Mister Pip Crew to Arrive in Bougainville

Andrew Ralph Adamson, MNZM (born 1 December 1966) is a New Zealand film director, producer and screenwriter based mainly in Los Angeles, California, U.S., where he made the blockbuster animation films, Shrek and Shrek 2 for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He was director, executive producer, and scriptwriter for C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Shooting took place in New Zealand, primarily in and around Auckland, but also in South Island where much of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed. He also worked on the movies Batman Forever and Batman & Robin as a visual effects supervisor.
He was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Adamson's parents were a homemaker and a computer engineer. Born in New Zealand, Adamson moved to Papua New Guinea with his parents aged eleven, and he returned to Auckland aged eighteen. When twenty-four, he moved to San Francisco, and divided time between there and Los Angeles. Since making the Narnia films, he has settled back in New Zealand. Adamson has two daughters.^{[1]
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Adamson}

BY ALOYSIUS LAUKAI
Source: New Dawn FM
Link: http://bougainville.typepad.com/newdawn/2011/05/090511mr-pip-to-arrive-in-buka-by-aloysius-laukai-the-world-movie-producers-of-mr-pip-movie-will-be-arriving-in-buka-this-wee.html

The world movie producers of Mr PIP movie will be arriving in Buka this week and will travel to Pidia, home of late WILLIAM TAKAKU to begin filming of the movie Mr PIP.
Famous executive producer of the movies SHREK and NANIA, ANDREW ADAMSON is amongst the production team that will be travelling to Bougainville.
The team is expected to stay for a month to film the story of Mr. PIPS, a white man who lived in Bougainville during the crisis.
Bougainvilleans are advised to help the film crew whenever they are seen in town with their film equipment and also to show the visitors the true spirit of Bougainville hospitality.

Manee Reources Centre visit by Clive Porabau

MANEE RESOURCES

By Clive Porabau

Link: http://mekamui.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/manee-resources/#comment-151

15 04 2011

                                                              Wind house @ Manee Resources

On the 7th April I booked my comrades truck and we took off on a trip that was very interesting in the way the set up was done in the mountains of Kongara. It used to be the stronghold for the BRA during the height of the war.
We bought some fruits on the roadside market at Makaki point to keep us busy while driving on the rough and stony road.
I saw the beautiful set up in a face book photo taken by someone who went there earlier. I noticed a familiar face on that photo, so when I came to Arawa I asked him if I could take some footage of the venue and put it in my story “Bougainville after the war”, he told me no problems.
JM the comrade who drove us there told me that only rough and all weather drivers goes that far, as it is very tiring driving that stony road. We reached the place in no time as the wheels of the truck are big footed and always count no pot holes or stone big enough to slow any other truck.
We were welcomed by the owner of the rest place.
I went into action filming and taking photos wasting no time as the place itself was very exciting and interesting. There is this wind house at the middle of the big fishpond with video screen and entertainment going on.
The owner’s son said it’s time to feed the fish so he took some food and put his hands down to the water and all the fish came up to have their breakfast from his hands, very amazing!
I asked the Leo when did they come up with the idea of building such a beautiful resort like place in the highlands of Mekamui/Bougainville?
He told me after the war they thought that we fought to defend and preserve our land; so let’s do something that will not make our land become wasteland and gravel like it can be after digging copper and gold.
One of the founders and the contact in Arawa David Onari says, this is something we fought for, this is our land and we will keep the land so that our children and their children will use it.
On the questions of security as it is far and further away from Arawa he says if anyone is interested in going there and visit or camp there for how long he/she wants they will provide security. On top of that he says all is peace now, there are no troubles or hold ups as the mainstream media in many cases likes to refer to Mekamui/Bougainville.
The owner Orinu and his son says that with mining our motherland will be wasted and one cannot plant food. This setup is better as we will not spoil the land and at the same time you can plant your food on the side of the project area.
Leo asked if I was willing to go up to the lookout site, which is yet to be cleared and a small wind house to be build. We follow him up the track for a couple of minutes, unfortunately we can’t see anything as the fog covers the view. However, it was very nice.
We headed back on a different track and arrived on the other side of the fish pond. We were welcomed back with a dish of big and tasty taro with green soko. We sat at the wind house on the fishpond and ate while listening and watching music clips.
The water from the fishpond goes out to a dump from where it goes straight to turn the motor of the mini hydro which gives the electricity to the wind house and two other small houses. The power will go on for 24 hours and you can sit there and watch videos for how long you want.
As time catches up we have to go back to Arawa so we had to say goodbye to the people and head back to Arawa.
Mekamui/Bougainville is safe in many ways compare to other parts of PNG.
When you are thinking of visiting Mekamui/Bougainville, try out the Manee Resources camping site, and you will see and taste the reality and fresh air of Mekamui/Bougainville.

Hugh Laurie playing "Mr. Pip" for Shrek director

Youths take initiative - led by Lucian Taria

Lucian Taria the force behind the Katsinkuri Youth.

ABG Suspends Parliament for tourist to visit chamber

Published: 17 March 2011
Link: http://bougainville.typepad.com/newdawn/2011/03/170311-abg-suspends-parliament-by-aloysius-laukai-the-abg-house-of-representative-sitting-was-yesterday-temporarily-suspende.html

The Ocean Discoverer a Tourist Boat from Cairns Australia stopped for Five Hours in Buka.
Pictured is the Ship anchored outside Sohano Island.

By Aloysius Laukai

The ABG House of Representative sitting was yesterday temporarily suspended to allow Tourists from Europe and Australia to visit the Parliament Chamber.

And the ABG House of Representative Speaker, ANDREW MIRIKI welcomed the visitors when they arrived at the KUBU Parliament House.

MR. MIRIKI told the visitors that Bougainville wants to promote tourism in the region and would welcome visitors to visit the region.

He told the tourists mainly elderly that Bougainville will continue to promote its activities and their visit was welcomed.

The tourists were very happy at the special given by Bougainville’s leadership.

The ABG Parliament sitting which started on Tuesday ended today.

New Dawn FM carried Live Broadcast from the Kubu Parliament House to its listeners in Buka town.

Pictures from the Tourist Boat visit to Buka last Wednesday.
A Tourist is being welcomed by a Hangan villager at the Kuri village Resort.
Picture by Aloysius Laukai

A tourist trying to test a Bow at the Buka market.

Nago man MR. WATE selling local Buin Basket to the Tourists.
Picture by Aloysius Laukai

Sales at the Buka Market had alot of varieties for the Tourists.
Picture of Solomon Islanders displaying their items.
By Aloysius Laukai

Visit http://www.coralprincess.com.au for further information. You can also download the Melanesia Cruise info on PDF here and book the 2012 voyage. 

Bosco your best BET on Bougainvillie by BIGPAT

Source Link: http://melanesianwayz.blogspot.com/2010/11/bosco-your-best-bet-on-bougainvillie.html
Published: Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Bosco your best BET on Bougainvillie


Greetings from Bougainville. Today, I am taking a break from our usual adventures with our three mates of Erima to set sail for the island of Buka in what used to be the North Solomons Province.
A short hop across the famous Buka Passage by dinghy takes us to Kokopau from where a PMV ride south leads to Arawa, once the headquarters of the giant Panguna Copper Mine to meet my new friend Bosco. I’ve come here because of a BET — well it’s not a bet shop or gambling parlour. If you see this sign ’BET’ in Buka or Arawa on Bougainville, you will be a happier person for staking your kina on BET for the tour experience of a lifetime. BET stands for Bougainville Experience Tours and you can bet your last two toea that this rapidly expanding tourism company will stretch your kina the length and breadth of Papua New Guinea.
Be in for a BETTER experience with BET when you visit Bougainville. The cost may be fair but the experience is treasured, from bus trekking, trail hiking, mountain climbing, diving, and bird watching to photography tours and village stays, BET is your BEST BET for an enjoyable stay.
BET is owned and operated by an energetic young Bougainvillean named Zhon Bosco Miriona and his family of Arawa, Central Bougainville. It is a relatively new tour company in PNG with limited resources but boundless energy. It specializes on Bougainville experiences that will take your breath away.
Miriona registered BET in 2007 after returning from a tourism expo in Fiji. He now has offices in Arawa, Buka and is setting up a base in neighbouring Solomon Islands. BET also has connections with guest houses in many village stops and tour guides in Arawa, Wakunai, Torokina and Buin.
Ten years after the Bougainville conflict, much of the island’s infrastructure is still in shambles but it is the untouched pristine environment, the beauty of the flora and fauna, and the magical allure of its mountains, forests, rivers, valleys, beaches and islands that BET is marketing to the world. Bougainville, like many of the beautiful islands of PNG, is still a place waiting to be discovered.
The magnetism of Bougainvilleans as the darkest skinned and friendliest people on earth is what BET is trawling as it builds up a visitor base of tourists from far and wide. Bougainville is also famous as a theatre of conflict during World War II and its oceans, beaches, jungles and valleys are strewn with the refuse of war as an added attraction. Among the relics is WWII’s most famous Japanese commander, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s plane, a Betty bomber which was intercepted by allied fighters and shot down on April 18, 1943 near Buin.
Recently, BET rediscovered and mapped the Numa Numa Track, which runs between Wakunai on the east coast to Torokina on the west coast, crossing numerous rivers and the Empress Augusta mountain range.
The experience is worthwhile, the view is breathtaking and the track takes in a lot of flora and fauna that is unique only to Bougainville including the rarely seen and endangered moustache Kingfisher bird. And of course, being a wartime track, the remnants of the conflict are plentiful, although the jungle has reclaimed much of it. In August, Miriona led a team which included Bougainville government officers to map the track to gauge its viability as a potential tourist walking track.
He said that while Numa Numa does not rival Kokoda or Black Cat in blood and guts from WWII, it witnessed heavy fighting and has its share of exciting moments and lots of war relics including guns, mortars, cartridges, bunkers and rusting tanks. Numa Numa Track gets its name from the plantation of the same name at Wakunai, reputedly the biggest commercial coconut grove still producing copra in the southern hemisphere.
The track is 60km long, (36km shorter than Kokoda), and takes a three to four day hike with stops at villages along the way.
Another exciting project is the Mount Balbi bird watching trek. At 2685, it is the highest mountain on Bougainville. What makes it more scenic is the lagoon — Lake Billy Mitchell — near the top. A strato volcano, its last recorded activity was in the mid 19th century and it has remained quiet since.
The Balbi ascent normally starts from the Torokina side of the mountain and takes two to three days depending on group fitness, weather and the track itself. In 2004, a Bougainville resident expat Bob Willis decided to scale Mt Balbi. Willis and his group succeeded in reaching the top and were ecstatic at what they discovered, lots of birdlife, a beautiful blue lagoon and a scenic morning view of the island’s most active volcano Mount Bagana (1730m) to the east.
A book — Birds of Bougainville — by Don Hadden has been the lure for bird lovers to Bougainville. Besides Guadalcanal in neighbouring Solomon Islands, Bougainville is home to the highly endangered moustache kingfisher bird among other popular species. BET has cashed in on the interest in birds and with the new track to be opened; it has bird watching tours booked till 2013 from US, Swedish, UK, Aussie and Kiwi bird fans. Meanwhile, the beauty of Balbi still fresh in his mind, the willing Willis attempted another ascent in early August 2010 with a team of 10 American retirees led by Bosco Miriona of BETS.
The Willis group walked, tracked and had fun on the way, bird watching, camping and drinking a lot of PNG coffee and despite some bad weather; they made it to their objective.
“Beautiful and awesome,” one tourist told Bougainville based reporter Peterson Tseraha.
“It was a beautiful scene, the blue lagoon is fantastic and I hope locals advertise it more so more tourists can come walk this track or up this highest peak to experience one of the beauties of Bougainville.”
The tourists said they only knew about Torokina through reading about the war but advised there was more to see than just the relics. Miriona admits that Bougainvilleans are still getting over the harsh lessons of the crisis years and in some parts of the island, there is still resentment to outside influences. However, he added that through awareness created by BET and the regional government, locals are opening up and are interested in tourism. The Autonomous Bougainville Government is also very keen on tourism with the setting up of Bougainville Tourism Industry Association. Its website is http://www.bougainvilletourism.org.pg/

Miriona allayed fears that visitors’ hold of Bougainville saying the people had suffered through the crisis and learnt a lot of lessons from the conflict and are prepared to go back to a peaceful way of living. “Because of the violence witnessed during the crisis, people think Bougainville is a dangerous place. But let me tell you, before that, we were the friendliest people on earth. After the conflict, we are still the friendliest people on earth,” a confident Miriona beamed. “Come and visit us and see for yourself.”
Indeed I can bet my last one toea I will be coming back to visit Mirix for a try at Mount Balbi sometime next year.

Maybe I might just find the last of the moustache kingfisher. You never know until you try.
Take the plunge with me on email at: bigpatpng@gmail.com or place your bet on 7349 1672.

Did Earhart fly out gold?

Source: Post Courier
Date Published: 08 March 2011
Link: http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20110308/news05.htm

AN AMERICAN group communicating with the Earhart expedition divers on Bougainville are now making preparations to travel to Buka Island to help complete the investigations.


Yesterday the US team based in Pennsylvania told the Post-Courier they are now making arrangements to travel to Buka and should be in the region by end of this month.

The US group who is in direct contact with the State Department back in Pennsylvania told the Post-Courier from the States that they still believed the wreck sitting on the seabed near Matsungan Island was that of Earhart.

“It’s only the fuselage, once the group details to us the information we need we will head straight for the airport and onto the plane to PNG,” the US expert said.

The experts did not want to divulge detailed information on what they were after from the fuel fillers of the wreck but said because the team carrying out the expedition in Buka was still having difficulties with the last bit of investigation.

The Buka team, however, is working to complete the exercise before they transmit information to the US team so they can travel to PNG and onto Buka Island to complete the investigation.

The Buka team is also adamant the wreck is Earhart’s as the leader claims is well versed with the historical story of why Amelia would have made it through Buka Island – because she smuggled gold out of her last destination.

“Why would America spend so much money looking for Earhart and still after 74 years, have not found the wreck?

“My intelligence experience tells me Earhart could not spell out her direct route because she was fearful radio transmissions would show her location as she was carrying something extraordinary. America knows something that we don’t.”