The Bare Necessities of Life

Went for a week with two of my friends to Port Vila, Vanuatu and stayed at Le Meridien. Enjoyed the scenery and the company of the people, did Jungle Paintball & the Cascade Capers abseil (down a 55m waterfall) with EDGE Adventures and had the most amazing time (I recommend this to anyone, the activities, the tours and the guides are all awesome, and Troy and Zeak - the two guys that own the company - are absolute champs). Had a go at a trivia night at the local pub, thanks to an invite from some newly made friends, also went down to the Waterfront for dinner (great food and dancing atmosphere on a Friday night), the Melanesian Feast at Le Meridien was great for the cultural dancing and food, and L'Houstalet is a must-try French restaurant in town that serves up the house specialities of flying fox and wild pigeon, the service is great plus the owner Clement is a really cool guy, nice enough to offer us a lift home to save us the cab fare and left us with a card for a free dinner on our next visit.

Visited the markets a few times and got my hair braided, took an hour and a half but was well worth it for the company and the friends I made. Three young local kids - Joseph (aged 7), his sister Jasmine (11 months) & their cousin Katherine (aged 5) kept me well entertained with stilted conversation and many drawings. If I can offer any advice to travellers it is to always have a small notepad and pen on you, they'll supply you with some of the best, most personal souvenirs and are always good to take down the contact details of people you meet.

In terms of other activities, went scuba diving with Nautilus (didn't have the time to do any wrecks but plan on going back to see them and visit Tanna Volcano) and went snorkelling off Hideaway Island - sent postcards home from the only underwater post office in the world – and got ourselves out to the ferry point by bus. If the public transport where you are is safe I suggest you make a point of giving it a go, but we had many a memorable bus ride plus it saves money, although come to think of it, the few drives in speedometer-less taxis rated pretty highly too. Just whatever you do, start up a conversation or two with the locals even if the language barrier is intimidating, the more you talk, the more you’ll understand and you’ll meet the most beautiful people. We also went on the Lelepa Island Day Tour - really informative, includes snorkelling, round-island boat trip, exploration of an ancestral cave, lunch, a short walk across the island complete with explanations of the properties of native flora and their uses to the ni-vans plus a village visit during which my friends and I were lucky enough to witness a local wedding in full swing.

Everything was just amazing, the only drawback was that there aren't any available local food stalls and food, while not expensive, is on par with Aussie prices - but my friends and I worked around that in the form of peanut butter and bread from the supermarket stocked in the minibar fridge at the hotel for budget lunches. Haha, aside from that however the activities, the opportunities, the place and the people were all five star. It was the best week of my life to date, and I can't wait to go back.