Coconut Palms

Coconut trees are synonymous with the Pacific and tropical islands and are very beautiful trees. But what is not as well known to non Pacific islanders is the versatility of this tree which is often called The most useful tree on earth. I don't think the tropics would be anything without this most valuable tree.

I am not going to list all the benefits of this tree - you can go to Wikipedia for that, but I will include an old diagram from the 1941 Pacific Year book which gives a comprehensive (and now politically incorrect) report of what is going on in Pacific Island nations and Territories.

During a recent trip to Kiribati I also found out anothe ruse - as a water detector. On the porous coral rock attols - access to the water table is varied. However coconut trees are a great indicator of where the good water is. A large tree that has grown quickly is almost always over a spot where it would be good to dig a well. Remove the tree (and use the products for 50 different things) dig a little and voila' - water.

My family and I had an opportunity to work in Fiji for several years (2006 - 2009). During that time we had the opportunity to pick up some of the local furniture which is made out of select coconut palm wood.

I have recycled some of this timber and have been selling some as pen blanks. The timber is very strong yet porous and light and would benefit from stabilisation but the fibres and grain are quite unique and random making for a very interesting result.

I have some left if anyone is interested.

Another 'product' of the coconut tree is the sap which is bled from the developing seed/nut sprout. In Tuvalu and Kiribati (and plenty of other places) this is called Toddy. In its purest form it is a highly nutritious juice that provides almost everything a person needs. They reckon you could live off pure toddy for ages. However  it is easily fermented to produce a quite astringent alcoholic beverage which is very, very potent and can easily send someone 'spacka'.

I have tried it a few times - before xmas in Kiribati and in Tuvalu in 2010 and believe, like kava, is an acquired taste only only to be pursue when desperate and the VB has run out (or warm).

Good things I have discovered with the Internet recently - part 1

I have been using computers and the internet since the early days. People used to point at me in awe because I had a 20mb hard drive on my brand new XT PC (sadly could not afford hard drive and a colour screen).

My first modem was dial up 28k/hr and real slow, but it at least allowed me to see the early days and some of the wonderful advances in web stuff.

I work part time for the disaster reduction program of a regional organisation called SOPAC which is part of the Secretariat for Pacific Communities. Computer and internet allow me to work between trips, mainly by email with disaster managers and fire and emergency service chiefs all over the Pacific helping to build capacity and capability.

We have been working on building a new alliance of disaster managers, fire and emergency services and police chiefs in the Pacific called PIEMA (Pacific Islands Emergency Management Alliance) and of course we needed a logo.

To be anything fair dinkum in the Pacific you must have a good logo, big banners, t-shirts and a great morning tea for people to start taking you seriously

I was tasked with organising the logo. I used a mob called DesignCrowd which I think is Australian inspired and based. It is a focal point for designers from all over the world and for people, like me, who have NFI (no idea) about design to meet graphic designers and solve each others problems (money = design).

Apart from being a terrific and highly successful idea it worked a treat and before long I had over 20 designers from all over the world submitting designs of various quality for selection and competing for my miserly $200 (+ listing, management fees).

What I really liked about it was that the winning designer Zanu Zawa (ZZ to his/her mates) is a young person who lives on a small island in outback Indonesia who was more than happy to work for my money and I was really happy for him/her to have it. I am sure AUD$200 will be of greater value at his/her place than my place.

btw - here is the winning design:

Now for the morning tea.....