First day in Luganville

After sleeping like a log, we had a really relaxed breakfast. Pete, Jeff and Michael were disembowelling a microwave oven in an attempt to resuscitate it. The diagnosis was hopeful: a blown fuse, so there was an increased need to head for the big smoke. Luganville is a town that reminds me of an Australian seaside town in the 1960s.

Morning view

Strip shopping with each shop like a 1960s shed or a basic upgrade- if they were Aussie dwellings you imagine they would be made of asbestos. Very few signs are professionally made. They are mainly handwritten. The names of the shops often don't indicate what's inside. Luganville Shop for instance gives no clues. Even once you are inside it's a difficult job to identify the genre - hardware store? $2 shop? Clothing store? Appliance store. It's sort of the Vanuatuan equivalent of a low level Walmart.

People here are very friendly. Generally their smiles and laughter seem genuine, but sometimes I couldn't help thinking that in some ways they could be laughing at us with our Western attachment to cash and posessions. We are conspicuous here.. you get the feeling that although tourism is a big thing here, tourists still generate curiosity and probably are also a source of entertainment.

 I mentioned,  Vanuatu has very little cash economy, with barter being the main economy. As a result there is no taxation system. It's attractive to expats, but the downside is if you have medical needs.. it's pretty basic here so you might have to fly home. Amanda and Michael see many expats with medical problems. Their choice is Medical Santo or the local hospital, where service depends on availability of staff, which varies.

The market was fascinating... so many plant foods that I didn't recognise. Michael Roberts was our guide, pointing out plantain bananas, kava, soursop, taro and many other exotic delights.



The Luganville market goes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. People sleep under the tables, which are under a covered marketplace area with a thatched roof.

Transport here is also out ofthe unsafe 60s era.. no bicycle helmets, no compulsory seatbelts and you can stack as many people in the back of a utility vehicle as you like... which we did.

After the market we had a delicious lunch back at the house. But before that we had an entertaining time trying to complete the repairs of the microwave. We completed these definitively. Upgrading the fuse to handle more current wasn't the brightest idea and culminated in an electrical fire deep in the innids. Bye bye microwave.. their fourth microwave casualty here.. must be quite a few surges we reckon.

After lunch it was off Pala Kula beach for a swim. Despite being a local beach it was absolutely beautiful.  We swam in  shimmering sheltered waters at an ideal temperature, with a backdrop of a rusting Malaysian shipwreck.

Michael and I walked further down the peninsula, doing our best David Attenborough impressions in a crab forest. Here's a shot.

Yep, it was eating a leaf. Delicious.

The windward beach on the peninsula wasn't nearly as inviting with a fresh onshore breeze. We didn't linger, returning to the others who had been snorkelling.

A quick turnaround back at the house and we were off again.. for cocktails at Deco Stop. Fantastic.. Mud sliders, Pina Coladas, Millenium Caves, and Deco Sunsets. All quite happy we enjoyed our meals and followed with .... cocktails.