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Published: February 12th 2007
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Having been in Australia since the 16th February '06 my visa was finally due to expire. I wanted to stay on in Oz for a few more months just to travel around a bit and also to give Scott more time to save for his trip home with me to the UK.
Apparently all I had to do was leave the country for 24hours then I was welcome to come back for a 3 month stay on a tourist visa, but where's the fun in that? Scott and I decided to make the most of it and booked a 5 day holiday to Vanuatu, a tropical island in the south pacific.
We were due to fly out at 9AM on the 12th of Feb and return on the 17th Feb, the day after my working holiday visa expired. So feeling very excited (and more than a little hungover) we rocked up at 6AM to Brisbane Airport to check in for our flight. As we handed over our passports I couldn't wait to get into the departures lounge to get some water and maybe a bit of a power kip before we boarded our flight. However, the check in girl
took off with my passport and I started to realise something was very wrong when I saw her show it to about 6 other employees at the end of the counter. I asked what the problem was and she told me my visa had expired in 2006, which made me feel heaps better cause I knew for a fact that it hadn't, just a small misunderstanding. However the supervisor came over to sort out the problem and began quizzing me about my intentions. I told him that I was going to Vanuatu for 5 days before returning to Australia. He seemed to have a problem with the fact that my working holiday visa would have expired the day before I returned - I explained that I had tried to apply for an ETA (a tourist visa for Australia which you must have before entering the country) but since you can't get them whilst you are in the country I was going to apply online for it from Vanuatu. Not good enough, according to him since I did not have a return flight into a country which I had right of entry to he could not allow me to board the
flight. My only options were, according to him, buy a flight from Vanuatu home to the UK or from Vanuatu to Australia whilst my Australian visa was still valid. He helpfully pointed me in the direction of the nearest travel agent. I was totally stuck in a catch 22, I couldn't leave without a visa but I couldn't get a visa without leaving.... very very frustrating. He knew the flight I bought wouldn't be used as I would get an ETA as soon as I arrived in Vanuatu, so it's just a stupid (and very expensive) peice of paperwork. Still A flight from Vanuatu back to Brisbane couldn't cost that much, our whole 5 day holiday with accomodation etc was only going to be $800 each. So I went over to FlightCentre and explained I needed a ticket from Vanuatu to Brisbane for the 16th Feb, which is the day my WHM visa expired so even if I did use the flight I would only have been allowed in Australia till midnight that day. The guy was very helpful and it seems people are always buying tickets they have no intention of using, which I guess is why they have
travel agents at the airport, it's not like you go there with your bags all packed looking for a holiday to go on. So anyway it turned out I was wrong, a flight from Vanuatu to Brisbane WAS very expensive, $600 for a non refundable ticket or $1250 for a (partially) refundable ticket, I held my breath and handed over my credit card praying that the refundable ticket would fit on it. Luckily it did and we raced back to the Check in counter with my new ticket in hand. They finally allowed me to board the flight and we just made it through in time to catch the flight - it's lucky I'm my fathers daughter and insist on arriving 3 hours early for all international flights! The problems didn't end there though, arriving in Vanuatu I jumped online and tried to apply for a 3 month ETA. DENIED! because I already have a valid visa.... AAAAAGHHH! It expired in 2 days, why couldn't I just cancel it and get a new one! Why didn't they tell me all this when I called to check what the deal was? Just leave the country for 24 hours that's all she
said, no mention that you couldn't get a new one till old was done and dusted. I thought I was going to have to stay around in Vanuatu till after the 16th then apply for a new visa and buy ANOTHER (3rd!) flight back to Brisbane Anyway, we were staying in the capital of Vanuatu, Port Vila, and made our way to the Australian Embassy to explain the complicated situation. The lady cancelled my Working Holiday Visa and issued me with an ETA which is valid for one year, multiple entries of no more than 3 months at a time. Sorted!! (eventually)
So onto Vanuatu. A beautiful y shaped archipelegro of 80 islands in the south pacific with a population of only 220 000 it has been named the happiest country in the world, and you can see why! we found the people to be so so friendly, always happy and singing as they went about their daily business. It really rubbed off and after all the stress at the start of the holiday, we found ourselves relaxed and happy for the remainder of the trip. As I mentioned we were staying in Port Vila which is the nations
capital and is on one of the largest islands, the only one with an international airport, Efate. Landing at the tiny airport a couple of locals had come down to watch the new arrivals, we entered the shed like terminal to be greeted by a small band playing traditional melanesian music to welcome us to their country. A hibiscus flower, one of the countries symbols, was placed in every passengers hair and a guy dressed in tradtional gowns blew into a large shell trumpet to mark our arrival. I loved it!
Vanuatu is one of the most volcanically active countries in the world and is located right on the so called "Pacific Ring of Fire" it has several permanently active volcanoes, though unfortunatly none on Efate and due to time restrictions we couldn't travel to the other islands to view any. It is also perched on the subduction zone of 2 tectonic plates and so is quite prone to earthquakes, the fortunanitly not whilst we were there!
The people of Vaunatu are known as Ni- Vanuatu and speak french, english and bislama, along with 115 Mother - Tongues still in use. We found in Efate most people spoke
a mixture of all 3. The population is increasing at a steady rate and a huge 45% of the population is under the age of 15. Vanuatu was discovered by Captain Cook and originally named by him as "The New Hebrides" with Efate nown as "Sandwhich Island" - (really scrapping the barrel for names there! must've been nearly lunch time). Vanuatu achieved political independence in 1980 and the country was renamed Vanuatu which means 'Land Eternal".
We spent our days playing on the Lagoon, kayaking and learning to sail catamarans and the evenings watching local bands and drinking the fantastic local beer Tusker. I had one of the best days I've had travelling when we visited Hideaway Island on valentines days. Hideaway is a tiny tiny island which only takes 4 minutes to circle, we spent the day there relaxing on the beach and snorkelling on the reef in the crystal clear and very warm waters (28 degrees year round!) It was the best snorkelling I ever done, we saw thousands and thousands of fish, including my favourite, the crazy looking Picasso Triggerfish (Emma google it!) It's not hard to see where it gets it's name from! and the
reef was so colourful - it puts the great barrier reef to shame. We visited the worlds only underwater post office, where I posted a liitle waterproof card home to my mum and dad and generally had the best day ever!
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