Melsisi and Waterfall Village

There are some really great things that happen when you're out and about in the middle of nowhere and they're often the simplest. Really makes you smile. We tramped up the hill, hungry and tired to find a chap with a little shack. Inside was a wood fired oven, looked like it was ancient, from which this guy had just pulled a batch of freshly baked bread. The smell of it, cor heaven. I was in awe just looking at the rows of perfectly baked bread. Well I guess we can thank the French missionaries for teaching the locals many years ago and the tradition goes on. So we stuffed our faces with the lovely warm bread and sat waiting for the Sister to turn up and give us lodgings for the night.

It was actually a couple of lads that rolled up. Oxford University grads Richard and Will. A couple of endearing fellows that welcomed us into their humble abode. They had been teaching at the local school since February and were staying for a year. Just great to have a brew and chat away with a couple of Brits. They offered dinner and disappeared into the kitchen and knocked up some chow. I think I might send the guys a recipe book when I get home. They returned with what I would describe as a medley of various boiled veggies thrown together with boiled eggs and then kneaded a bit to squelch it all into a ball. A dollop of which went on each plate with a hunk of bread. The thing is I have a sneaky feeling it was one of their tried and tested recipes from Uni. Am I right ? Who cares it tasted absolutely great and was just what we needed.

After we had seen off the food, they suggested a trip to the local Nakamal for a few shells of cava. The Nakamal is like the local pub. Nice one, Diane hadn't tried the lovely cava so far... now there was gonna be no ducking out :) It was a beautiful starry night, bats flying around and the sea gently lapping. Nakamals are always in darkness save for a small red light as the cava makes your eyes sensitive to bright light. We all stood with coconut shells at the ready. I told Di to take a deep breath and hold her nose. Didn't want her throwing up - put me right off my cava :). Down in one, wait for the stomach to stop rolling and then start spitting, it's hilarious. We sat chatting and laughing and had a really great night. Cheers to Richard and Will, best of luck for the rest of your time in Vanuatu and hopefully we may get to return the favour back in Blighty ?

Our hosts Richard and William

Huge stand of Bamboo whilst jungle trekking in the valleys around Melsisi. We finished off the day swimming in the fresh water pools.

Let me take you on a cruise Diane!!

Cunard eat ya heart out - This is the cruise to go on. Depart Santo 20.30 arrive Pentecost Island 16.00 the next day. It's cheap and cheerful but the accomodation is a little spartan, in fact it's any bit of floor you can lie on once the cargo is loaded. Cava, fuel oil, live stock, tins of spam (they love their spam), in fact anything you like gets around the islands on a number of cargo boats. We fancied a change so hopped on. Great experience, watching the islands slip by. Pulling into tiny drop off points along the way, the crew forming a human chain to load and unload. The islanders light a small fire when they see the boat, the Captain sees some smoke and despatches a small outboard to pick up !
Grabbing a brew from the galley we sit lookin over the side of the boat, flying fish darting out of the water and flying off in every direction !



Come on Diane, I'm sure we will have a hot shower in our cabin :)




cava roots

BED

hopping off the boat at Melsisi, Pentecost.

We wave good bye to the boat and make our way up to the Catholic mission to try and blag a bed for the night :)

Lonnoc Beach, Vanuatu

Quick stop for a puncture on the way to Lonnoc Beach. Diane shelters with the Mother Hubbards.

Takes a good dozen people to change a wheel here. One doing it and the others supervising.

Playing boules on the beach. Couple of coconuts, hours of fun (I'll give you some tips Linda!).

A strange feature on the beach is all the fresh water springs that run through it. When the tide goes out the water bubbles up through the sand like a tap, really bizarre it also makes the water shimmer where the fresh and salt water mixes.

Chillin Cava in Vanuatu

They make a big song and dance about this stuff in Vanuatu, apparently it's the best Cava in the world.
Let me enlighten you all....
They take the root from the Cava plant, wash it and then mash it to a pulp. The pulp is then soaked in water and strained a few times, all the juice is squeezed out into a bucket. The resulting liquid is the colour of ditch water and the taste of your old socks to the power of ten.
Its drunk from a small coconut shell. The usual ritual is to take a deep breath, prepare for the bodies natural reaction when you've drunk something as hideous as your old socks to the power of ten and down it in one. Hold onto something and wait while the bodies natural reaction to heave subsides, quick swig of orange juice helps. Then start spitting and hacking up like the locals. Man they love this stuff, I guess it has a chilling effect along with making your throat go numb. What can I say, when in Rome :)

Go on son, you love it, like nectar :)

Vanuatu - Oyster Island

Well this is what we signed up for when they said come to Vanuatu. Beautiful islands, kayaking down crystal clear rivers to blue holes in the jungle, deserted beaches without a single foot print and cracking sea food that you've just caught. Oyster Island had it all. We spent a good day kayaking and then snorkelling around an old fighter plane thats spread over one of the reefs. Loads of little hermit crabs and coconut crabs crawling around in the undergrowth. By 9pm you're crashing out in a picture postcard bungalow by the sea.

Blue thing

This is the Oyster Island door bell. Couple of whacks and one of the chaps comes over on a boat to ferry you across

nice

Blue hole in the Jungle, crystal clear fresh water

Diane loving the view. We didn't see another soul all day.

Note the gaffa tape to protect Diane's bandaged leg. Mind, she did have a brief sense of humour failure later when we took it off and found she had a nice striped leg from the sun :)

Fishing for your supper, aussie lad copped a Tuna and I got a Barracuda. The boat driver was also the chef. Probably the best bit of Tuna either of us have ever tasted - cooked with fresh coconut sauce :)

Its a rippa :)

Vanuatu - Port Orly

We dived in a 4x4 and headed 20 miles up the coast to Port Orly - should have been straight forward!! .... only the roads aren't roads, they're dirt tracks and it absolutely pissed down (all over our bags which were on the back of the pick up soaking through almost 80% of the contents).


We arrived like drowned rats in the pitch dark and were booted off the waggon, somehow the chap we were staying with was there to greet us. He showed us around our new home, a cosy little shack on the beach. Me and Diane sat looking at each other, back to reality sweetheart :) Still it had a gas burner so a cup of tea was the first thing on the go. We dumped our gear and Francis, our man in Port Orly, took us out for a bite to eat. No way..... steak and chips again !! I'm beginning to think it's a conspiracy :)

Morning dawned and what a beautiful place we were in. Breakfast was laid out under a shady canopy and all was well with the world. We spread all our wet clothes in the sun and spent a good 20 minutes drying all our money out in a frying pan.




Port Orly

Home sweet home



Money laundering :)

Bit of snorkelling with the local kids

Our host Francis with his son. Lovely chap showed us around the jungle pointing out the goodies and the baddies.

Don't ask...... you're in paradise :)

Vanuatu - Espirito de Santo

Arrived from Sydney after a 3 hour flight. Back to reality after the unrivalled hospitality of The 4 Seasons. Santo is the biggest island in Vanuatu. The main town is Luganville, dusty hot non-descript place that was a huge US Military base during WW2. It's a pretty drab town where the locals seem to sit around doing very little. The local restaurants consisted of a little row of huts by the market. Each one with a window hatch and a big smiling Mama inside. Despite the town's image, the people are all very smiley and welcoming. The menu was steak or curry with a jug of squash. Its cheap and cheerful and cooked in front of you. We spent a couple of days sorting ourselves out and then headed out of dodge.

Back at the ranch doing some cookin of my own. The chips were from the local chippy in town, served with .... steak again :)

Sydney

After almost 6 months in India and South East Asia we kinda reached a consensus that to be perfectly honest we were a little tired of living like rats and deserved a good break in a nice hotel. The kind of hotel where a bloke in a cap opens the door for you on arrival and there's a suitable amount of bowing and scraping in the foyer.

I left it in Diane's capable hands and we arrived at The Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney at about 10.30 in the morning.

I advised the bell boy he might want to be careful with the bags I didn't want him soiling his clean uniform on the way up to the room with them. Blimey! 30th floor with a big window looking straight out to the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, we just sat gazing at the view and the room. Never been 5 star before, not sure I ever will again but for I think we both thought 'to hell with expense'. For 2 nights we felt like rock stars :)

Anyway, after Diane had half inched all the posh L'Occitane shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and body lotion from the bathroom and stashed it in her pack we headed into town (honestly i couldn't believe my eyes, Diane was beaming at me "its ok" she said "we've bloody paid for that" Sure enough it had all been replaced by the evening. Kept us smelling nice for the next 2 months :)

Sydney was great, lots to see and do, and some nice architecture. I like Sydney; it's a great mix of old and new, very clean and easy to navigate. Wandered around the harbour, guys playing their didgereedoos and a right nice cafe style feel to everything. We met Di's friend, Emily (from Bristol but now living in Sydney) in the evening and she was determined to ensure we had a great welcome to Sydney. We had a good night out, plenty of beer, pizza, pasta and champagne. Head was a bit fuzzy in the morning for sure.

Room with a view !

Diane displaying her love for me :)

Thats the 4 seasons in pole posiotion !

End of the night we got back to the room and just looked at the view

Cheers everyone