Our first destination in Vanuatu was Pentecost island, most famous for it’s “land diving”. We had a scenic flight there on the little 12 seater plane, which flew us over a couple of smoking craters on the neighbouring island, Ambrym. It was a little disconcerting that no one came to pick us up for around an hour, however we were finally picked up to go to see the big event. The land diving entails men of all ages jumping from towers made only of sticks bound together with vines. They have vines tied around their ankles to stop them hitting the ground. It is said that this practice was the precursor to the bungee jump! They started at the lower heights and built up to the finals right at the top of the tower, braced by a young boy! While the men are jumping, the others dance and sing/chant and whistle on the ground, almost like cheerleaders. It was an amazing (and terrifying) spectacle to watch!
We stayed a couple of nights on Pentecost island at Noda Guesthouse. It was basic but very real and homely. They cooked us 3 fabulous meals each day, which we ate in a traditional hut overlooking the sea. We spent some time relaxing on the beach, which was beautifully quiet, and had a wonder around the village. The village was called Waterfall Village (or “Vanu” in the native language) and we soon found out why. We paid a visit to the waterfall, which was jaw dropping. It was 30m tall and the water ran in several streams down basically a vertical cliff face. We enjoyed swimming in the pool at the bottom (and George embraced the little boy in him and built a dam). As the water flowed down the hill below the waterfall, there were several pools. One was particularly cool, with the water running into it through a cave.
On our final day, the chief of the village kindly offered to take us on a hike to 2 other waterfalls. We felt like explorers trekking through the jungle and actually walking in the river. These two waterfalls were equally stunning! We also got some great views and passed several of the plantations It was a great opportunity to hear a bit more about the island and the culture!
We had a night in Port Vila, the capital, before heading off to Tanna, another island. The capital was more developed than I had expected, with a lovely bay front walkway and nice restaurants and bars. There’s quite a French influence- we were perhaps a bit too excited about the fresh baguettes at “au Bon marche” having not had good bread for about 3 months! We had a wander around to get a feel. Embracing happy hour, we tried a local beer by the bay and played perhaps the most successful game of Jenga I have ever partaken in! Then we treated ourselves to a nice sit down meal with wine, again by the sea. We’d booked one of the cheapest hotels on booking.com which turned out to be an absolute steal! For £17 each we had a sea view suite with a lounge and bedroom, tv, a fridge and a good bed and bedding (which believe me u do not often come by in the S Pacific!)
Tanna island is known for it’s culture and it’s volcano. We stayed at Rocky Ridge bungalows, some lovely rustic bungalows on the cliff overlooking the rocky shore. We went for a swim in the “blue hole” right by the bungalows. It is a deep pool connected to the sea only by a few underwater tunnels. It had stunning coral running down the sheer walls of the pool. There were some HUGE corals- around 4x4 metres! It was fun swimming between the different chambers and tunnels.
We headed for Mt Yasur volcano in the afternoon. We were greeted with a welcome ceremony then driven up the volcano through dense forest in 4WDs, which felt a bit like Jurassic Park! You could see the smoking from the crater from far off and it got more and more impressive the closer we got to the volcano. From the last viewpoint you could see right into where the lava was bubbling. Intermittently there would be a mini eruption, creating a mighty rumble and a huge spurt of lava, ash and smoke into the air. At points it was a little eerie being surrounded total by the ash and only being able to see the blurry outline of the glowing crater. It has to be on of the most awe-inspiring natural wonders I have ever seen. It was magical sitting on be edge of the crater looking right inside of it, mesmerised by the glowing lava.
As Tanna is known for it’s strong culture, we thought we do a cultural tour. It was pretty bizarre! When we arrived a load of locals in traditional attire and faces black with ash jumped out at us with clubs, and continued to do so sporadically throughout the rest of the tour?! It was meant to re-enact what it would have been like for the missionaries arriving. We were shown various “magic” customs. Then, upon finding that our two “love leaves” stuck together, we received a special dance to our eternal love, which we were implored to join in (note we were the only people on the tour). The hilarious finale was George dressing as the chief and paraded with a staff. All rather strange, but nevertheless interesting to get an insight into the culture!
The remainder of our time in Tanna was spent by the coast, visiting a nearby black sand beach and revisiting the blue hole.
We flew back to Port Vila again for our final night in Vanuatu, where we again had some nice food. We came across some kind of health promotion come religious festival thing happening at the bandstand, where we enjoyed some live singing, variable in its quality!
For our final day, we got some nice pastries to eat by the sea then headed to Hideaway Island to enjoy our final S Pacific hours. It’s a lovely small island with fantastic snorkelling and and UNDERWATER POST OFFICE that you can dive down to and post waterproof postcards! It was pretty emotional looking out at the Pacific with my mango daquiri in hand realising that this was it after 3 months in this part of the world. It’s been absolutely wonderful. The islands are beautiful, the people are beautiful, it’s beautifully untouched and, I never thought I’d say this, beautifully slow paced. I sincerely hope that one day I will have an excuse to come back to the other side of the world.
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