SUNDAY MARCH 3, 2013 VANCOUVER to PORT VILA, VANUATU, via AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND
Well we arrived in Port Vila 10;10am on Sunday after flying with Air New Zealand from Vancouver 14 hours non stop, then 3 1/2 hours from Auckland to Port Vila. We completely lost Saturday as we crossed the International dateline and we are now 19 hours ahead of Vancouver time. The flight down from Vancouver was very rough for about 6 hours over the South Pacific but we arrived safely and Terry managed to sleep most of the way!
On the flight from Vancouver to Auckland I watched 3 movies and started a 4th (no, I didn't sleep more than a couple of hours!) I watched ARGO (about the rescue of 6 USA citizens hiding in the Canadian Embassy in Tehran, Iran), Life of Pi - I enjoyed it, great photography but a little slow for me, a New Zealand movie (can't remember the name) and called a Foreign Film even on Air New Zealand! which was a true story about an event close to Dunedin on the South Island of New Zealand back in 1990 when a guy went crazy and killed 13 of his neighbours including little children, all in the space of 1 day and night - just too horrific to contemplate. Then I started watching the James Bond SKYFALL which is excellent so I finished that on the flight from Auckland to Vanuatu - loved the Komodo dragons, and the ending at Skyfall was so cool and sad!
We had 3 hours in the Auckland airport and what a pleasure that was! The airport is very modern and upgraded from when we were here last in 2005 - 8 years has made a big difference. What I truly loved was after arriving at the airport and walking through the corridors to go to "In Transit" (that was us) or "Baggage Pickup" - and there is a beautifully carved wooden archway meant to represent the Marae - the meeting hall of the Maoris. And just at this point there is piped music with a Maori lady singing "welcome" in their language - beautiful! Well done Auckland!
Inside the In Transit after security, there are all sorts of stores (some great New Zealand art stores in every form of art that you can imagine - paintings, pottery, jewellery, sheepskins, wool etc) clothing stores, and Duty Free (which by the way you can buy on arrival in Auckland) and as well as buying Solomon Islands and Vanuatu currency at the currency exchange there we also shared a wonderful coffee and muffin. There is free WIFI in the airport but only 30 minutes before you have to buy it so we checked in on our email and Facebook and 30 minutes flew by, especially with a couple of "chats" on Facebook. Then it was a rather long walk (with several moving walkways) to gate 15 where we boarded the Air New Zealand flight to Vanuatu. It was interesting on the plane to realise we were served a light breakfast and drinks at no cost, but others in Economy had to pay for them. We were only in Economy but there appear to be different levels of economy and our seats were coming from an International flight! You even had to tell the Flight Attendant if you had changed your seat when on the plane - our movies were included with our international tickets but you had to pay $10 if you had a cheaper ticket!
We weren't too many miles out of Auckland before the somewhat cloudy skies turned blue and we were thinking the tropics. Many, if not most, of the folks on the plane to Port Vila were wearing shorts and tshirts, or Aloha shirts - and many had jandals (rubber thongs) on their feet and good tans - yup - this is going to be in the tropics!
In North America It appears that many folks have not heard of the country of Vanuata - it is in the South Pacific off the North Eastern shore of Australia and East of Bali, Borneo and Papua New Guinea. We will be staying for 3 nights in Port Vila before boarding ORION Expedition cruise ship cruising through Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands to Papua New Guinea, then Papua New Guinea and on to Cairns where we will disembark. Air New Zealand doesn't have the connecting flight every day from Auckland which is why we will spend 3 nights in Port Vila otherwise we would be coming own 3 days later and connecting straight on to the ORION cruise ship and we sure weren't prepared to risk that and the flight being late!
Vanuatu nation is made up of over 83 islands, more than 120 languages and of people that are Melanesian in origin. Each island has its' own interesting traditions not found anywhere else in the world. Vanuatu means "land eternal" and was first discovered by the Spaniard Explorers in 1606 on their arrival to Espiritu Santo (closest island to the Solomons), and they considered it an important location for passing ships. Louis Antoine Bougainville rediscovered it in 1788, followed by Captain James Cook who renamed the area New Hebrides - this name remained until 1980 when the country gained full independence.
The administration of New Hebrides was disputed for 30 years between England & France until the "British - French Condominium" agreement was worked out in 1906 which gave joint administration between both countries. This meant two sets of laws and penalties based on both countries was in effect until independence in 1980 - oh how we have learned to over govern everywhere in the world, including the nation of Vanuatu!!
The Malvatu Mauri (National Council of Chiefs) in Vanuatu advises Vanuatu's republican government on matters concerning Ni-Vanuatu (original) culture and language - we understand that the Cultural Centre is not to be missed and that is on our agenda for tomorrow Monday! Since 1994 Vanuatu has been divided into the 6 Provinces of: Malampa, Penama, Sanma, Shefa, Tafea and Torba. Every 4 years, first born sons (why not daughters?) of chiefs are elected as representatives by district councils of chiefs. "Mal" means a rank of high status, "vatu" means stone, island or place, and "mauri" means something that is alive which grows in the light.
On our ORION cruise "Melanesian Discovery" (starting in just 3 days time on March 6) we will be visiting South Bay West on the island of Malakula (in Malampa Province), Paradise lagoon on the island of Espírito Santo in Sanma - which is where James Michener wrote the book Bali Hai! James Michener was based in Santo during WWII. The volcanic island of Ambae across from Espírito Santo is the basis for the book of Bali Hai (even though many mistakenly believe that it was Bora Bora in Tahiti, the Society Islands). The main restaurant, called Michener's, here at the Iririki Resort in Port Vila on the island of Efate is named after James Michener- and at the front of the menu is a letter from James Michener in 1994 expressing his pleasure at having the restaurant named after himself!
There are 3 languages spoken here in Vanuatu - English, French, and BISLAMA which is a sort of Pidgin English. Here is a sample of Bislama: Tank yu tumas - thank you very much. Here is a sign we saw in the small grocery store on Sunday afternoon while picking up snacks.
PLEASE NO TOUCHEM OL EASTER EGGS UNLESS YU WANTEM PEM.
SAPOS YU O PIKININI BLONG YU I DAMAGEM EASTER EGG BAE YU.
Which roughly translated means don't touch the Easter eggs unless you plan to buy them and if you or your children break them you buy them!
We also saw another interesting sign inside the fridge full of beer in the store: The Sales of alcoholic beverage are closed on Saturday 12 noon to Monday at 7:30am. Thank goodness for Duty Free at the Auckland Airport! and of course the bars at the IRIRIKI resort also sell alcoholic beverages every day including a Happy Hour from 5 to 6pm and 8 to 9pm.
The prices here are all in the local currency of VATU which we managed to get at the Currency Exchange in Auckland Airport - there were also 2 small currency exchanges located in the arrivals hall of the Aeroport de Port Vila (the French won that battle with the Brits) Bauerfield International Airport. In Vanuatu we understand that currencies readily accepted are Australian, New Zealand and US dollars. Based rather loosely 100 VATU is worth $1.10 Canadian.
The prices here equal any world wide resort: at the pool side Bali HAi restaurant (from 7am through midnight) a burger is 1500 VATU and other entrees 2600. A glass of Hard's Australian wine is 500 VATU. At Michener's in the evening, overlooking Port Vila township and harbour, appetizers start at 1500 VATU and entrees at 2600 VATU.
Well, after arriving at the Aeroport de Port Vila we took the 5km taxi transfer to the dock for the IRIRIKI resort. A nice touch was being shell lei'd in welcome at the pier. A ferry runs 24 hours between the town and the pier where we welcomed by an IRIRIKI staff member, wearing a tropical shirt with the Iririki logo and a huge smile, who welcomed us by giving each of us a shell lei. The resort is 3 minutes across the lagoon and covers the whole island - it is very nicely done, lush and tropical, and later when we walked around the island, which took about 30 minutes, we saw the beach, the infinity pool next to the Bali Hai and Michener's restaurant complex (with the tiny store), the sandy beach with complimentary kayaks and catamarans, and the very large free form swimming pool touted to be amongst the largest, if not THE largest, in the Pacific.
We were soon checked in while being given a fruit cocktail punch decorated with a fragrant plumeria flower before one of the staff drove us to our unit #122 in the Sunset Building. The unit is one very large room with a small dining table, desk table, sofa and chair with coffee table, small fridge, washer, dryer, microwave and stove top burners. It has a large dressing room & closet, and bathroom with toilet and shower. Oh yes - it does have a King size bed with a beautiful view over the harbour out to sea facing West with a wall full of windows. There is air conditioning and also two fans in the room. All the Windows have mesh to prevent the insects coming and the smaller windows are slat glass that can be opened for the breeze. There is also a large balcony with topless glass railing to enjoy the 180 degree views over the ocean and islands (we know how expensive that is after upgrading to topless glass railing at home last year!) and a jacuzzi tub. If I soak in this tub on the balcony while here, it will be cold water I can assure you!
It is very hot and humid here and between the long flights, little sleep and time zone changes the heat was melting us! We unpacked a few things and took a very welcome shower before changing into shorts and tshirts - which were soon very damp after our short walk around the island to get our bearings. We took the 3 minute boat ride back to the dock in Port Vila. The boat goes as soon as there is anyone wishing to cross. It is a large flat bottomed boat, very easy to get on and off, and would hold probably 50 or more passengers. The Captain stops the boat by pulling up against the dock and leaves the engines running so that stays in position while the passengers getting on and off. He did make us laugh though, when on one visit the Captain did just this, then he got off the boat and walked the 100 yards into the reception and fully expected the boat to be in the position waiting for him on his return without being tied up to the dock!
Over in Port Vila we walked the 10 minutes to the closest store (with the signs I mentioned above) and bought a few snacks and headed straight back to the Iririki dock. Right next to this dock is the Grand Hotel Casino & Resort, a 6 story hotel with each room having a view of the harbour but from our look from the outside, no character at all in comparison with the Iririki Resort and our own private island. Other boats and shuttles also use this dock, arriving from, and departing to, other resorts and locations on the island and there were always 6 to 12 locals waiting here chattering to each other. The locals are known to be very friendly and there is not one that we have run into at the resort or passed on the street in Port Vila who has not smiled and said Hello to us during our short time here.
Today being Sunday is a quiet day and we saw many locals enjoying the day. Nearly every woman and female child (perhaps with not a single exception) was wearing a brightly patterned cotton dress which hangs from the shoulders with a couple of frills on it - similar to the Hawaiian muumuu. I know they were all way more comfortable than me in my cotton shorts and teeshirt!
We were back at the Iririki Resort around 3:30pm and stopped by the pool and restaurant complex to check our Wifi (complimentary) before heading back to our room. We did find out that on Tuesday evening there is a local food dinner at 3900 VATU each (about $44 Cad each) if we think we are actually hungry enough to eat we will go, this heat really saps the energy! - It includes local dancers and singing, so would be worthwhile. The temperature is around 30 degrees but the humidity makes you feel like you under a very hot wet blanket! This is not Vanuatu's busy season and the resort is very quiet. There is a mix of fare (small cottages), over water bungalows facing Port Vila, and 3 storey complexes (we are in one of these) I think there must be over 200 rooms here.
Back in room #122 in the Sunset View we very quickly downed a cold bevy after picking up a bucket of ice from the Bali Hai bar on the way by. Then I lay on the bed with my book and was asleep before 5pm! Tomorrow I shall worry about extending the day and adjusting to local time!
Cheers ..... Jan Umbach
Sent from my iPad
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