Day Trip: Let's Go Touring!

Kia Picante

Follow the yellow road

Several Fridays ago at 5pm, we rented a little Kia Picante.  Early the next morning, on Saturday, we packed a few items and hit the only road that circumferences the island of Efate, Vanuatu.  We asked a few of the Ni-Vanuatus if any roads crisscrosssed the island.  Nope.  "You can't get lost.  Just follow the coast."

It was a beautiful day, and we had to resist the urge to stop multiple times during our tour.  However, we want to share with you some of the highlights our day.

The interior of the island is jungle, often with not a road or path in sight. Yet, oddly enough, we were surprised more than once when we encountered groups of walkers going somewhere.  They came from no road and there was no road for them to exit onto.  The men carried machetes and the women, umbrellas.  They all waved!  Later, we learned that the machetes cut the way to the beaches and the umbrellas protected from sudden jungle downpours.

Soon, the asphalt road swerved back onto the coast and the landscape begged us to stop for photos.  In this photo, we see the island of Emao.  Little speedboats carried snorklers to their paradise.

All along the way, cute little resorts would unexpectedly pop up.

Solomon, Historian

Solomon's World

At Le Life, we met Solomon (and his too friendly bird) who told us about Cyclone Pam, 2015, and how it devastated that side of the island.  Of course, we had this discussion with a cup of Tanna coffee.

WW II Museum

Two guys who love America

Caffeinated and caught up, we headed north and started looking for the sign that would lead us to a WWII Museum and its docent, Eric.  In his museum, Eric explained that in early 1942, the Japanese military had already reached the Solomon Islands and New Guinea and intended to push on to Australia and New Zealand.  But Vanuatu stood in their way. The American military turned Vanuatu into a massive offensive staging area against an impending attack from Japan. Within months, 100,000 troops arrived from the US, finally peaking at 400,000 at the height of the build-up on Vanuatu.    We spent a lot of time with Eric.  This guy loves America and named one of his sons after Lt. James Vittitoe.  It was Eric's father who rescued Vittitoe when his plane crashed into the ocean off of Vanuatu's coastline.  This was worth the stop.

Tree down!

There was a little mountainous area where our little Picante displayed great resolve.  At the top, quite a vicious rainstorm disturbed our world and, with it, loosened trees slid down onto our roadway.  Workers were busy cutting and clearing...with their machetes! 

As we wound our way down the mountain, passing family after family strolling from some secret spot to some invisible exit, we were greeted with glorious sunshine once again and a resort to end all resorts!  There, in the middle of nowhere!

The Middle of Nowhere Resort!

One view!

Of course, we had to stop and see if they had coffee!  They did and we did!  Check into www.thehavannah.com if you have an extra $900.00 per night for a little pampering!






                  Little jewels kept popping up as we neared our home base, Port Vila.  We had to return the car by 5pm, and it was 3pm.  But, there was one more stop that we needed to make:  Mele Cascade Falls.  Steep steps and slippery water crossings lead us to the top of the falls, passing by 5 swimming holes.  It was a cool refreshing ending to our day.

Mele Cascades

Mele Cascades

We had seen the island.  We turned in the car at exactly 4:30 pm.
Fast forward to today, 2 weeks later.  We met an Australian lady on shore from one of the many cruise ships that stop here.  She asked us if we were from the cruise ship, too.
"No," we answered, "we live here."
"You live here!  Aren't you lucky!  This is a paradise!  I wish our ship would stay here longer, so we could explore this island."

Yes, we thought. Vanuatu is a hidden jewel in the South Pacific.  We don't think we are lucky!  We think we are blessed!

Thank you for touring with us!
Keep Looking Up!
  J:m and L:nda