Travel Memories Tuesday: Hideaway Island, Vanuatu

Oh Vanuatu - how I love you! Beautiful weather, friendly people, fresh fruit, snorkling. I wish I was there RIGHT NOW!

The Happiest Country in the World - Part Three - Mele Village

Whilst we were staying  at Hideaway Island we had the opportunity to take part in a few different activities, one of the activities was a village tour. Hideaway Island (obviously not its original name) was home to the Mele tribe for a long time, but there was a tsunami that hit the island approximately 30 years ago. When that happened the Vanuatu government decided that the Mele people should leave the island and be relocated on Efate.

Most of the people who work on Hideaway Island now are from the Mele tribe and they are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet, and whilst we were staying on Hideaway Island we had the chance to be shown around their village.

The above building is the tribes meeting house.

There were SO MANY pigs in the village! For some reason this guy was in a cage (I have the feeling he may have been dinner) but most of them were running free.

There were a number of weddings in the village in the upcoming weekend, so they were putting down some hangi (underground earth oven). Actually we call it a hangi here in nz - they had another word for it in the village.

There were actually quite a few local stores in the village, we visited one store that was a co-op owned by all the people in the village.

These are yarns drying - I was really puzzled when I saw them!

The local payphone - although everyone seems to have cell phones anyway.

I'm not too sure if I'd want to travel in a "bus" that says "oh no!" in the front window.

We got taken to one of the village kava bars - it had a dirt floor and was very basic. I really don't like kava!

The happiest country on earth - part one - Hideaway Island

It is true -Vanuatu is the happiest country on earth, well at least I think so. Our trip to Vanuatu started so early we may as well not have gone to bed at all on Saturday night, but it was worth it to see this early morning view on the plane as we traveled from Wellington to Auckland to catch out flight to Port Vila.

In the distance you can see our first destination - Hideaway Island! It's just a short ferry ride away from Efate (the Island where port vila is) in fact - less than five minutes.

The beach at Hideaway Island is all coral - so you need to wear shoes to walk on it - but that was fine with us as it meant that it was a perfect snorkeling beach. We saw so many cool fish whilst snorkeling - including a whole "Nemo" family!

Because the beach is all coral, the resort had loads of these lovely white deck chairs to lounge about on. I really loved them, a great place to leave your towel and other gear whilst snorkeling but also great to sit on to read a book and watch the sunset.

This black maxi is my new favourite holiday dress - I picked it up in an op shop in Kilbirnie for a couple of dollars before we left.

 

Messages of love in the form of coral!

There were a fun activities included with the price of our room - including a daily glass bottom boat ride! Fun times.

 

Another view of Hideaway Island from our glass bottom boat - so pretty!

This is the view you have when you first arrive at Hideaway Island - I love it!

Finally a friend we made on the Island - if you couldn't tell from the photos, Hideaway Island in absolutely tiny. You can walk around the whole island in about ten minutes and we didn't think there were any animals on the island at all until this friendly guy turned up at our door on the third day. I'm sure he was being well fed from scraps from the restaurant.

Home Again!

Hello lovelies! It's true - we are home again and we had the most INCREDIBLE time in Vanuatu. It's one of the most incredible places I've ever visited. The weather was lovely, the beaches and snorkeling were stunning and the people were some of the most lovely people you could ever hope to meet. There is a poster when you arrive at Port Vila Airport which says "Welcome to Vanuatu - the happiest place on earth". When I arrived I was pretty skeptical about that sign - but after spending a week in Vanuatu I think it could well be the truth. I have many, many photos to share and stories to tell - but its late and tomorrow I return to reality (work!) so I will just leave you with this photo of the first resort we stayed at on Hideaway Island. It's pretty fabulous.