May 10 - 11
We had a really easy time leaving Sydney. The cab was on time to pick us up, there were no lines at the counter or at customs and it was only a half full flight! Here's Brendan in line at the counter.
The one and only Air Vanuatu plane
Waiting to board
When we arrived, a stair ladder was pulled (manually) up to the plane and we deboarded into a steamy tropical night - we arrived around 11:30 PM. Here is Brendan waiting in the line to go through customs. No air conditioning in the airport, just ceiling fans!
Once we got through customs and quarrantine, Tom and Linda greeted us with hand made leis and had someone take our picture
This group was playing for the people in line at the customs counter, then moved outside to the taxi stand
We felt very touristy having these shots taken!
Sunday, May 11th - We got up around 5:30 (which was pretty good since we didn't get to bed until well after midnight) and piled with Tom and Linda and their 3 dogs into the station wagon and drove to White Sands Beach.
After the beach walk we drove up to the home of David, an Australian who is writing an extensive history of Vanuatu. We had a nice breakfast in the yard before taking a walk around his land.
We walked to a scenic lookout and could see the beach we had just been walking on.
The dogs are elated as they don't usually get to go to other people's houses and go for extensive walks!
This is the site of an eco-tourism project that some ni-Vanuatu (people of Vanuatu or natives)are working on. David sold them the land after they were kicked out of their other location!
A Banyan tree with roots climbing up the trunk.
This bridge used to be level with the road, but after a major earthquake, one side if it sank. Although people did not use the bridge for a few weeks, eventually they started driving over it again and are just careful as it has not been repaired or reinforced.
After dropping the dogs at home, we went on a tour of Tom's office, shown here, which is on the main street in the town of Port Vila.
Even the parking lot across the street has a beautiful tropical view!
Tom and Linda are friends with Anne and Augestin who own the fish market, LTP. We stopped by to ask about the possiblity of one of their boats dropping us off on a remote island for a few days.
