The Happiest Country in the World: Part IV: Atmosphere Tours

On our last full day in Vanuatu Rich and I decided we wanted to do a full island tour around Efate, however, there was a wee bit of a problem in that we had been in Vanuatu almost a week and we seemed have been to at least one of the attractions on nearly all of the round Island tours. Finally we found a company called "Atmosphere Tours" that had a tour that was a bit more unique, so we decided to book with them.

Our first stop was a traditional Vanuatu Village - which is apparently less common on Efate than the other islands. This man took us around the village and taught us some of the tribes culture and tradition.

 This lady (and the little girl that you can't really see) were preparing bananas to be preserved.

 The tribe did some of their traditional dances for the visitors to the village.

The visit to the village was finished off with the display of fire walking/dancing over some hot rocks. These pictures don't really show how impressive it really was.

Next up, we stopped off to "Eton Beach" that was more a fresh water swimming hole than a beach, for a swim. We also had a delicious morning tea of fresh fruit whilst at Eton Beach.

We drove around and saw some more sites around Efate - but our next stop was for lunch at a very cute restaurant near a beach where we saw another Vanuatu string band.

The lunch was amazing - I wish I had taken more photo's of it, because it was such a good meal. It was like something delicious you'd eat that someone's grandma had made for you! Next it was back into the van for more island adventures, including the old US army base from World War II. It is mostly grown over now though. We also drove past the largest coconut plantation on Efate - where they graze cows under the coconut trees so they can sell both coconut and meat.

Our next stop was my favourite on the tour - I love museums, especially low-fi museums run by a local with a passion. This one was a "coca-cola" museum run by a chap in his 70's. He has been collecting coca-cola bottles from the ocean for YEARS. The American troops left a lot of things behind when the left Vanuatu - including coca-cola bottles, this chap had been collecting them for years and he new all about the different factories in the States each bottle had been produced. He was incredible!

 These final photo's were taken at our final stop on the tour - I don't watch much TV, but the guide told us this was the spot where "Survivor Vanuatu" was filmed. To me it was just a stunning beach - where Rich made a new friend!

Well - that's our holiday to Vanuatu holiday - it was an amazing time. I really hope we can go back and visit sometime soon and see more of the country. It's a beautiful and fantastic place!

The Happiest Country on Earth: Part III: Port Vila

For the second part of our holiday we stayed in Port Vila which is the capital of Vanuatu - we stayed at a resort near the centre of town called "Coconut Palms Resort". Although it wasn't quite as tropical as Hideaway Island, it was a pretty great place to stay and look - it has a chair shaped like a hand!

We had the chance to hand out by the pool - although we only saw one person actually swimming in it.

When we arrived our bed was covered with tropical flowers - although it turned out they were all fake! I guess its harder to get flowers in town than it is at Hideaway Island.

Even thought we had one of the cheaper rooms - we still had a view of the pool from our outdoor area - not too bad at all.

Very near our resort was the local market which was pretty huge and a buzz with the locals selling fresh fruit, veges, crabs and other seafood, flowers and cooked meals.

One day we ate lunch at the market - I had curry egg rice and Rich had curry fish rice - this lovely lady cooked our meals in her tiny "kitchen". I just loved how everything was bright and cheerful!

Whilst traveling around town we found the local library - which was a perfect photo op for Rich! (He works in a library and his Masters Degree is in information studies).

Here's a few photos we took a round the waterfront area - I love the little waterside, although I don't think I would want to use it myself!

We were really lucky whilst we were in Port Vila as a fleet of Waka arrived whilst we were staying - the waka had crews from a whole lot of different Pacific Island countries - The Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and of course Aotearoa (which you all know better as New Zealand).

There was quite a lot of local art in town - here's a few of my favourite things!

Those of you that have traveled to the Pacific before may have tried kava, its pretty freely available in New Zealand as well (they used to sell it in the supermarket Rich worked at whilst he was studying the first time around). But this was the first time I'd ever seen a shop devoted to kava and selling kava. I think kava is pretty gross - so I didn't try any!

We also visited the museum and parliament - but it was kind of rainy when we went there so I didn't take many photos - but here is a view outside of the parliament.

Near our resort there was the high security prison (formerly the British prison) and the Ministry of Health - I really liked this sign as you can see the three languages of Vanuatu - English, French and Bislama.

Here is another building in Port Vila which was absolutely amazing, it's the "court of the chiefs" apparently if you do something bad, your tribe will send you here to be judged by chiefs from all over Vanuatu. If they find you guilty - you will be told you have bought shame to your family and your tribe and be swiftly handed over to the police. The outside of the building is all woven and its really beautiful.

Here's a couple of photos we took at a place called "Island Chicken" - Rich and I both had the chicken/rice combos! We liked the sign - don't forget your fidelity card!

Whilst we were out and about in town we decided to pick up a snack and have a "good time"!

We also had the chance to take in a Melanesia Feast whilst in Vanuatu - complete with a "Vanuatu String Band" and we had SO MUCH FOOD!

Finally on the last night at the resort there was a fire show - here a few of the photos I took of the night.