Vanuatu

 A couple weeks ago we finally received notice from the Australian embassy in Washington D.C. that my resident visa was finally ready after five months. In order for them to issue my visa, I had to leave the country for at least three business days. We were never able to get any explanation as to why this had to be done. Maybe they have a very slow internet connection between the embassy and Australian immigration and it takes that long for the info to get there. Whatever the mysterious reason in this day of technology, I had to leave. Now I know what most of my Aussie friends would recommend, but I did look it up and technically, Tasmania is NOT a separate country. Since it was short notice and we already had a nice family holiday over Christmas, it was going to be just me. After doing some research we determined that Vanuatu is the closest foreign country to Brisbane and also the cheapest to fly to.

I knew very little about Vanuatu when I booked my flight with Air Vanuatu.( The Air Vanuatu flight was very god. Good food, good service and only a 2.5 hour flight.) It consists of 83 islands with a population of about 240,000. The biggest island, Espiritu Santo, was home to numerous military bases and tens of thousands of U.S. troops during WWII as the primary staging base for operations in Guadalcanal and the Solomon islands. At the end of the war most of the left over equipment was tossed into the ocean and now makes for some great diving sites. It is also where James Michener once lived and wrote “Tales of the South Pacific” that would become the musical “South Pacific”. My flight stopped off in Espiritu Santo both on the way out and on the way home to drop off and pick up passengers. I didn’t get a chance to get out here.

Pentecost Island is home to land diving, the inspiration of bungee jumping. You can go and see the land diving on Saturdays from April to June. I didn’t make it to Pentecost this time round as it was not land diving season. Tanna island has the world’s most accessible volcano where you can see the spectacular lava bubbling and spitting. Tanna is also home to the John Frum cult.  You really need to read the link explaining how this cult evolved after WWII as the islanders hoped to get the Americans to come back with their unbelievable quantities of supplies. You can still watch the ceremonies as the cult is still alive and well. This is just a taste of what Vanuatu has to offer. I headed to Efate Island and the capital of Port Vila. The international airport in Port Vila is named after LTCOL Bauer, a US Marine who oversaw the building of the first runway at the spot of the airport in Port Vila.

I stayed in a pleasant budget holiday, the Holiday Hotel, just a short walk from town. The island is beautiful, lush green, with towering hills. There is a huge choice of options to partake in without even leaving the island. I had arrived on Tuesday evening, Jan 18, and had a lovely stroll through town and a nice dinner by the water. Wednesday morning I had my first ever stand up paddle board lesson. I met the instructor from Vanuatu kite surfing at Bodega Tapas Bar by the water.  We spent the morning paddling around the calm lagoon as I tried to stay on the board. After too many dives into the water, I started to get the hang of it. Thursday morning I was off to Lololimo Falls with Ecotours.  We had a lovely drive up into the hills around Port Vila to a large organic beef ranch owned by the Catholic mission in Vanuatu. We trekked down to the spectacular falls. I enjoyed swimming in the falls and exploring a large cave around the side of the falls. There were huge stalactites and stalagmites as well as bats sleeping on the ceiling. Then we climbed right up the falls and trekked down the river. There were smaller falls to climb as we travelled up river. We then headed into the jungle and ended up back at the base of the falls. One of the good things about Vanuatu is there are no poisonoues creatures so as we trekked through the jungle you can put your Aussie instincts aside and not worry about snakes, insects and crocs. Pascal, who owns Ecotours, and his guides Henri and George were very knowledgeable and took great care of us.  We had fun swinging into the river on the rope swing until it was finally time to head back to the hotel.

Transport to the falls

Wednesday night I went to the movies. The movie theatre in Port Vila is by the water at the Nambawan Cafe. As the sun starts to go down they put a big sheet up and once it gets dark they show the movie on the large sheet. The Nambawan Cafe is also a great place for pizza or some awesome fruit smoothies and free WiFi. They show a movie on Wednesday, Friday and Satuday. The Wednesday movie I saw was “Winter’s Bone” which I had never heard of before but was very good, if a bit unusual. One of the most interesting sites in Port Vila is the fruit market which is in the centre of town on the water. It is open 24 hours a day, six days a week.  I was too tired every night to investigate who was buying fruit at 0200 or 0300 in the morning. There is a mind-boggling variety of fruit that has just come from the jungle or the farm. The market is bustling during the day and you can entertain yourself for hours just wandering through and watching the people. The best place in town for either breakfast or lunch is Jill’s Cafe. (It is not open for dinner or on Sundays. Jill’s Cafe is the American way!)

setting up the movie screen at sunset

Friday I was off sailing and diving with Sailaway Cruises. We had a drive up to the north side of the island. The hills are really steep and we were concerned the van might not make it to the top with 15 people in it. Going down was like being on a roller coaster. We got on the trimaran “Golden Wing” in Havannah Harbour and we were off. There were only 12 of us on the boat and had a comfortable trip relaxing on the deck sailing through the waves. The owner, Australian Peter, and local crew Eric and Silvano, ensured we had a terrific day. We motored out to Hat Island (not much wind in the morning). We anchored and Peter and I went for a dive. It was awesome to dive without a wet suit the water was so warm. It has been a long time since I dove without a wet suit. The coral was amazing. A cyclone had gone through just a couple weeks before and lots of coral had been broken off and was lying littered on the bottom. Even with the cyclone, the coral was amazing. After we came up lunch was ready. It was very tasty home cooking and filled us up. Then we put the sails up and sailed back to the main island and anchored of Survivor beach. This was one of the beaches they lived on when they filmed “Survivor Vanuatu”.  (Of course the opening sequence of the TV show shows the volcano from Tanna, no where near where the survivors lived and competed. We also learned lots of other juicy details of how different “reality” and the reality TV show actually were!) We went ashore and wandered around and saw the freshwater stream. Then we were off to a reef out in the open water. I did another dive with Peter. (I was the only passenger diving, everyone else just snorkeled.) The fish at this site were unbelievable. I don’t think I have ever seen such a humongous variety of fish in one dive before. There were also some cool swims through narrow canyons. Peter had briefed me that there were some spectacular swim-throughs. At one point I thought he signalled to me that he was going into a cave. I thought I must have misunderstood his signal because I couldn’t see any entrance, just the under-hang of some large coral. A few seconds later he had dropped in and completely disappeared. I followed and we swam through a long, very cool, tunnel that was barely shoulder width wide. You had to be careful not to let any of your cables or hoses get caught in the coral on the side. After some tea and cake, we were sailing back to the harbour. It was an incredible day and a definite highlight if you ever visit.

Hat Island dive spot

Saturday I went out with Ecotours again. Pascal couldn’t make it but George took us out kayaking. After picking us up at the hotel, we drove east along the coast to where the Rentapao River. We paddled up the Rentapao river. It was just lush green the whole way with no signs of civilization. We stopped a couple times for a dip in the river or some tales of local traditions or information on the flora and fauna from George. At one point George hopped ashore into the jungle and showed up a few minutes later with some fresh picked grapefruit which were delicious and nourished us for the paddle back down the river to the coast. It was another excellent adventure and highly recommended for anyone visiting. Vanuatu is known for its organic beef. There are lots of large cattle plantations and plenty of well watered, fast-growing grass. For my last dinner I thought I would have some nice beef. I went to the “Flaming Bull”. The bar in the restaurant is called the Kelly Bar with the appropriate armour out front. Anywhere there are lots of Aussie tourist you will find some reference to the infamous criminal, Ned Kelly, who is a national hero. I had some yummy beef fajitas while listening to some Reggae and enjoying a nice cold Tusker beer while watching the sunset across the bay. No matter how small the island it will have its own beer.  

fresh picked grapefruit with George

Port Vila shouts down for the weekend at lunchtime on Saturday. Only a few restaurants are open. Emma and the kids were fortunate that a cruise ship pulled into port on Sunday morning. When a cruise ship is in town, many of the shops open. That means I had a chance to do some souvenir shopping. This is a priority as shortly after giving me hugs when they picked me up at the airport and saying hello, the very next question is “What did you bring us?” Sunday morning I also did one more paddle board session. After a rocky start I finally got it and had a beautiful paddle around the lagoon. One of the other guys paddling with me saw a large dugong (manatee) swim by just off to the side. It was another peaceful trip home on the flight. This trip is the first time I have flown without at least one kid in four-and-a-half years!

sunset in Port Vila

Vanuatu is an amazing destination. It is beautiful, relaxing and full of adventure opportunities. The people are so friendly and laid back, they never hassle you or pressure you. They also have an interesting, unusual and long history and culture which they are very eager to share. If you are ever in the area, or looking for that authentic South Pacific experience, then head to Vanuatu. They have something for everyone and you will be both tired and relaxed and chilled. I had no problems with my visa upon arriving home in Brisbane. It seems the three business days is enough to have a visa ready to issue. I was expecting a big party and celebration when I went through immigration. The officer just looked at my passport and his computer and then stamped my passport and handed it back. I was a bit worried that maybe my resident visa hadn’t come through and he had just found my tourist visa on the system. After asking he assured me I was fine. So I became an official resident just in time for my first Australia day on January 26. Now the next task is to get the mounds of paperwork done I need so I can get registered to teach here in Queensland. Having to leave to get my residents visa wasn’t such a bad thing after all.  

The Great Flood of 2011

It has been such an interesting week that I have had to change the title of this installment as unforseen events turned a short, slow story into the headline of a century. Last Saturday, Jan 8, we went down to the Gold Coast to see Disney Live’s “Princesses” show. It was a live stage musical with Mickey and the gang telling short versions of “Snow White”, “Cinderella” and “Beauty and the Beast”. The convention centre was full of little girls in their favorite princess outfit. We all enjoyed the singing, dancing and stories. After the show we discovered that there is a monorail in the Gold Coast that runs from Jupiter’s Casino to a shopping centre. Since we have a young boy who loves monorails, we rode it a couple times with a break for lunch. Last Sunday it appeared it was going to be a quiet week so I had already labelled my blog “Princesses” since it was obviously going to be the main event of our week. 

waiting for Disney Princess show to start

 Before Christmas we ended up with our first family pets. Aunty Kat gave the kids her two goldfish. They had really enjoyed feeding them every time we were at Kat’s house so this was the next logical step it seems. Alex named his fish “Golphy” and Ellie demonstrated just how sharp she is by naming her fish “Flushy”.

We don’t have a dryer so I am very attuned to the changes in weather. With all the rain we have been having the last two months it has been difficult to get the washing done sometimes. Last week I was sitting upstairs on the sofa with the kids when it suddenly struck me that it had started to rain. With a load almost dry on the line, I didn’t want to lose another batch. I jumped up shouting “Its raining, the washing”. The kids just burst out laughing at me. My concern over rain and washing is still a running family joke.

Sunday night, Jan 9, we were having dinner over at some friends house. Paul and Michelle have twins, a boy and a girl, who are exactly between Alex and Ellie in age and they get along really well.  The live in New Farm, which is right along the river, in a ground floor apartment just a few metres from the riverbank. We were sitting out on the patio watching the river go by, the rain falling and the bats flying around the huge fig trees. They moved here from Oregon and were commenting that the rain here in the last couple months was much worse than the weather in Oregon.

Wednesday evening, Jan 12, they were all over at our house for a BBQ. The rain had stopped the day before but it was more than a visit for dinner and some play time. They were here to stay for a couple days, evacuees from the Great Flood of 2011. All the rain in the last couple months was too much for the Brisbane river. The last great flood in Brisbane was in January, 1974. Partly as a result of that flood they built the Wivenhoe dam upstream. As a result of almost ten years of draught in the region, 18 months ago the dam was at 17% capacity. The story goes that the experts were saying it would take ten years of above average rain to get back to 100%. By Tuesday, 18 months after being at 17%, the dam was at 200%! As a result of months of rain, not even the dam could keep back the floods anymore.  

Tuesday morning, Jan 11, with pouring rain, I took the kids to Chipmunk’s, a large indoor kids play area.  After a fun morning of playing, sliding, and climbing, they made an announcement about roads closing and flooding. I thought maybe we should get in the van and head home. As we were leaving, Emma called to say they were evacuating the Central Business District (CBD) and she was taking the train home.  As we pulled into the wall of inching traffic, the radio announced that Strathpine was one of the towns that everyone should evacuate to avoid the rising creek. We managed to outrace the flood home and it only took an hour-and-half to get home to find Emma was already home. I headed to the grocery store to get some supplies and many of the shelves were already bare. Wednesday morning Emma went to the store to get some more food and it took her an hour-and-half to get through the checkout line.

The Brisbane river was rising slowly and they were predicting it would surpass the flood level of 1974. The peak was predicted for 0400 on Thursday morning for Brisbane. We woke up Wednesday to a beautiful sunny day. Unfortunately it was too late to stop the coming flood waters. Paul and Michelle's apartment was just at the expected peak level so they hightailed it out on Wednesday as the power was switched off to come stay with us. Our suburb is far enough north of the river and high enough that we didn’t get any flood water. We watched in awe the footage of things being washed down the river, including floating restaurants washed away. Thursday was another gloriously sunny day and the only good news was the waters had not reached the record level of 1974. Unfortunately huge swaths of Brisbane were underwater by then. The underground car parks in Emma’s building which is right next to the river were completely flooded and the whole CBD was a ghost town. The scenes of devastation are heartbreaking. The waters have started to recede and the entire city has come out to begin the cleanup. The CBD is still closed and it might be another week until Emma can get back to work at her office. Some people are heading to the firm’s office in Melbourne so they can do some work and Emma will work between home and a temporary serviced office until the CBD is up and running again. One of the stories from the flood is a goldfish that was flushed out of his bowl when the flood waters flooded the house and after the waters receded a couple days later he ended up in the bathtub. He has been renamed “Lucky”. The waters completely inundated some neighborhoods with water over the roofs and up into the second story of many homes. Some shopping centres were completely underwater and SunCorp stadium, the major stadium in town looked more like a location for a swim meet than a football game.  There are still many bare shelves in the stores as 75% of Queensland has been affected by flooding and much the infrastructure is flooded or damaged. Paul and Michelle, John and Julia went home Friday when the power was turned back on at their complex. They were fortunate that they had no flooding, not even their underground car park.  We had a fun couple nights flood sleepover, but that was tempered with the fury and might of the flood waters we saw going on throughout Brisbane and the surrounding valleys.  The clean up will take months and years.

In the midst of the events going on around us, I finally heard from the Australian embassy in Washington DC that my visa was finally all set. In order to issue my resident visa, I need to leave the country for at least three business days. The closest and cheapest option for me is Vanuatu, so I am heading off for a little holiday by myself on Tuesday, Jan 18 for 5 days.   Emma will be able to now report on how it feels to be a full time working single mum!

One last note on rumours that I am somehow connected to “unseasonable weather events” as the Omanis so politely called Cyclone Gonu. It is true we survived Cyclone Gonu in 2007 back in Oman, the biggest storm to ever hit the country, just a few days before Ellie was born. And now we have survived some of the biggest floods to ever hit Brisbane. We did have one of the quietest hurricane seasons they have ever had while we were in the Caymans. It has been an unforgettable week and I am inspired by the spirit of Brisbane and its people as they have jumped right back up after the great flood of 2011. 

Christmas for boys and girls

On Tuesday, Dec 21, the kids and I made the 1000 km drive down to Sydney again. We did it faster this time than last September, the kids are getting better at bladder control and I had the super secret weapon, “Toy Story 3” for the DVD player. The kids love the movie and we only had a few episodes of “how much longer” and “are we there yet?” We took the Pacific Highway down and stopped for lunch and some playtime in Coff’s Harbour again. We stayed with the Creech’s again and had a wonderful time. Katherine (Aunty Kat) was down from Brisbane for Christmas and had brought her two dogs. The kids were delighted to have three dogs around (Bonnie lives there). Emma was originally due to fly down Thursday evening after work but had to fly down to Sydney on the Wednesday morning to close a deal in Sydney. While she had two crazy days at work, we were glad to get to see her when she came in late and before she headed off in the morning.

The Christmas spirit was in the air and the kids could not get enough. They were singing carols non-stop (“Jingle Bells”,”Rudolph”, and “We wish you a Merry Christmas” are the three they know!) The kids helped Emma make a gingerbread house and wrapped a lot of presents. On Christmas Eve James and partner Heidi flew in from Brisbane, (lots of visitors from Brisbane) and some friends of the Creech’s came over and brought their two boys who were close in age to Alex and Ellie. After meeting the kids Ellie then asked “Where is the girl?” She can’t understand why some families don’t have a girl for her to play with. It is always interesting to see the differences between boys and girls. Alex was quickly racing around the garden with the boys playing all sorts of games. Ellie won’t play with kids until there has been a formal declaration of friendship as she runs after kids asking “Will you be my friend?” or “Will you play with me?” Of course the boys don’t stay still long enough to hear the question or answer. Ellie finally joined in and by 2130 she was so worn out she begged to go to bed. She put out some carrots and water for the reindeer and was out. The boys finally left around 2200 and after putting some cookies and milk out for Santa, Alex was finally asleep. The master plan was a late night might buy us some sleep the next morning. A few more hours of “grown up chores” and the grown ups were finally off to bed.

The kids were sleeping on the floor in our room as there was a full house. We told Alex he couldn’t go out when he first woke up as it was too early. He lay there singing Christmas carols until we finally relented. While we were trying to awaken some of the other grown ups, Alex had a peak through the door into the living room and quickly reported Santa had brought lots of presents. The kids were overjoyed with the presents that Santa had brought for them. They were impressed that they had received most of the items on their list to Santa. It took most of the morning to admire all their gifts and there were only two kids in the house! The rest of the Sydney clan was over for lunch with the Sargeants and Mrs J all in attendance. We had a wonderful lunch outside, it was so warm we needed to put up some extra shade, with lots of festive music and decorations. With more present excitement building, after lunch we exchanged gifts and there was another wave of excitement for the little kiddies. Most of the grownups were now ready for a much needed nap. The kids of course were too hyped to sleep so we broke out the slip and slide. While Ellie took a while to get the idea, Alex slipped and slid so much that by the end of the afternoon the slide was ready for the bin.

The rest of our time in Sydney was just as much fun. We went into Sydney for another visit to the sharks at the Aquarium and another ride on the monorail train. Another day we took the ferry into Darling Harbour and went to the Sydney Wildlife World, and a ride on the carousel. The highlight was probably our boat trip around the harbour on a yacht. Some friends of the Creechs’ have a yacht on the harbour and they took us all out for a trip around the harbour with a stop for a wonderful lunch at the Royal Sydney Yacht Club. The kids really enjoyed being on the boat with Captain Greg and Janine. With all the adults around, Emma and I went out for a night out at dinner and the movies. We planned on seeing “The Kings Speech” but didn’t realize it was opening night so we couldn’t get a seat. We saw the only other option “Megamind”. Ironic that the first movie we have seen on our own since Cayman and we see a cartoon! Our last day we went out to the Sargeant’s spread for a swim and a BBQ. The kids had a great time swimming and playing with their three dogs. The loved having so much space to run around and explore.

On Dec 30 we headed north along the Pacific Highway to Yamba, a wonderful town right where the Clarence river meets the ocean. We had four days at the Blue Dolphin resort. We were staying in a cabin right by the pool. There were also lots of campers and there were some serious camping set ups. Some of the sites had Christmas trees and Christmas lights, refrigerators, and most other comforts of home. We spent most of the time in the pool and on the water slides. The kids just loved spending all day in the pool. They also got to feed the pelicans, build a sand castle in the sand castle competition and spend a couple evenings playing on the beach. One afternoon Ellie was “a bit tired” and wanted a break from the pool. Alex didn;t want to get out so Ellie and Emma had a girls afternoon out to town to check out the cute shops. As they were getting in the car, Ellie asked Emma if Alex and I were coming too, and Emma said no we weren’t coming. Ellie replied: “Good, the boys bug me sometimes.” New Year’s Eve once again found us asleep well before the fireworks. Apparently I even missed the loud cheering and shouting and horns at midnight. We were in northern New South Wales which is right now one hour ahead on Queensland time. Since there were so many people at the park that were from Queensland, apparently there was another loud celebration at midnight Queensland time which I slept right through also. Monday January 3 was time to head home. It was only a three hour drive home but we took our time to explore some small beach towns and then had a picnic lunch in Brunswick Heads, another town where a river meets the coast. After lunch we went swimming in the brown river. It is brown because of the tea tree oil that seeps into the river farther up stream. My skin is looking wonderful now! It was nice to get home after two weeks away. In spite of all the rain that Queensland had while we were gone, our house was fine. Unfortunately our mailbox is not waterproof, so some mail was soggy beyond repair.

The kids are so hyped up on Christmas that they are still singing carols, asking to watch the Christmas specials of all their fav shows, and playing Christmas everyday. Other than that, we are all back in our routine. Alex has been at swim camp this week as it is still school holiday season down under. The kids are back at pre-school and in a few weeks will come the big move when Ellie moves up to Kindergarten to join Alex. Since the school cut off date here in Queensland in June 30, Alex and Ellie will be in the same school year!  We have enjoyed everyone’s cards, letters and emails. We are hoping that historic rain and flooding here in Queensland and the historic drubbing of Australia by England in the Ashes are not portends of the year to come.