http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , Vanuatu , Efate en-us Sun, 19 May 2013 15:39:22 +0000 Sun, 19 May 2013 15:39:22 +0000 In which our heroes arrive to a nonwestern country become guests in a local parish backpack to a remote island and twice try to get stoned but are unsuccessful. If you drill a hole through the earth from Israel you will emerge in the South Pacific. The closest land to that point will be a one of the most remote islands in the world the small island of Rapa Iti in French Polynesia. In my mid http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-756012.html 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 30000 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-679449.html I39ve dragged myself to write today39s blog and yesterdays blog for what I can remember of it well most of it was spent in the office so not much to sayI think there will be more periods where i39m 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 190811 consisted of waking up at 6am again n http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-636078.html So today I touched down in Vanuatu 17th Aug it39s some time in the evening here... must remember to change time on my phone. I feel like i39ve 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 didn39t remember how long it took.. it went on fore http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-635352.html Hello again everyone Today I find myself back in Port Vila in the hospitality of good friends and familiar faces. Project MARC39s 2011 season will officially kick off in a couple weeks but Dr. Hilbert and I are here early for prep and planning of our August expedition. Keep up with us here for further updates on our progress with the expeditions or follow us on Twitter for blurbs from the bus http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-627782.html Turtles turtles everywhere The Kustom owners at Chrystal Blue Lagoon sure know a great location when they see it. We spent the day out there and discovered a turtle hatchery full of very cute little babies. We swam and snorkled in the lagoon and got up close and personal with lots of colourful sealife. Exhausted and ready to eat the overwater restaurant was calling. Friendly staff happily prep http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-594725.html Here are some more pictures Better UW onesenjoyStefan http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-563681.html Hey Here're some pictures from my Vanuatu trip It was really awesome but quite adventurous. The full pacific experience inclusive earthquake and a tropical cyclone. Unfortunately the sea was quite rough after the cyclone which affected the visibility underwater for some days. I also got stuck on Efate Main Island as all flights where canceled because of the weather. Nevertheless it was r http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-563675.html Vanuatu is a great place. It is only a two and a half hour flight from Brisbane it is a tax haven and has been voted the happiest country in the world as the sign in the customs area of Vila airport reminds us.Unlike the brochures in a travel agency the 8km drive from the airport to the city of Vila does not drum up feelings of idyllic beaches and happy locals rather it made me think tha http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-554134.html Up at the crack of dawn for an early flight home. Of course the taxi driver overslept and we had to ring himDadBest trip Mount Yasur volcano with the real custom dancing on the way homeBest food Fruit salad of pawpaw native raspberry apple and mini bananaBest Friend Peter of courseMost memorable moment Snorkelling over the coral platform on the coongoola cruise.Funniest moment Find http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-537276.html We spent our last morning going to town. Grace had her hair braided again and Tom went looking for a string guitar and fireworks.Tom and Dad had lunch in the market Dad had a fish curry and Tom had steak. There was some chilling sauce that was quite possibly the hottest thing on the planet even hotter than Mt Yasur In the afternoon we packed up and spent time sitting on the beanbags watching http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-537275.html We left in the morning to go to Eton Beach. The weather was unsettled and it rained off and on. The beach was gorgeous with a cool stream running into it and a deep pool the rest of the beach was taken up by a large shallow lagoon. The weather spoiled things a bit and the mixing of warm fresh and cold salty water made the snorkeling difficult. It was hard to see with all the refractive jumbl http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-537273.html We had to get up very early and rush around in order to wait a lot. We took a bus up over the top of the ranges very slow and steep hill. Finally we reached the boat a gorgeous old yacht built in 1949. There were 27 people on board.First stop was the hawkbill turtle sanctuary and on the way some dolphins came to play in the bow wave. At the turtle sanctuary they collect eggs from the beach an http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-537271.html We went to Tamanu on the beach for a long lunch to celebrate as it was mum and dad's 16th Wedding Anniversary. The place was gorgeous lovely white sand and rolling surf. While we were there a family arrived via helicopter from Port Vila for lunch. The helicopter landed on the beach in front of the restaurant.The drive home was interesting Kendrick had clearly been on the cava and was a bit er http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-537269.html We went to the Mele Cascades near the resort. It was hot and the long climb up the hill was quite tiring. Eventually the path started to cross back and forth over the river. Up and up we went as the path got steeper and steeper past lovely pools of crystal clear water surrounded by lush tropical vegetation. It was so pretty it looked like a shampoo commercial hard to believe it was real. At http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/blog-537223.html Vanuatu life starts early and we were up at six in the morning which was five in Australian time. We didn't do too much just lots of lazing around and swimming in the pool. We did go into town to buy some more food. We went to the market where there was lots of strange fruit and vegetables. We bought stuff for vegetable risottos that we made over the next two nights. The nicest stuff was a p http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-537220.html Travel Journal written by Thomas and Grace Crane with the help of dad on writing and mum with technical stuff. This should really start day 30 as we had a lot of preparation to do before we could leave. We have had injections for hepatitis and typhoid and are taking pills to stop us getting malaria. Mum has arranged all the accommodation and we are all sorted.We got up really early and drove to http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-537216.html 26thAugOur flight back to Vila was at 11am so we had a few hours to wait so we walked along the shoreline and waited for an internet caf to open. The flight was ok and we were soon back in Vila. We caught the minibus 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 phon http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-533774.html Back in Efate again at least this time it is not raining WOW it looks so much nicer.As usual we had nothing booked on arriving at airport after trying one place too expensive we ened up at the Nirvana. Great place but empty as usual we were the only guests. This place had a coral beach although the same issue of only being able to swim at high tide. We worked out the last day would be http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-501254.html When we landed at Vila airport the weather was overcast but on entering the terminal the atmosphere was great. There was a lively band playing their music is very similar to black American kind of jazzy.It was warm perfect t.shirt and shorts weather. Luckily we had booked a couple of nights to start as the islands are not at all like asia and it would be quite hard to wander around and find s http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-500339.html