October 2007 London Meeting
The meeting was a full house to hear Globetrotters President Janet Street-Porter give this months opening talk, Janet called her talk “4 Trips in 40 minutes”, she began with Estonia, talking about the excellent and moving Occupation Museum in Tallin before exploring outside of the capital, to the beach resort of Parnu with its art deco Scandic hotel and windswept beaches.
Across the Globe to Papua New Guinea (PNG), where she was invited to open British Council sponsored Film Festival, in a country that does not have any cinemas! She had no idea how dangerous PNG, especially Port Moresby is, when she asked if she could go shopping. No shopping, but Janet did get to meet tribal people who still sort out their differences with bows and arrows and axes. She along with the British Ambassador were dressed up in tribal dress and make up, before being given a pig as they departed.
Australias Larapinta Trail which begins in Alice Springs, was her next destination, taking 7 days to walk what is one of her favourite trails, though the annoying flies meant dressing in head gear and posting lunch letterbox style. The walk takes in places like Simpsons Gap.
Lastly Janet took us to Central Spain to the area around Aracena, a 1.5 hour drive from Seville with its Moorish castles and 13th Century Churches.The villages having a deserted cowboy feeling in the intense summer heat.
Many thanks to Janet for providing a very entertaing talk and for continuing to be our President.
After the break it was time for Ashley Butterfield, a Globetrotters Life Member. Ashley’s talk was called “Not the Magic Bus”, a reference to a new company running trips from the UK to Australia in relative comfort, well to be honest complete luxury compared to the first trips Ashley ran! Ashley got the travel bug early in life when at 12 he was encouraged to cycle from Yorkshire to London, though he cheated after Grantham, getting a lift from a Lorry diver.
After leaving school at 15 he worked for Wallace Arnold, though just in the office and soon got bored with working out how many miles the company’s busses were doing to the gallon. At 19 he left with £120 to hitch hike to India, arriving in India with £70 left, £64 of which then went on a boat back to Marseille. At this point he along with a friend bought a share in a bus which they took to India, though it kept breaking down, it had to be towed off the ferry and was refused entry into Germany because of its near bald tyres.
This was quickly remedied by a diversion into Belgium to a man who cut enough of a tread pattern to allow them back over the border! They eventually got to India and sold the bus which was on its last legs and destined for the scrap heap. Ashley decided using public transport for his trips would be easier and started running trips by rail and bus to India, he reckoned it cost £25 to get to Istanbul, he was always up for trying to make some extra money, including buying playing cards in Afghanistan and selling them in Turkey for which he spent a night in Jail.
Inbetween he worked for KFC in Earl’s Court and one day spotted a new Travel agency opening over the road, Trailfinders, He set up Asian Rover, a company which sold individual legs of the trip to India on trains and busses so that people could travel at their own speed and sold the trips through Trailfinders, he was 25% of Trailfinders business when they began, when he had to stop the trips in 1979 because of the Iranian revolution he was back to being 0.000005% of their business!
Ashley had a “Complaint” book along on his trips for passengers to let off steam about the discomfort etc, one entry from an American Circuit Court Judge probably summed up the trips “If I could I would send the worst criminals on one of Ashley’s trips rather tah jail, but it would probably be deemd a too cruel and inhuman punishment”!
By Padmassana
London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on (+44) 020 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk
You don’t need to worry about getting your newly acquired purchases home as PNG Arts has a reliable packing, crating and shipping service, which the Beetle has twice used and all items arrived safely in London, taking about three months – see the very exciting picture left.
Anyway, down to business, this is not an ad for PNG Art, the Beetle wants to talk about Rabaul. Rabaul is a natural harbour on one of PNG’s islands, this one is New Britain, part of the Bismark Archipelago, which is immediately north of the main part of PNG. Rabaul has a sheltered deep harbour which allows good anchorage for large cargo and cruise ships. The harbour itself is a massive flooded caldera of an ancient volcano – it here that the Beetle did many fantastic dives. See the picture above right of a very undignified Beetle hanging on to some dead coral for dear life as the currents threatened to wash her away.
From 1910 until 1937 Rabaul was under German control and the base of Japanese activities in the South Pacific during World War II and there are many remains and relics to be seen as a result of this and subsequent Japanese occupation. 
If you have an interest in WW2 artefacts and wish to gain a better understanding of the events in this part of the South Pacific, there is no better place to visit than the Kokopo war museum. It is largely set outdoor amidst beautifully manicured gardens with a gorgeous collection of frangipani ad star fruit trees. 
German colonial period, pre-war and WWII Japanese occupation such as tanks, search lights, munitions, motorcycles, half-tracks, guns, artillery, machine guns, and the wrecks and partial wreck of many Japanese aircraft. 
Japanese War Memorial A war memorial was constructed by the Japanese after WWII as a peace memorial, and in memory to those who lost their life in and around Rabaul. It is on a hill above the town, with a fabulous view of the area that was once occupied by thousands of Japanese Navy and Army personnel. The memorial is not without a little controversy. The huge map of the Pacific with New Britain and Rabaul at the centre forms the background of the memorial also
shows the sites of Jap
anese conquests. This elicited a response from the Australian government that the memorial signified Japanese occupation rather than promote their subsequent peaceful intentions. You can see in the Beetle photo left that there is a hole that lets the sun shine directly onto a simple pillar shrine.
The Japanese used forced labour to build a series of tunnels through many parts of Rabaul. You can still see these tunnels sixty years later. Some of the tunnels were used to live in, store munitions and guns, and others were used to house barges. The Beetle photo left shows the remains of one such barge. One tunnel in particular is large enough to have stored five landing craft. During the war, these were carefully lifted out of the tunnel using a hoist system, taken across to the cliff face where they were lowered into the water. 
ooks dim. But the story here is Greek Macedonia, one of the most beautiful regions of Greece, and an area which will grow in importance as the commercial and cultural centre of the Balkans in the years to come. 
Founded by King Perdikas in the 7th Century BC it was formally known as Aigaes and was the first capital of Macedonia. When the capital was moved to Pella it was continued to be used as the royal burial grounds. In 336 BC, King Phillip II was assassinated by one of his seven bodyguards while attending the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra in the theatre.
Ancient Dion was an important religious centre for worshipping the Gods of nearby Mount Olympus. This is where Phillip II came to celebrate his victories and his son Alexander came to make his sacrifices here before going off to conquer the East. While most of the statues which were not only found virtually intact, but with traces of colour, are in the nearby museum in the town of Dion, they have been replaced with copies. The Sanctuary of Isis is perhaps the most interesting discovery so far. An earthquake had displaced water and mud and the building was hidden for centuries under 6 feet of water which protected it from vandals. The temple still sits in the water and a copy of the statue of Aphrodite can be seen there. 
The Capital of Macedonia moved from Vergina to Pella in the 5th Century BC and was in effect the capital of Greece. Many people come here to see the exceptional mosaics discovered in the remains of houses and public buildings. The museum is one of Greece’s best on-site archaeology museums with a display of pottery, jewellery and mosaics found at the site. The remains of the buildings have impressed archaeologists and led them to believe that the Macedonians enjoyed a high level of wealth. 
Site of the famous battle where the armies of Mark Anthony and Octavius met and defeated the armies of Julius Caesar’s assassins in 42BC. Brutas and Cassius committed suicide and the victors spent a fortune on Philippi, granting it the status of Roman Colony, providing us with the impressive ruins, and artefacts which are now in the museum. In 49 AD Saint Paul came to preach to the inhabitants of Philippi and ended up in prison. Despite Paul’s misfortune Phillipi was the first European city to accept Christianity, though the first two churches they built suffered some bad luck. The first was destroyed by an earthquake right after it was completed in the 5th century and the second collapsed before its dedication in the 6th Century because it was too top heavy. The remains can both be seen, as well as the ancient theatre built by Phillip II.
As the name suggests, Daktari is a wildlife orphanage that takes in injured, orphaned, or animals in general that for some reason can not be rehabilitated into the wild. People are educated in animal welfare, the environment and nature conservation by being part of teams which provide the nursing for the animals.
Daktari particularly targets underprivileged children from the surrounding rural areas. They are educated in the environment, life skills, and the care of the animals. Sadly, people from the local community suffer from the lack of access to their rich South African natural heritage even though they live right next to private game reserves. This has contributed to the high degree of poaching and environmental abuse in the area. We feel that by generating compassion and understanding, people will care for the environment.
Daktari aims at inviting groups of underprivileged children to stay at the reserve, where they can learn about wildlife, teamwork, responsibility, have a hands-on experience, life skills, and by doing so, develop compassion towards animals. Unfortunately, many children end up unemployed after finishing high School. We expect that the education the children receive here will help them develop their skills and thus provide them with more work opportunities later in life, such as in the eco-tourism industry.