Today we had booked to go to Hideaway Island - one of the most famous here. Our mini bus was supposed to pick us up at 8.30 to take us to the ferry but by 8.45, it still hadn’t turned up. We weren’t too concerned but I did call and confirm with them. iWe were assured that it was coming at 9.15 … but at 9.45 still nothing. V time is very lax, but this was a bit silly. I called again and found they had forgotten us. Not to worry, we finally got a chance to catch a local bus over to the ferry. It was a very short trip across deep water to tiny island. I was a bit disturbed to hear that both this island and Iriki island used to have villages on them, but the people were moved ( forcibly apparently) off to make way for the tourists.
Completely contrasting to our experience on Pele, this island was set up for tourists in a fast efficient and pretty impersonal way. It was too bad so sad that we had lost 2 hours of time on the island and were shuffled immediately onto a glass bottomed boat. I was delighted with the method of feeding the fish - a tube down near the glass - where the captain allowed the kids to pour pellets down in regular intervals. Once again we were greeted by giant fish of all sorts, making us very keen to get out and snorkel on our own.
Hideaway Island is home to the only underwater post office. It is personed by a scuba guy every day - he will take special post cards from your hand as you dive down to post them. Morgans duck diving was very good - so he got to post both our postcards. We aught to have hired him out as many of the other tourists found it difficult to get the depth and kept handing him their cards to post.
The beach is very steep and covered in sharp coral, so reef shoes are a must. It was sad to see alot of coral close to the beach had been damaged by the amount of tourists who blindly stood and crushed it. Its been a good lesson for our kids and one we stressed every time we went in the water - not to put your feet or hands down and only to surface where you can float freely, and not stand on anything. Spectacular snorkelling was had very clsoe to the beach. They had several pontoons set up in the deeper parts, to allow swimmers to slither on board and rest. Lilly went with me this morning and was brilliant. However she grew tired after about an hour - so I let her sit on the pontoon while I explored some of the deeper parts of the reef.
Went went into have lunch and straight up on the menu - we all chose fish and chips… guess what? yep.. no fish.. An island, surrounded by fish, and no fish could be had to eat.
We went on the glass bottomed boat again to be taken out to the further reef and the 80 foot drop off. This kids refused to have lifejackets , but given they had done so well with snorkelling previously, I wasn’t that worried. That safari was incredible. The variety of fish and coral was mindblowing. We only had half an hour out, just not long enough. I won’t forget the feeling of space and nothingness as I glid over the drop and into the deep blue. I felt so alone and so together with the ocean. An incredible moment I wasn’t keen to end. However, my imagination kicked in and I started to look for giant octopus with slimy tentacles ready to pull me down, freaked myself out with dark shadows deep beneath me and swum like mad to get on the boat again.
We had a little time to explore the pool and eat and icecream after we got back. Age and Morgan went back out to snorkel, but I felt a bit waterlogged.
On the exact stroke of 2.30, a very scary islander woman shouted at all the tourists to line up and get on the boat home. Its the first time anything on Vanuatu had been on time! She shuffled us all off and sent us packing quick smart.
The blessing I guess from this was that we got home in a good hour and I had time to pack and sort stuff out before we went out for the evening. We walked into town to find some fish and chips at the harbour. At last, in a greasy spoon local joint ( underneath the swanky restaurant “Chill”) we enjoyed fish and local chips. There was spotlight out into the harbour which illuminated the masses of fish waiting underneath us for our scraps. We were rewarded with a sighting of a turtle before we left.
We walked through the park and sat on a concrete seat to watch the fireworks. It seemed that anyone who had them could line up and have a turn at exploding theirs. A rabble of fireworks sellers sat on the fringes to satisfy the pyro in any of the standerbys.
One of the cafes on the harbour host a free movie night every Sunday and Wednesday nights. They sell popcorn and great icecreams and you basically sit back and watch the movie. It has a short interval in the middle so you can grab a pizza or coffee and then settle back to watch the rest. Movies are hit and miss - I believe they are whatever the guy can pirate or borrow - so a mix of brand new ones nad documentaries. Sadly the movie was an m rated on tonight - so we didn’t stay long. Just enough to eat an icecream and decide the movie really wasn’t suitable.
It was a tired walk back home, but at least it didn’t rain on us. One of the young blokes in one of the units had a few fireworks left over from the night before - so invited us to the jetty to watch them get blown up. Spectacular again with lots of laughs. The last one - the biggest and supposedly the best was set up stuck in the sand. He lit it and did what it said on the packet - ran. We were all standing on the jetty when it went off.
You know in the movies when a bomb floats into a room and everyone stands and looks at it? You in the audience scream “get out! Run you fool!”.. but everyone still stares at it.? I now know 1. why fireworks were banned in Australia and 2. what it feels like to be one of those fools in the room. 3. how someone who is standing at the back of a group can be the most injured when one of these things goes off.
The rocket was stuck too firmly into the sand and didn’t have enough “oomph” to free itself. So when the explosive which allowed it to shoot up into the sky was exhausted, the next chamber of explosives went off - you know the ones which had the big bangs and coloured flares? One of the flares shot into our stunned group and incredibly bypassed all the adults , hitting Lilly on the upper thigh. Poor little thing had a bad burn, which I immediately treated by throwing her into the pool. She was ok in the end, but it shook most of us leaving out ears ringing for several minutes.
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