since we arrived plus a bit of bad news. The pleasant surprises first. After being here a day, a girl came & asked Andy if we wanted a house girl. We put her on 5 days a week & after mentioning it to the manager he said to put her on the company payroll as all the other house boys & girls were on. That put us $25 a month in credit. She has turned out really well & does all the housework. We also have a boy who does the yard 2 ½ days a week. He is on $1 a day but we pay for him ourselves.

The other good news is that I am getting all my petrol on the company which is just as well because it is 64 cents a gallon here. Over a month it is a considerable saving.

For our first weekend here the company put us up in the Mendana Hotel which is quite luxurious however on our first trip up to the house we got a terrible shock to discover there are only cold water taps! Not a hot water service in sight. Apparently it is quite the accepted thing here. We are still without hot water but by next week we should have a 40 gallon solar system. I am a real coward for cold showers but fast becoming an expert on staying clean without getting too wet.

Anyway, so far the credits exceed the debits. It rains a lot but I like to see a bit of moisture after thirsty Nauru.

I am going to send this down to Melbourne on Air Nauru, through the local agent to the Melbourne Nauru office for a friend of mine to post it locally so it should reach you in a reasonable time. Let’s hope you are feeling a bit better Dad.

All the best & even though I am so far away I am thinking of you,

Love Greg