Note: I did save the photos right way around but for some reason they are showing the wrong way - Deal with it!
aaahhhhh Vanuatu, an island paradise located in the south pacific just beside Fiji and about a 3 hour plane flight from Auckland.
Vanuatu is made up of 83 islands varying in size. Only one of these islands, Efate, has a town. the other 82 islands are all inhabited by the primitive people - more on this later....
Brief History:
Vanuatu was first discovered by Spaniards in 1606 when Espirtiu Santo thought he had found Australia (as the main island looks a bit like auzzie..... if you close one eye and squint really hard) it was then mapped by Captain Cook in 1774 who named the group of islands New Hebrides.
New Hebrides was occupied by British and French with the French outnumbering the British two to one. When it was occupied by the French and British the island was split. There was a side for the British to live, work and a prison for them, and a separate side for the French.
On July 30th 1980 the country became independent and renamed itself Vanuatu.
The currency in Vanuatu is the VATU (VT) and they all speak Engligh, French and Pidgon English (mixture of English and French and some words they made up)
Our Trip
Day One:
We arrived in Vanuatu at 10.30am VIL Time (thats about 2 hours behind NZ). Flying into the country we were more than excited. This trip was our honeymoon and we both desperately needed a break!
Flying in over the islands was breathtaking. The water looked so clear and blue, we could see various islands and it all looked spectacular.
Landing in Port Vila the heat hits you like a wall. Leaving Auckland at 14 degrees and arriving in Vanuatu at 28 degress was a shock! We went through the airport, customs etc and got collected by our transfer which took us to our 'resort'. First thing we noticed was that they drive left had vehicles and drive on the right hand side of the road, must come from when the British and French were in rule.
We arrived at our Resort, the Coconut Palms Resort, which was an award winning resort. What I didnt realise was that the awards were for, yep you guessed it BEST BUDGET ACCOMODATION - WTF? It looked nice enough from the outside but our room was much to be desired. We had been booked in to a deluxe clover room. What we got was far from deluxe. It was a tiny room with a pokey bathroom which stunk. It smelled like old feet.
After dumping our bags we thought we would have a little explore around our 'resort' - yeah that didnt long. It was quite small, but had the essentials - restaurant, pool etc what it didnt have however, was any sort of closeness to a beach, air-conditioning which worked or an amazing view. Our 'view' was over looking some poor families backyard (and by poor I mean broke, not 'oh poor them')
We thought we would go for a walk around our block and see what was there. So we headed off down the road in the 27 degree heat.
Walking the streets of Vanuatu the first thing we noticed was how dirty the place was. There was rubbish everywhere! All over the streets, stuck to fences. It was like no one gave a dam about the condition of the place. The roading was terrible, foopaths, drainage, storm waters etc were non-existant. The uncanny thing was that next door to our resort was the Ministry of Health, which looked a state in its own right!
100m down the road from our 'resort' was a round-a-bout. On one corner was a service station and a dodgy as looking chinese take-a-way place (go figure), then there was parliment, a school, and on the last corner was a prison! yep straight across the road from a school! The prison was made up of mostly shipping containers that had been converted surrounded by a fence with a bit of barbed wire. I later found out most of the inmates are in there for drink driving - turns out NZ isnt the only country renowned for this. I also later learnt that if a woman has an abortion, thats an instant 5 years behind bars!
Walking along the streets we definetly feel out of place. Vanuatu has a unemployment rate of over 60% so there are a lot of people just milling around. They are either sitting under trees drinking coconuts, sitting outside shops or driving around on the back of utes. To be honest, I felt a bit like we were in Somalia just waiting for one of them to jump out with an AK47 and blow my head off!
We ended up at a dead end so turned around and headed back to our resort for a cold drink. We lounged by the pool and had a little nap which was nice except I got attacked by the island bugs!
BUG ATTACK
It was then time for tea. Now the food in Vanuatu is something else. The menu looked great! Steak, chips and vegies or stuffed chicken etc. However what came out was something completely different. They have cows and chickens on the island so the meat was there, however the taste was strange. The beef tasted like cardboard, the chicken like feet. All in all in was rather strange. The milk they use is long life milk which comes in those cardboard cartons or it was powered. The bread was about an inch thick!
At least it was cool in the restaurant and the pineapple juice became my staple.
We then headed back to our room for the night to discover our air conditioner was the crappiest piece of crap. Not only did it not blow cold, but it made humming and grunting noises and would then spit ice out! not cool (excuse the pun).
Day Two:
The transfer company who took us to our resort -Adventures in Paradise, also gave us a booklet about things to do on the island including some vouchers so we had a look through there and decieded on what we wanted to do. We walked into town to their offices to book a few tours. The first on we went on was a tour of the 'city'. It was a 2 hour tour which took us around the outskirts of Port Vila and then through the township itself.
This tour just confirmed my Somalia comparison. because Vanuatu has 2 seasons -wet and dry, in the wet season they suffer servere cyclones. This means that the shops and businesses are in this cold concrete buildings. Most of them have no windows because the glass just blows out during a cyclone. They also have steel roller doors which are pulled down at night and when they are closed.
We were also taken to a sweatshop. They called it the islands only printers but it was definitely a sweatshop – hell I sweated like a rapist in there! This was where all the printing was done for both corporate and personal needs. All the school, police and business uniforms were printed there.
While we were driving around the town the poverty of the country became very clear. There literally is no money. Not only was it obvious in the roading and other council amenities but also the condition in which people live. The houses were nothing more than shacks. Most of them looked like they were made of rubbish –old bits of iron, wood etc. Pretty much everyone roams around barefoot or in old jandels. They live on dirt floors and eat coconuts, bananas and pawpaw. They stink. Literally. The shops stink. The air stinks. The town stinks.
We were shown a meeting house of the local village. This was where the Chief and locals would come to discuss the matters at hand. If someone did something wrong they were required to give a pig to the victim and all would be forgiven. If only it was that easy.
That afternoon we had a swim in our ‘resort’ pool to try and wash the stink off and another nap pool side.
Day Three:
We had booked a ‘round the island’ tour. We got picked up just before 9am. There was an Aussie and a French lady doing the tour with Cody and I.
The first stop was to visit the jungle and see how the natives live. There are hundreds of villages in Vanuatu all who still live off the land. We walked a little bit into the jungle following a path and to be honest it was a little scary. Then all of a sudden this native jumped out of nowhere with a spear in his grass skirt yelling some sort of abuse at us. I shat myself. Literally. Well not literally but you know....
We then carried on down this path – this time with me clinging to Cody’s arm like a baby monkey on his mother. We arrived at a clearing with more natives yelling and waving spears. We then greeted by our guide who thank god spoke English. He showed us around their living area.
It takes them 7 years to build their main living home. There is also a separate house for the woman, when she has a visit by Aunty Flow, or is pregnant she lives in a separate house away from the family. This is so she rests. It is the man’s job to cook her meals and take them to her and to make sure the rest of the family runs smoothly while she is away. – I think our men can learn a lot from this.
We were also shown the biggest god dam spider I have every seen in real life. It was a Golden Orb and it was frickken HUGE! They use the webs these spiders spin for fishing. The web is very sticky and when in the water it sparkles. The fish are attracted to it and jump up to grab it. Once they do they cant let go – quite clever really.
We were also shown how the women and children prepare banana to be stored for the cyclone season. The banana can last 7 years in the ground – don’t know how keen I would be to eat 7 year old banana but hey, if needs must.
They have these trees in the Vanuatu jungle which reminded me of the big tree off Avatar. I cant for the life of me remember what they were called but they had these big huge roots which were exposed. The natives would live in these trees during a cyclone as it was the only thing which would withstand the high winds.
After the jungle visit we then went to a river which was the most beautiful river ever. It was so refreshing and cool. Water ran over these smooth rocks into a deep swimming hole. It was sheltered from the sun and we got snorkels to have a look around. There were various sizes of fish just milling around. It was so awesome, they had to drag me away!
After the river we were shown around a garden which boasted all Vanuatu had to offer. Various flowers including banana, ginger and pineapple plants. There was also the hibiscus and frangipanis. We also saw wild coffee and tobacco plants!
There were also some unusual animals including massive geckos, fruit bats (which they call Flying Fox and they fry them up and eat them!) and rainbow lorikeets which dance.
After the gardens, we then continued on our trip around the island. Along the way there were numerous 'street shops' sell their wares. 99% of the time it was bananas, magos, pawpaw, and coconuts. We stopped at one of them and tried some coconut milk and coconut apple. Neither of which tastes anything like coconut - go figure!
We stopped for lunch at 'secret beach' which wasnt all that secret considering there was a massive sign on the street! We had mince, rice, salads etc. General island mash for lunch. The cove there was absolutely stunning though. Crystal clear waters, white sand and HAMMOCKS - this was more what I was expecting from Vanuatu.
From there we headed around to havannah Harbour, which is where they filmed Survivor-Vanuatu. It was again a beautiful beach. We went snorkelling there and saw some amazing fish and large clams! The downside to this beach was that a lot of glass and metal wash up on the beach. Back in the World War II the USA used Vanuatu as a base. Once the war was over all their boats etc we left behind and to this day the rubbish is still washing up on the beach.
From there we headed back to our 'resort' by this stage it was after 5 and we had missed our afternoon nap, so we were both very tired. Had a quick tea then headed to bed.
Day Four:
We had a lazy day and a bit of a sleep in. Then we headed into town and had a nosy around the shops etc. We then booked a time for a ride on the Zergos. I was a bit concerned at first because the sea looked a little rough out of the bay. But I bit the bullet and did it anyone - and it was SUPER FUN!
Zergos are like jetskis-boats-canoe things. They go pretty quick and are super reliable! I SO WANT ONE!
Day Five:
We got picked up at 4.30am by a local who was taking us fishing for the day. Fishing charter prices we have previously found were up around 75-95,000 VT (over $1000 NZ Dollars) but luckily our friendly Zergo guide, Roger, had an Uncle and Cousin who would take us out for 30,000 VT. By just after 5am we were out in our Banana boat cruising around some of the islands. Now by boat I mean a canoe with a 40HP motor. It looked dodgy as hell, but to honest felt quite safe. We headed out past a small island called 'Hat Island' named so because it looked like a mexican hat.
Hat Island was were the countries Cheif of Chiefs was burried. Back in the day, if someone stole your cheif it meant that they owned your land and people. So they buried their cheif here. Along with his wife, who was still alive. Yep she was buried alive with him! He was dead so she no longer had a reason to live, but murder was against their beliefs so they buried her with him alive.
Anyway, we spent a bit fishing around Hat Island, then Jimmy our guide, told us about a F.A.D (Fish Attracting Device) which was about 6 miles out from the coast and in a 5 metre swell. Well I can tell you what my answer to that was but a woman like me can not even type those words!
So we headed around the other way to some of the most isolated islands. The beaches, water and islands were absolutely stunning to say the least.
We hadnt caught anything and was just about to give up hope, when all of a sudden the line I was trawling with gave an almighty jerk and just about pulled me off the boat. Cody grabbed the rod before I even knew what was going on and starting winding....
Up popped a Blue Fin Travelli, not the biggest fish in the world but it was amazing colors! And we were just stoked we had caught SOMETHING
Cody was even allowed to drive the boat back to shore - he was like a kid at Christmas!
The fishing was diffently an experience and all in all it wasnt too bad.......
....except for the pain we suffered from that beating down Vanuatu sun
This meant we spent the rest of the day on the bed in our room, lathering on aloe vera cream and feeling awfully sorry for ourselves. I had somehow managed to burn the insides of my elbows and the tops of my knees. This resulted in me being unable to bend my elbows or straighten my knees so I moved as little as possible!
Day Six:
Everytime we were in town and we were out on the Zergos we saw this other little Island just a 2 min ferry ride away. I was a whole resort and it was call Iriki Resort. So we decided today we would catch the free ferry over and check it out.
They had these amazing bungalows which sat over the water. We enquried about how much they were and if there were any left. We got a deal on one for 25,000 VT (about $280 NZD) which included breakfast.
While we were waiting for their room, I decided to have a swim in their pool which was up on a cliff top over looking the sea too cool my sun burn, while Cody just relaxed and took in the views and made a little friend...
We were sick of our slummy 'resort' so it was so nice to relax somewhere clean and nice for the night. OMG now this was luxery! the room was spacious, the bathroom was clean and see that the thing on the wall in the centre top? An air conditioning unit which actually worked!
And the views were amazing! Even at night
We had the best nights sleep in this bungalow.
Day Seven:
We awoke from our amazing sleep and headed off to our breakfast. OMG what a spread! There was every kind of juice, ceral and fresh fruit you could imagine. As well as bread REAL BREAD. There was even a cook that would make an omelteomelte to order right in front of you! Pure bliss. So we filled ourselves up and then headed down to the resorts beach where there was free canoeing.
We canoed for a little bit but then something else caught our attention.....
HIRE ME? Dont mind if I do. For 18,000 VT 9about $200NZD) we hired a jetski and got a guided tour around the bays and islands. I didnt take my camera for this though.....which was lucky because we had an incident....
Cody found a graveyard of all the old Army gear from the wars. So he stopped the jetski and we both turned around to look, next thing you know we are both in the drink! We were both cracking up laughing - worst thing was that there was cruise boat floating past with a deck full of onlookers SHAME. It was quite nice to cool off a bit though....
We then headed back to Iriki for lunch and a swim in their pool while our clothes dried as we had only taken enough for one night.
Then it was back to the slums for our last night in Vanuatu...
Day Eight:
We were picked up at 8.30am for our drop off to the airport ready for our 11am flight back to Auckland. To be honest I was almost relieved to be heading home, the heat was getting to be too much! The plane landed with NZers all ready to start their Vanunatu experience and we were busting to get on that air conditioned plane to get home.
So that was our breakdown of our holiday. Now Pros and Cons of visiting Vanuatu:
Pros:
* The outer beaches from the town are stunning. White sands, blue waters just what you would expect
* Duty Free is stupidly cheap
* There is HEAPS to do!
* Iriki (and some other outer resorts) are beautiful and worth the extra money
* Snorkelling is out of this world
* The cultral side of things is really fascinating and worth exploring
Cons:
* The town is filthy, it stinks, the people sink
* The sun is intense, pretty much if you are not in a car, or water you wante to be inside
* The food is eeww. The beef is cardboardy, no milk. Stick to fries!
* The mosquities are on acid. You never see them but they bite like vampires
All in all thats our breakdown. I am glad to have experienced Vanuatu and to have done everything we did. Would I go back again? Probarly not.
Now, wheres our next adventure?
