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.

Day 5 Vanuatu - Our introduction to fireworks.

Everything was blissfully quiet the morning after the earthquake when we all woke up.

Age was still exhausted and slept till past ten, grumbled as his eyes opened and promptly went back to sleep. 

I was thankful I'd packed a bunch of craft and art supplies for the kids to keep active with. They were really good at staying quiet while we slept and getting their own breaky. 

This mornings craft was spent digging away at a block of plaster of paris which promised glow in the dark dinosaur bones. It made a huge mess and produced a few slivers after about half an hour of hard slog. The kids got a bit jack of it, the heat and the flies. I don’t blame them, I was sick of it after a few mins of scoring and digging at it.  My romantic idea of being a archeologist was finally dashed at that moment…

With Adrian still not well and very tired, we decided to go off for the day and wander around the streets and port. The kids were pretty set on seeing what was open and to play on the parks there.

I’d been amazed at the selection and availability of fireworks around. Here in Aust they are banned and only the older ones of us can remember firecracker night.  It seemed every corner store had a display of them outside, as well as any bloke who had a spare set of stairs to prop them up on. So, what does a fine upstanding, sensible mother do when faced with a load of really cheap fireworks with no instructions in English?  Thats right - she goes and buys a bunch.  Well, to say there was no English my be a bit unfair.  Each one had a picture of where to light it or ignite it and the words - “light and run.”

We wandered about town, knowing that most places would be closed, but delighted in the tiny spots where still attracted people. I know I am going to sound really dumb and culturally insensitive here - but there were heaps of people, just sitting around. On stairs, on the street and in the gutters. just accumulated and sitting.  What the heck where they waiting for?  In one spot we found some live music but after a while decided that Vanuatuan music was a little off beat for us.  They certainly had a lot of joy and energy in their exuberant displays of musicianship.  I guess my ears weren’t in tune with them though.  We found a little cafe and on our mission to have fish and chips - found. yep - no fish.. however they did have chips so we ate local yam fries. They are super starchy and sweet.

We found the juice bar down on the docks and while the kids ate ice cream, I had a coffee, discovering that it had free wi fi. It was pretty slow and timed out alot, so I stopped getting excited about it. I did  load up a few photos from Christmas onto facebook, but quickly dismissed the idea of coming here often as it was a good 3 km walk to our place - one way We played connect four on a set that kept dumping all the disks - but made us laugh anyway. It rained spiratically but you kind of get used to the jeckle and hyde nature of the weather where is stinking hot then suddenly pouring with rain. 

We got home to discover Age had gone off exploring by himself for the afternoon and had only just arrived himself.  Morgan proudly displayed all the fireworks we bought and set about telling all the other occupants in the complex about our fireworks display to night.

In inky darkness, we set all the fireworks up along the jetty. The kids loved the small bangers which exploded when you threw them on the ground.  My personal favourite ones were the cherry bombs which you lit and threw into the water.  They exploded from a depth of a few feet, lighting up the watery surrounds.  Boy they were loud if they didn’t reach the water though!  Age set up some fountains at the end of the jetty, which showered silvery spurts into the sky.  

Our finale was a rocket which was stuck into the sand and lit - and everyone ran and hid ( just as the instructions said) It shot off with a huge sizzle and exploded colours into the night sky.  So awesome!  hummm.. might have to buy some more tomorrow!

There were some other young folk there who were equally impressed and promised to take it in turns each night to provide the fireworks.. what fun!

Earthquake

I certainly was enjoying all the extra time sleeping. I can’t recall the last time I had more than 6 hours!  But all good things come to an end they say. Christmas evening - a few hours after everyone had gone to sleep, I woke, feeling pretty ordinary. I blamed having eaten half a cow at lunch time.  A bit of a rude shock for all of our bodies after being vegan for most of the year. I felt feverish suddenly so piled two blankets on top of me while everyone sweltered with the aircon on. The romantic in me says that I felt the disturbance in the earths energy. Its more probable that it was my lunch telling me I was a pig and was now feeling the effects of my overindulgence.

I got up again, uneasy and checked if the kids were ok, then got a drink and went back to bed. I tossed and turned and stared at the dark ceiling, wondering if I was doomed to stare at it for hours till the sun came up. 

Then bed started to shake; not just a little - but violently. At first, I thought Age was having a major seizure. However, I put my hands on him and found he was blissfully snoring on. The bed continued to shake and I started to wonder if I was in a scene of the poltergeist. and then everything stopped.  

I heard dogs howling and knew then it was an earthquake. I got out of bed to check onthe kids and then went outside. Others within the complex were also searching the inky darkness and chatting excitedly.  Further down the street I heard shouting and cars began to beep their horns. 

There didn’t seem to be any damage or anything to do, and given my whole family were still snoring away, I went back to bed and fell quickly asleep.

Later the next morning I found out that it had been a 7.7 with some disturbance with the water levels. However, watching the beach, there didn't seem to be much difference. Perhaps the high tide was larger.  We were warned not to go into the water for the rest of the day; so given that, we planned for a quiet day.