MEDICS IN PNG - Royal New Zealand Navy

BOOK REVIEWS
FLEET PROGRESS
INTERNATIONAL
HMNZS RESOLUTION
BY AET STEVIE WINIKEREI
ASHORE IN SAMOA
RESOLUTION ARRIVED in Samoa on Sunday
29 July after a week of very difficult sea
conditions. The main purpose of our visit
was to embark His Excellency the Governor
General of New Zealand, as well as his
entourage (nine people) to take them on a
tour of the Tokelau Islands.
This meant that we had the opportunity to
send some of our ship’s company ashore for
the week to do some aid work in Samoa –
which also freed some bunks for our visitors.
The shore party consisted of 11 personnel
with a wide variety of skills who would
spend a week with the Samoan Red Cross
helping out with various tasks. Members of
the shore party were, LTCDR Bill Spencer
RNZN, LT Warren Dohnt RNZN, CPOWT
Wayne Matheson, LHST Dan Bramley,
AMT ‘Polky’ Polkinghorne, ASCS Waimana
Anderson, AHSO Josh Hunt, OHSO Brad
Holland, OHSO Karla Clarke, OHSO Zara
Powell and myself. Our accommodation for
the week was in a hotel located not too far
from the Red Cross and also fairly close to
central Apia.
While our bosses went to the Red Cross
HQ to plan the day ahead, the rest of us
went to the markets. The Apia markets
were full of customary Samoan weapons,
beautiful shell jewellery, and pretty much
every Samoan souvenir we could imagine.
We spent the morning buying gifts for their
families and friends. The NZ dollar is nearly
double the Samoan Tala, so everything was
LEFT TO RIGHT: LT Warren Dhont & LHST
Dan Bramley help out with the umu; AET
Stevie Winikerei & ASCS Waimana Anderson
pose with machetes; The volleyball game.
relatively cheap; we all came away extremely
satisfied. Then it was time to head to the Red
Cross to meet the volunteers we would be
working alongside.
We were greeted with a traditional Samoan
welcoming ceremony - many traditional
songs and dances and of course the
Ava ceremony (Kava in Fiji). The event was
enjoyed by all and it was interesting to see
how similar the Samoan culture is to Maori.
The Samoans were very friendly and made
all of us feel very welcome.
Tuesday, our first full day of work - we
had been set two tasks. One group was at
the HQ while another travelled across the
island carrying out inventory checks on the
emergency supplies at the Red Cross outposts.
The group which stayed helped the
volunteers to dig new gardens and also lay
foundations for the new water tank that was
to be put in that week.
The other group spent most the day travelling
and saw a lot of the sights Samoa had to
offer, and also had the opportunity to stop at
the picturesque Lalo Manu beach for a quick
spot of snorkelling on the tropical reef. With
our roles swapped on Wednesday, CPOWT
Matheson, AMT Polkinghorne, AHSO Hunt,
and myself got to work at the headquarters
installing new lights and fixing some of their
plumbing problems.
All the Red Cross volunteers were very
eager to lend a hand in any way they could.
We were working in conditions quite differ-
RESOLUTION’s Shore party with the volunteers of the Samoan Red Cross
ent to NZ’s winter with the temperature at an
average of 30ºC and it definitely took a while
to get used to. A lot was achieved and we
were all ecstatic when the Climate Change
Officer of the Red Cross commended our
work and said “you guys have done a lot
more than the Australian Navy group...’ That
evening we were all invited to the NZ High
Commission compound for a BBQ. There are
five NZ staff and their families who all live
at the compound.
Samoa is made up of two main islands,
Upolu, where the capital, Apia, is, and Savaii
which is bigger but less populated. On Thursday
our work for the day entailed travelling
around the island of Savaii carrying out an
inventory of the Red Cross emergency supply
outposts. It took a long ferry trip to get to
the island. Once we arrived at the outpost it
was into a good-old Navy huck-out, clearing
weeds which had surrounded the building
and cleaning it out. Much to the satisfaction
of many of the members, we were given
two machetes to aid us in clearing out the
PIHA SURF
TRAINING
BY OHSO ANDREW GALLAGHER
Before heading to the warmth of the tropical
Pacific, a few of RESOLUTION’s company
travelled to Piha beach for two days of surf
life saving training. We stayed at the South
Piha Surf Club which was excellent. Senior
members from Surf Life Saving HQ in Wellington
flew up to instruct us and provided a
tailor-made training plan.
Surf Life Saving began nearly 100 years
ago and since that time has prevented over
830,000 people from drowning. Through a
team of dedicated lifeguards and a comprehensive
education program, Surf Life
Saving is there to prevent the worst happening
around NZ beaches. There are 75 clubs
manned by 4000 active volunteer lifeguards
as well as a large number of permanent
staff who patrol our beaches and coastlines
throughout the summer months.
scrub, which were put to very good use. We very talented Red Cross team. After a hardfought
game the Red Cross team took it out
stopped for lunch and a swim before catching
the ferry back to Upolu.
by only a couple of points. Special mention
Our last day in Samoa was comparatively to LT Dohnt and AMT Polkinghorne whose
relaxed. We were to act as casualties in a exceptional skills kept us in the game!
terrorist bomb exercise to test the skills of After the feast the Red Cross cultural
the Samoan Red Cross, in preparation for the group performed an item for us which they
upcoming South Pacific Games being held had been preparing for the upcoming South
in Samoa. Some people wore fake wounds Pacific Games. We then said our final goodbyes
and invited everyone for a tour of the
and the others acted as concerned friends to
obstruct the work of the volunteers. It was a ship when it returned. Our whole group
big event with the local fire brigade attending enjoyed our time in Samoa and were glad
and also police closing down roads. There that we could be of assistance to the local
was a lot of newsmedia attention and later Red Cross.
we all saw our faces on the Samoan news Too soon were we welcoming RESOLUchannel
that evening! This event proved that TION back to Apia and taking over the duties
the volunteers were very competent at first so our oppos could also enjoy some of the
aid, and able to deal with a crisis situation local culture in Apia. Overall it was a brilliant
if one arose. After the exercise we relaxed experience and I am glad I got the opportunity
to help out.
with our new friends and eagerly awaited
our dinner for the night, an umu (a traditional After re-embarking the naval party from
Samoan feast similar to a hangi only cooked Apia, RESOLUTION sailed for Raoul Island,
above ground). We also rallied the courage to uplift 17 Department of Conservation personnel
and bring them back to NZ.
to put up a Navy volleyball team against the
RESOLUTION’s surf crew receiving instruction on the Inflatable
Our training was divided into:
the shallows, swimming out to the victim, clipping
our tube around them then towing them
• tube rescues, and
• IRB (inflatable rescue boat) work.
back in to shore - it was like seeing David
The training included learning how to read the Hasselhoff in Baywatch all over again!
beach and surf to identify rips and other hazards. From the training we gained skills and
This involved deliberately swimming into a rip to knowledge to help keep others safer when
experience what it feels like (don’t try that yourself!)
and then practising the techniques we had it was a great team building experience. We
we work along the beaches. For everyone
learned in the classroom to escape it (the Navigator
had to be rescued!) Tube rescues involved the course, they ensured it was a successful
would like to thank the instructors who took
running down the beach with our tubes through couple of days.
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