I've always been an early riser. While I was still working it was out of necessity, and now that I could sleep in forever - well, one day I will! - it is from habit. Unfortunately, at such early hour, the house is still shaded by some giant gumtrees to the east, and so I wander, steaming cup of tea in hand, down to "Melbourne" which is totally flooded in early-morning sunshine.
For those who are not regular followers of this blog, "Melbourne" is a small cabin I built at the far end of our seven-acre property, far away from the house and far from the internet and the telephone to create the illusion that I'm still somewhere in the wilds of New Guinea. If the phone in the house does ring and someone asks for me, Padma can truthfully tell them, "Sorry, but Peter has gone away to Melbourne."
(Des, I thought of naming it "Sunshine" after a suburb in Melbourne but knowing that this was were you grew up, I couldn't bear the thought of being constantly reminded of you. Having sat opposite you in the Loloho office for nearly a year was punishment enough. 😂)
Inside "Melbourne" is everything I need to transport me back to a simpler life: kerosene lanterns, plenty of mosquito coils (just for the smell and the memory of it), a radio tuned into ABC Radio National (and a memory stick with all episodes of TAIM BILONG MASTA on it), and heaps of books.
And if the rain comes drumming down on the corrugated iron roof, well, that's just a bonus. Bougainville Island, Camp 6, Camp 1, here I come!
As I drift off to sleep, my last look is at this copper beating which I had bought from Betikama Carvings when I lived and worked in Honiara all those many years ago in 1977, but that's yet another story - click here.
