PHOTOS ARE IN THE PROCESS OF BEING ADDED

This blog isn't fully replete with photos yet, so it's not really postcards until I've utilised Australian internet speeds to do so.. it wasn't possible from Vanuatu.

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The Friday without a plan.

This was a sleep in morning, so I didn't. At 6:30 I was wide awake and up. This is quite unusual, but it was nice to sit with the throng at breakfast. As usual with this group, the communal energy transforms into a plan. The plan was... Check out Turtle Beach Lodge! Full of newfound purpose we were off in the vehicle. I know I have described this before, but it's worthy just noting that travelling at anything above about 20km per hour on a main road with all the hazards, vehicular, pedestrian, animal, and even the odd overhanging branch, is not without its anxieties. At 80km/h it's exhilarating but you know that in an accident you are basically dead. There's just no way you could protect yourself, hold on, or plan to minimise injury. Even sitting in the tray (which you end up doing sometimes) you are quite vulnerable. Such is life. The east coast road is now a familiar one, and soon we were beyond Sapi, on rural roads, waving to virtually every pedestrian, especially ...
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Monday- Transfer to Turtle Bay Lodge.

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First day in Luganville

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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 t...
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