Shortlisted for the WH Smith Travel Book of the Year Award 2003

"Solomon Time - how it was to dominate future events I then had no idea. It is liquid, a fluid that cannot be contained, that has no master, that sloshes backwards and forwards and even from side to side. It has no symmetry or order. Solomon Time plays nobody's rules.

"My neighbour's godfather had run a plantation in The Solomon Islands for thirty years. He had come back home to England to die and when he did it was discovered that he had left some money for the welfare of his former workers. Someone needed to go and find a useful purpose for the fund. 'Why don't you go, Will? Just the thing - you're looking for a change. ' Err, yes, no, not sure. I went.

"My life in this wonderful place is recorded in my first book 'Solomon Time - Adventures in the South Pacific', in which I discover, amongst other things, how to survive a shipwreck, avoid malaria and run a fast food restaurant."

The Solomon Islands archipelago is scattered in the southwestern Pacific, east of Papua New Guinea. The 992-island group is the embodiment of childhood dreams; desert islands, coconut palms overhanging waters of every shade of green and turquoise, secluded bays, little rivers and great cliffs that fall like the walls of ancient fortresses sheer into the sea. Many of us dream of getting away from it all and living on a desert island, popular programmes such as 'Survivor', 'Shipwrecked', and 'Castaway' fuel our fascination, but as Will Randall found out all too quickly, the reality of living on an island, is far removed from the fantasy.

His mission was to set up a basic business which might produce sufficient income for the villagers. Despite the efforts of international developers, rodents, insects, the sea, the sun and the strange effects of Solomon Time, together they succeeded. A band of unruly chickens, a cast of extraordinary characters, and a bird called the Spangled Drongo, accompany Will Randall through some of the most fascinating and certainly funniest scenes to be found in travel writing since Gerald Durrell.

Echoing the experiences of Robert Louis Stevenson - who spent several years in the South Pacific - here is the story of a contemporary writer who lived in and came to love the Solomon Islands. It is dedicated to anybody who thinks it might be time for a change.

Copyright Will Randall 2006. All rights reserved. Site designed by Etype Media Ltd