Blogs from Vanuatu, Oceania
February 11th 2012
So we were up early for the drive to the Brisbane airport from Kingaroy....5am early, which was way to early for Me and Shoni. A quick stop for some brekky and it was off to the car parking place and then off to book in for our flights to Vanuatu. So we got there a bit early but hey, it's better to be early than late (no-one likes anyone who is late to get on the plane!!). Take off - in the sky and over a bit of sea and in not too much time at all we were there! We travelled this time with our good friends Brendan and Shoni and we are glad we did....it makes it more fun to share the experiences with and more interesting throughout the day (so we don't fight ... read more
January 13th 2012
No new year hangover for me but think Martin's bottle of Sake may have had an effect. Little slow to start this morning for both of us. Mystery Island is our shore trip today which is in the southern end of the islands that form Vanuatu. It is uninhabited as the local people from the nearby island of Aneityum consider it taboo. There is a landing strip on the island used in WW2 for the allied forces. The P&O Princess Jewel is the largest ship to enter into the lagoon. I went across for a swim and left Martin drinking a coffee and having flex time in the room. Again we used the tenders to go to and from, deck 4 to board and a temporary jetty set up to receive us. The locals must love ... read more
January 13th 2012
Shore day in Port Vila Vanuatu. This is the capital and on the island of Efate, the south west of the group of islands formerly known as The New Hebrides as named and chartered by Captain Cook. A small capital of around 30,000 people from a mix of nationalities with the principal language of Bislama (pidgin type of language ) English and French. In the harbour lies the island of Iririki which has expensive looking resorts doted around. There seems to be quite a lot of marketing of homes and villa to expats, lots of real estates. The harbor had a constant sea mist today, not sure if this is usual. It was hot and muggy when we disembarked and we ran the gauntlet of the taxis and vans lined up and took one to town. ... read more
January 13th 2012
Wala Island is a small island paradise in the north east of Vanuatu. It has 323 inhabitants who make a living out of the copra and cocoa crops as well as some beef cattle which are mostly on other nearby islands. Tourism is an add on with 3 or more cruise boats a week anchoring off the 150 foot deep water anchorage only 500 metres off the island. Many of the people today came from the nearby island of Malekula to assist with the various tourism opportunities. The people are called Small Nambas named after the penis leaf sheath that was traditional wear. The island had a tradition of cannibalism due to its isolation from the outside world and talking to a man today he said in his grandfathers time (he was 45) it was still ... read more
Shore Excursion to another tropical paradise
Published: January 13th 2012Oceania » Vanuatu » Espiritu Santo
January 13th 2012
Today's shore excursion is to Champagne Bay which is situated on the East coast of Vanuatu's largest island, Espiritu Santo. This is Spanish for "Holy Spirit" and was first sighted by Europeans in 1606 when the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandez de Quiros landed at Big Bay west of Champagne Bay. The beach has fine white sand, and this fringes forests and mountains. 200 residents live in this bay and today they were all out flogging their wares. $2 for a photo with a snake, lizard or turtle, the usual sarongs, shirts and woven products as well as food such as banana, pineapple, passion fruit, coconut, mango, pawpaw, dried banana chips, dried tapioca chips, and a local nut that we used to eat in PNG which we called Gallup nuts. The market area was set up in ... read more
Another Story by Dr. SueLin Hilbert
Published: August 27th 2011Oceania » Vanuatu » Santo » Luganville
August 25th 2011
Getting a good night’s sleep in the bush is always a tricky thing. Depending on one’s level of jet-lag, adjusting to an early bedtime can be difficult. When there isn’t much in the way of electricity after the sun goes down and your day begins at sunrise, the prospect of staying up past 7pm seems like a tremendous feat. Once you do get to bed, it can be difficult finding the proper body position to fit the uneven ground or occasional cement floor. Regardless of how diligent you are about tucking in your net or zipping your tent flap, there will often be that one persistent mosquito singing a high-pitched lullaby in your ear while desperately looking for some small patch of exposed flesh. If you do manage to find a moment of solace with the ... read more
August 20th 2011
I've dragged myself to write today's blog, and yesterdays blog for what I can remember of it - well most of it was spent in the office so not much to say! I think there will be more periods where i'm just unable to write a blog every night, mainly due to being too tired or just too busy. So I might do it every other day or so. Yesterday (19/08/11) consisted of waking up at 6am again (naturally) packing my bags, having breakfast in my room, sorting out a few things with important things in safe pockets/distance from me and so on. I then checked out from the over priced hotel, 7,500 vatu per night. Which comes to something like £40-50 per night! Really isn't as cheap as i expected it to be at all. ... read more
August 18th 2011
Well where to start.. maybe waking up at 4:30am? My own fault really, going to sleep at 7pm. I can never sleep long these days for some reason, shows i'm ageing I suppose! I snacked out on a few things on waking up and went back to bed, I then had a really deep sleep and awoke to my alarm at 6. I wanted to make a good impression being right on the dot for work for when the geohazard office opens, which is 7am. I loathed around for a bit and then went to the office at 6:55am, the office is literally a block away from where I am staying so no need to leave too early. I got there for 7.. which I was expecting it to be open as usually you do get ... read more
August 18th 2011
Well everyone…it’s been a month since the last entry and a great deal has taken place. Of greater significance, however, is what has NOT taken place. Please try to remember folks, this is Vanuatu, and we first-worlders need to be able to roll with the punches. If you’re not interested in the dreary prose, here’s the short version: The construction of the Sele Clinic is being put on hold at the request of the Ministry of Health, but against my personal desire. I want to do what’s best for the greater good and most economically efficient for our donors, but I feel terrible about not finishing the clinic this year. However, what you want and how you feel are rarely in agreement. If you’re strange enough to enjoy my ramblings, here’s the long version: I’d like ... read more
August 17th 2011
So today I touched down in Vanuatu (17th Aug) it's some time in the evening here... must remember to change time on my phone. I feel like i've been travelling for years. It was so good to finally have a shower and brush my teeth after finally putting my bags down. Flight from London to Dubai went fine. Dubai to Brisbane was fine, I just didn't remember how long it took.. it went on forever.. was at least 12 hours flying.. the good thing was that it wasn't fully booked and i managed to secure 3 seats to myself next to a window... so yeah I was able to lie down and get a fair amount of sleep. Might go off on a rant now but I hate Australian customs, it's the most fuss in the ... read more
