People of the world, unite, for the complete, thorough, total and resolute prohibition of nuclear weapons.

The book

Captains Log - 0010/ 05th May 2024 / 0700hrs

……is the title of the book I bought at the “Shop in the Bush” whilst playing tour guide for our new friend from Idaho, USA that stayed here during the week.

Our local friend came across Jules on some digital site and began communicating with her. He invited her to pop in as she was travelling around Tasmania in a van and they hit it off. Plans were made for her to come to Binalong Bay and through a random series of events, Jules and our friend ended up on our deck one afternoon having a few drinks and listening to music. At some point we said “would you rather a comfortable bed and a real shower for the night” and without hesitation the reply was “YES”. Jules is a natural wonder of the world who has decided travel is her gig and has been spending the last few years in various places around the planet experiencing life and living a novel not unlike “Live, Eat, Pray”. Recently returned from doing a yoga instruction course in Thailand, Jules is the poster child for freedom of her own design with health, open mind and adventure her absolute drive - it was inspiring to meet her and hang out.

A drive around the Bay of Fires is inspiring for me anytime, but it does make it a little more enjoyable to share this special part of the world with someone who is seeing it for the first time. The red rocks, the calm ocean and the blue skies just added to what was a post card tour on a perfect autumn day on the East Coast of Tasmania. At some point the conversation turned to eclectic things and this was the precursor to a detour to “The Shop in the Bush” (about 15 minutes out of St Helens). The Shop in the Bush is a dangerous place for me as one of my kryptonite’s is random items that catch my eye when I have a wallet in my pocket.

The Shop in the Bush

The Shop In The Bush - Dangerous to people with wallets and a collecting mind.

One particular book titled, “People Of The World, Unite, For The Complete, Thorough, Total and Resolute Prohibition and Destruction of Nuclear Weapons”, caught my eye and written in pencil inside the front cover was the amount A$20.00. The book was written in 1963 in Peking, China by the Foreign Languages Press. Also inside the front cover was a letter, typed on a typewriter from Guozi Shudan from the Chinese Publications Centre where he explains that the reader would be interested in the Chinese Governments policy towards nuclear weapons considering the the first successful explosion of China’s first atom bomb had occurred on the 16th October 1964. Of course I bought it.

I have only read the first couple of chapters. It is one of those books that deserves reading slowly. At this point I am intrigued with the narrative. There is a small chapter in the first part of the book that is calling for a conference of the government heads of all the countries in the world to discuss the “ The Complete, Thorough, Total and Resolute Prohibition and Destruction of Nuclear Weapons” and details China’s thoughts on how to achieve this outcome. It is written and presented to all countries by Chou En-Lai (Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China). The next chapter goes into how the USA and the Soviet Union said “ok, sure, but we need some fine print” which basically translates to “thanks. but no thanks”. Noting that I am only two chapters in, it would seem that only one year later China must have thought, “well, we tried - I guess we should have some as well”. Although my cynic in me is not immune to thinking that whilst the call for peace was made publicly, there wasn’t a bunch of folk in uniforms madly tinkering in labs somewhere regardless.

Seems to me though that this book (so far anyway), was perhaps a last opportunity to the world (from China’s perspective), to say, “lets take a grip on this situation before it gets out of hand”…..that was ignored.

Treasure comes in many forms - for me, a find like this book is a stamp in time that if you had happened to glace in the the wrong direction you may have missed. I have book cases full of these moments and they are presently in our accommodation for guests to read if they so desire. Note to self - go back to The Shop in the Bush often. Note from Debi - stay away from The Shop in the Bush.

With Jules on the road, three hours later another friend meandered up the long driveway to The Ship to stay a few nights. Iain was an old friend from Papua New Guinea days who had escaped the world of teaching and family in the Blue Mountains, NSW, to travel around Tassie for a week.

Iain was the drummer in our band in Lae, Papua New Guinea. When I say band, we really only had one gig and it was a bit of a disaster. Four of us would meet at our compound two or three nights a week and break out the guitars and drums (bongo, and local drums) and play tunes until one of us passed out from drinking wine or ales. Debi and Jonix would sing and Iain and I would jam together late into the night. On one occasion, we got asked to play at “Christmas in July” at the Lae International Hotel for around 200 people. It was a fancy affair with everyone in black tie and gowns and it was a fund raiser for something. We had two set lists of songs that included The Doors, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits and other tunes mixed with some of our originals. About three hours before the gig we were asked to open with some Christmas carols and madly began looking up the cords for “Come all ye Faithful” and the like. At some point we considered doing a Metallica version of “Little Drummer Boy”, thus was the absurdity of folk like us doing Christmas carols. Anyway, we knocked a couple out begrudgingly. In between sets they held the “raffle fundraiser”. This raffle has become infamous in our memory as it dragged on for at least two hours with about ten thousand prizes - I kid you not, one of the prizes was a box of cornflakes. During the downtime between sets Jonix hooked into the wine and the second set became interesting to say the least. “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell turned into “Big Yellow Bus Lost a Wheel and Fell Down A Cliff”.

Jonix and I performing Blue Valentine Circa 2002 (Lae, PNG) - before the raffle!

One of the joys of an expat life in Papua New Guinea at the time was that we had surplus dollars. During this time we had bought a video camera (not like todays video cameras, a tape jobby) and recorded heaps of footage of those daze. One of said recordings was the performance described above. Much cringing and much more laughter at reliving those moments with someone who was there was had during Iain’s stay.

On one of the days, we took a stroll through the nature trails on the property. Wandering down the “mowed to perfection” trails we entered the “Murphy’s Gully” trail that drops into a mini valley of towering gum tree’s, rare tree ferns and lush forest - it is a waterway for Grant’s Lagoon so life here is in abundance. Following it to the end we get to Garden’s Road and “cross this piece of tar” we can, either on the dirt road or a track we found, walk through to Grant’s Lagoon - a beautiful body of water that is seventeen feet deep in some areas and a natural oasis of life - perfect for fishing or kayaking. Unfortunately the recent Armageddon storm, and I am sure storms before that one, has eroded the trail into a waterway rather than a walking path. My new mission is to restore this trail into a enjoyable, smooth walking (or bike riding) road of amazingness for all to enjoy (without bending and twisting around trees growing on the trail or negotiating eroded valleys created by rushing water). Watch this space for the end result over the months ahead.

Work to be done here

Thank you for reading my ramblings again – keep safe and see you next week.

The Captain.