Tropical Day

Sunday 12th July 2015
A much sunnier day today so we took a bus, then a small ferry to Hideaway Island.

Hideaway Island is the small island in the bay

The beach is covered with coral and much easier to get in with reef shoes (or for Duncan his trusty crocs) rather than flippers. The beach goes down very steeply so you need only go a step or two into the water before flopping in and the fish were right there - just going about their day to day life as we snorkelled above. Big fish, little fish, black, white, lime and pink, blue and yellow, and just plain grey. 

Coming into Hideaway

We had a break on the beach, but the sun was very burny, so we moved under the palms. Then we had another snorkel. My highlight was a bright blue starfish, about the size of a dinnerplate.

We had lunch at the kiosk, then got the ferry and bus back to Nasama for a nap before going to Cafe du Village right on the waterfront in Port Vila. It was very peaceful and serene with Venus and Jupiter clearly visible. Small boats plied across the harbour with no lights on, just the put-put of their motors - a great setting for a murder mystery!

Monday 13th July 2015

Our last day - warm and cloudy. The flight to the volcano never eventuated, so we think we will just relax at the resort today.  But I persuade Duncan a walk over the rock pools at low tide would be interesting as we have seen the locals out foraging every low tide.

 There were lots of huge black slugs. Suely the people weren't going to eat them?

 More slugs and to the left an octopus  scuttles away.

 Long multipede worms rhythmically move through the rock pools

A very small version of the bright blue starfish I saw out on hideaway

 One of the slugs tries to disguise itself by having sand stick all over it.

We could bear it no longer so I send Duncan scampering across the reef to see what the locals were collecting. It appeared to be some very small welklike shell with something inside. Looks like you would need heaps to make a meal out of them.

Looking back at the resort from the reef - you can see the area in front where you were able to see a few things when snorkeling.

Back to the unit for lunch and a beer.  This was Nambawan beer. You need to say that out loud so that you can see how Pidgeon english works.

Reading and catching up on the world via the cell phone were all part of the days we spent over here. We went to the resort restaurant tonight. They were extremely busy, but we still had a nice meal.

And finally we had to pack. Our pick-up was at 10am next morning, and we had a good, but cramped flight back. With extensive fast forwarding I was able to watch the end of Gone Girl. Not a very satisfactory ending though!

Vanuatu - a great place to spend a week! Not quite as sunny as we hoped and a little more expensive than we'd planned but an excellent mid-winter break.

Morning - do, afternoon - sleep, night - eat

Friday 10th July 2015
Weather is cloudy and windy, but after breakfast we set off to the museum which tells the story of the New Hebrides - obviously a long established culture - before independence from the condominium of British/French rule to become Vanuatu in 1980.

 Colourful totem poles and below the ceremonial head-dress used during circumcision.

The pottery was very fine, and many of the designs like roman or greek designs. Jean Clayton (who we met up with on Saturday) said that her brother studied this for his PhD and she helped him sort out these bits.

 We watched a video on the Pentecost Island Land diving. I nearly left my coat there - fortunately realised in time! We walked downtown  where the pitted narrow footpaths are clotted with tourists from the Cruise ship. Again the lack of town planning has let Port Vila down. The shops and markets and markets run down to the dirty unkempt foreshore. Not much fruit here (because of the cylcone) - the large green things are oranges with hugely thick skins - I also saw them for sale peeled.

We return via the supermarket, and have lunch at the unit. The weather is still windy and showery so we read our books  and had a nap before heading off late afternoon with Roger, Judy, Kerry and John from Taranaki to see the Fire dancing at the beach bar. We cannot get a table so we are placed in the deck chairs and have our woodfired pizzas and watch the children play in the light show. The fire show is very spectacular, but it just starts to rain at the end.

Saturday 11th July

Another cloudy start today. Duncan went for a run after breakfast and then went to a neighbouring resort Breakas to arrange dinner with Jean and Peter Clayton. Jean is a maths teacher at GGHS and Peter is a golfer. Unfortunately they weren't there when he called, and the Art Gallery I walked to was not open. We went into town to the handcraft markets where I picked up a few souvenirs. We bought a french stick  at the store  and returned to the unit for lunch, bookreading and a nap. Duncan braved a very brisk swim and we headed down to Breakas  to meet Jean and Peter. We had a fabulous meal there with entertainment from the Banks Islanders. Unfortunately it was not well lit and the Banks Islanders were dusky dark. There seems to be quite a lot of difference between the tribal groups. Many Vanuatuans are short and stocky, but there are also thin, lithe people who are a little taller.

They all had green "feathers" behind

Jean gets the challenge!

Day 3 Thursday 9th July 2015 - Round Island Tour

Bear with me on this one, as this is a bit like a Pearl Penny Travelogue and slides.

Up early this morning for the Round Island Tour. Our neighbours had warned us that they waited outside the office to get their tour and had been picked up by an unscrupulous bus driver so no commentary, no free lunch etc just a drive around the island. (After our experience with a bus driver we were very wary) What a shame, as our tour guide Glen and driver Noah were excellent. We were joined by an Australian family of Paul and Bonnie with teenagers Breanna, Tuela and Liam. We passed the main Tribal meeting house woven in colours of red, green and yellow - same as their flag. This large traditional structure had been badly damaged in the cyclone and would take quite some effort to repair.

Then passed the Parliament which has frequently changing Prime Ministers. With 83 inhabited islands and 120 languages they all use a sort of Pigeon English now. Vanuatu is part of the Commonwealth and will host CHOGM in 2017 - they hope to get the roads fixed by then!!

They are also building a new sports stadium for part of the South Pacific Games

We drove on passed the University of the South Pacific. Vanuatu has the faculties of Law and Sports (Fiji has medicine, PNG has engineering etc).
The countryside is made up of area of flat land which rises steeply into Volcanic highlands which are virtually uninhabited. The appalling roads make way for the Round Island road built by Downer (NZ firm with funding from The Millenium Challenge and the New Zealand government) They also had to replace many bridges so while this looks like a bit of a wreck it is just a very out of date structure.

Our first stop is the Blue Lagoon and we pop in for a dip. Not much snorkelling joy as it is part freshwater, part salt, but it is very refreshing. Fresh fruit and kumara and taro chips are provided for morning tea.

Back on the bus then a stop to walk through the aerial roots of the Banyan Tree.

 Glen and Breanna come out of the root "Maze"

 We had a stop at a school at Epao where the children sang so lustily some of them had to block there ears.

 A lot of the resources of the school were damaged in the cyclone, but I think by the time all the cyclone aid has been distributed they may be in a better situation than before. Lets hope so.

Naturally we were invited to give them a donation - which we did.

Back down to the sea shore with its heaps of broken coral - they used this as a substrate to the road around the island.

We waited there for our visit to Taka custom village. This man put down the challenge...

and then we were rushed by a group of tribal warriors.....

and finally the chief can along with his cycad branches of peace and we were escorted into the village.

Round their feet they had seed pods which acted like a rattle. It emphasised their foot movements which would otherwise be lost on the sand

This little guy stole the show. He was SO earnest! probably only 3yrs, he knew all the moves and at any stage he wasn't sure he watched the men and launched into the next sequence.

The dances were short and not boring at all

Duncan and the others had a peaceful group shot....

Obviously they fancied me and I was taken hostage!!

Now the lunch was a typical meal and since much of the fruit had been wiped out by the cyclone so root vegetables were the main staple. The tapioca and coconut cream was my least favourite!

This incredible coloured lizard was on display.

Here is Duncan at the lunch - looking very like his father.

Next it was onto the hot springs and volcanic mud.

Interestingly Duncan had an irritated foot through running with sand in his sock. After this treatment the rash had gone.

Tuela had bad acne and the lady persuaded her to have it as a mud pack on her face. (applying in photo below) By the end of the end both Duncan and I noticed how greatly her complexion had improved.

Close up of Tuela's face mask

Round round the top of the island. Here are some shots of the countryside. The Americans had a field hospital up here during the second world war, but the order was to destroy all buildings and they dumped tanks and trucks and empty drums etc into the sea. They are NOT fondly remembered.

Many of the traditional fale look damaged after the cyclone, but the motivation - or perhaps the skills to repair them seemed to be missing. I kept saying - all they need is proper roofing lessons and a town planner and the island would not suffer such damage.

They are very proud of their organic beef - you can just see a bit in the shot below. It almost seems incongruous in the tropical landscape. We had mixed experiences with it on the dinner plate.

The last next two photos show the huge devastation caused by "Mile -a- minute" weed introduced by the Americans as a camouflage  for their activities during the war. In a tropical setting it just went wild and the only way to reduce it is by fire.

We stopped at a snorkelling point but Duncan said it wasn't all that good, so I sat in the rotunda and enjoyed a cup of tea. On to the last point where they process coffee grown on Tanna Island (where the volcano is)

Beans before roasting

The finished product

And finally, just before 5 o'clock we made it back to our accommodation. A quick freshen up and we went to the Stone grill Cafe to sample some of that Organic beef - a very good experience this time.