French Camino 1

St Foy La Grand medieval town

St Foy La Grand florist shop

La Cocquille Napoleon, St Jean Port du Pied

Albuerge Orisson Up from St Jean Port du Pied

You can view all the photos Here https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#BOf59UICqtP8WSJ

It all began when I got to France. I stayed in the centre of Paris at Hotel du Pont Neuf, in the centre of Paris near the Ile de la Cite, and had booked a Holiday Taxi to get there. This was all accomplished through Booking.com. The Hotel staff spoke English and they helped me tremendously to get settled, buy a SIM card for the phone and contact my daughter. The Hotel is in a very interesting area which the Holiday Taxi driver said is safe. He was a Latvian so English was his third language at least, but he told me it was 44 degrees in Paris 2 days ago, when I said it was hot. The area round the Hotel known as the Louvre Rivoli has restaurants and shops, a Bureau de Change opposite. I got lost looking for somewhere to eat, found a Creperie for dinner and found my way back using my French at a supermarket. I got scammed in my first walk around the block by a deaf and dumb girl with a petition, which I signed and then she wanted money I gave her 20 euros, but she wanted more, and was waving a 10 euro at me. I gave her another 20 euro, expecting her to give me the 10 euro note, but she wouldn’t and when I said I wanted change, she gave me a few Euros.

I had booked the train for 2 days later, but had forgotten and went straight to the station by taxi the next morning. The recent floods had risen the Seine River by over 30 metres so repairs were being undertaken all along the road near the Seine River. The main station for long distance travel is Montparnasse. I arrived early which was just as well because I discovered the booking problem and had to change the ticket. It cost 11 euros and was sorted in time. I bought a SIM card, not the one recommended, but Orange was the only one I could get. My ticket was non reserved but I was told there are unallocated tickets next to the baggage compartment, so I found a seat and had to move once, but the conductor altered my ticket and told me to get out at Liborne to catch the /Sariat train to Velines. The journey through the countryside was picturesque as the sunflowers were in full bloom and the pattern of trees interspersed with agriculture was pleasing to the eye and very green. Hay bales lay harvested in fields and church bells were ringing through the countryside.

When I got to Velines it was a tiny station in the middle of nowhere . Marion wasn’t there and there weren’t taxis or a phone. A very nice black man asked me in French where I was going. I unpacked my bag to get out the address. His son came to pick him up and spoke some English and they took me to the Marion’s. It wasn’t on GPS for some reason and took me to the outskirts of Velines where it was.

So Marian and I caught up and had dinner and I went to bed. It was still light at 10 pm. Marion wasn’t answering her phone when they tried to ring her, she was in bed asleep and I yelled out at the open door and she eventually heard and got up and came to the door and I thanked my good Samaritans and my guides for orchestrating my delivery

We went to the nearby market in St-Foy La Grande, supposed to be one of the biggest in France. Foy was a Roman girl born in 290 AD, who became a Christian and refused to relinquish her faith and became a martyrdom at age 13 with several miracles attributed to her after her death. Thus the town is very old with buildings from the 15th century. It’s on the Dordogne The town has walls and a watch tower. The River from time to time floods and there is a flood scale. A dam had been built which I visited later on my travels, which has prevented the spring floods which used to flood the streets. It also was a transport Port by means of barges for wine from the region could be taken to England and other produce to market.

It took some time to get organised in France. I had only a week During which time I had to familiarise myself with the local area, get my SIM cards working, hire a car, shop for food, learn to drive on the wrong side of the road. I was not without help, Elliott, Marion’s friend helped with the computer and translation, but it wasn’t easy. Some problems I didn’t manage to solve. In changing from local SIM to French SIM I could no longer use phone verification and this meant I couldn’t use WordPress and other software that used phone verification, something I didn’t foresee.I could have solved it if I had computer skills that I didn’t have, but as it was I had to live with it, hence no WordPress posts from France or Camino. I was able to post from Facebook which I did regularly.

So I had decided to follow the French Camino, since I started in France and it generally is considered to start from Saint Jean Pied de Port. I had concerns that Marion would not be ready to go and asked if she still wanted to go and she said yes, so I picked up the car on 1st August and packed and we left at 12.30. I had booked an albuerge in St Jean Pied de Port. Marion drove first and we got lost in a town with no signs to St Savine and Orlens. At that time we hadn’t worked out to take the sign to other directions which would lead us out of town and eventually in the right direction.

We finally got to St Jean Pied de Port and stayed at La Cocquille Napoleon right on the Camino. They had just finished a twin room and we were the first to use it. We could feel the energy of the Camino, as it was right on the leyline. There were a group of people there staying in the dormitory who were walking the Camino and expecting to do it in about 3 months. The town has a lovely atmosphere and the albuerge owners are English and Spanish. They made an omelette for us and one of the guests played the piano which was superb. The owner, a basque, sang a song about agricultural life and we went to sleep rocked gently by the energy of the Camino=The next day we drove up past La Cocquille Napoleon on the road the Camino walk takes from St Jean Pied de Port. We passed lots of walkers but strangely none of those who had left that morning.Marian had a chicken steal her bread at breakfast to much hilarity. Marian drove and despite early problems with the one way road with drop-offs of hundreds of feet, overcame her fear of heights. We had lunch at the Albuerge Orissa and decided to keep going to Mother Mary’s shrine which was on a plateau at the top of the Pyrenees. We did a toning as Aboriginal elder Guboo had shown us. Asking that the connection to Australia be made and visualizing Uluru. Others had left things at the Shrine. It’s in a most spectacular position. We ended by saying as Guboo did: the best is yet to come'.



We came down from the heights via a different road which went through the oak and birch forest with a mossy ground cover. It reminded me of Ernest Hemingway

For whom the Bell Tolls’ for he was in Spain not far from here during the Spanish Civil War. Some horses came right up to us and wouldn’t let us pass until Marian turned on the windscreen wipers and the spray moved them along. It was a magic day, toning and bringing in the energy on the high peaks of the Pyrenees.

In the evening we had moved to a new hotel, a mill on the river. We walked into town below the ramparts and went to a Basque concert in the church. The choir was very well balanced and energy came pouring in even though I was tired. Some trumpet players played medieval jousting music and you could see the knights in action.Then we walked back along the river bank where earlier people had been swimming on a lovely summer evening.

Next we drove to Roncevalles which is owned by the church and has ecclastical
dormitories for those walking the Camino. It’s a very narrow winding road but certainly much easier than those walking down from the Pyrenees. Marion drove next to Pamplona through a downhill run with little towns crossing the border into Spain almost unnoticed, with no checks, unlike when I went through in the 1980’s.

The building changed to a rougher style and industrial areas and high rise predominated as we got further into Spain. We got lost trying to find the Museum Navere, which has a Goya in its collection and ended up taking all afternoon to find our way out. At one point we found ourselves going back to France. I took over the driving and we stopped for fuel and backtracked to get onto A121 instead of A21 which took us off in the wrong direction again.

We had difficulty in the cities because I believe our intuition is blocked. At one point we ended up at Centro, a large manufacturing plant and had to be redirected to the Centre of Pamplona.
I can’t imagine how hard it would be on foot. We both lost our vision for a period while not driving. It was glorious white light which was difficult to see anything in 3D.

The Spanish seem more relaxed about payment, you pay after you buy unlike France where you put the credit card in before you buy petrol. We stayed at Tirapu outside Pamplona in a Casa Goni, a Casa Rurale, and had the most delicious dinner of Zucchini soup and enchiladas. Booking.com I thought charged the hotel and we had paid them. With the help of a translation software the owner explained they only took the booking and I paid her. I then wondered if we had been meant to pay at La Cocquille Napoleon, and emailed them to check, but no they charge booking .com monthly. So this is a different approach for different places which is confusing.

We stayed the next night at Mens after driving towards Lugano and found the hotel by accident having booked it earlier. We called at a church, the Monastery of Irache just outside Estrella and had lunch in the winery car park until they closed for siesta at 1pm. This was the church with the fountain of free wine which pilgrims talk about.

In the next day we saw the bridge at Puenta de Reina built in the 11th century to stop the fleecing of pilgrims by the ferryman. It is here the Aragonese and Napoleon Way meet. We didn’t book a room before leaving as Najera seemed too close. I wanted to see the Monastery Santa Maria de La Real where Claude Tranchant had a visionary experience. It is here the King Garcia saw an eagle and a dove living in peace and went into a grotto where he found the Virgin Mary with lilies In the cave. He later built a church to honor her. It is a moving experience to go into the grotto which has quartz running through the rock, increasing the energy of the grotto and our alignment with it. Outside the grotto are the remains of the King’s wife who died in childbirth and the tiny coffins of the children who did not survive to adulthood. There are lots of caves in the hillside which overlooks the town which might be interesting to explore.

From here we drove on to Burgos following the road towards Leon. This area was highly industrialized and I felt ill, I think it was pollution which was affecting me, so we stopped at a very old church in the forest changing drivers and drove on.

We stopped next at a Roman villa called La Olemeda which was an example of the Roman feudal system in this part of the country and how prolific the land was in the 4th century. It has been carefully restored and is under cover so the mosaics are in place and can be viewed from the surrounding Boardwalk. We went on into Salanda and in the main square went into a pastry shop and met a nice couple who guided us to a motel and translated for us. They were preparing for a wedding, so could only accommodate us for one night, the tariff was reasonable at 36 euros, so we stayed and drove into Leon the next morning ( about 50 Kms).

In Leon we had some difficulty finding the Cathedral, huge as it is because it’s difficult to see among the high rises. We found the Cathedral car park and parked there. It was a short walk to the Cathedral; but when we got there they closed the door in our faces for lunch.

We had lunch in the square in front of the Cathedral of Leon, Pulchra Leonina and saw the treasures of the Cathedral Museum. I was drawn to the room which had Muslim reliquaries and felt a strong energy surge in there. I feel it may relate to a past life which I was previously made aware of in Granada. (Insert past life)

There is also a contender for the Grail Cup housed here, said to have been commissioned by Urraca, a medieval goldsmith reusing Roman gems. Leon’s Cathedral is considered a Palace of the Virgin. It is dedicated to St Maria de Regla, and also the Virgin of Camino, Leon’s patron saint, but it is an image by an anonymous author, the Virgin Blanca, which dominates the main entrance and the central chapel of the apse, turning her into the true hostess and patron saint of the Pulchra Leonina.

This cathedral is known is known as the Cathedral of Light which is why I wanted to see it, It seems that as the new Mother’s energy comes in, it will come into its own as a centre of worship of the female Deity. The artworks contained within are simply breathtaking, as is the best collection of stained glass in the world. The 30 metres of height are filled with thirty one upper Windows, and twenty five lower Windows, as well as three rose Windows of eight metres in diameter each. Approximately half of the glass is original from the 13th and 14th century. Another one quarter was made in the 15th century and a handful from the 16th.

In the north, the top openings are reserved for characters from the Old Testament, Saints, martyrs and characters from the New Testament in the south. It was worth the wait to get into the Cathedral after the lunch break of several hours

Our next stop was in Astorga where we visited Gaudi’s Episcopal Palace. I missed Gaudi’s masterpiece, the Cathedral in Barcelona, when I was last visiting Spain and saw only the outside, so I wanted to see this piece of his work in Astorga. Interesting but not what I expected, Gaudi’s work reflects aspects of nature and that was certainly present but in much restrained form. Marian visited a tourist shop and opposite and found out about a convent which offers travellers accomodation in a back street behind the Cathedral. We had some difficulty finding it on foot, but eventually we knocked and were admitted to a spacious albeurge by the nuns, which was only 10euros a night for the twin room. From there on we decided to allow ourselves to be guided to find accomodation by our guides.
Left Astorga on a Sunday, we couldn’t find anywhere to do our washing and as everything is closed on Sunday’s in Spain and France, including service stations at times, we drove on to A Coruna which is on the coast. We crossed into Galacia and as each province organised its own tourist maps and information, we had no maps available and couldn’t get any on a Sunday.

This section is huge motorways and aqueducts over mountainous terrain. We did try to get off the motorway and follow secondary roads in places, including O Cebreiro, the doorway to Galacia with its traditional stone and slate roofed houses by turning off at Baralla at the top of the second mountain climb. At Sarria two divergent routes of the Camino meet again and it is here that pilgrim can catch a train and do the last 100 km to Santiago on foot and gain the Pilgrim Passport. I hear is not a nice place and also a tourist on the Camino disappeared near here and has not been seen since. It is in Galacia we see the first raised thatched roof houses on stilts, where corn was stored. They are still being built today.

After driving along the coast we stayed at Caion, a beach resort with an island peninsula. We found a place to stay with some difficulty right on the sea and I had a swim in the Atlantic Ocean. We did a toning as the energy was high and put in a pillar of light, connecting with Ireland at Cal del Mar and saw the sun go down into the Atlantic. As I went to bed a new moon was rising over the sea, new beginnings were taking place. I felt we were on an energy line and could feel it as we were gently rocked to sleep by the sound of the waves.

After asking my guides for somewhere to swim yesterday during the long 500 km drive, I was glad to rest on a rock and let the waves wash over me.

We drove on to Finisterre where the Camino ends and where the harbour welcomed those in small boats retreating from a sinking land in the Atlantic. We went out to the lighthouse and did another toning, the energy was not as high as it had been the night before and again connected with Ireland.

Then we drove into Santiago, having difficulty finding the Hotel Jacob without a GPS. We caught the bus in and people were friendly showing us where to get off and walk to the Cathedral. We stayed for mass and to see the big incense censor. There was energy as the many priests walked in and during the `Alleluia’ sung by the congregation led by the priest. The priest talked about the pilgrims in Spanish. I felt we were meant to be there, the cathedral was full of thousands of people, standing room only, unlike the churches in Australia. After two night in Santiago de Compostela. I ate scallops In one of the back streets, we finally got to do the washing and then it was time to move on.

The Expatriate – Billy Blue

First published in Oct/Nov 1984, this story won a Billy Blue Literary Award for fiction in 1985. For those readers who have been asking for longer posts, this is for you!

When I think of Brian Nanicull, I see him standing on the verandah of his plantation house as the sun rises over Maloe Bay. I see his red hair and beard, his freckled complexion above the eight or ten curly heads which surround him. He is discussing their various ailments in pidgin English. Brian administers Chloroquin to a shivering dark skinned Buka, one of his plantation workers, with a bad dose of malaria. Someone requests that he open the store and the little group marches down the steps to a corrugated iron outhouse which sells everything from thongs to rice. The day’s work has begun

The odour of fish and breadfruit chips wafts from the kitchen, separated from the main house by a covered verandah like the downstroke of a T. Ariou arrives on a motorbike, clad in a flowered lap-lap, carrying a ripe pawpaw and a handful of limes to bring out the flavour of the piquant red fruit, the first course at breakfast.

Nia his wife is dressing the children for school, while baby Marcus plays at her feet. Brian arrives and beeps the horn.

“School Kev, anyone else for the ride?”

The car bumps along the coral sand road, past rows of palms, dodging coconuts and comes to a few houses on the outskirts of a village. A chicken squawks across the road, an old man waves, a soman is sweeping the coral sand in front of her house with a short sago palm boom.

Stopping in front of Nia’s parents house Brian asks:

“How is Fili this morning.”

“He’s much better, fever all gone.”

Smiling faces surround the car, hands waving, shy grins. Brian checks his patient. Grandma takes baby Marcus. We move off again and the car grinds its way over the coral shingle to the school.

The collection of buildings is built in part of native style materials – the roof is palm thatches, the walls are woven bamboo. A blackboard adorns one wall, rows of desks sit on the coral sand floor.There are no windows – the trade winds have free access here. Kev jumps out of the utility tray onto the white sand and runs through the green and red leaved crotons ringing the playground. Children are shouting, running, kicking footballs, drinking and splashing of the water pump. The bell rings. The silence is broken by the rustling of coconut palms, the drone of insects and the cry of terns.

The road crosses the airstrip which Brian examines minutely, feeling the sand between his fingers – its dry, coral sand drains well. The wind sock points northwest and the air is hot and heavy as we enter the surrounding jungle. Beside the road are two taro beds, indentation of marshy ground, patches of cultivation among the jungle vines and creepers. A man is cutting into the fleshy big leaved plants with a bush knife. Served boiled or made into a type of bread, it forms the stable food of the islanders. Sweet potato, breadfruit, bananas, fish and chicken add variety.

The road burst forth into the open vista of coconut plantation.The coconut palm is to the islanders what bamboo is in Asia – a plant whose utility is as varied as man’s ingenuity. Houses, roofs and walls are thatched with palm leaves, sago palm is better but scarce, a woven hat provides shade, a sleeping mat not much comfort – the green leaves are woven into dishes which won’t burn, green nuts provide a cool fruity drink, while the meat of the nut flavours chicken, taro and fish. Cophra from the dried meat of the coconut provides income to buy what the plant itself cannot furbish.

Returning to the plantation, Brian starts the generator. In the house, fans begin to whirl, the radio becomes operational, Nia begins to iron.

“Wuvulu, Wewak, do you read me Wewak, over”.

“Come in Wuvulu, over.”

“Brian Nanicull here. Do you have a flight coming over today?”

“Yes. What would you like us to bring Brian?”

” There’ll be an order to pick up at Burns Philp – medical supplies – and don’t forget the South Pacific lager and the mail.”

“How’s the strip?”

“Condition A!.”

“We’ll be there around 12, over and out.”

Brian drives out past the well and the cophra drying shed, past the corrugated iron houses of the Sepik boys, the plantation workers, to an area of plantation being cleared of undergrowth. Small dark figures, hair garnished with red hibiscus wield flashing bush knives, slashing to the accompaniment of high voices engaged in pidgin chit chat, interrupted at intervals by peals of laughter.

Further into the plantation, crabs scurry before the car, retreating into holes just before the wheels. A figure grows larger between the trees. A wave, a smile and work continues. He aims a coconut at a stake driven into the ground, twists the nut off the stake and strikes again a little further around the nut. Three strikes and the coconut is dehusked. The husk fibre joins a rapidly growing pile. The nut is split by a sharp blow from the back of the machete and white milk splashes on brown feet as the two halves join another pile beside a sugar bag of half moons, threatening to burst its string and spill the contents on to the pile. A tractor and tray pass and Simon heaves his bag on top of the 20 or so others on board.

Brian follows the tractor back to the drying sheds. Here the old men stoke the fires in the corrugated iron hothouse. Coconut sells and husks are used to fire the eternal flame, barely visible in the smoky steam bath atmosphere. Outside women are separating the dried coconut from the shell with a flick of the bush knife. Hessian bags strung between bars like a body on a trampoline are filled with dried cophra. Row upon row of rough brown bags await the arrival of the boat which will take them to market.

A faint drone in the distances signals the arrival of the plane.

“Balus, he come.”

The utility fills quickly quickly, brown bodies sitting all around, standing in the middle, holding each other. Bicycles, motorbikes, people running walking, the traffic is heavy, where yesterday only a car and a few bikes had been seen all day.

The Cessna 402 touches down then bumps along the runway. Driving across the grass with blades whirling wind grass and dust cover the waiting crowd. The hatch opens to reveal an Aussie in shorts, long socks, followed by two contemporaries,

“Brian , I’d like you to meet Andy Williams. He’s resident doctor at Wewak Hospital now, and this is David Olwin, government officer.’

Two Wuvuluvians returning from hospital are greeted by handshakes and chatter while the cargo is unloaded.

“Come to the house and have a cold beer” and addressing the crowd:

” You tell ‘im, any mari sick, bring ‘im to house.”

A shiny roof flashes between the tree trunks, thatching over the eaves stops excess water overflowing the gutters and splashing through the net walls – which keep out insects but allow the pale almost transparent geckos to hold on with the buttons on their fingers. The verandahs are the living quarters in this climate, the cool oasis in a vista of greenery and blue sea. A beer in the cane chairs and pancakes and tea for lunch is tropical living at its best. A knock on the door is the cue for the doctor to begin work.

“Would you like to go fishing later?’ Brian asks.

“Fine. What do you think. Pat has sold out to a group from Japan?”

“He’s probably jumping the gun a bit, but a lot of expatriots are getting out.”

“Well, some have reason to, but I’m surprised at Pat. He’s been here nearly 30 years, some of his boys have been with him as long. Well,I’ll be right, Nia has land in the village and I’ve built a house. The trouble is if the plantation goes, I won’t have an income.”

Brian gathers up lines, gaff, his odd assortment of lures. As the feathers wear out, Brian substitutes the brightest scraps of dress material he can find and these improvised lures work better than the originals. The boat shed houses a 4 meter aluminium boat which is launched and sets out through the narrow channel.

“I’m getting wet. there’s a hole under my feet.”

“That’s all right, a rivet’s popped out – it’ll keep you cool.”

As the lines are out and the lures are no longer skipping the surfac, Brian removes the bungs from the boat.

“What are you doing?”

“While we’re trolling, I’ll keep the bungs out, that’ll keep the water flow constant – into and out of the boat” says Brian.

A strike! The fish is circling the boat and Brian must stand to avoid entangling the line aropud the others. He pulls a metre long fish into the water rapidly filling the boat.

“I forgot the bungs, we’d better get going fast.”

Brian informs his startled crew The lake in the bilge gradually shrinks as they ead back across the bay. In the distance dark heads bob in silver streams of sunlight. Long poles reach out over the reef edge seeking dinner.

“You know the water off Wuvulu drops off to 1000 metres.”

“It must be an underwater mountain, how far out is this deep water/”

“In most places right off the reef flat, say 40 metres from the edge. At night when there’s a moon, the villages fish for the legendary ferrari, in 500 metre ow water using a rock and a banana leaf.”

“OK, come in spinner, what’s the rock and the banana leaf for?”

“The rock is the sinker and the banana lea, releases the rock and allows th bait to drift in the current at that depth>”

“What’s this ferrari look like?”

“Well it’s something like a grouper, but has phorescent lights on its body and a fishing line and bait dangling from its mouth.”

“That I’d have to see to believe>”

“I’ve never been able to find it in any book on fishes, and I’ve found most others I’ve seen up her.”

“Why don’t you send one to The Australian Museum?”

“Well, one day I hope someone from here, maybe my son or one of the village boys will clear up some of the mysteries. I hope to see the day when Wuvulu produces doctors,scientists and anthropologists. We’ve produced a few local celebrities already, unfortunately they have to go away. The best of our young people are drained away from here,”

Back at the beacj tje Sepiks crowd around to view the catch with laughter and praise. There are plenty of willing hands to haul the boat into the shed. Brian gives the fish to them – protein is scarce in their diet.

“We’d better be making tracks,” says Jason.

“Come in for a beer, and a clean up first”.” As they make their way to the house Jason comments:

“I envy your lifestyle here Brian, no problems, things carry on from day to day.”

“Well I have my problems, but I like I like it here, I guess I’ll die here.”

A smiling face approaches.

“Good on you Warlou, Kuka for tea.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a land crab that uses its claws to break open coconuts.”

“I wouldn’t like to tangle with one.”

“You wouldn’t be the first to lose a finger.”

A crowd is gathring near the store and Brian opens up for the second time while the others wander into the house.

Relaxing in a deep cane chair, Andy comments to Jason.

“Last time I was here it was not so peaceful. We had an emergency call to treat a little girl with a broken arm.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“No, but an old man appeared while I was treating her. A boy was sick in the village and he wanted me to come.”

” Well, Brian and I got down there as soon as we could, but it was too late – the boy was already dead.”

“What was it?”

“Without an autopsy, I couldn’t be certain, but appanently h had been sick for days with some kidney complaint.”

“Hadn’t Brian seen him?”

“No, that’s the strange part – he didn’t hear a whisper of it. They’re strange people sometimes, superstitious, probably strict Seventh Day Adventist. Better not say anything to Brian, he was pretty upset about it.”

As Brian enters, Jason offers him some Kuka.

“It’s delicious Brian, like lobster and thanks and thanks Brian for everything, it’s just like I was told, a paradise.”

The rhythmic pounding of Sepik drums or Kunda heralds the plane’s departure. As it circles the jewelled green island, Brian’s arm encircles Nia.

I was in Wewak again last year. As I drove along the waterfront, I saw a familiar red head and freckled face. He was driving a bulldozer. When I spoke to him of Wuvulu, he told me he left after independance, when the Plantation was resumed by the government. I asked him why he doesn’t come back home and he said:

“Wuvulu is home.”

I was reminded of an earlier visitor, Birger Morner, a Swede who visited Wuvulu in 1913 on a yacht, who wrote:

“Follow me, follow me you who shiver in the cold, to my far Pacific Isle, where a red hibiscus gleams and my heart has taken root.“

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Wuvulu Update

The update follows a fiction piece which won the Billy Blue Literary Award in 1985 and was first published in Billy Blue magazine.I was reminded of it after talking about my experiences in New Guinea in the 1970’s before independance. It reflects the way of thinking at that time and a branch in the path which has led to the present.

New Guinea was under Australian jurisdiction. There were Europeans who had been among the first Patrol Officers who had gone into some remote valleys, still walking around. The plane circled the butterfly shaped island and the memories came flooding back. As the coconut palms in neat rows came into view beneath me, I saw people cycling, walking, making their way to the grass strip below. A soft touch down a bumpy ride along the strip and we surrounded by Wuvuluvians, shouting, laughing, excited to see relatives and friends return from mainland Papua New Guinea, 180 kilometers away.

I first visited Wuvulu with my husband Kevin in 1973 when a Sydney solicitor Colin Helliar contacted us about making a film on Wuvulu. Colin and Paul Stocker had purchased the island, a cophra plantation and were planning to develop it as a tourist resort. They had a group of international backers including actor William Holden, author James A. Michener, well known yachtsman and wine, maker Jim Hardy and marine architect Jean Michael Cousteau. Far ahead of its time they had a visionary plan to develop the island while each aspect of development was controlled a and measured. The original cophra plantation – Agita – occupied 6,800 hectares and was expropriated from the Germans by the Australian Government and later sold by tender. When they brought Agita, Stocker and Hellier established the Bismark Planters Society to administer the provision of medical services to the islands, maintain roads and airstrip, run a Co-operative Store and maintain adequate water supplies. Half of the island was given back to the islanders with the intention tha only 10 percent of the island would be developed. The development was to be supplied by windmill generated electricity and serviced by a sophisticated sewerage plant. Petrol powered vehicles and outboard motors were to be forbidden as was spearfishing or shell collection

After being approached by Paul Stocker, Jean Michael Cousteau’s Living Sea Corporation did an initial survey of the island and their report states: `Thus, it seems possible to create for the first time a situation where civilization will not destroy the natural environment and where a balance of nature will be retained. We can prevent environmental problems rather than having to cure them. In addition the potential for scientific investigation is great. Because the cophra plantation of minimal impact is the only evidence of man’s development, the jungle and reef can provide an exploration and testing ground for scientific studies. It could solve one of the greatest barriers to investigations, namely the lack of research facilities in remote areas and open Melanesia to science. In addition it may be possible to create a national underwater park that could blend into the creation of an International Commission for the Protection and Preservation of South Pacific Islands. A project of this type is already in its infant stages’.

Jean Michael Cousteau’s enthusiasm for Wuvulu was reflected in repeated visits to the island. In 1973 he organised with Pepperdine University in California, an initial 4 week extension course to Wuvulu. Students and teachers were given the opportunity to see a experience a primitive South Sea island, to work on scientific projects both land and marine and to participate in Project Ocean Search.In the following years the expeditions continued. In 1976 the New Guinea Government was formed and immediately resumed all foreign owned land. It was a terrible blow for the creators of the environmental plan for the development of Wuvulu. All land was resumed and the development ceased. Project Ocean Search continued for a while using the Calypso Maru, one of the Cousteau Society vessels.

On our first visits we stayed in the Plantation House with Manager Brian Cullinan. It was built by Faui, a Dane born with the name Edvard Christian Antonius Nielsen-Ortofft in 1870. Wuvulu was discovered by Ortizde Retes, under the command of Phillip !! of Spain’s man o’war San Juan in 1545. The natives attacked the ship in canoes, their war canoes with high prow and stern, and did not retreat despite heavy losses until their entire supply of arrows, spears and stones was gone. After a period of world wandering the sailor Faui arrived on Wuvulu in the 1890’s. Though they sought his life for many years, the natives grew to respect Faui. His name is derived from the tough coir fibre of the coconut husk. Around the turn of the century when Nalipei was King (Poalla) a young girl refused his advances and he buried her alive as a punishment. Another girl Upa-Upa displeased him and he had tied her hands and feet with lianas and tied her to a tree with a mussel shell fish hook though the cheek. She freed herself by a violent jerk of the head tearing the hook out of her cheek after 2 days. Faui saved her and when the Poalla and his men arrived, refused to give her up. He organised a revolution and Nalipei abdicated. The people gave him the Royal white shell and he became King.

Faui built the Plantation House with materials brought from Shanghai. It was the oldest European building in Papua New Guinea. Birger Morner who visited Wuvulu in 1913 described it: `The single storey house has three rooms and is entirely surrounded by a verandah. Like the stem of a T – a covered path leads from the middle rear to a smaller building containing the kitchen and bathroom. The seaward front lawn is large, providing ample spac for two grazing ponies and about 100 chickens, geese and ducks.’ When we arrived in 1973 there were some changes, but the house was recognizable from that description. There were no Chinese ponies on the lawn and the verandah had been covered in with mosquito net, where geckos clung to the wire, racing up and down through the night. Bamboo furniture from Wewak graced the verandah, a welcome sight after a day’s diving and filming. Faui’s grave was in a grove beside the house surrounded by Crotons with their colourful foliage.

The most spectacular aspect of the diving is the shore diving. Just offshore you can plunge into 700 meters of water onto cliffs of coral. The island is an underwater mountain right on the edge of the continental plate on which Australia and New Guinea lie. While diving and filming on Wuvulu in the 1970’s we were diving from an outrigger canoe with a hookah supplying air from the surface. While diving we discovered a cave. It was about 30 metres long and went back into the reef. Huge black coral trees hung upside down from the roof and big cup sponges adorned the roof and walls Obscured by a mound covered with coral the cave entrance was sheltering a huge grouper, as big as a cow and as placid I hoped, as he watched us swim around the cave. The cave had stalactites growing from the ceiling indicating it had been formed on dry land. Later other caves were discovered at this depth around the island indicating an old sea level now 20 metres below the surface. My first awareness of sea level changes. A unknown cave species of fish was later found, which unlike most cave dwellers does not orient itself to the nearest surface.

Many of the fish on Wuvulu are unusual. The Wuvulu people fish for a deep sea fish called `ferrari’ The long fishing lines could be seen strung between coconut trees to prevent kinks in the line. They live in very deep water and at night the fishermen go out in their outriggers. They use live bait on a hook with a lump of coral tied in a banana leaf, lowering the bait to 200-300 metres and jerk on the line to release the hook at that depth. When the fish comes to the surface its huge eyes, glistening skin and long teeth identify it as a deep water species – an unattractive feast to our eyes. While the tools and artifacts are still made by the Wuvulu people, their heritage of song and poetry is almost gone and their oral history was remembered by only the very old people. Their stories are sung. The partipants were decorated with greenery and wore white feathers in their hair. The sang love songs. One of their poets Rau who died in the 1860s is considered to be their greatest poet. Sadly only one of his poems is recorded:

Song of Morari (Big Bowl) and Leimea (Jellyfish)

She longed to meet him once again,

Though he was another’s man

She had to see him once again,

Though she could not imagine how.

She went in the night to the lonely shore

and played her flute all alone.

A youth came walking out of the dark

But he was not the one.

Sadly she turned to her village back

And sought some Pandanus leaves.

From them she braided rings for her arms

That rustled at every step

She went again down to the shore,

For a star, a white one That she knew to light up the dark.

She saw a star gleaming As white as a shark-toothed knife

A light she thought that she knew but fear and pain held her fast.

She felt of a sudden a shark toothed knife

Tearing her body apart.

But it was no star, no royal knife

She had seen the eyes of her love

Gleaming star-like in the dark

As he came across the sand.

She stood head bowed

He took her by the hand.

They walked in waiting silence In darkness to her home.

If I can create into manifestation one project I’ve worked on, it would be this, an environmentally sustainable Wuvulu. The Award Winning Billy Blue story will be posted next post. Here’s an entry I found which has a photo of Faui.

https://www.calbo.dk/htm/mygrandmasunclewasaking.html

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