Tuesday 15 September 1953 Samarai 229 258 Holiday--annexation of Papua by Queensland. Rain squalls beating by island all day. 10,000 ton English copra freighter docked this A.M. A tricky operation because of the coral reefs near the dock. There are a 1,000 tons of copra in the warehouse. Len, Ken, G. and I had a short conference in P.M. Geoff is leaving for home as soon as possible. Ken will take over some of his collecting. We may have a boat for Goodenough by Friday. Called at the hospital on top of the hill and had a beer with the 2 sisters and the Ericsons. They had expected Geoff to spend the night there resting but he decided to stay at the Buntins. Ken & Geoff didn't go to bed last night. They sure like their parties liquid. Ailsa and Dusty had a guest for dinner tonight and we talked until 11:00 P.M. Saw an Osprey carrying a fish to the island today. Wednesday 16 September 230 259 Worked on specimens most of day. The pages (colored) of the Sat Eve Post are affected by the fumes of the paradichlor +/or naphth. The colors had run together in the paper which I had used to wrap skin specimens. Only a few skins had color spots on the underparts--one had a pink nose! Re-wrapped all Post specimens. Mail came in on the morning flying boat. Letter from Mother and one from Miriam. Conn. Plane goes on to Rabaul and returns to Samarai 2 days later. Hard rain squalls tonight. Dusty in bed early. Ailsa and I talked late. A long letter to Dusty from Dr. Bill Symthe who last his sloop on Barrier Reef and lived on the wrecked Liberty ship there for 13 days. Details made a fascinating story. He made the bad mistake of taking 2 greenhorns with him on blue water. Thursday 17 September 231 260 Geoff looks much better. Has a booking on the S.S.Malaita (3000 tons) sailing next Monday for Sydney. Will sail for London early in October. This will be the best medicine of all for Geoff. Gave his arm a massage before dinner. Finished re-wrapping my skins today. Poisoned all 4 knockdown boxes which Ken opened for me. Bought a small collection of stone axes & war clubs & carved wooden objects for our Anthropology Dept. £ 45 for the lot. Bought from Mr. Thomas Craig. Gave me some "Cat's eyes"--half round operculum plates from certain kind of sea snails (?). Could be made into lovely necklace. A windy day with heavy rain at intervals. Went home to lunch in my bare feet. S.S. Ernebank still loading copra. Still no word from our charter boat "Jessie". Dirty weather has her holed up somewhere on coast. Don't know when we will get away now. Tonight as usual Ailsa, Dusty and I are spending a quiet evening talking & reading with our feet on the coffee table. Friday 18 September 232 261 Today saw a continuation of last night's relaxation. Dusty stayed home again to rest his rash. We both burrowed into our books and stayed there with time out only for meals. I was reading a book about a remarkable escape from the German camp for British aviators Stalag III. Dusty was a bomber pilot shot down early in the war; he spent 2½ years in this camp and helped in the organizing that led to the escape. Book: "The Wooden Horse". It has been another dirty day with rain squalls blowing down on the island every hour or so. Saturday 19 September 233 262 Word has finally reached us that the "Jessie" will arrive this week-end. This means we will be able to leave either Mon. Or Tues. for Goodenough. Everything is ready