PACIFIC REST CAMP

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 73, 18 May 1943, Page 5

PACIFIC REST CAMP

■GNR C. G SCHICK WRITES HOME

AN INTERESTING LETTER

A fairly good description of 'conditions in the islands of ocI ' cupation, in the South Pacific where so many of our New Zealand boys are at present is furnished in a letter from Gnr C. r C. Schick of Matata who has written home his impressions whilst on leave at an island 'rest camp.' The letter reads:—A rest camp Avas, set up for the 'boys to have four days leave and v is about 5 hours travelling from here, After having a break at the different towns and villages that Ave 'passed through, we saw quite a few ne\A r people including the natives ;and others, that sure stirred the boys, up to say 'Oh La La' Avhen sighting anything unusual. Along the road one sees many • a plantation of eoeoanut palms, which are minus the monkeys of -course, and in some of the sheltered places, the coffee plants can be seen in long roAA'S that can be easily look--ed after. The travelling was very good as 'the truck Avas Avell loaded with 22 •of the boys aboard including the nations ami all our personal gear, •which Avas piled high up in the centre and it sure kept us; steady. At our first stop avc avctc refreshed by a syrup mixture drink, Avhich Avas very good, and turned on by the of"licer in charge, the drink itself had ra slightly rummy flaA'our, but had •-all the boys beat fo say Avhat ffi -contained, and to drink enough of 'the syrup ne-et Avould make a I'cHoav vdrunlv. Fun at the Ferry Now for the next stage of the journey. This brought us to the ferry, Avhere avc had. a fair bit of fun and laughter, for the barge had to come o\*cr from the other side foy means of man power, turned by a handle on each side of a reel and endless. AA r ire from the centre, of the barge. We AA r ere soon on board, then it was "heave O' pull for the shore." This started a couple of the boys on a Maori haka which tickled the Old Boy's fancy for he just, couldn't turn the reel for laughing. So- Ave bribed him .with a cigarette Avhich pleased him, but didn't- hurry him --on any. But. Ave Avere soon over on •the other bank, and not before time -for I think it took 10 minute instead of 5.

Seeing the Sighits

Time was all our own, so we pushed on to see the. other sights etcwe came to another ford, but it was -shallow enough to cross, but would soon make things dangerous with heavy rain, Everyone was pleased to see our new abode for at le-ast four days. After having lunch we unpacked, making our beds in the re--spective- places and then were told -of the orders and routine to be carried out, including mess orderlies which went in'pairs to do the cooking. Lofty and I struck the first night that made our time clear for

the first session.

It didn't take tlie boys long to get a rough idea of what to do and. -where to go the next day. I myself went out chasing butterflies, which were very plentiful and of many High colours, so I just did .my best to secure the ones that I didn't have. I reckon I did fairly well with the. help of Lofty.

Exploring the Beaches

The next day was free to go places •so we split the day up going along 'the different stretches of beach, where we came across a few small of brain coral in a water-hole that gets covered over by each tide. 'Off the rocky point there were many crabs scrambling .to safety, or if «cornere.d they put up a challenge, so we overpowered them with short sticks which we always carried for • one didn't know when he could come face 1 to face with a coral snake. A percentage of bites are fatal, but the snake is a coward. This part of beach miade us sit down and scratch in the coral sand seeking what treas-

ures Mother Nature had hidden there. Not finding anything worth whiJe. however we moved to the "breakwater bridge where one could see young sprays of coloured coral and also a host of small coloured and transparent fish. The coral looked prettier under water than out of it, but. caused much interest amongst the bo3 r s. Small Island Visited Monday was a lovely day so we -decided on fishing and four of us decided to go to a small island. We -only caught one fish in the hour.

Tlic island took a good hour to reach and the going was slow over the roof of about 200 yards,, for the tide was low and the coral Avas shallow, but of all types and colours. Making the boat sccurc we got going to see what knick knacks were about, and there is no doubt there were plenty of shells and sprays of coral worth keeping but unfortunatelyly it is not advisable to retain it. as it is. very fragile: to pack. We now approached a long shallow lagoon, which created much interest and was also an education for Nick saw what he thought was a piece of sponge. While T was poking my niece with a stick Nick grabbed a piece close handy with his hands.; but he pulled them out quicker than he put them in for it. tunned out to lie a specie of a sea anemone that left his fingers raw and covered in sllmc which stung for over 3 hours. We had seen enough of these, black things about 7 to 10 inches; long, so it called for the knife to operate. One cut was enough as they were full of intestines and made, us curious as to what use the blind things were, as they were there by the hundreds. Variety of Shells Further along we came across a lew shells, that were very pretty, so we carried them along for our collection of small shells, also there was a long brown thing Aveaving in and out of the rocks, so with a stick we got it about the ifliddle and everything Avent to either end like a sausage skin about 6 feet long with only an ounce or tAVo of meat

Passing on we came, to the neck of the island and a bay where the tide washes right across when in, wc were attracted by a splash, which was made by the dorse;; fins and some. 12 sharks up to fi l'eet in length rounding the little fish up to a shallow water. All of a sudden there was a terrible commotion and the fish went in all directions. Everything was quiet for a while but it wasn't long before they had another raid. We went back to the boat for our lines but ours bait wasn't good enough, so wc explored the rest of the island. On our way back to the boat Nick climbs a cocoanut palm but to our sorrow the things weren't matured and so left us without a drink until getting back to camp at 3 p.m.

Sharks Ho!

After tea another party of boys took the boat out off the point for an evening break, when, they had to jiull for the shore, which was made in double quick time, for thev saw .sharks easily the length of the boat and that was enough for them and put a few dollars up for anv game ones to go out any night. The day that we should have como home it started to blow but we

weren't aware of a hurricane until tea and as luck would have it, it was onlj' high winds which caused no damage. The folloAving day the rain came d.oAvn in torrents which started the water falls. That was a sign of being stranded for at least a week, which was more, than well carried out for our time, went on ot nine days but I will bet you m.y boots the extra five days were better than the first four cfays.