Cruising to Fiji

Warrigal

Warrigal

SF VIP
Location
Sydney, Australia
In a week's time hubby and I will be embarking on the Golden Princess for a two week cruise to Noumea and Fiji. I will not be posting during that time so please don't worry about my temporary disappearance. Like General MacArthur, I will return.
 

Hi Warri, hope you and hubby had a great time!

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We had a relaxing time with several on shore excursions along the way.
I learned more about cannibalism that I really needed to know though.

Last night aboard was sad.
There was a ship wide announcement that they were searching the ship for a missing passenger.
He was travelling alone and apparently was lonely and depressed.
They only realised that he was missing when he failed to place his luggage outside his room and enquiries revealed that he had not been seen anywhere for a couple of days. This puzzles me somewhat because surely the cabin steward would have noticed that he was not sleeping in his room (?)
 
This is me at a Modern Village near Mystery Island, Vanuatu.
Draped over my right ear is an elongated leaf that is my 'passport' that shows that I have come in peace.

Maureen Mystery Island sml.JPG

This was a lovely excursion where we were warmly received by the local Melanesian people who explained their methods of food preparation, cottage industries and pre-missionary customs. They were not pushy and we left a donation for the local school rather than buy anything that they had to offer for sale.
 
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Child care, Island style.

Babies were once carried in baskets or strapped to the mother's body while she worked.


Baby carrying mother sml.JPG

This is how the father carried the baby. If he needed to defend his family he would slip the basket off the heavy sharpened stick and use it to fight any attackers.

Baby carrying by father sml.JPG
 
Marriage customs - pre missionaries.

Once or twice a year the various tribes would come together for the purpose of acquiring wives for the warriors.

The eligible girls would be paraded wearing two plumes of feathers. If a warrior saw someone he wanted as a wife he would add a third plume to her headdress. If more than one man desired her, extra plumes would signal his intent and a fight to the death would be the result The winner won the maiden, who had no say in any of it. There would be some haggling over the bride price to seal the deal.

Marriage customs sml.JPG

Later, if the husband died or was killed in battle, the wife would immediately be killed and any children would be raised by relatives in the village.
 
The villagers were very keen to explain to us that they were now Christians and where we landed from a small boat the first buildings were a large Presbyterian church and the local school. There were many children on the island and also many scrawny dogs. The villagers seemed to support themselves by gardening and basket making but I suspect that a number of them worked on other islands as well.

These are some of the ladies we met and one of the preschool children.

Ladies pose for photosml.JPG

The woman on the left spoke excellent English. She told me that she was a teacher but was not teaching right now because she had a young child.

This old woman spends every day weaving the baskets that the villagers use and sell. She never looked up and neither did she pause in her endeavour.

The basket maker sml.JPG

We were given a small food parcel to taste. It consisted of shredded taro wrapped in a wild spinach leaf and cooked by steaming inside bamboo over a fire. There was a sauce made from coconut milk and it tasted rather sweet. I wouldn't have minded seconds.
 
The news has filtered out about the missing man although few details have been released.

Man missing for several days on cruise ship feared overboard in South Pacific

Sat 6 May 2017, 8:59am


A man is feared to have fallen overboard after going missing on a cruise ship headed to Australia.
The 61-year-old American, who boarded the Golden Princess in New Caledonia on its way to Sydney, was last seen by the ship's crew at about 9:30am on May 1, when the vessel was in the South Pacific, police said.

One of the boat's crew members reported the man missing after he was not seen for several days, and the whole ship was searched when it docked in Sydney on Thursday.

The man was not found, and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it was treating his disappearance as a man overboard case.

NSW Water Police have contacted the US consulate and are reviewing CCTV footage as part of their investigation.

The ship has been cleared by authorities to continue to Brisbane and Papua New Guinea.
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That is sad about the missing man but other than that it looks like you had a successful trip. It was fun to see your picture and the interesting leaf custom of peace and goodwill. Thank you for sharing all your pics. Interesting customs indeed.
 
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