VANUATU (SOUTH PACIFIC ISLAND)

The flight from Glasgow to Sydney seemed endless. We left Glasgow on the 6th of December and arrived in Sydney on the 8th, two days later at 6.30am!! We had troubles to stay awake until 10.00pm but this really helped us to get over the jet lag within a couple of days. I managed to book a romantic trip to one of the south pacific islands only two days before we left Glasgow. 

The first few days we stayed at my cousin's flat in one of Sydney's suburbs to recover from jet-lag and on the 11th of December we flew to Vanuatu, a lovely island off the east coast of Australia.

My original plan was to go to Fiji but two weeks before we were suppose to fly to Fiji, the news broke that there was a coup in Fiji and travellers were advised to stay away from this island. Nevertheless, Vanuatu was a fantastic alternative as we discovered shortly after we arrived. It is in fact much closer to Australia than Fiji and the funny thing is - I did not even know that a country like Vanuatu exists until an online travel agent in Australia offered us this package. I was desperate to get away for a week to a nice place on the beach, not too far away from Down Under and Vanuatu seems to be a popular holiday destination for Australian couples.

Vanuatu has a population of around 200’000 and consists of 83 islands. The main language is Bislama and English and French are the second common languages. They also have over 100 Melanesian languages. Some of the islands are so small that you can see everything in just one day but they might speak 5 different languages, all quite different from each other.

Beside Efate, islands such as Tanna, Espirutu Santo and Malekula are very popular tourist destinations. I have to mention that outside the two big towns Port Vila (Efate) and Luganville (Espiritu Santo) there is no electricity or running water. Most of these islands are only reachable by planes are they are quite distant from each other.

Vanuatu is really beautiful. What we experienced there was very positive. The locals are extremely friendly and always smile at you and greet you when you pass them.

We stayed one week in Efate, which is the main island of Vanuatu. Our hotel was right on the beach and it was very nice and relaxing. We stayed in a cute little bungalow surrounded by palm trees and banana trees and lots of other beautiful plants and flowers. Despite the fact that the roosters in the village nearby woke us up every night around 3.00am and the dogs barked half of the night, we had a great time at this resort. Unfortunately John and I stayed only at Port Vila as our budget was limited - we had still 4 months of travelling ahead of us so we did not manage to get to see any of the other islands which can only be reached by air planes, as the flights are very expensive.

We spent most time relaxing on the beach and wandering around the main town Port Vila were we sampled the local cuisine with the locals, in the middle of a 24 hour fruit and vegetable market. What a fantastic experience! 

One night, our resort organized a night with local food, music and dance. The meals were delicious and full of goodness. 

We also went on a one day tour around the island to see some traditional villages and to get to know Efate and its way of life. Our trip led us to the Cascades, just North West of Port Vila. As the climate on Vanuatu is very tropical and we got quite hot and sweaty, we were delighted to jump in one of the pools by the waterfall. It was great! There were plenty of opportunities to spot wildlife such as spiders in all shapes and sizes, flying foxes as well as birds in all colours.

By the way - Flying Foxes are a delicatessen in Vanuatu (don't worry, we did not taste it).

My photo camera was with us all the time and we took a lot of photographs of people and the flora & fauna which you can find in our Vanuatu photo album. 

The following post will contain information about our trip from Sydney to Brisbane.
--> More photos of Vanuatu