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Farewell New Zealand, Hello Vanuatu!
Spent my final few days in NZ with Jeanette and Matt and their 2 girls in Welcome Bay, near Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty. I've actually been in NZ longer than them as they've just moved here and only been in their new home for 2 weeks! Was great to get some home comforts, particularly a comfy bed, clean bathroom and a washing machine (with fabric conditioner!). Had a couple of lazy days - wandered round the base of Mt Maunganui, did a free wine tasting (but expensive lunch!) at Mills Reef winery and went to some hot pools down the road followed by fish and chips wrapped in newspaper!
Got back to Auckland via the 'naked bus' and stayed in a hostel near the airport. Ended up having dinner in a very weird Indian/Greek/Kiwi restaurant, located onstrip of random shops next to a strawberry farm! There was a sign outside saying 'no bare feet; no gumboots; a reasonable standard of dress'. Classic! The restaurant itself had a gramophone, statues of naked (v. naked) Greek gods and a dodgy old broken calor gas heater. This was complemented by the dirty mountain bike perched by the kitchen hatch, a bizarre collection of baseball caps, fluffy flamingos and a collection of female-shaped liqueur bottles. I go to all the best places!
On Sunday 22nd I set off on Air New Zealand to Vanuatu. What a fantastic airline! Got in the lounge as still have my gold card (but not for long...sob!) and had a hearty brekkie of scrambled eggs, hash browns, tons of toast, yoghurt, muesli (yes, I sampled the lot!) and then was very impressed with the actual aircraft which had tons of legroom and a really snazzy entertainment system (much better than my usual favourites of Cathay and SQ). Yes, yes, I know I'm an airline spod. Anyhooo, they came round with (more) breakfast and offered me champagne! Would have been very rude to refuse this in economy class so I had 2 glasses - all before 10am!
Flying over Vanuatu, it looked stunning and when we landed we were greeted in Immigration by the local island equivalent of George Formby and his band playing kind of banjos and a string on a box as a double bass. Then I got accosted at customs, the sun went in and I got totally ripped off by a taxi. Grrrrrrr!
Got to Le Meridien Resort (courtesy of airmiles) where everyone just watched as I struggled to carry my rucksack in my hands. Hmm, got the feeling the standards aren't quite the same as any other 5* hotel. Anyway, all fine once I was settled in my room so I wandered out to have a laze by the pool where it proceeded to piss it down not 5 minutes after I'd caked myself in factor 30 and settled down for a nap. Decided to wander down to the thriving metropolis of Port Vila, the capital city of Vanuatu which was a 25 minute walk uphill to get there and an equal 25 minute uphill (Eh, how does that work?). It was TINY! Nothing was open as it's a Sunday but I did find a supermarket to stock up on some standard fare of nuts, crisps and chocolate. Did want to get some wine but they don't sell it between 12 noon on a Saturday and 7am on a Monday (makes you wonder how many drunkards are wandering around by 7.30am Monday morning?!). There were a lot of locals loitering around all the street corners which was a bit disconcerting at first but then I figured that's probably just what islanders do and they were all friendly enough saying hello. The kids seem the most confident and they all have quite mad afro hairstyles, especially the babies.
So, Vanuatu is going to be my home for the next month. It's just won the award for the "happiest place on the planet". It's actually the place that inspired bungy jumping as every April/May, men build 35m high towers out of trees and vines and then tie vines to their ankles and dive from the tower. The purpose of the diving is to ensure a good harvest and ward off evil spirits.
The total population of Vanuatu is just over 200,000. It's been governed by both England and France (at one time it was both and each half of the population drove on their own side of the road!)
I'm not sure how I'm going to find it when I get to my village. The population is deeply spiritual with both Christian and pre-Christian beliefs and women are inferior and definitely come second place. Everything is decided by a tribal chief and there are men's clubhouses where they go every day to drink discuss 'important' matters. More on this once I've experienced it first-hand. Oh, and did I mention that until recently cannibalism was still practised?!
I laughed at some of the signs I saw today. Will try and take some photos. The language is a mixture of English, French and some Melanesian dialects although there are 105 local languages in existence in this tiny country! I noticed the church service are conducted in English and Pidgin (I always thought that was an offensive term these days?)
Some of the phrases are hilarious as they are just like English but in a different accent - here are some prime examples:
wan handred
gudmorning
gunaftenun
plis
tank yu
skiusmi
Anyhoo, more to follow very soon.
Linda
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