Solomons pics

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2012 at 8:05am
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tsk tsk Bazza, GT and a flowery cod. :-) Coral trout look like this.....

or....



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2012 at 8:20am
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OOPS ... my bad
 
Am having terible probs trying to post pics .... having to
constantly resize & rename only to have them failing to post.
 
How do I dump my cache of previously posted image files
that appear when clicking on "browse" in the hope that might
ease the problem?
When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT
fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2012 at 8:23am
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You go into control panel but remember if you delete any pics that have been posted in previous threads that you want to stay there then if you delete them from your photos folder they go from the thread as well i think ?? 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2012 at 8:34am
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Just try re-naming the pics, then load them again. I do my picture with Microsoft Picture It, I use that to crop and sharpen the pics that need it, and then save them as both hi rez versions ("save as" and I add an "f" in the front to differentiate them), and then the same pic I click on "Save as web ready picture", usually have it as a half page pic, and save that as well for use here on the site. Means most pics are in the 50-70kb size range.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2012 at 10:56am
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Originally posted by Capt Asparagus Capt Asparagus wrote:

Just try re-naming the pics, then load them again. I do my picture with Microsoft Picture It, I use that to crop and sharpen the pics that need it, and then save them as both hi rez versions ("save as" and I add an "f" in the front to differentiate them), and then the same pic I click on "Save as web ready picture", usually have it as a half page pic, and save that as well for use here on the site. Means most pics are in the 50-70kb size range.
 
All that info Stu about as useful to a tecniphobe as trying to convince a Sol Islander the need for
maintainence.
 
I reckoned it would be much simpler to wipe the history of all the pics that have been uploaded
to the site then no probs. All the ones I may have to post are already reduced in size so that is
not an issue.
 
Another complication seems to be that altho it was not set up to do so the pics appear to be
stored in at least four different locations.
 
Would not want to delete the upload history tho if it deleted the pics stored on the puter as well.
 
Distinctly rememember seeing a function somewhere for deleting the uploaded image files but
could not select files to delete as was all or nothing which did not suit at the time but does now.
When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT
fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2012 at 4:52pm
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Try again ......
 
 
Still not working ... will try later
 
 
 
 
Reckon this could be a coral trout Stu & we are having it for dinner tomorrow night.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT
fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2012 at 5:48pm
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Reckon this could be a coral trout Stu & we are having it for dinner tomorrow night.

could also so make you sick from memory....
ask Stu first before you eat that bugger...
Thanks for everything you did for us Eric. may you rest in peace, You were one of the real legends of NZ recreational fishing
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2012 at 7:27pm
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Originally posted by Lethal Lethal wrote:

Reckon this could be a coral trout Stu & we are having it for dinner tomorrow night.

could also so make you sick from memory....
ask Stu first before you eat that bugger...
 
Ate a couple whilst up there Eric along with quite a few other species.
 
Stu assured us there are no probs eating fish in/from the Solomons altho
standing on stonefish not advisable.
 
The sea snakes of course are commonplace & I watched quite a long one
do a figure eight around Adrians' legs without him even being aware of it.
 
The sharks don't seem to be a problem & we went swimming in the area
where they patrol however would not like to argue with a croc.
When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT
fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2012 at 8:07pm
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No Ciguatera in the Sollies.
We ate red bass up to 10 kg, Coral trout 12-14kg, trevs, all the normal stuff that normally carries it.
Looks like a great adventure.
Some beaut carvings in the eastern end of Munda. Carver by the name of Milton. I have a few of his peices.

Beautiful country, and mostly friendly people. Bloody good blue marlin fishing there too. Averaged 6 strikes a day plus wahoo/tuna/mahi
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2012 at 8:43pm
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Yep, that is a coral trout, specifically the Square-tailed or Passionfruit coral trout.
And yes, ciguatera is not an issue in the sollies luckily.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Sep 2012 at 2:03pm
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Honiara did not exist when the Japanese built a strategic airfield about
30 kms from where the town is today on Guadalcanal Is. & it is still in
use as the international airport.
 
When the US launched their attack the Japanese forces there were
dramatically outnumbered so they opted to abandon the airstrip &
set up in the hills beyond from where they set up artillery to barrage
the airfield & surrounds plus they were now in territory that would be
easier to defend plus air strikes could be continued to be launched forom
nearby airfields such as Rabaul.The Americans renamed the it Henderson
Airfield by which it is still known.
 
 
I found it difficult to comprehend how WW11 artillery had the range to pound
the airfield & base from where they were positioned with only 110mm guns
but guess when lobbing shells from an elevated position they go a fair way.
The pic below was taken from where the guns were positioned & Henderson
can barely be seen way in the distance which I would estimate at maybe 25
to 30 kms perhaps even more.
 
 
 
 
Apparently the shelling was so accurate the Americans presumed it must be
coming from much closer but what they never twigged to was that the Japnese
had built a bright red padoga adjacent to the airfield & were using it as a
datum reference point to land their fire where it would be most effective. It
struck me as amazing that the US occupied the coastline yet the Japanese
were still able to land supplies at night to be transported to where they were
holed up in the hills. The battles on the coast had been fierce & the bay is called
"Iron Bottom" as it is estimated over 70 ships plus untold planes were sunk
including two RNZN ships the Moa & Kiwi ( I think they were called )
 
 
 
 
By the way ... did you know ( I didn't ) that the Japanese zero fighter plane
was designed in America as was quite a bit of their military equipment.
 
Eventually the Japanese position was established & an all out assault by the
marines & infrantry was decided on. This involved having to charge up steep
hills with bare scoria slopes as shown in the pics below.  that remind you a bit
of Gallipoli.
 
 
 
When visting these sites I could not go more than a couple of hours without
drinking water because of the humid heat yet the soldiers advancing & having
to dig foxholes every so often in the volcanic rocky soil wearing full battle kit
in the heat of the day sometimes had to go two days without water.
 
The casualties on both sides were horrific but finally the outnumbered Japanese
were reduced to 80 or 90 in numbermen & they choose to die in a banshee suicide
attack rather than be taken prisoner.
 
This battle combined with the naval/air battle of the coral sea spelt the end of
the Japanese advance into the Pacific.   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT
fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Sep 2012 at 2:21pm
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A poster showing some of the fish varieties in the Solomons.
Note it is written in pidgin English which with about 500 dialects
is used so the various groups can converse together.
 
Had fish from the Solomons last night & we all had a portion of
three different but did not know which was what.
 
 
Flash not working on camera so a bit darkish
 
 
I have found the best way to keep fillets frozen when travelling
is to pack as tight as poss in a plastic bag & freeze as normal.
Once totally frozen tightly wrap a couple of layers of water soaked
newspaper then freeze again. Continue doing this until there is
a solid casing of ice encompassing the fish then wrap layers of dry
newspaper to insulate & tape it up to put in another plastic bag or
better still a small chilly bin or bag. I have found fillets will keep
frozen for 3 days or more treated like this keeping in mind the
luggage hold in planes are at very low temp. when flying so safe to
put in a suitcase .... it is not allowed as cabin baggage anyway.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT
fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2012 at 8:33am
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On the subject of bring or taking fish out of NZ is allowed many have
expressed surprise that it is no problem & presumably likewise in most
other countries.
 
It is of no concern of customs but bio security take a look at such things & am always
careful to declare anything.

No probs with reasonable amounts of saltwater fish & after all they could be the same
fish as here on holiday. Have brought sw fish back in from Raro, Aussie etc & taken it
to Aus, Japan etc without any probs. The only time I had a problem bringing something
back was crocodile which they decided was meat so was prohibited, however a loonnnggg
story attached to that ... will leave the telling for now.

However any freshwater fish are a definite no no unless smoked & certified ... but then
again why would anyone want to bring it to NZ?
When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT
fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2012 at 8:47am
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Re bringing crocodile meat into NZ ..........
 
Had developed a taste for crocodile meat whilst visting my younger brother who
lives in Cairns so brought some to take home from his local butcher even tho unsure
if would be allowed to bring it into NZ.

Declared I had it on entry declaration form however when going thru bio security check
was politely told it was classified as meat therefore not allowed. I was given the option
of surrendering it for destruction or return it to where it had come from. Having paid about
$70 for a frozen pack decided my brother may as well have it so it was agreed that they
would hold it in frozen storage until I could arrange for it to be sent back.

Subsequent enquiries of freight forwarding companies established the cost would be way
out of proportion to the value of the goods so on contacting bio security they agreed to
keeping it until my mum who was due to visit my brother in a couple of weeks could take
it over as luggage. In due course took my mum to the airport, presented the documentation
& the cro meat was brought out contained in a small chilly bin which I thought was very
considerate of them. The fact the bin had Asian writing on it did not strike me as particularly
significant as the officer accompanied us to make sure it would be leaving the country in
mums' baggage.

On arrival in Cairns she was told she could not bring NZ crocodile into Queensland & trying
to explain there were no crocs in NZ or it was brought in Cairns fell on deaf ears with
their added concerns that if not from NZ it may have come from New Guinea.

My brother had to go to the butcher shop I had purchased it from where they made out a
reciept then hereturned to the airport where they handed over the chilly bin & up until then
no one at either end had checked the contents.

The drama was far from over for a bit later on opening the bin Les found some unfamiliar
minced substance that even the cat would not eat when given a small sample so not knowing
what it was they opted to dump it & rang to inform me accordingly.

In due course I contacted NZ bio security to advise them & their immediate response was "Where
is the crocodile then?" where upon they were reminded it was them that had taken care of it &
handed it over so they were best placed to answer that question. They rang back to say their
records showed we had been given some form of minced chicken giblets but they could find no
trace of the crocodile. To my surprise they went on to say as they had been responsible for the
loss then I was entitled to compensation asking how much I had paid for it. I gave a slightly
inflated figure off the top of my head & in due course a cheque arrived for that amount.

Ironically enough in the meantime I had discovered there was a place in Auckland that imported
crocodile meat so cashed the cheque & brought some there which unknowingly I coud have done
in the first place saving all that hassle !!
When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT
fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2012 at 8:51am
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Classic Bazza,,thats one way to get your croc meat on your plate.. So wonder which customs officer had it on his table ?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2012 at 9:13am
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As the Maf people told me, "If it can swim here, it can fly here." Within reason naturally.
The Zero, the Mitsubishi A6M, was designed by Jiro Horikoshi, first flown in 1939. The americans knew nothing about it until it wiped all US and other aircraft out of the skies from 1941 onwards..., until it's light construction and lack of potential for development meant that later US fighters could outclass it.... the japs went for the manouvrability over protection angle, making the plane far more nimble in the air and matchless as a dogfighter, while US and Allied planes concentrated on horsepower, armour protection for pilots, self sealing fuel tanks and so on to make them able to endure more punishment. The zero had none of that, so any round that hit them did considerable damage, US planes went heavier on the tracer rounds and explosive rounds in their guns, as once hit, the jap planes would pretty much always erupt in flames from their fuel tanks, even if the pilots themselves were not hit.
Henderson air base was named after the leader of a squadron of torpedo planes that was wiped out in the battle of midway, by one of his friends. The tradition was the first pilot to land on an airfield was allowed to name it whatever he wanted, so this pilot named it after his dead mate.
The japs were gradually forced to the north of Guadalcanal, losing many thousands of men en route, until they were concentrated around the Tambea area, where despite the pounding from the yanks, the jap navy managed to pull many thousands off the beaches there. However, many many thousands more died in the area.
Iron bottom sound is the name for the stretch of water that runs between guadalcanal and the florida islands, a huge area that many navies have heavily invested in infrastructure during that time. The waters immediately around the Island of Savo, a volcano in the middle of ironbottom sound just of the NE tip of guadalcanal, are referred to and the Savo Sound, as in the Battle of Savo Sound, where the yanks got their asses kicked by the japs a couple of times, loosing quite a few cruisers and....ummmm... maybe a battleship or two? can't remember. Later on, after a little education in not regarding the japs as hopeless little asian men, but actually bloody smart, efficient, brave and proficient naval forces (The yanks in particular had a strong racial things against the japs who they felt HAD to be so inferior in everything. Experience proved them to be wrong in this), then the US started to gain the upper hand, especially once they started to use their ship-borne radar for ranging etc at night, which is what really swung things their way.
Japanese ships ran from their main base at Rabaul, way to the north on the top end of the island or New Ireland, now part of PNG, down what became called "the slot", the gap between the western and eastern chains of the solomon islands, with bouganville, new georgia and guadalcanal forming the western chain, Coiseul, Isobel and malaita being the eastern chain.
Running the slot with destroyers going FAST at night was the only way before long that the japs could get supplies, reinforcements and evacuations for their troops on guadalcanal, then New Georgia (where we were, near Munda, the main airbase on New Georgia), as they were progressively driven northward out of the Sollies.
It was a destroyer in one of these runs, charging thru the blackett straits back to shelter in the jap base at Gizo that sliced Kennedy's PT109 in half.
It is a really interesting place for those keen on a bit of ww2 history eh.
A lot of kiwis were there as well.... Kiwis set up the PT boat base on Rendova Island for the yanks to take over, which is where Kennedy was based, and Kiwis not only had several squadrons of aircraft operating out of Munda air base (along side US Liberator bombers etc) but also their own fighter strip on kohinggo island nearby, but also it was kiwis who ran the radar at the munda airbase as well. Some of my customers were based there during the war, and were very interested to see the pics I had of the area, now totally different from how they remembered it!

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2012 at 9:44am
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Originally posted by bazza bazza wrote:

Had developed a taste for crocodile meat 

heard the aussie butcher in new lynn had frozen croc meat for $70 kg

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2012 at 9:44am
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You obviously are more aware o some of the facts Stu than the guy that was
giving out info on the subject & was supposedly an expert in the local war history.
 
He was quite adamant however that the zero was a direct copy of a US designed
plane they they lightened considerably & carried out the mods you mention to
increase the performance at cost to overall protection to the pilot. Given the formidable
threat it posed maybe it was not such a bad idea & I guess protection not so much of
an issue if on a kamikase mission.
 
I think it is widely accepted that the scales were finally turned not so much by the
superiority of equipment over the other but more by the colossal production capacity
of the US.
 
Seem to remember the damage done at Pearl Harbour which was intended to cripple US
effectiveness in the Pacific region was negated within a incredibly short time, something
like 12 mths. or so.
 
Still given that Japan is not much larger than NZ it is nothing short of amazing that they
came so close to winning against the combined forces of the US, Australia, NZ & Britain
etc. plus the opposition they faced from the countries they over run.
When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT
fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2012 at 9:58am
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Originally posted by BananaBoat BananaBoat wrote:

Originally posted by bazza bazza wrote:

Had developed a taste for crocodile meat 

heard the aussie butcher in new lynn had frozen croc meat for $70 kg

 
Yes I think most of their branches stock it but was considerably cheaper
at the outlet in Tepapapa where I brought it.
 
If buying it pays to be aware there is a vast difference between the tail meat
& the cheaper body meat.
 
Unless slow cooked as a casserole or similar the body meat other than from a
very young croc can be tough as old boots whereas tail meat cut correctly is
tender enough to cook conventionally tasting something like a fishy chicken
& best served with a suitable creamy herb sauce. 
When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT
fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Sep 2012 at 10:17am
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Nah, the yanks liked to claim that the japs copied their aircraft.... I suspect from roughly the time of the wright brothers. The Zero was a development from other, earlier japanese designed and made aircraft, made for the jap navy, the jap army having the Oscars, also excellent aircraft, but with the same weaknesses. The Jap planes were so far in advance of the US planes at that time, the yanks could not accept that they were made independently of white mans magic. The jap planes had unheard of range, over 1000 miles, armed with 20mm cannon while US and UK aircraft still felt 303 and 50cal machine guns were just the best... it really was an education for the western designers and airmen, and a substantial blow to their self image as the be-all and end-all of human ingenuity.
 But yes, the jap planes mostly were radial engined, which several US planes were. Japanese made radial engines though, not imported from the states. However, many US planes, especially naval aircraft, of the time were radial engined dinosaurs (in those fast-evolving times) like the wildcat (moderately new, but already out of date really) or the shockingly awful brewster buffaloes the brits had at singapore (US planes, radial engined death traps basically)
Just like the long lance torpedo the japs developed..... accurate and deadly at over 20 miles range, because they used oxygen to power the motor, something the yanks dismissed as too dangerous etc.... none the less, they tried to claim "it was our idea firstest!".
The industrial production of the US, as it came on line just swamped the axis entirely, that is true, but in 1943, this was yet to have a major impact, but the use of radar on ships for ranging the big guns at night, as opposed to the japs who still only had searchlights etc, meant the US suddenly could fire effectively at greater ranges, and track their targets far more effectively than the japs could, reverse of the earlier times as the japs put a lot of effort into night-battle training and were extremely proficient at it.


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