Hideaway - Day 8 on Vanuatu

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. 

Pele Island - Day 7 in Vanuatu

Ok, so we had been here a week. Slept in a heap and done a great deal of nothing. This is  the sort of holiday I had never had before. I’d always organised and planned every minute.  Not this time. I’d not organised a single trip or tour, but now was starting to get itchy feet. So yesterday I organised for us to go to two places which boasted great snorkelling. I had been keen to check out the dolphins and the turtles, but were told that the resort which held the rights to this area was under renovations. bummer! There is heaps to do in Vanuatu - from cultural village visits to horse riding to extreme sporting pursuits and obviously all the diving and snorkelling. I feel a bit empirical and snooty but I am a bit over the whole cultural village thing. I’m sure its all very exciting, but can’t help but feel its all too Hollywood and even through the mud and plastered feathers, a bit too glitzy and false. I know its a sign of my exhaustion that I am feeling this intolerance but just cant be bothered.  

We set off for Pele island at 8.30 - the earliest we have had to be organised for ages. We were stuffed into a small van with a very enthusiastic islander, passionate about his countries history. It was a shame that his voice was muffled by the engine as I only caught every few words. In saying ‘tour’ I mean it in the looses terms, our full tour entailing 8 people.  We went half way round the main island, climbing the mountains and ripping down them just as fast. Incredible to see the roads the Americans built in the 2nd world war still maintained by them.  There were plenty of reminders of the war still laying around. One which brought a smile to my face was the American bath - an olympic sized pool built near the shore to capture one of the fresh water streams.  It was used as both recreational and to fill fresh water on ships.. ewwwwww.  The locals now use it to wash their clothes and things.

Our trip out to Pele island was on a small boat and we were given the first bit of safety equipment I’d seen since I arrived - some ancient life jackets. The tour i’d chosen was run by the isnders from Pele and was supposed to be 100% owned and operated by them - ensuring that all the money they made stayed on that tiny island. There are four villages on the island and we had been invited to visit with Chief Georges village. I was delighted to see him on the deserted beach in his chiefdom regalia to welcome us. The chief was a gentle friendly old man, sinewy and strong and obviously very proud of his tropical paradise island. He told us a little about island life and promised to show us around after we went snorkelling.  After some yummy banana chips ( like potato chips) we geared up for a snorkelling safari out on the reef.  Back into a small motor boat, we were taken to a spot between some islands in about 10 metres of water. Morgan and Lilly winged like mad when I insisted they wear lifejackets, but even in the open water here, I was a little apprehensive. I needn’t have been.  I was completely entranced by the most gorgeous coral displays over about four metres of water amongst the breakers. The tow was a bit strong - so even in our super fins, I felt like I was going no-where. Lilly had come into her own with snorkelling and was little a little fish. Morgan was having issues with his mask and as anyone knows - once you start having a crappy time with it - its often the end of a good snorkel.

 He was like an anchor as I dragged him along. He refused to kick as he didn’t like the fins he had and kept wanting to take the life jacket off. Regardless, we did see some fantastic fish and reef. The Chief came and collected Morgan and spoke gently to him, coaxing him back to the boat and allowing me to continue exploring. I could have been there for hours, however there were a few other people on the tour having issues with the depth of the water and freaking out - so we got back in the boat to go to another spot.

The Chief stuffed his wetsuit full of bread and lepta into the water, waving at us to do the same; which we did , sans the bread. A massive school of parrot fish and larger fish surrounded us, all desperate to get to the bread as the Chief swam around laughing.   he then motioned us over to a deeper part of the reef and told us to look down.  Underneath were huge clam shells; rows and rows of them and the biggest parrot fish I’ve seen. he took us around that part of the reef, showing us tiny caves and enormous brain coral.  he was quiet a showman, diving down and ducking into caves and swimming through the arches. 

We got back to the village and was treated to a BBQ lunch with freshly cut pineapple and watermelon for afterwards. We had some free time to just sit and relax on the beach, go swimming or mooch around.

One of the most charming and slightly disturbing additions to the island was the toilet and change room, built especially for the tourists. Over the years and through the countries I’ve been in, we have seen some pretty interesting configurations of loos.

Voted most disgusting was the market place loo in Nadi, where floating sewerage matched the smeared faeces and despite being six month pregnant and busting there was no way I was going there. Its of course followed closely by some of the Greek loos where toilet paper is used and put in a bin beside the loo, and the swilling ones where you squat trying to avoid the waves on the Thailand boats.

However, the royal loo is at Pele Island. Vanuatu.  A full porcelain loo atop a concrete slab and tiled in. It boasts a shelf full of cleaning products and brushes and sits overlooking the beach under a banana leaf hut. No running water or pipes. So - how do you umm actually use it? - You get a bucket of water and force your doings down the u bend and it goes somewhere into the sand. I’m not going to think too much about it actually.

The Chief took us around his village, showing us their tiny church and the water hole they draw all their fresh water from. The well is a hole in the ground , protected by nothing other than a tuft of grass and is about 6 feet deep.  I guess if you lived here, you’d know where it was and not fall down it. He took us to see where all the mats were made and building materials for the homes. he demonstrated how to use the conch shell - his island mobile phone - where announcements were made to other parts of the island. We trekked though the jungle to where the pig fences were. He admitted that they had not been maintained for years and now all the domestic pigs run freely in the village.  I tried to get photos of said pigs, but only managed to get their tails or a rustling branch as they ran past. 

Our trek home was pretty uneventful - most of the people were asleep, including both kids.   Home, they sparked up and yep.. wanted to go swimming. I’ve snapped our pool - where it overlooks the bay.  More fireworks viewing on the jetty before we headed to sleep.  I could get used to all this rest.. I wonder if this is what normal people feel like all the time?

Day 6 in Vanuatu

Once again, outside of our little home of calm and airconditioning, Port Villa was stinking hot - in both senses of the term.  The kids had done well at Christmas with their snorkelling - though had kept hold of our hands as we swum along. Lilly had given up with her mask at one point and opted just to use goggles - which sort of defeated the purpose - but had been happy to keep dipping her head in and out. Adrian was keen to do a longer snorkel adventure and wanted both kids to be more proficient with their skills - so off to our pool to practice some thing they went. 

After a little while, they all got sick of seeing nothing at the bottom of the pool and as it was so hot and yuck, we got a taxi down to the docks to head on over to Iriki again.  We started our snorkel at the beach, getting both kids used to fins and deeper swimming. Our nemo fish were still there guarding their babies, but as we saw a big fish lurking around, we didn’t want to be responsible for distracting them while it ate the babies.. so swum off to look at other things. 

We wandered up to a more casual cafe on the island for lunch. A point needs to be made here about food outlets.. “whats one thing you never take with you when eating out at Port Villa?”…. answer - “ your appetite”…. basically because things can take hours.. and I mean hours to get served. Once again our search for fish and chips was dashed, as was a hope for a simple salad.  Just as well the local beer was cold and quickly served. 

We walked around to Snorkelers cove to test out the kids with deeper water and fins.  The tide was going out - so we had limited time. Lilly and I got lost in the gardens of coral and the beauty of all the tiny blue fish which floated around like flowers.  Both kids did really well with their gear and we sadly had to admit things were getting a bit hairy over the sharp coral before we headed in. 

That night, instead of doing our normal self catering, we took up a tip from the lonely planet and went to the Chinese place that overlooked the harbour - a very easy 4 min walk from our place. The first thing I’d have to say is that it took Adrian and I back 20 years - it was like the Chinese places we used to go to in the Valley - before things got all posh. The smells and steam from the kitchen, the alters and decorations - all delightfully unashamedly Chinese. 

One thing Adrian was keen to try was the famous coconut crab - which they had on the menu. I love crab - but its so fiddly, I often end up not bothering. However, this was a huge crab, full of the juiciest, most succulent meat ever.  I am not sure if I would go as far as saying it was better than lobster - but its a close second. 

We got home pretty late, but went down to the jetty again to enjoy the bay fireworks.  A real mix - with the calmness of being on the dark water, silent stars glittering overhead, and then be disrupted by a plum of colour as fireworks explode beside you.