We're here! Nous sommes arrivés!

So we are finally here in lovely Vanuatu! We have started this site to post photos and bore you all with our stories. Sometimes we will write in English and sometimes in French. Maybe even both at other times. I'm going to kick things off in English.

We have been here about 20 days now. Seems like heaps longer. I think that is a good thing! Lots to share already.

First up - haos blong mifala (our house).


It is large and comfy and equipped with cyclone shutters on every window, so that when the time comes, we can take up the call to ‘batten down the hatches’. I am quite looking forward to doing this, in a weird way. I announced this at work at got some strange looks. I don’t think cyclones are much fun.

Not that they are much of a likelihood at the moment! The weather has been awesome. We can sit on our balcony and take in the sweeping view over Erakor Lagoon. This is what our view of Erakor lagoon would look like if we lived in a helicopter.

But we live on a street with power lines and try as I might, I couldn’t get a shot of our view that wasn’t marred by a black line. Romain reckons he is going to try again tomorrow. I can assure you that it is indeed a lovely view and once you have had a beer or two, the powerlines don’t really matter. There is a little boat that we can jump on about a five minute walk from our house and it ferries us across to the island where we can frolick to our hearts content.

But we can't frolick for too long because there are things to take care of back home. Chickens!

We have four of them and the lovely ladies provide us with 2 or 3 eggs every day. Romain is keeping them happy with freshly grated coconut every morning. I'm not sure how long this will last.

And the fruit in our garden is magnifique!

Papaya a plenty!

And a lovely bunch of bananas.

This is the man responsible for keeping everything so deliciously lucious - John the gardener!

We have ventured out of our house and found Port Vila to be just grand. Bizarrely, one of the first things we did was go to the big annual Race Day. I say bizarre because for me, horse races and tropical islands don’t seem to go hand in hand. But it was a Race Day Vila style. Only the expats wore stupid hats. Look - there’s one now!

The crowd checks out the action.

Jockeys looking resplendent in their silks.

Kava has been a regular feature of our social life too. Kava is a drink made from the roots of the kava plant which when dried, pulverised and mixed with water make a foul tasting drink that acts as a muscle relaxant and numbs your mind. It is a traditional drink that holds a highly prominent place in kastom ceremonies, but around Vila you can buy it by the ‘shell’ full (usually served up in a plastic bowl) for about $1. Kava is bought in places called nakamals. Nakamals are usually nothing more than a small shed and a quiet, dark place to sit and let the effects of the kava wash over you. Apparently there are more than 200 nakamals around Port Vila where you can buy kava and people even build them in their backyards for private kava functions. We have been to a few but I can’t say that I’m a huge fan at the moment. I'm waiting for the taste to grow on me....

This is us indulging in our first shell of kava in Port Vila. Why are we blowing on it? I don’t know.

And this is me on a work trip to a village where I had no choice but to graciously accept the kava proffered.

Yes please – another shell of your delicious brew!

It is very rude not to drink it – so I had to take one for the team. The poor old chief was fairly blind so luckily I don’t think he saw the face I made.

I’ll round off the post on a much more pleasant note – pikininis!!!!! My god they are cute. Here are a few shots, but I can promise that there will be many many more to come!!

So until next time - lukim yufala!