As we left the world’s happiest nation, the sense of dread overcame our thoughts; the question was ‘How could we find another country that carries as much love for life?’ With heavy hearts we read our in flight magazine and collected last minute research on a nation that is regularly mentioned when people speak of paradise, but as both of us knew exactly what you see on a postcard we wanted to delve a bit deeper. Not that was going to come from the Air Pacific guide to garlands or the handy tips on how to drink Kava and see an image of the winning lottery numbers. I can be an idiot, see, I said it. One example came from our plane trip. Em and I sat next to each other on a three seat layout ... read more

EPI Epi is an island lying north of Efate almost equal in size, but much less developed. It has a population of about 5000. There is one Australian couple living full time on Epi, otherwise the only visitors it has are youth aid project workers, missionaries, the odd backpacker (rarely) and occasional visitors off yachts that moor in the bays. There are a number of traditional villages dotted all along the coastline, living a simple life based on traditional Kastoms. There are no TVs, a few villages have a telephone, one of the schools has some computers, and only very few of the villages have generators providing power in the evenings. There are only 9 vehicles (Toyota trucks) on the whole island. Each village has a chief that decides on all matters including crime and punishment. ... read more

We settled ourselves into the Pandanus camp site, and used it as a base to sort ourselves out for our remaining time in Australia. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, which was typical as we had wanted to take a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, but with 30knot winds the visibility would be rubbish and chop would make it unpleasant and the risk of vomiting great. So we decided to wait a while and take a trip up to Cape Tribulation instead. Cape Tribulation is one of Queensland most visited tourist destinations as the landscape provides one of the only places in the world where the rainforest meets the sea. So with that geographical fact to hand we skipped up the highway (hand in hand of course). To reach our destination ... read more

Did you ever get that feeling when you were in school? It may have been at the end of term or school year and the exams would come around, your teachers had the expectation that you would indeed pick up your school books and start revising. Well my plan was to do everything else that I should do except that, so I would clean my room, wash, and listen to Dunc perform some of his poetry. Have you not heard it before? Ask him about it, really emotional stuff. So my education has flown by and that same feeling has returned, not by a new form of school revision but by writing these damn blogs all the time. So with a clean van, undercrackers and a sonnet in my heart I will continue to inform you ... read more

Everyone has to believe in folklore or legends. It makes the history of an event or destination seem interesting, maybe personal or relevant. Well Noosa Heads is that place in surfing for me. It has been seen in surf movies, magazines since the late 70’s, so it has had time to change and develop over the years. But in my mind it had air of decadence and standard, something that would hopefully stand the test of time, not giving in to commercial pressures. The only problem was that I had decided to make my trip to surfing Mecca with the ‘terrible twosome’, whose ideal was to make camp in fashion retail outlets along the terribly posh Hastings Avenue sipping champagne, of course with both pinkies out. Where were my long haired, aqua orientated, non-career focused layabouts? ... read more