Sat 14th Aug
We had a pretty rough take off due to the bad weather in Adelaide, but the rest of the flights were pretty good. It was warm and humid, just perfect after a freezing cold few weeks. It was a pity that I brought a barking cough with me. The mini bus we caught was a very worn out red bus, but it got us to our hotel in one piece more or less.
The room at City Lodge Hotel was pretty basic but that went with the budget price. After dumping our bags, we bolted to the nearest café to have our first coffee in seven weeks due to our diet. It was great, and so was the view. After the coffee, we decided it was too late for lunch so we went for a long walk. By the time we came back, it was tea time, and we were exhausted because we had been up for about 16 hrs straight. We had to turn the water to the loo off that night, because it leaked and we had musical pipes in the room.
Sun 15th Aug
At 5.45 am, we were ready to get up as it would be about 7.30 at home. We had breakfast of muslie and coffee at Nambawan Café again and then packed our things for the flight to Santo. We caught a mini bus to the airport and checked in. It was a pleasant surprise to see that the plane was a little bigger than I had expected.
The flight was a breeze, and we seemed to be there soon after we took off. We caught a taxi to Beachfront resort and it was every bit as nice as I thought it would be. The place was a fair hike out of the main drag, so we went for a walk down the street to kill some time before tea time. The fruit and veg market was still open which was surprising for a Sunday as nothing else seemed to be open. We bought a bottle of water and decided that it was too far to walk back, so we caught a mini bus back and had an early tea of fabulous Vanuatu steak.
Mon 16th Aug
After an early night and a noisy bunch of cackling older people sitting outside our window, we finally slept quite well in between bouts of my coughing. We had breakfast and walked down to the main street again only to find out that it was a public holiday, so nothing was open again, including the tourist information office which we wanted to see.We did find one of the dive offices open and booked a dive for Phil, as well as a free snorkelling trip for me which was also next to the ship that Phil was diving on.
We looked for somewhere to have lunch, but as everything was still shut, we went to the market and had a great lunch of cooked snapper, rice and veggies for only 400Vt (about $4.70) for a huge plate full. After such a big lunch, we decided to walk back and then take a swim at the beach which was refreshing and warm enough to stay in for a long time.
At tea time we met a couple from Canada in the French province of Quebec (Carmen and Robert), who have been sailing around the world in a mono-hull for four years! They taught us a bit about the protocol of what you need to do every time you enter a new country. You must fly a yellow quarantine flag until you have been passed and then you fly the flag of the country you are visiting. There are several boats parked out the front of this resort, some of them large catamarans mostly from France at the moment.
17th Aug
After breakfast, we were picked up at 8.00am by the Alan Powel Dive Centre and taken to the sunken ship, the Coolidge. The water was a little too choppy for my liking so I only snorkelled for a short while, otherwise I would have been sea-sick (a bit lame, I know) Phil had a great time and the guys with him took photos of him. The highlights were seeing a large moray eel, and wearing an old war helmet.
There was a bit of time between the next dive so we have lunch. We found a fancy place next door and finally had a real coffee again and a wonderful tuna salad. When we were walking back we found the driver already there, to pick Phil up. It’s not like Fiji time where everything runs late; they seem to be early here most of the time.
Phil enjoyed the second dive even more than the first. The dive master with Phil knew where to take him to the best spots for great photos. In the afternoon, we opted to stay in and have an early tea so we could plan the next day.
18th Aug
We packed our bags, and left them in the room and walked down the street again to buy more water and soap. We had to visit the fire station of course, which was quite a hike. It is amazing to see how basic the station was with almost everything in a state of disrepair.
Oyster Island Resort was absolutely stunning. It looked like we arrived on a tropical island from a movie set. We spent the afternoon taking loads of photos and snorkelling on the other side of the island. The food was also excellent and the views were awesome. Our little fare was gorgeous and it had its own bathroom on the side, which was once open air but now enclosed.
19th Aug
After a great breakfast of fruit and real coffee, we hired a canoe and paddled to the blue hole. The river wound its way around for 2 km and finished at the blue hole. The stunning water was bluer than the Blue Lake. The hole was full of fresh water fish, and there was a swinging rope over the water. It was cooler than the sea water, but not as cold as I had expected. It would have been a great place to have a picnic, but we were hungry and still had to paddle for about an hour to get back to the resort.
Unfortunately Phil was developing an earache again, so we took it easy for the afternoon, and besides the workout on my arms was enough to warrant a nanna nap. After the nap, we walked part way around the island and then it was dinner time again. Time flys when you’re having fun.
After another fabulous meal, we had another early night.
20th Aug
After another great breakfast of tropical fruit and coffee, we spoke to the woman from reception and organised the transport to the next resort by boat as it was only 15 mins away. Turtle Bay Resort was not as boutique style as Oyster Island, rather more casual but just as nice. The menu was fantastic with lots to choose from and the meals were delicious. The bungalow was large with its own verandah looking out to sea.
We went for a walk around the resort and found the block of land for sale that would be great to buy. Only $160,000 for a stunning view and about ½ acre of waterfront – oh well keep dreaming! Around the corner was a place that was built by an Aussie out of shipping containers and it looked really good. It had its own jetty and fully fenced tropical garden, verandah and tiled patio.
After a great meal of beautifully presented fish and a Banrock Station Chardy, we went to bed early and it is amazing that you don’t need air-conditioning and not even ceiling fans as the temperature here is just perfect. It is very easy to sit and do nothing as the views are great.
21st Aug
Another relaxing day and a bit of a sunbake and it was dinner time again – I could really get used to this type of lifestyle! We spoke to Nikki on Skype. The internet was just fast enough to cope. It was strange to see Nikki sitting at home with the fire on and we were sitting here in the tropical warmth.
22nd Aug
Time to get off our butts and do something. We walked across to the next island as you can, when the tide is low, and walked through the dense jungle of tropical trees to get to the other side of the island to the beautiful sandy bank, There is a house there and rumour is that a New Zealander is building another resort there. The dogs (Lolita and Nuca) came with us and splashed around everywhere. Their backyard is massive – these dogs have a great life!
On the way back we went snorkelling. The coral was lovely, but the water was a bit rough and made me feel a bit nauseous so I had to get out after a short while. We had another lazy day, since Sunday is the day of rest and replanned the rest of our trip. We decided to shorten our stay on Santo because we still had so much to see in Efate, so we moved the flight forward to Thursday instead of Sunday.
We organised our ride to Lonnoc Beach in the morning and had to wait for a van to come through at around 3.00pm which was fine by us. The driver arrived just after 3pm and we drove through very beautiful country side. When we arrived, we were stunned. It was like a postcard, and the cute bungalow even had a power point in it which works for a few hours a day – if you’re lucky.
The bed was as we expected, thin foam over packing crates covered by a mossie net which had holes bigger than the actual mosquitoes, but that’s the price you pay for paradise. Breakfast was real coffee to our delight, pawpaw and toast with vegemite. The shower was cold water out of a leaking handheld hose – very refreshing!
We walked over to Champagne Beach, and what a treat that was. The sand is very white and very fine and the water a stunning crystal clear. There were buoys out in the water where the cruise liners come in and park and about 50 or so stalls which they set up when the boat comes in to sell their wares. Only one stall was occupied, probably for the mini-bus tours that come through every day. We had the beach to ourselves that day which was lovely.
We were going to have to get the early bus back to Luganville, which leaves at 6.30am, but Bob the mini-bus driver said he had to take other people back so he would take us for a reduced price after breakfast – our luck is still with us! We arrived at Hotel Santo at about 10am and booked in. We walked to the Santo hardware and spoke to the Aussie owner and asked him if we could send second-hand goods over in his shipping containers for the fire brigade, and he was more than happy to oblige. We then walked to the fire station again to find out sizes of the men who worked there.
It was warm so we went back to the hotel for a swim after lunch. The pool was unusually cold. Dinner that night was one of the worst meals I had had in Vanuatu. They put cheap tomato sauce on chicken caeser salad – Yuk! We should have eaten at the market instead. The rest of the place was nice though.
26th Aug
Our flight was at 11am so we had a few hours to wait, so we walked along the shoreline and waited for an internet café to open. The flight was ok and we were soon back in Vila. We caught the mini-bus to Villa Hibiscus and booked in to our room. It was very clean but unfortunately above a little shop which made it very noisy at night as every man and his dog came in to buy phone top ups every 2 seconds.
27th Aug
We had muslie and fruit for breakfast bought from the market from the day before. Phil was not feeling too good so we slowly walked to the Nambawan Café for our internet and coffee fix. We then caught the bus up to the car rental place and booked a car for the following day as they were all out of the cheaper rentals. By the time we got back, Phil had a fever and had to lie down. The night was no better and Phil’s temperature was very high.
28th Aug
We booked an extra night at Villa Hibiscus and were picked up by Budget to get our car. We ended up with a very new Hyundai. It was scary driving on the wrong side of the road and even scarier when we hit the curb. The tiny plastic car made a noise and we thought we had done some major damage. Fortunately, we only had a slashed front tyre, instead of ripping off the front fender as it had sounded like. After changing the tyre, we found that the two front tyres are smaller than the two rear ones, and the spare tyre was a larger rear spare. So we drove around with uneven tyres.
The Chinese war ship was in the harbour for an official visit and the public could go onboard to have look. We drove carefully around to where the ship was docked and boarded the ship. It was meticulous with the Asian sailors standing to attention everywhere to make sure nothing went wrong. My bag got checked with a detector before I could board. They were there to answer any questions you had.
I had lunch on the way back at The Rock café which was rapidly becoming our favourite place to eat. Phil still wasn’t hungry and we went back to the room for a lie down. I sat on the caged balcony and watched all the people in the street. There is always something to watch. After a sleep, Phil felt a bit better so we walked down to Moorings Hotel and had dinner on our very own private deck looking over the harbour.
Time to leave Villa Hibiscus and leave the rat race and noise. We drove to Blue Water Resort and were disappointed to see it was looking shabbier than before. It was a million dollar location with huge amounts of maintenance needing to be done. Our Bungalow was just as we remembered it and the staffing situation was not much different from the last time when the staff had walked out. There was no chef but we said we were not fussy, and there was no power so the fridge in the room was useless, and the ceiling fan didn’t work – never mind you come to expect that, and we certainly weren’t complaining about the surroundings – it was heaven!
The generator had broken down and we ended up not having any power at all so no ceiling fan even for a couple of hours which was not good when there was no air movement and Phil still felt warm and feverish. Gloria, the woman running the place cooked us spaghetti bolognaise which was ok, and we ate at the table outside by candlelight and mossies.
30th Aug
By the morning Phil’s sense of humour had run out and we decided to go back to town to get a cooler night’s sleep and book into a more expensive hotel. I also didn’t fancy spending the night sitting on a tiny balcony breathing in car fumes, looking through a rusty cage topped with barbed wire. I think my sense of humour had also run out.
We booked into The Melanesian which was very nice and had a pool right outside our room. I walked up to the supermarket and bought a bottle of Aussie Chardy and some more fabulous bananas. I am definitely not game to drive here, so I’d rather walk anytime. We did drive down to the chemist and get some tablets for Phil. In Vanuatu, you don’t have to get a prescription from the doctor for tablets, but the older white guy – John Mansel who was running the chemist, was all but a doctor anyway. He was quite a character and had a lot of family dotted around the east coast of Australia.
We enjoyed the continental breakfast that morning and I went for a walk down the street to do window shopping while Phil slept some more. It was overcast and looked as if it should be cold, but it was lovely and warm. The internet was very slow in the hotel so we went back to the café for a coffee and faster internet. We also took the shredded tyre to the repairer which happened to be right across the road from The Melanesian hotel. We needed more rest time in Vila, so we had to book another hotel which was not as expensive as this one. I found another one right next door to this one on the internet.
1st Sept
The room was fine except for the smell of a dead mouse in there somewhere; however outside the room from the balcony, it looked like a bomb site. There was an empty pool and half built walls and men sanding and grinding and making heaps of noise. That is why it was cheaper I guess. We dumped our bags and decided to go down to the harbour again for internet and coffee.
There was a massive cruise ship in the harbour – P&O Pacific Jewel. You can always tell the passengers because they have a tag around their neck and several bottles of duty free alcohol in their hands. Most of these people were older and extremely overweight – I guess that is why they like the ship. Phil was slowly feeling better and as long as we sat somewhere for a while, he could cope. We drove to where the ship was parked to have a closer look. There were about a hundred stalls set up on the side of the road next to the wharf, selling the same stuff and people were buying heaps and having their hair braided. Good for the Ni-Van economy.
Phil was finally well enough to want dinner so we went to our favourite restaurant called Kanpai. The food was excellent, and was as good as here in Australia.
2nd Sept
We tried to book in with Gideon at Havannah Harbour Eco Lodge, but unfortunately, it was all booked out. We went to the Secret Garden which was a great place for a bit of history on Vanuatu. A young daughter of a chief told us about the traditions as we walked around and saw different huts, how to make lap lap, and why they drink kava. Phil held a snake, and I held an iguana and a coloured parrot which pooped down my front – I guess that’s supposed to be good luck!
3rd Sept
The weather was perfect and after a yummy continental breakfast, we went for a snorkel. The fish and coral were great and I actually stayed in the water for a whole hour before getting out. I sunbaked for only five minutes before my skin started burning so I didn’t stay out for too long. While having a mid-morning rest, we had a reasonable sized earthquake, which we found out later measured 5 on the Richter scale. A few more cracks appeared in the walls of the building and when you are on the second floor the whole building wobbles.
We caught the boat to the mainland so we could use the internet at the Beach Bar which also serves great coffee and lunch. After lunch, it was time to go back and do some more snorkelling. I found Nemo’s cousin, who was madly protecting young ones in the soft coral that they love. Before we knew it, it was dinner time again. We felt a mild after shock to the earthquake during the night.
It was time to move on again, and to our surprise, Worawia Resort was almost next door to the Beach bar. We make it a habit of moving just next door. The place was gorgeous, with a pool and cute fully self contained bungalows. They had a cute dog called Snoopy who always came to say hello and wanted a pat. After dumping our bags we drove into Vila for lunch and to get a few supplies. Unfortunately, it was after 12.00pm which means you can’t buy alcohol until Monday morning – so no cheap beer.
We went to the Mele Cascades in the afternoon and the weather was a bit overcast which made it more pleasant for the walk to the top. It was as beautiful as ever and we went for a swim in one of the middle pools as the top was full of young noisy Aussies. It was very refreshing and the swim cooled us down for the walk
back to the car.
We ordered dinner at the resort which was brought to our room that night. It was the best piece of steak so far! The owners are lovely people and make sure we had everything we wanted. There was an older Brisbane couple next to us on one side and a mob of young noisy kids on the other side, but they soon were quiet later that night thank goodness. However the guy from Brisbane snored so loud, it sounded like a horse snorting and finishing off with a gasping sound.
5th Sept
We were pleasantly surprised to have breakfast supplied to the room in the morning. I’ll never get sick of tropical fruit and juice in the mornings. There was an unusual fruit called soursop which tasted like fruit salad with a hint of coconut and was soft, white and mushy – very nice! Since it was Sunday, we decided to drive around the whole Island.
We stopped off at the place we wanted to stay at (Havannah Eco Lodge) but it was fully booked. It looked great and that will definitely be on the cards next time we visit. A little up the road was a really upmarket hotel called The Havannah. We decided to stop and have lunch there. It was a real treat, fancy and divine food. I believe the rooms or bungalows were $700 per night!
Moving on from there, we passed the old military dumping ground where loads of stuff was dumped into the sea. There was another massive resort being built further towards the top of the island and many blocks for sale.
Coming down the other side of the island took us past the famous Blue Lagoon again, and a fabulous beach called Eton Beach. It was a stunning sheltered cove where a lot of the locals come for a Sunday picnic. Further around, led us back to Pt Vila. We stopped at a place called The Saloon Bar and Grill for a nice steak.
6th Sept
After another night of our neighbours loud snoring, we moved back to Vila, to a great hotel called The Olympic. It was definitely the best in Vila so far, quiet, cool and comfortable with an affordable price tag. Phil went to see Boma at the Fire Station and I did a bit of window shopping. We have been trying to get to Iririkki Island for a while so we went across on the ferry and had happy hour in a very fancy area, and dinner in a fancy restaurant called The Watermark. The food was delicious and it was ok to pretend that we were rich for a while but I was glad that we were going back to our comfortable cheap hotel and not paying $500 per night.
7th Sept
Another lovely day in Paradise and Phil went to the embassy to see if he could talk to someone there about help for the fire brigade, but as usual a quick fob off and we might get back to you next day. We made the most of the views and had a beer at the Nambawan Café and watched the sun go down. Last dinner in Vanuatu had to be the great Japanese at the Kanpai restaurant again– yummy!
8th Sept
Time to pack for home again! It was so lovely and warm and hard to imagine that in a few hours we will be cold again – Hurry up summer! Until next time beautiful Vanuatu.
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