In Australia I sickened of the urban life, the crowded rush to work in the mornings, the tiresome after-work booze-ups at the pub and the predictability of my future ... As I observed the careers of my fellow workers grinding relentlessly toward retirement, I felt a dark cloud descending and as it thickened around me I struggled to find a way to escape."
I wished I had written this but it's taken from Andrew Leslie Phillips' blog who, like me, went to Papua New Guinea at a young age. His first posting was to Kieta whereas I started off in Rabaul but eleven months later also ended up if not in Kieta, then at least on the same island of Bougainville.
His description of Kieta brings back lots of memories:
"Kieta was perched on a narrow ribbon of land skirting the harbour. Pok Pok Island loomed offshore, protecting the harbour from the squalls and storms that sometimes tore in from the east with great ferocity. Pok Pok means crocodile in Pidgin English and the island had the shape of a huge crocodile laying flat on its belly on top of the sea, its huge head jutting out to the south, its tail tapering to the north. It was inhabited by local natives who paddled their small canoes loaded with copra, fish and vegetables for sale in Kieta.
Jimmy Wong’s Chinese trade store was at one end and of the settlement and Kieta’s hospital, a series of grass huts with tin roofs, was at the other. Between were administrative buildings huddled under the ubiquitous coconut trees that curved and swayed against the cloudless sky providing dappled shade from the tropical sun. Houses with enclosed verandahs protecting the inhabitants from the teeming malarial anopheles mosquitoes, crept back from the shoreline and climbed steeply up the mountains offering a fine view of the picturesque harbour. A thick green blanket of jungle, a carpet of dense undergrowth and a profusion of tropical forest trees swathed in creepers and vines and screeching wildlife, accelerated rapidly into the clouds toward the inland spine of the island."
Inspired writing; pity he never wrote a book. However, his ex-wife did, under her new name Libby Bowen. She named it "Tupela" which is Tok Pisin for “Two People”. It is described as being "set against the luscious, colourful backdrop of Papua and New Guinea prior to independence, 'Tupela' is a memoir and love story of Libby, a young bride, and Andrew, the most junior patrol officer, who begin their marriage at Kieta, a tiny town on the island of Bougainville. Postings to other districts in PNG follow, including Rabaul, where they survive the murder of District Commissioner Jack Emanuel, a giant earthquake and tsunami, and a visit to a Tolai village with swirling Dukduks. What they can't survive are changes to their relationship. Their life together is unravelling just as the colonial power in Papua and New Guinea is. They try to hide the truth as they enjoy the excesses of life in a country they both love."
I'll order a copy as soon as I've found out from where and for how much.
