But before we get all excited about filling a new year with ambitious resolutions and grandiose plans, I’m going to take a moment to tingbaot 2010 and reflect smol on the yia that was.
And even with the sad bits and the bad bits, ultimately it was a year filled with lots of very very good bits.
For us, some of the very best bits of all were having so many of you fabulous people visit us here and getting to share some laughs and a drink or two in lovely Wanooatou!
Kelly it was so great to have you here. As always you gave me plenty of reasons to smile. I’m glad you got to experience some of the different and interesting things on offer here – I’m sure the pikininis at Central School still remember the day that lovely blonde lady came to read them stories!
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| Kelly and Kala at Mele Beach Bar |
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| delicious drinks on Hideaway Island |
Alex and Kirrin, tankyu tumas for deciding to spend some of your precious and very hard earned holidays here with me. I had a welfis* of a time with you both, even if I do hold you responsible now for my occasional need to crank up ‘I’m on a Boat!’ and dance around the house like a git. And Kirrin, you are right: we ARE cooler than Cate Blanchett. In fact, I think we should make up ‘Cooler than Cate’ t-shirts.
*(Bislama for whale)
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| Kala, Kirrin and Alex scaling the Mele Cascades |
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| Ernest is a lucky man! |
Marylene and Dominique - Quel voyage ! Merci de traverser les mers et de la souffrance par les épreuves du décalage horaire pour venir et rester avec nous et pour découvrir finalement le Wanouatoo. Dominique, nous savons combien vous manquez le laplap, mais pas de soucis, nous promettons de en faire pour toi quand nous visitons St Amand encore en juin !
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| Dominique with his beloved laplap |
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| Marylene hanging out with some pikininis on Tanna |
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| looking a bit nervous to be so close to Mighty Mt Yasur |
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| Romain with his Mum and Dad and John, all looking very dapper at the local church |
Yayoi and Yutaka – who could believe after 10 YEARS we would finally catch up TWICE in one year! We had so much fun with you here. Bella misses the foot rubs and we miss the power of your kami-hami-HAA! We are going to make sure it isn’t another 10 years before we see you again.
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| Yayoi and Kala at uni in Brisbane |
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| And today on a boat to Iririki Island |
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| having hamburgers on Hideaway Island |
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| Yutaka (who we suspect may have secret ninja skills) walking on water at the Eton Blue Hole |
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| Yayoi at the Havannah |
Mum – you are pretty much an honorary local now with three trips under your belt. Although you have definitely set the bar high with your latest coconut bra creation – they’ll all be expecting bigger and better things next time..... thanks for making this Christmas a memorable one and we are looking forward to seeing you back here again soon.
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| Jan and Kala with Lissi and Memo |
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| the Christmas Coconut Bra |
Barb – It was great to have you here – and not only because Salmon Rusty has never looked so good! Thanks for being more intrepid than the rest of us and venturing into the pit of rum-ball mixture and thanks for the laughs!
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| two more lovely ladies delivered to Ernest's shack |
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| sorry yutufala - had to show it! |
Dad – thanks for coming back again for a visit and for giving me the chance to prove – in true Rain Man style – that ‘I’m and excellent driver’. Although next time I’m going to crash through more mud puddles coz let’s face it, we looked a bit like wusses. Now that you’ve got plenty of time on your hands, we hope to see you again before the year is out.
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| Kala and Glenn on blacksand beach |
So tankyu tumas 2010 and tankyu tumas to everyone who shared bits of it with us and helped us along the way.
HAPI NIU YIA 2011
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