Day 11 in Vanuatu - Happy Birthday Age

It was our last day at the Friendly Bungalows and the night before we heard that another couple needed to be at the airport for 8 am - meaning another very early start breaky at 5.45 and into ute at 6.30.  It was either this - or wait till around 2 until the ute arrived back and could take us practically back the same way - so we opted to be time and fuel sensible and go early.

We arrived at  Whitegrass Resort  just on  8am when  everyonelse was walking to breaky and waking up. Originally I had planned for us to stay here the entire time, but many resorts will not take children to the volcano saying its too dangerous and traumatic. I am very glad we stayed over at the bungalows. Very rustic and a billion miles away from everything. I didn’t miss not having electricity - well - the Friendly had power for three hours a day, but I will also say I was very glad to have a hot shower and a toilet that worked. ( there I go again with the toilet thing)

It was a great choice as we had the whole day soaking up sun at the pool and getting black volcanic ash out of hair and clothes.  I have included a photo of one of the many secluded siting spots where you can just take in the scenery on cliff faces.

Age was very tired having had a few seizures over the last few days. He and Lilly slept in ‘proper’ beds for over two hours that afternoon.

Morgan and I decided to explore what the resort had to offer and started of with  a round of golf on their very cute three par course. It only had six holes but someone had put alot of work into it and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. It was Morgans first real go at golf and he tried his very best to listen to all the waffle I carried on about to assist with his swing. 

Given the course, I decided only to take  a 9 iron and putter with us.

With any game of golf, I  am always happy if I get a few good shots in. I was rewarded with the thwack of a well placed hit a few times - so for me - it was well worth doing.  I also had the opportunity to spent alone time with Morgan and just chat.  He was particularly pleased with the traditional watering hole end; when  I had a well earned shandy and he had a fanta spider.  We saw a few other games to amuse us with and I promised to check out the  croquet and the boules the next day.

Age woke inspired to take a walk, so set off with Morgan to check out the White grass plainlands and the horses. Lilly and I attempted tennis in thick kikua grass where once ball landed it thudded and rolled. We returned to the pool and hung out there till the light began to fade.

The boys returned, dirty and tired and a little confused as to if they had actually seen the plain lands.  It appeared that the descriptions and reality were a little at odds with each other. We celebrated Adrian's birthday with cocktails at sunset with a special dessert plate of fruit and flowers as his ‘cake’.

New Years Eve 2010

We did a huge amount of nothing today. The kids coloured in and collected seashells. Age literally hung in a hammock and slept. I read junky books overlooking the beach and kids.

We had the most delicious paw paw for morning tea - brought over to us by one of the villagers.

At one point Lilly got her hair braided again as it was starting to look pretty ratty. I got a massage in the massage hut ( a very loose term I can assure you) We ate, we slouched around, we went for a walk along the beach.

I’ve included a photo of our restaurant.. Built on the slopping beach - it sensibly has a sand floor so that the crabs can clean up any crumbs and mess split. 

Later in the evening, after the kids went to bed, Age and I sat on the beach in front of a very small fire. It had rained on and off most of the day - so finding dry kindling and wood to keep it going was an interesting task.

We were joined by the partner of a new arrival. Most of the others ( all 5 of them) had gone to the John Frome Cult evening. Side note here - Its one of the surviving cargo cults; where islanders dance and sing in prayer to their saviour and hope that he brings coca cola and American items to them. The true roots are a bit shady, but it seems that these cults were born out a rejection of the ideals missionaries were forcing the locals into. A figure - mostly a white American man came to all the chiefs and told them to pray to Jesus and to him, but to return also to their traditional way of life and cultural trappings. In return he would bring them modern things to help them. Cults got bigger during the second world war when Americans actually did drop a great deal of things to the islands. 

The celebrations on Fridays are an entire evening ( till dawn) spontaneously lead song and dance party.  Sounds like a good idea to me!  Anyway!

Age saw the new year in, feeding the fire coconut husks and twigs…. andthen it rained on him.

Happy Birthday luv

The Volcano

We readied ourselves for the Volvano trip, bringing head torches and jackets as it gets cold up there. The ride was bumpy and steep as we drove around wash out and through creek beds. This time I rode in the back of the truck with its tiny narrow wooden seats for 18 km of twisty cut in through the muddly trails.  Morgan and Lilly were given some mangos to eat and were shown how the locals consumed them - skin and all.  I was told they were the most delicious and sweetest mangoes they had ever had.. certainly the juiciest and messiest.

The closer we got to volcano, the more apparent the steam and smoke became as it burped out. I wasn’t prepared for the ash plains below though. It was an incredible desert of black ash. We stopped for a while to look up at the volcano as it periodically puffed out its black clouds. The ash constantly feathered down on our faces. Apparently there is a local group who take tourists half way up this side of the volcano with pieces of board - so you can sand board down.  Looked like a steep old trek for a few mins of fun.

Our truck took us around the base of the volcano to the other side and then we began our ascent. It was a bit unsettling to see puffs of smoke rise from the track as we passed and tiny outlets of steam on the side of the road. ( I am using the term road very loosely here)

We arrived at a desolate rocky plateau. I am now sorry not to have taken photos of the toilets there. We were all so excited at getting to the top of the mountain, I forgot it was going to be night time by the time we made our way down.  Basically they were tiny huts built over pits. Thin logs stretched over the hole and rudimentary box with hole in top to sit on. Very scary in the dark I can tell you.. I think I am obsessed with toilets…

Anyway , our guide - beguiled by Miss Lilly, put her on top of his shoulders and carried her to the top, whilst wearing thongs.  Note that the surface was loose ash and rocks and very steep. On the way up, cold, stinging rain pelted down on us.  There wasn’t a patch on us that was dry - not undies.. nothing. 

When we got to the edge and looked over, it was incredible. There was too much noxious smoke to see the pit of bubbling lava - but we only had to wait a few moments before it was shot up in the air in an explosion. Huge sprays of lava and enormous rocks were shot into the air every minute or so. Looking down we could see when the next big explosion was to happen as there was a disturbance in the air, the ground rumbled and then …. BOOM.

We stayed till it was very dark, marvelling at the fireworks display against the night sky.  Coming down wasn’t so hard - especially with our very funky and highly unfashionable head torches.  Despite the bumpy ride back both kids put their heads down and fell asleep.  We were filthy and covered in ash, smelling like a bitumen truck when we got home - but the care factor when we got to our beds rated very lowly.