We travelled up from Gizo to the northern Shortland and Treasury Islands. One of the reasons for going there was to deliver some much-needed equipment to the people in Toumoa village. They had suffered a lot of damage after the April 2007 earthquake. Our friend Dave Kerr had organised and donated an HF radio, batteries, solar panel, chain saw amongst many other things. They had been delivered to the Bishop of Gizo and there was no-one to take them up to Toumoa.
We (Two Up and Meridian) delivered them to the Catholic Church in Nila. Later we were taken on a tour in the jungle to see some of the Japanese war relics. These included mobile radar antennae, a motorbike and a 6" gun that had been captured in Singapore.
As there was no transport from Nila to Toumoa, we were asked to take the stuff there. While there Peter and I were asked to assist. Peter put the solar panel on the roof, making use of a very rickety ladder, then we organised the locals to find a long pole to erect the longwire antenna. This was done, and the radio worked.
Back in Nila, we decided to visit the island of Ballalai where there were japanese planes 'in the bush'. Just take a 'road' in and you will find them. Well 'road' means track, barely visible, but surprisingly, we did stumble across quite a few planes, including Betty Bombers and Zero fighters.
From Nila we went south to the Treasury islands where there were some more wrecks, but not as many as at Ballalai. Here the people were still living in tents up the hill from their houses. They still feared that another tsunami would come.
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| War Relics, Solomons |
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