The The River is my Highway: A New Zealand Forest Ranger in the Jungles of Borneo
by Ross Lockyer
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The River is my Highway A New Zealand Forest Ranger in the Jungles of Borneo Living and working in the remote Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Ross Lockyer had never heard about Indonesia. Yet in 1973, he was offered a forestry supervisor's job based in Samarinda, Indonesian Borneo, and fell in love with the place on his first day. Ross worked on the rivers and in the remote jungles of Indonesian Borneo for the next five years, quickly learning local languages, immersing himself in the Indonesian way of life, and learning the ways of the mighty Mahakam River and the Makassar Straits on which he spent most of each working day. Compared to pre-independence PNG, living in isolated Samarinda seemed like the height of luxury to Ross, although coming from sparsely populated PNG, Ross's first experience of Samarinda was a true assault on the senses with its crowds of people, dozens of mosques, crazy drivers, and myriad overpowering smells. Yet overlooking the city was the new and illustrious Lamin Indah Hotel, which boasted a classy bar and restaurant and attractive and sophisticated female staff from Java, in particular the beautiful Lestari-surely a Java Princess! The third book in the adventurous series about Ross's life, The River is my Highway brings to life a whole new series of exploits, including provoking and then assuaging a local war, single-handedly destroying village ablution facilities with a speed-boat and facing a barrage of nasty consequences, hunting local wild-life in the most committed way imaginable, loading log-ships at sea, smuggling hi-fi gear, searching for log pirates, and fronting up to the Dayak Queen. Between escapades, Ross somehow finds time to get married and start a family. This book includes some 75 photographs from Ross's vast collection which richly illustrate his writing. Get ready for more colourful, laugh-aloud yarns from the master story-teller who brought you An Accidental Bushman and Cannibals, Crocodiles and Cassowaries. Once you start reading, you won't want to put this book down!
Author: Ross Lockyer
ISBN: 9780473588984
Publisher: Ross Lockyer
Published: 20211126
Format: Paperback / softback
About the Author
Ross Lockyer, now in his late 70s, is retired and living with his wife Lestari near Kerikeri, Bay of Islands, in the far north of New Zealand. Friends have been telling him for over 30 years that he should write a book about his life and adventures in the forestry industry and the jungles of Asia and the Pacific. In 2013 he put pen to paper and started writing - "the book". Eight years later that one book has transmogrified into five books. The first two books "An Accidental Bushman" and "Cannibals, Crocodiles and Cassowaries" have been edited and published and have sold some hundreds of copies. The third book "The River is my Highway" was published in November 2021 and is now available for purchase. Books four and five are scheduled to be edited and published over the next eighteen months or so. Ross spent much of his life living and working in the forestry and logging industry in remote locations in Asia and the Pacific (Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya/Indonesian West Papua, Borneo, Sumatra, Burma, Thailand, Philippines, Kiribati and others). With a gung-ho approach to life (and his own safety), Ross threw himself into his work and immersed himself in the local cultures and communities wherever he went, learning the languages and customs that helped him fit in and do his job. He had many hair-raising adventures and close scrapes, and he encountered many amazing people wherever he went.