Before breakfast we saw the trimaran Trinity pull into the bay, they were the German couple who kindly brought some boat things for us from NZ. They were soon in touch and invited us to join them for supper tonight at a restaurant where they know the owner well, from their 6 months in Vanuatu last season. We headed into the village after having a much needed tidy up of all the wet gear and ropes from our disastrous anchor day! We met Benny who runs the restaurant where we are going tonight, a restaurant is a long shot, one table and most probably a handful of guests a month. She was very friendly and told us we would be getting local chicken for supper, always a bit of a relief when you see all the locals eating the reef fish, full of ciguatera poison.
We then hiked up the only road on the island to try and get to a view point to see Lopevi volcano. Typically we went out in the midday sun, luckily with hats, suntan cream and water bottles. It was a steep climb and very, very hot. As soon as the road hit an incline it was paved with concrete, apparently funded by an Australian charity. At the top we found another village and took a little side track up to their village farm plots. We passed such quaint and well kept dwellings, all with lovely gardens, they love their colourful flowers. We finally got as far as I was prepared to go in the heat, we had a good view back to the bay where we are anchored, but no sign of Lopevi, still covered in clouds.
On the way back we walked around a bit more of the villages and found, two more guest houses. All looking very closed, we spoke to a local lady who said that Covid, then the earthquake had destroyed tourism, plus the fact their national airline had gone bankrupt. Very sad as they seem to have to seek work in NZ and Australia to make ends meet. The teachers are on strike, so the kids are not at school, it’s been a while now. Sadly the government is pretty corrupt…. ugh we heard the other day that the ghastly Andrew Tate is looking to settle here as they have no extradition laws here.
Otherwise it was such a fun walk through the village, kids playing and laughing endlessly, swimming in the river and everyone having a jolly time. The church and school properties all immaculately looked after and loads of very, very friendly people.
The Germans picked us up for dinner and we just made it into the restaurant before a downpour, which was extremely good timing. It was quite a dinner, we could not get a word in edgeways with the bombastic Stefan, my goodness it was a self congratulatory monologue, how his poor wife copes I have no idea. It was a tough evening with a tough chicken to eat! The chicken was tasty, but very scrawny, and had to feed the family too. Luckily there was good sauce to go with the white rice and taro balls (more white tasteless dough). No veg, but delicious pamplemousse at the end. Denny was wonderful, she spoke such good english and listened very patiently to Stefan. I have to say we couldn’t wait to depart, we saw the family were waiting for left overs, so Rowan and I said we should let them eat, a good excuse to get going. We just got into their dinghy to go back to the boat when the heavens opened once again. We were drenched by the time we got back.
Fine black sea sand beach
The 3 boats in the bay with the island behind
Kids playing at the beach under huge old shady trees
Colourful gardens, with this orchid growing high
Half way up the hill with the concrete road, essential in all this rain
One of the churches
Some traditional old buildings with modern solar panels
Beautiful homes and gardens
Colourful gardens
Poor old pigs in their coconut pens
More homes, the traditional houses withstand the cyclones better
Getting higher looking back at our bay with the little island behind PolePole
Picturesque river running through the village
Clear water
Smartly decorated house
Great flying buttresses on this tree
One of the empty guest houses
Food growing everywhere
Another church, with an old gas tank on the left as it’s bell
Chickens roaming free everywhere
Another enormous old tree on the beach
Meeting place in the village
Another closed guest house and cafe
Kids cooling off in the river having such a good time
Shady bench under the contorted tree
Broken coral and shells all over the beach
Fanciest out rigger we have seen …. with an engine!
Trinity in the dark clouds at sunset
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