Vanuatu Oct 2013

---

Oct 2nd

We were up at three to catch the red eye flight to Brisbane with a connecting flight to Vanuatu. It was cold and windy in Adelaide, but warm and balmy in Pt. Vila. Several planes arrived at the same time so it took a while to get through customs. We caught a mini bus with another couple back into Vila. The other couple had just got married the previous day and were at the airport seeing some of their guests off.

We arrived at the Kaiviti hotel and were pleasantly relieved to find that it looked much better than the time we had stayed there 3 years ago when they were renovating and the pool had no water. The room was nice, however there was a kava bar right behind next to our open window which was noisy until 4am

We bought a few supplies to take to Moso Island for the following morning and then went for a wander down to the harbour to our favourite cafe and internet place. Not much had changed in Vila, the internet was still painfully slow but that is ok when you are running on island time.

Our pick up was on time and we were surprised to see a whole bus full of people. As we drove along the familiar road, we could see some of the places we had stayed at or eaten at on the previous visits had shut down or gone bankrupt. We later learnt that a locally owned place called Worrawia had gone bankrupt and the owner owed a lot of money to the locals so he went into hiding.

Some of the people on the bus were there to do the diving course at Moso and others were there to do sailing trips on other boats and we were the only ones staying overnight, but there were people already staying on the island doing a 4 day dive course. Andy and Carol were the new managers who had just taken over a years contract to run Tranquility Dive Resort. The other people staying on the island were also really lovely, you certainly get a different class of people staying at eco resorts where you don't have the modern conveniences - a bit more earthy and realistic. We also had a dog who liked to say hello every day, called Tanna

The meals were all served together at a communal table and the food was better than I had expected. The resort employed a chef who had served at large well known places before with a high standard -major bonus. We walked along the beach to go snorkeling at a place called coral gardens. There was a lot of coral re growth over the top of earlier destroyed coral. There were a lot of different brightly coloured fish although a lot smaller than in some other places.

Phil went diving the following day and I went snorkelling right out the front of the fare. The coral and fish were great there and the larger fish were just a bit shy, but they were there. We couldn't have asked for better weather, the sea was calm and the sky was sunny. During our stay the guys rescued a large hawksbill turtle which had unfortunately been hit with a boat propeller or something like that, and they dressed the wound and put it in one of the holding tanks where they rear baby turtles.

The baby turtles are bought from the locals for a small amount of money and they are then reared in several holding tanks until they get to a larger size where their survival rate is much higher ( from about 5% to 40%) then they get released back into the ocean. One of the released turtles which had been tagged was found as far as New Zealand many years later. It is quite labour intensive to look after them as the tanks need to be cleaned every day with fresh water pumped in from the sea and they also need to be fed twice a day.

Stan is a returning visitor who has been going there for years and knows the owner well and he has turned into the local handy man. The locals called him Mr Stan and always went to him for help. He told us that Owen is a very colourful character who has met and had dinner with many famous people. The locals think he is a bit tight and won't spend any money, however I like the resort as it was, basic and discreet. The 3 days were over quickly and it was time to return to the mainland.

We arrived back in Pt. Vila late in the day and checked into Moorings hotel and had dinner in our favourite French restaurant as our favourite Japanese was closed on a Sunday. The Vanuatu steak was the best as usual and when we told the owner of Le Houstalet that we had been there several times before and how much we liked his food, he decided to drive us back to our hotel as it was quiet and he had nothing better to do - bonus!

We spent the next day walking around and had lunch at the market with the locals and talked to a lovely lady called Pauline who came from Naguna Island and she cooks at the market all week and goes home on the weekends. The meal she cooked for us was delicious and only cost about $4.00 as opposed to the prices everywhere else which had gone up substantiality since our last visit 3 years ago. They say that 3 cruise ships come in every week instead of the 1 which came in before so the price of everything now stays up all the time.

Gideon picked us up on the following day to take us to Havanah Eco Resort. We have our own bungalow on the waterfront, complete with outside kitchen on the small front verandah. Unfortunately we had no hot water due to low water pressure which then does not ignite the gas hot water system, oh well that is the price of paradise.



The colour of the water is stunning out the front of the bungalow and the snorkeling is also ok, but we swam when it was overcast so the colours were a little dull. The following day was quite windy and I felt sorry for the people boarding the Coongoola ship for their day cruise.



It remained windy for most of the day, so we went for a walk along the beach and came out on the road further up and had a look at all the nice houses built along the coastline with a mega budget. We walked back along the road all the way as the tide was coming in and there was not much beach left. The wind had also calmed right down so it was the perfect time to watch the sunset on the balcony with a white wine! We have a dog with us a lot of the time called Calmos, meaning from Moso and he was Tanna's brother and he looked exactly like him too. I did slip him a couple of bits of meat at night occasionally, which meant that he was waiting at the door of our bungalow in the mornings waiting for breakfast but when he didn't get anything the he would then try anyone in the near vicinity - survival instincts!



We left Gideons on Friday to go to Surfside Resort which was very nice, and had buses outside every 3 mins, so if you want to go anywhere it wouldn't cost you very much. The only drawback was that there was no free internet. We were in part villas and if you took the whole villa it would have a pool with it. We were also next to the sister resort called Breakers which had a great pool and restaurant which we also had access to anytime.



We caught the bus into town which costs 300 Vatu and had breakfast at a French place so I could sample the awesome French pastries. The bread and pastries in Vanuatu are simply divine. It was Saturday morning so we had to buy all alcohol before 12 pm which is law in this country, no alcohol can be sold from 12pm Sat to Mon morning and it wasn't as busy this time as there was no cruise ship in the harbour. We tried out a nice restaurant called Chill that night and we were very impressed from the great service to the most amazing view. We sat next to the window on the second storey looking out at the well lit water below and there were hundreds of fish being fed by the locals below at the local takeaway. The food was also delicious.



The last place for the next three nights was Tara Beach Bungalows just past Mele Bay. We caught the bus there on a Sunday and arrived before our bungalow was ready. We were put into another bungalow which we thought was ours, and found a lovely rotten durian fruit in the fridge. The odour permeated through the whole bungalow when I opened the fridge – Yuk! Eric our lovely host then called us to see the bungalow he had prepared for us and wow what a difference. There were flowers everywhere and the place was spotless and smelt fresh.



The Ni-Van owners went out of their way to make sure that we had everything we wanted and would take us into town or to the neighbouring resorts for dinner. The breakfasts were huge with pancakes, fruit and eggs on toast. If there was any left over we could take it and feed the fish off the jetty. There were some huge fish and colourful ones which all had a feeding frenzy when you threw anything in the water. The area was also a marine sanctuary where people from the cruise ships would come for a days outing to snorkel if the weather was good. The buggy tours would also stop there for morning tea.



Most of the time, our driver was Vince who spoke minimal English, or we suspect chose to speak minimal, as the guy staying next us was a little more demanding and kept changing his mind. We just went with the flow, and if it didn’t work, we would catch our own transport back. We had our anniversary dinner at the Resort next door called Benjors which was delightful. We went to Mele Cascades as we do every time we come to Vanuatu, and then had a fantastic day snorkeling and diving at Hideaway Island. The following day we were back in cold Adelaide. Not without incident though, a person on the plane had a seizure in Vanuatu leaving us grounded for an extra 30 mins. We hope the person was ok. Our connecting flight in Brisbane was delayed for us and probably 20 others, so when we arrived totally breathless after feeling like we ran a marathon, the people already seated on the plane glared at us. I am proud to say Phil and I were the first to arrive but not good when we wore the brunt of the glares!

Back in chilly Adelaide and looking for somewhere to have a late dinner at midnight... where else?... Pancake kitchen!

---

Comments

[jorgebaldacci]

This is fantastic!!!
We at CISSP Training highly recommend this.