WATERY WORLD OF BANGKOK’S KLONGS

COLOURFUL riverboat transport gets locals around these frenetic waterways.

WATERY WORLD OF BANGKOK'S KLONGS
david ovens

Aptly called "Venice of the East", the Thai capital of Bangkok and its myriad waterways are a way of life for tens of thousands of people and a community in many ways self-sufficient.

The Chao Phraya river and its klongs are the real highways of Bangkok and provide visitors with the wonderful contrast of glistening gold spires and the multi-tiered roofs of Buddhist temples and royal palace and lines of simple timber floating houses.

ALL klonged up: Bangkok's bustling
river markets resound with banter

of trade between buyers and sellers.

The way to view both is from the timber-planked seats of a hong Yao (noisy, long-tailed speedboats) which constantly weave their way through the rows of houses anchored by chains fastened to huge poles driven into the waterbed.

Boats of all shapes and sizes are the universal means of transport, communicating and trade with the predominant vessel flimsy-looking but sturdy canoes of the klong peddlers who trade within the water community.

The small skiffs are deftly maneuvered with a single paddle, usually handled by one woman whose face is barely seen beneath a broad-brimmed hat of palm leaves, but whose strident voice can be heard bargaining with customers seeking her vegetables, fruit, firewood and other produce.

Every now and again travellers through the klongs pass by a stilted wooden house whose front veranda is a clutter of cooking utensils, groceries, flowers and some mod. con. electrical goods, like hair dryers and torches.

Despite these advances the people of the klongs are not yet up to washing machines and the like. The women of the community are generally seen doing the family washing in the water passing down the klongs to the main river.

But the klongs have even greater uses for their inhabitants. The cackle of children's laughter is never far away as the naked brown bodies of the youngsters plunge in and out of the water delighting each other as they splash the passing tourists.

Even a friendly splashing is preferable to the raucous, ear­splitting crescendo in the capital's streets.
For while the speedboats with their tiny engine at the end of a long pole to allow them to travel through shallow water also make a terrible racket the noise is not so intrusive in the rural atmosphere as in the streets lined with glass and concrete.

What's more the rules of navigation in the klongs are paid much more attention than the heed paid by drivers to the rules of the road.

It is customary, moving through the klongs during the high water season to see that many of the houses have hung a red flag - or sometimes a scrap of red paper - in a prominent place to persuade water craft to pass slowly to avoid washing water into the lower quarters of the house.

In this water-dominated community older traditional houses now rub shoulders with some of more modern design, not necessarily so pleasing to the eye, but evidence that some Thais are re­discovering the pleasures of life on the klongs.

The hong yao which leave the wharf near the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel take tourists on a journey of a couple of hours which culminates in a slow cruise back to the wharf on a converted rice barge.

The entire tour costs about $25 and is a genuine bargain for an insight into the water peoples' culture.
Adventure World has a three-night package at the four star Pathumwan princess hotel for $392. It includes breakfast, airport transfers and a half day temples tour and is valid for travel until March 31, 2008. More details from 1300-363-055 or visit www.adventureworld.com.au

Photos: David Baker

RIVERBOATIN’ ON OL’ MAN RIVER

FOR WEEK BEGINNING 26 NOVEMBER 2007;



RIVERBOATIN' ON OL' MAN RIVER

david ellis

The inventive Nicholas Roosevelt reckoned there had to be better ways
of opening up the American inland than by staring at the rear-end of a
horse from a slow-rumbling buckboard, or even the new-fangled railway
he'd heard about but had yet to reach his hometown of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.

And the Ohio River, that flowed past his very door to join the mighty
Mississippi and meander on to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico,
looked just the place to start.

But proving Old Man River could become a grand highway carrying crops
from the bourgeoning cotton farms and sugar plantations of the inland
to the coast, and bringing supplies and new settlers back on return
trips, turned out to be anything but plain-sailing.

It was 1811 and to start with the little wood-fired steamboat New
Orleans that Mr Roosevelt built with his mate Robert Fulton at a cost
of $40,000, caught fire just a few days into her pioneering journey
and was only saved by the quick action of her crew.

Then an earthquake created a tidal wave that caused the Mississippi to
flow backwards to the inland instead of to the sea, the resultant wild
maelstrom nearly sucking boat and crew under.

And if that wasn't enough they were attacked by Indians who thought
they were aliens who'd landed on their river – and no one mentioned
they'd have to run the Ohio Rapids that somehow weren't shown on their
charts.

To further add to all this confusion, Mrs Roosevelt went into labour
one night and gave birth to a son.

But after 28-days of such Boys Own adventures the brave little
side-wheeler steamed into New Orleans, proving Mr Roosevelt's point.
And within a few years dozens of ornate paddle- and stern-wheelers
were following his path, churning their way up and down the
Mississippi and her tributaries, linking New Orleans with such
emerging communities as Natchez, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis/St Paul and
Chattanooga.

Not short of a dollar himself – his family was well connected and he
was great grand-uncle to Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt who was to became
America's 26th President – Nicholas Roosevelt went on to pioneer many
new riverboat routes with his little New Orleans (that sadly sank
after striking a sunken stump in 1813.)

And for over a century they provided the main means of transport in
the South, carrying everyone from blue-blood plantation owners and
their Southern belles, to conniving gamblers and manacled slaves,
until falling victim to trains, planes and automobiles.

But today the Mississippi riverboat industry is flourishing once more,
although this time their cargoes are holidaymakers taking to these
oft-dubbed "wedding cake boats" (because of their ornate
superstructures) to explore America's fabled South at leisure.

Aficionados call such adventures "steamboatin'" and it seems
Australians have never been keener to get a bit of the action,
particularly cruise buffs looking for options to the traditional
cruise offerings.

Drifting down the Mississippi at a leisurely 10 or 12 k's aboard a
faithful replica of these gracious vessels from the 1800s and early
1900s is something the riverboatin' faithful swear you'll never
forget: picture yourself sitting on deck in a rocker, or tucking into
traditional riverboat dishes of Southern fried chicken, pecan pie and
chocolate brownies, or enjoying Dixieland, jazz, Delta blues,
Southern-style cabaret and vaudeville.

It's an almost-blend of Disneyland and Huckleberry Finn that rekindles
memories of childhood black & white flicks and the stories mum and
dad used to read us… yet there's the reality of seeing Civil War
battlefields, and the contrasts of grand Southern mansions and the
bayous and little pioneer settler communities of the poor.

Canada & Alaska Specialist Holidays has 8-day/7-night riverboatin'
holidays from New Orleans to Natchez by way of Vicksburg with its
museum and Civil War sites, and Helena that's Arkansas' capital of
gospel and blues.

There's also a night each in Tunica and Memphis to pay homage to Elvis
Presley at his Graceland Mansion, and to visit the Rock & Soul Museum
that pays tribute to the life and times of the likes of Elvis, BB
King, Johnny Cash, Ike Turner, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Prices start from $1995pp twin-share including all meals and nightly
entertainment by the high-steppin' onboard Southern Belles, with
longer cruises also available; air is extra. Phone 1300 79 49 59.



PHOTO CAPTIONS:

. BACK to the days of Huck Finn – yesteryear "wedding cake" American Queen

. OL' time entertainment aboard American Queen

. SOUTHERN comfort: grand Oak Alley Plantation on the banks of the Mississippi

. BLUES – signs like this dot towns where music is king on the routes of the riverboats.


(PHOTOS: Majestic America Line)

Avaiki: Cook Islands is pure pure Pacific

COLOURFUL markets entice the visitor to the
Cook Islands to part with a few spare dollars.

NEVER TOO MANY COOKS HERE

David Ellis

In the beginning, so legend tells us, there was Avaiki, the idyllic heaven from whence the first adventurers set forth to inhabit the islands that were to become the South Pacific.

And, say those same legends, in the case of the Cook Islands these voyagers carried with them a unique spirit of serenity and tranquility that became the beauty that has lasted in these islands to this today.

But just whether Avaiki lay on land, in sea or in the skies above, legend does not say – suffice that life was not always heaven on earth in these islands that laze in the sun just five hours or so to the east of Auckland.

PEACEFUL now, but folk once-feared what
may be around the corner on the Cook Islands
Warriors Trail

"We have a toast to our visitors," says a local, a grin as wide as the pink and gold sunset that Cinemascopes the sky behind him. "Today, we welcome you to sit at our table, because in days gone by we would  have welcomed you to be on our table!"

The London Mission Society first came to the islands in 1823, and within 10 years the entire population had been converted from cannibalism to Christianity; today there are eight denominations amongst just 18,000 inhabitants.

And while tourists can visit an ancient marae where the chiefs once held court and perhaps shudder a little at the sight of a crumbling stone 'offering table,' today's extremely religious guides talk only in offerings to the gods of fruits, coconuts and taro – not of the human kind.

History passed down by word of mouth says that the first settlers landed 'from Avaiki' around 800AD, and that in the 13th century Chief Tangiia Nui from Tahiti and Chief Karika from Samoa joined forces to capture the Cook Islands from these first Avaiki inhabitants.

RESORT to relaxation in settings
like this at Coconuts Bach Resort.

Years later the itchy-footed Captain James Cook happened along, and the island group was officially named after him, after he noted them in his journal in 1773.

The tranquil Cooks don't get the big visitors numbers of some other South Pacific destinations due to their remoteness, but visitors are rewarded with a wonderfully laid-back environment in which the locals welcome visitors much like long-lost relatives.

And the islands have plenty to amuse and occupy the holidaymaker – or to lull those to whom the ideal South Pacific holiday is a late breakfast, a good book, a hotel pool, a bountiful lunch, an afternoon kip, a leisurely dinner with a glass or three or red or white, and bed.

And rainbows of cocktails in-between, purely of course, to stave off dehydration.

For the more active there's deep sea or reef fishing, bushwalking (the main island of Rarotonga has 13 walking trails, including a 4.5 hour cross-island trek along the once-feared Warrior Warpath,) village tours, a sailing club, golf club, bowling club, diving and snorkelling.

ESCAPISM – the Cook Islands' beaches are
a place of serenity and tranquility

To get about you can hire motor scooters or rental cars, or take the island bus for the 31km trip around Rarotonga, and a must-do is to drop into the shops for unique colourful stamps and the rare black pearl grown in the islands… and to dine on fish 'n chips at the waterfront Trader Jack's.

Or to search for the unique Cooks Islands' $3 bills that are now virtually out of circulation – due to the fact most have been snapped up by tourists.

An interesting half-day tour is with 4WD Raro Safari Tours high into the hinterland for spectacular views of the coast and lagoons. Their driver/guides are a wealth of historical and cultural information: why is there a church in every village, why do they bury their loved ones next to their homes rather than in a public cemetery, what is this magic cure-all called Nono, did Avaiki ever exist…?

And from high atop Arore Hill they'll show you the channel through which seven great canoes set out on a voyage of exploration 700 years ago that led them to discover New Zealand.

For information about holidaying in the Cook Islands, see travel agents, call Coral Seas Travel on 1800 641 803 or check-out www.coralseas.com.au           

Sir George Hubert Wilkins

by John Grierson from 'HEROES OF THE POLAR SKIES' Heinemann 1967

Rare portrait photo of
Sir George Hubert Wilkins

George Hubert Wilkins was in many ways the most colourful of all polar air pioneers, due to the astonishing variety of enterprises in which he took a leading part. Born at Mount Bryan East, about a hundred miles north of Adelaide on October 31st, l888.

George, as he was always known until he achieved knighthood, was the youngest of a family of thirteen, though six had died in infancy. His father, who came from a family of settlers which had sailed from Lonclon fifty years earlier, farmed a 'station' of 2,000 acres. Consequently young George's childhood was anything but colourful in the surroundings of a sheep farm, though he made the best of things and tried to improve himself by reading as many books of learning as he could lay his hands on.

One of the most vivid impressions of his childhood was the terrible effect of a three-year drought, when he saw piles of dead animals surrounded by hordes of buzzing flies, with over all the stench of a battlefield. It nearly ruined his father, who had fortunately a little money in the bank, but only enough to finish off his son's education with a course in electrical engineering at the School of Mines in Adelaide.

END IS NIGH FOR BACK TO THE FUTURE…

END IS NIGH FOR THE FUTURE…
david ellis


MORE people have hopped aboard it in fourteen years than three times
Australia's population, and while they've thought they've flown over
towns, plunged into icy caverns, found themselves in dormant
volcanoes, zoomed through ancient valleys and dropped over terrifying
cliffs, in all that time each has in fact travelled no more than just
three metres.

And its been done in neither trains, planes, ships nor automobiles,
but aboard the Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios in
Hollywood, the entertainment park's first-ever high-tech ride that
opened in June 1993.

But now after 826,500 hours of thrilling, elating, or just plain
terrifying over 61-million riders, Back to the Future will plummet
down its last waterfall and park for good in the present next Monday –
America's Labor Day Long Weekend.

The ride involves a dozen eight-person units built to look like the
futuristic, gull-wing De Lorean autos that featured in Universal Film
Studio's Back to the Future trilogy, and to mark the ride's
association with the cars, one lucky visitor on the final day of the
ride will find themselves probably even more wobbly-kneed after they
alight.

That's because they'll be given the keys to drive away in their own
historic 1981 De Lorean, one of just 9000 hand-built in 1981-82, and
which has been the subject of much drooling and envy as a display
piece next to the thrill ride for the past few years.

The original Back to the Future ride was launched at Universal Studios
in Florida in 1991, but was closed without fanfare in March of this
year because of waning public interest.

And although the Hollywood ride did not suffer the same fate,
Universal decided that after fifteen years it was time to literally
look back to the future, close last-century's thrill-ride, and replace
it with a more up-to-date heart-thumper in early 2008.

The new one, that's yet to be named, will be based on the animated
sitcom The Simpsons.

A 21-metre high, twin-screen IMAX theatre was built at Universal
Studios to house Back to the Future, with creative input for the ride
and the IMAX film sequences from Steven Spielberg who produced the
Back to the Future trilogy; when the ride opened in 1993, there was so
much demand that for the first few weeks Universal had to open its
gates at 7am and stay open to midnight to handle the crowds.

And despite the bronco-bucking action that involves
3-minutes-45-seconds of pitching, rolling, and surging, the twelve De
Lorean look-alike ride-vehicles "travel" up, down, forwards, backwards
and sideways, less than three metres.

But that's enough for white-knuckled passengers to become part of the
exploits of the main characters of the trilogy, Doc Emmett Brown of
the Institute of Future Technology, and the run-amok Biff Tannen.

This includes such typically-bizarre Spielberg events as a high-speed
chase through a futuristic town, flying at virtual ground level at
terrifying speed over valleys and towns, crashing through flashing
neon signs, plunging into an icy cavern, escaping an avalanche,
plummeting down a waterfall, ploughing into a dormant volcano,
confronting car-swallowing dinosaurs and being spewed out again, and
riding a lava flow…

One hopes that for thrill-seekers having to wait until the next
northern Spring for their replacement fix, the new Simpsons Ride can
live up to what they've become used to with Back to the Future.

FOOTNOTE: As we don't have the wisdom of Spielberg to help us look
into the future, we thought we'd take you Back to the Past and what
was going on in the world in 1993, when Back to the Future opened.

. Paul Keating won the 'unwinnable election'
. Bill Clinton was President of the USA
. Schindler's List won the Academy Award for Best Picture
. Sydney was selected to host the 2000 Olympics
. TV's Sam Malone closed the doors of Cheers Bar for the last time
. Ray Martin hosted his final Midday Show and joined A Current Affair
. Czechoslovakia split into the Czech and Slovak Republics
. The Brisbane Broncos beat the St George Dragons to take the NSWRL
Premiership
. The Essendon Bombers defeated the Carlton Blues to win the AFL
Premiership
. …and Vintage Crop won the Melbourne Cup
…………..

PHOTO CAPTIONS: THE De Lorean that featured in the Back to the Future
film trilogy – one lucky rider
will win a similar car when
Universal Studios' Back to the
Future ride closes on
September 3.

POSTER boy: enticing the crowds to the Back to the Future trilogy.

GRAND HOTEL REWARDS A ROCKY RIDE

GRAND HOTEL REWARDS A ROCKY RIDE

david ellis

THE American railway magnate Louis Hill had a quick eye for a dollar,
and in the early 1900s he reasoned that there were some very quick
dollars to be had from those discovering the joys of the newly-founded
Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta in the Canadian Rockies.

So to indulge their passion for hunting and fishing in this grand
wilderness, he decided to build them a grand hotel that would cater to
their every whim, coupled with a luxury rail service to get them
there.

His hotel, to be known as The Prince of Wales, would have 200 rooms
with breathtaking views and the sort of service that, whilst not out
in the field with binoculars, rod or gun, would encourage leisurely
hours wining and dining in an almost fairy-tale setting.

But although he first mooted his hotel in 1913, between his own
renowned indecisiveness and the Canadian bureaucracy, it was not until
the mid-1920s that he actually started building it.

And when he was nearly finished the long, low, 3-storied affair with
spectacular 360-degree views overlooking Waterton Lake and Village, Mr
Hill suddenly decided he didn't like the look of it. So he had half of
it pulled down, and a fresh start made.

Then after a business trip to Europe he ordered that the entire top
floor be taken off the hotel and the roof be re-built so his hotel
would look more like a Swiss Alpine chalet. He also increased the size
of rooms, but to do this had to reduce their number from 200 to just
eighty seven.

During all this, and wearing his hat as President of the Great
Northern Railroad, Mr Hill was also struggling with building a rail
line through the mountains to his hotel.

The Rockies, he found, were aptly named, with the rock
as-tough-as-nails granite that was almost impossible to dig through.
In the end, with new-fangled motor-cars capturing the interest of
wealthy Americans and roads fast snaking across the Rockies, Mr Hill
gave up on his rail line nearly fifty kilometres short of its target.

Instead he used mule teams to haul hundred of tonnes of construction
materials those final 50kms, including a massive steel-framed window
that had been prefabricated in England, and was 3-storeys-high and the
full width of the hotel's lobby.

The window is still a highlight of the hotel today, offering diners
and those relaxing in the hotel's lounge one of the Rockies' most
spectacular vistas.

Violent winds that howled off the lake twice blew the hotel askew, so
steel cables were buried in massive underground concrete blocks on one
side, run up through the walls, across the loft, and down the other
side into equally enormous concrete anchors. The hotel still sways
slightly in high winds today, but is certified safe against the
fiercest gales.

The ingenious Mr Hill also built a timber mill and carpentry shop at
Waterton village and bought local cedar that he made into furniture on
the spot, rather than hauling ready-made stuff hundreds of kilometres
by road and mule train; much of this furniture is still in use today,
eighty years after the hotel opened in 1927 at a cost of C$753,000.

The Prince of Wales was closed during much of the Great Depression,
and again during the Second World War. Today it's open from May to
early September each year – from October to April the population of
Waterton township on the lake below the hotel dwindles to around just
120 hardy locals seeing out winter.

Dining at the hotel is still as grand today as Mr Hill envisaged it,
with mouth-watering traditional British and Canadian fare, and English
Afternoon Tea from 2pm to 4pm daily that is much sought-out by
visitors to Waterton Lakes, whether they stay at the hotel or not.

The hotel even has its very own tea blended for this spectacular daily ritual.

The Prince of Wales Hotel is a good base for fishing, hiking,
horseback-riding, golf and scheduled lake cruising – or just sitting
and taking-in the views over Afternoon Tea – and is easily accessible
by road in summer months.

Canada & Alaska Specialist Holidays have packages to the Prince of
Wales Hotel, including air to Vancouver and self-drive to the hotel;
phone 1300 79 49 59.

…………………………..

PHOTO CAPTIONS: MAJESTIC: The Prince of Wales Hotel commands

grand views from its hilltop
site overlooking Waterton

Lake and Village amid Canada's Rockies.

HISTORIC Ford open-roof 'Jammer'
Buses are a novel way of

sightseeing National Parks in
the Rockies.

WILD – the area abounds with
wildlife, including

Bald Eagles that can be seen
from walking trails or

from boats on the Lake.

SHEARER’S GOLD FIND PANS OUT WELL

SHEARER'S GOLD FIND PANS OUT WELL
david ellis


WHEN a couple of shearers named Thomas Arthur and Harry Redfern got
whisper of traces of gold being found outside Queenstown in New
Zealand's Southern Alps in 1862, they helped themselves to a frying
pan in their boss's kitchen, deserted his sheep station and took off
to the site of the find.

But they needn't have bothered with the frying pan: they clambered
further up the wild-running Shotover River than where the gold had
first been found, and rather than having to pan for tiny specks they
picked up nuggets by the handful, returning to Queenstown several
weeks later with pockets and packs laden with the precious metal.

A newspaper at the time quoted them as saying they "picked up gold by
the pound" and that "gold lay everywhere in the canyon…"

Within weeks of their discovery, 12,000 hopefuls had flocked to the
area from all over New Zealand; ship's crews jumped vessel in coastal
Dunedin from where Queenstown drew its supplies to join the rush, and
even a Captain Duncan of a British cargo vessel telegraphed home that
as his entire crew had gone off in search of gold, he might as well
join them…

It was a good move: he made a fortune and the area was officially
named Skipper's Canyon.

By the time the Canyon's fields had been largely exhausted over the
next fifty years, they had given up more gold than Alaska's fabled
Yukon, although fossickers still make plenty of worthwhile finds to
this day.

But it did neither Thomas Arthur nor Harry Redfern much good: they
both died of alcoholism.

Accessing Skipper's Canyon was no easy task. Gold seekers wearing
heavy packs had to clamber through tortuous ravines with schist walls
that fell away from razor-back peaks at a near-vertical 75-degrees,
and follow hair-raising tracks worn by sheep through mountain passes…
one slip and it was a drop of several hundred metres to the river
below.

To get supplies in and out the government decided on an ambitious 32km
road that would zigzag through these ravines and the more rolling
sheep pastures, to slowly drop several hundred metres from Queenstown
to the level of the Shotover River.

The job took 200 men an incredible ten years, including a
white-knuckle section whose mere 300 metres that took two years to
carve around the almost vertical Pincher's Bluff.

To do this, men were lowered on ropes to drill into the schist, plug
dynamite into the holes – and then holler to their mates at the top to
haul them up quick-smart as they lit the fuses and watched the rock
blast away into the canyon below. They repeated this scary ordeal over
and again for twenty-four months.

Today the road is one of New Zealand's great tourist routes, with some
of the world's most spectacular alpine scenery. But it's not something
you take-on yourself – particularly as rental companies don't allow
hirers to take their vehicles into the Canyon.

Instead specialist Skipper's Canyon 4WD companies like Nomad Safaris
take visitors on four-hour excursions from Queenstown, their drivers
easing their 4WDs around the white-knuckle hairpin bends 100m or more
directly above the Shotover River, through the more open sheep
country, across an historic 1901 suspension bridge, and to the river
itself where there's time for a bit of gold panning.

The tours, that include well-researched historic commentary of the
gold rush era, also take-in such historic points as Heaven & Hell's
Gate, Maori Point, Lighthouse Rock, Blue Slip, and the tiny Skipper's
township.

There's also the remains of the Welcome Home Hotel that catered to the
original gold miners and continued trading for over 75 years to the
1940s.

Drivers also point out the tiny mountain cottage of John Balderstone
and his wife Fanny, a dancer who entertained the 1860's miners at
Skipper's pubs: John wanted to retire after the gold rush to the quiet
of the mountains, but Fanny liked the bright lights… so they struck a
compromise, and built their cottage exactly half-way between
Queenstown and Skipper's Canyon.

Nomad Safaris costs NZ$140pp for four action-packed hours, including
gold-panning and home-baked refreshments along the way. See travel
agents, phone ++ 64 3 442 6699 or go onto www.nomadsafaris.co.nz

…………..

PHOTO CAPTIONS: WHITE-knuckle driving – on the road into Skipper's
Canyon, looking down from the scarily narrow Pincher's Bluff.

WHERE it all began: the spot where
Thomas Arthur
and Harry Redfern "picked up gold
by the pound" and
started New Zealand's biggest gold rush.

START of Skipper's Canyon road,
and tribute to
Captain Duncan who jumped ship
with his crew to
make a fortune, and after whom the
Canyon is named.


- PHOTOS: Nomad Safaris

NO MYSTERY ABOUT ISLAND’S SPIRIT

NO MYSTERY ABOUT ISLAND'S SPIRIT

david ellis

IT'S got no electricity, no running water, no road, no telephones and
nobody even lives there, yet those who find themselves on this remote
South Pacific outpost have just voted it their "favourite port of
call."

But ask them when they return home from a cruising sojourn just where
on the map it was that took their hearts, most won't have a clue.

That's because to cartographers this touch of paradise is on their
maps as a tiny speck called Inyeug amidst the 80-odd islands that make
up Vanuatu – while to cruise companies it's on theirs as Mystery
Island.

And its history is as colourful as how Inyeug came to become known as
Mystery Island.

Go back over 160 years to when a South Seas trader and blackbirder,
Captain James Paddon found precious sandalwood trees, and strong
village men, on the island of Aneityum in the deep south of what is
now Vanuatu.

And coincidentally, at the same time a Canadian fire-and-brimstone
Presbyterian missionary, the Reverend John Geddie was coercing his
flock to finance a voyage to these very same far-flung islands to save
the souls of the heathens who lived there.

It was inevitable that when the blackbirder and the missionary
eventually confronted each other, fireworks would ensure. But such
encounters were brief and short-lived, as Paddon had already taken the
most precious sandalwood, shipped off the more able-bodied men of
Aneityum to work the bourgeoning sugarcane fields of Queensland, and
was planning on heading off himself to trade in greener pastures in
New Caledonia.

This left Aneityum to the Missionary Geddie to fiercely preach the
word of the Good Book and build the largest church for its time in the
South Pacific, a vast stone edifice with over 1000 seats for nearly a
third of Aneityum's entire population.

But while believing they were 'saving' the people of the island,
Geddie and his missionaries, as had Paddon and his workers earlier,
brought with them western diseases for which the isolated islanders
had no resistance, and within years Aneityum's population was
tragically decimated from nearly 4,000 to just 500.

And when he himself fell ill and died in Australia in 1872 while
seeking treatment there, Geddie's church succumbed to indifference and
an 1875 tsunami.

And interestingly Aneityum's little off-shore neighbour, Inyeug Island
continued to remain uninhabited: its owners eschewed Inyeug believing
it inhabited by spirits, so Paddon bought it for a song to build a
mansion there from which he would rule his South Seas empire, until
New Caledonia's riches looked more alluring.

Fast forward now to the 1980s when the migrant-ship-cum-cruise-liner
Fairstar began taking adventurous holidaying Australians into the
South Pacific. Her Captain, Luigi Nappa was captivated by little
Inyeug – just a mere kilometre long and half as wide – and often tried
to get his passengers ashore on what he could see was a spectacular
white sand beach.

But most attempts were thwarted by the unpredictable swell, with the
ship's cumbersome lifeboats unable to get safely through the surf to
the beach.

At the same time, Nappa and his PR man, the legendary Ron Connelly
were pondering "a more romantic, more South Pacific name" for Inyeug.

One day the irrepressible Connelly said: "Well, it's always on the
itinerary, but whether we actually get ashore there or not is always a
mystery – so why not call it Mystery Island?"

Nappa loved the idea, and so it's been to this day.

And with better facilities, P&O's Pacific Sun, Pacific Star and soon
Pacific Dawn, land passengers ashore for a day's swimming, walking
15-minutes around the uninhabited island, and buying shells, carvings,
necklaces and fresh fruits from the neighbouring Aneityum islanders
who paddle across in their canoes on 'ship days.'

If they've time passengers can also negotiate a canoe trip across to
Aneityum to see the remains of the Reverend Geddie's once-famous
church; a memorial on the site reads: When he landed in 1848 there
were no Christians here; when he left in 1872 there were no heathens.

In all, P&O will make twenty-five visits to Mystery Island in 2008,
landing around 45,000 visitors. See travel agents, phone 13 24 69 or
visit www.pocruises.com.au

(NEXT WEEK: We tell you how you can have Mystery Island all to
yourself for a truly Robinson Crusoe holiday.)

……………………..

PHOTO CAPTIONS: BEACH that cruise ship passengers voted their

"favourite port."

ALL that remains of once-biggest
church in the

South Pacific.

Photos:
Vanuatu Discovery Tours