Book "Meanwhile, Back in the Jungle'
Great Xmas gift. Buy a book. Kerikeri author and adventurer, Ross Lockyer has just released his fourth book and this time it's about his adventures and the wonderful people he met in Indonesian Papua and North Sumatra.
Cost is $30 + postage
You can buy a copy off TradeMe by clicking on the following link: www.trademe.co.nz...
Meanwhile, Back in the Jungle…
Living and working in New Zealand in the 1980s isn’t much fun when there are leech-infested jungles somewhere out there to be explored and isolated tribespeople to befriend. So when Ross Lockyer’s mate, Swampy, telephones him with a job offer that seems like simple madness, Ross jumps at the chance to escape civilization yet again.
In his latest book, Ross heads into the remote, unmapped jungles of Indonesian West Papua (Irian Jaya) to set up a base camp from which to survey and establish a new forestry concession. He’s spotted the perfect camp site from the air, but there’s nowhere to land an aircraft, so first he must find his way to it by water, riding a drum of avgas in an overloaded dug-out canoe into the unknown, across the open sea and up a tangle of crocodile-infested, mangrove-clogged creeks. And that’s just the start of it!
The new concession is located in an area where there are no roads, no communications, few villages, and no airstrips—only dense jungle inhabited by a few small, primitive, nomadic tribes, some of whom still practice cannibalism and head hunting. There are no maps, no doctors, and no trappings of civilization. It’s just the way Ross likes it! And with the only decent bathing spot around infested with crocodiles, thousands of miles of jungle to lose his survey crews in, and a mysterious Papuan with blood on his hands for a body-guard, what could possibly go wrong?
Ross is in for some real eye-openers this time, experiencing the miracles of modern medicine, eating bizarre bush tucker, meeting jungle tribespeople so isolated they have never seen a white man before, and narrowly avoiding death on numerous occasions. Then there’s the flood that threatens to wipe out all he’s worked for.
And when that’s all sorted to his satisfaction and life begins to get a bit cushy, it’s time to take on the jungles and tigers of Sumatra. Throw in the odd corrupt official, heart-stopping boat ride in the dark, wild buffalo encounter, a round-the-world trip with more trips across the Argentinian-Brazilian border than Ross cares to remember, and trouble with the Sumatran locals, and surely it’s time for Ross to bring his wife and kids over to join in the fun!
Get ready for more hilarious and heart-stopping tales from the author of An Accidental Bushman, Cannibals, Crocodiles and Cassowaries and The River is my Highway. This time the yarns go global!
This book contains some 100 photographs from Ross’s vast collection, which richly illustrate his writing.
For more information go to the author's website: www.rosslockyer.co.nz...
What word sums up 2024, neighbours?
If 2020 was the year of lockdowns, banana bread, and WFH (work from home)....
In one word, how would you define 2024?
We're excited to see what you come up with!
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️