Tuesday , January
19th 1999
Heavy rain was
coming down between 2.30 and 5.30 a.m. Cyclone Danni was heading towards
New Caledonia and Fiji and we were getting these storms . I hoped the
forecast for the next few days would be better . I was told it would
be ,but doubted it .
I
met Milay at 9.00 a.m. (Timothy was working) and we drove down
to Bonegi River . When we got there nobody
was about � our �guide� was nowhere to be seen . The rain was getting
heavier, so we decided there was no point in wasting time here.
We drove back east out to Henderson
to see Alistair� about taking the airfield photos. We
found him at the old domestic terminal . I had not seen him since 1996
(he was on holidays last year)� and it was good to see
him again . I showed him the letter of permission from the Airport Manager
and he said no problem . However the rain was coming down steadily by
now (the car park was 75% flooded) so I arranged to come back
and see him again at 2.00 p.m.
Back
at the hotel I wrote out a list of the items I had found so far and
delivered it to Lawrence to obtain an export permit . Then I walked
down to the Solomons Airlines office and confirmed my flights home .
Light rain and drizzle continued to fall .
From
here I continued down to the market (east of Pt.
Cruz) and bought three 1943 dated Coca-Cola bottles (US$4.00
each) . Back to the hotel for a 20-minute swim . Cyclone Danni was dropping
the temperature , which would have been pleasant if not for the damn
rain .
At 2.00
p.m. we returned to the Airport . While they were finding Alistair I
showed my 1942 comparison photos to some of the other airport staff
and had a good chat to them . One guy , Michael Piri , did a bit of
tour guiding as well and asked me about the Pagoda hut . He confirmed
that the tunnel entrance under the hill was still there, but overgrown
. He said that in the 15 years he had worked at Henderson Airport these
were the first wartime photos of the area he had seen .
Alistair
checked with the air traffic people and they said a plane was due in
30 minutes . This was not enough time to properly take the photos ,
but we walked out onto the tarmac anyway and I got my bearings as to
where they were taken . Light rain started to fall again and the low
cloud obscured Mt. Austen and the hills . The rain got heavier , so
we vacated the tarmac . The forecast for Wednesday / Thursday was for
the rain to clear , so we arranged that I come back at 1.00 p.m. on
Wednesday when the airfield would be clear of planes and I could take
the photos .
As
we drove in the rain back past the old control tower Milay pointed out
to me roughly where the tunnel entrance was . He said he knew it well
, as he used to play in there when he was a kid . That was good to hear
� I would not have to waste time searching for it . I have been corresponding
with Aubrey Buser in the States , who was a Marine who served in Signals
at the Pagoda and in the tunnels . I was looking forward to taking some
photos for him . Back to the hotel for a swim and dinner .
Return
to January 1999 Main Page
