Seven of us enjoyed our host’s hospitality yesterday evening and were treated to glimpse of Melanesia via her memento video of her recent Melanesia Odyssey and her personal journal.
She showed us a map of Pacific island regions in Oceania (Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia) and a little history of their significance in ending WWII, and languages.
The video included native welcoming dance performances of much variety in form and dress, at several isolated islands, which were accessible only via Zodiac craft in shallow lagoons.
We heard about how the islanders’ simple subsistence life has its attractions and had questioned how plastic litter may be hindering Melanesian attractiveness for tourism.
The weather on the boat odyssey was hampered by El Niño, with choppy seas and cloud.
The journey was right round the world, flying to Singapore, then many miles island-hopping by boat through Melanesia from Papua New Guinea via Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to Fiji, flying home via Los Angeles.
The out and return trains and flights were long and arduous! The islands and people were interesting.
Our host battled on despite challenges with the technology and got there in the end.
One member introduced the controversy over Margaret Mead’s conclusions from anthropological studies in Oceania, in her work “Coming of Age in Samoa” (an interesting topic to follow up).