Postcards from Vanuatu

Packup had been achieved without much fuss the night before, and we were pretty much on time with departure. The promised two vehicles had become one, so once again some of us were required to ride bronco. Pete, Li, and Jade were the lucky patrons. After farewell to the family, we headed off. Not long down the track we were waiting for someone who never materialised. This included a bit of backtracking (in reverse... Seems Nivans are good reversers. We became slightly anxious but Denna reassured us that we would be "stret". In fact the journey seemed shorter than on arrival. Apart from a bit of a wait on the grass, all went smoothly and we were in the air.. Again on the faithful Emily Bess. At Vila we unsuccessfully tried to store our luggage, so we lugged it onto a bus and headed for town. Le Cafe du Village was again our target, and the meals were still good. We had arranged for our driver to return, and this he did, just as we were starting to worry that he wouldn'

Mike had his car booked for a service today, so our schedule had to work around his appointment. The plan was simple... Visit and bathe in some Hot Springs, then visit a beach in Resolution Bay that's got good snorkelling. It actually didn't work out quite that way but near enough. After a bit of a journey we skirted the bay and headed to the surf coast for a look. This was windswept, with breakers and not unlike many of our east coast beaches. The onshore wind was strong enough that you had to raise your voice to be heard. We left no donation (apparently one greedy family benefits only) and headed back to the local Yacht Club from which we descended to a sheltered beach. Looking out there were several moored yachts. This is where Captain Cook visited, and where some of his crew scalded their hands picking up rocks from the beach. We weren't quite ready for a swim and decided to walk the bay.. Setting off at a lovely gentle pace. Passing several groups of children we tr

Today we based our activities on acquainting ourselves with our vocal friend, Mt Yasur. In the morning we sat on chairs and watched Yasur. This volcano is absolutely enchanting. Watching it is better than watching television (maybe Channel 9 at least). Billowing smoke, tantalising silences punctuated by rumbles or booms. I know I've mentioned it before but really words are inadequate to describe what it's like being this close to the unleashed power of inner earth. We were pretty keen to visit the ash plain, despite knowing that it could easily be unpleasant if it was really sunny or windy. Full of a great breakfast (really moist bread that we tried to but failed to resist) we lolled along the track, crossing the river, and making our way through forest until we emerged on the plain, overlooked by Yasur. Pumice and other volcanic rocks scattered along the way reminded us that we weren't 100% guaranteed safety. But the volcano looked benign from below, and we enjoyed the p

Dianne had organised a minibus and we actually managed to wolf down a little amount of breakfast before we departed. May I mention Vanuatu's food here. Don't expect anything "flash". I can pretty much guarantee that unless you are at an upmarket resort, and even if you are, your breakfast is almost guaranteed to be cereal, fruit salad, toast, a few basic spreads, and coffee. If you are really upmarket, you might get yoghurt. Anyway, we ingested feasted and ousted. Checking in at Luganville airport was quick and efficient. We paid our departure tax (valid all the way to Tanna, despite the 4 hour transit in Port Vila). Feasting again on peanuts and Twisties, these purchases entitled us to a seat, so we waited. Vanuatu time is a little more relaxed than Melbourne time. Add an hour to any given deadline and you should be OK. Luganville airport had a chalkboard departure screen, so we didn't expect minute by minute updates. The takeoff was good. I don't like

Turtle Bay Lodge Breakfast was simple and enjoyable- cereal fruit and toast. We finally planned to do some kayaking (after days of anticipation and quite a bit of research by Li) The lodge hires out kayaks to its guests, and we decided that the convenience of having kayaks for the day, no time pressure, and no vehicle issues made it a no brainer to hire them from here. 3 lifejackets should be plenty for 9 people! That's all they had. One had no straps, so I retrieved two belts from the rooms. The kayak rudders were all disabled due to multiple damaging incidents. Janice wasn't really sure of her capabilities, being a novice to the fine art of circling aimlessly in kayaks, which is what Mary and I tended to do. A bad workman blames his tools, but a bad kayaker has only themselves to blame. I insisted that our kayak pulled to the right, despite there being no rudder, and really no physical law to possibly explain the behaviour of our craft. Janice had chosen the single kaya

Bettine has gastro today. She suspects the hole in the wall food. Not good.. Bettine is such a trooper.. she went to the hospital to do some work and felt like fainting. Fortunately she isn't moving from M and A's for a couple of days so hopefully the illness is short lived. I had a big sleep in which was wonderful, then it was into town to do some shopping for Tanna, and to inactivate as many ATMs along the Main Street as we could. This was not our intention... it just happened. Much as we tried, all attempts to withdraw cash were met by "INVALID TRANSACTION" and eventually by "SYSTEM BUSY" accompanied by machine inoperability. I felt sorry for the people in the queue behind us. Another machine had different error alerts, but the conclusion was the same.. "Operation not possible". Eventually we were directed by a helpful Nivan into the bank where a teller helped me to get money using the EFTPOS in the ban, but only after he had borrowed my passp