Week 2 in Tuvalu
The Monday flight to Tuvalu was direct from Nadi and saved the normal hop over to Suva first. Sitting on the left side of the plane provided a panoramic view of Funifuti Atoll as we neared the runway on Fongafale.
I skipped through Customs without incident despite having a full company internet package in my luggage. A complete Starlink kit, company router and two Wifi extenders weighing in at about 16kg. Fortunately, I had left most of my stuff in my room at the Filamona so I didn’t have much else except my five-week supply of plunger coffee. I can’t remember the last time I purchased instant coffee; it would have to be more than 25 years ago.
Coming from low single-digit temperatures to nearly 30º C wasn’t as overwhelming as I had thought. It’s not so much the heat but the humidity which hovers around 80%. And every day this week has been wet, with rain and thunderstorms in the evenings.
This week’s mission was to try and get our containers from the port, but they’re still there. We collected our two trucks because they were deck cargo and we just drove them away. The containers are stuck due to both heavy forklifts having mechanical issues. There is no port crane only two large forklifts and one had a puncture while had a hydraulic pump failure. We resigned ourselves to waiting again.
The World Bank investment officers were on the island this week meeting with Government officials and we hoped we might see some go forward on access to our work site. An approval letter was promised on Tuesday, then on Wednesday and then the WB left and that was that. On Friday we were told the letter was written but we couldn’t have it because we needed to have the landowner’s consent. Evidently, the Government only leases the land. Our contact at the WB office wrote a letter to the Landowner and had it hand-delivered to his neighbour who is also his brother-in-law.
By all accounts, we should have the approval and consent letters on Monday…!
Watch a video of Fongafale from the air (by Sean Gallagher)
Sharing our lodgings are a couple of American explosive ordinance disposal experts who are on the island to sort out ex-WWII munitions which are scattered around the atolls. They cheered us up by letting us know there was a possibility we could encounter buried bombs if we started digging around the airfield. “It could ruin your day” they advised.
Watch a video commemorating 80 years after the bombing by Tagata Pacifica
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On a positive note, we are part through converting our driver’s licenses. We first had to get a letter from the local Police, then the next step on Monday is to go to the Council Offices to pay for it and have our photos taken. It seems no one has the authority to undertake a complete task by themselves. Even the Police letter required a second person to apply for the official stamp!
In a similar vain, we registered our trucks for Tuvalu. Again, we went to the Police to have the vehicles checked over much like a CoF. They gave us a paper to say it was OK, then we went to the Council and got the registration number and paid the fees. Then back to the Police to give them the rego number for their files and final approval. Yes but it’s not over yet, it’s the owner’s responsibility to make the number plate. Fortunately, a local hardware store has plastic backing plates and white numbers to stick on. With the help of a little superglue and a couple of cable ties, we were done.
I’ve managed to find a good swimming spot in front of the Governor General’s house which is easy walking distance from the Filamona. And that about sums up the successes for this week.
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