Lifou - Loyalty Island

Another tendered port of call beckoned us stubbornly on towards the beach, despite the rainy weather.   After a crazy downpour where standing under a palm tree just didn't cut it, we booked a tour boasting a forest walk and cave viewing.  The language of the island is French, so I had a bit of practice time, although our tour guide gave her presentation in English.  (It's just always nice to know what people are saying to each other, when they think you don't understand their language and talk amongst themselves.)  The boys were very attentive to our guide as she described the traditional uses of the native plants in the forest (medicinal, building materials etc). 

  

 There were a couple of caves in the area . . .

 And we were able to all walk down inside this one, which they had pre-lit with candles.
This was the boys' first time inside a cave, so they learned about stalactites and stalagmites.  And we sang "Frere Jacques" in a 2 part round.   Mostly, Xavier just wanted to use his flashlight to shine all over the ceiling of the cave, unfortunately, he's not so great at keeping the light out of people's eyes . . . argh!

 The next part of the tour included showing us 3 different types of traps that are used by locals to catch coconut crab - and then Dave was chosen to actually hold one of them - a baby to be precise!  Our guide says that he can catch over 100 crabs per week here at these caves (a different set than we walked in, don't freak out!).  Yes, they can climb trees.  Yes, they eat coconuts.  It takes them a long time to crack them open though and sometimes they carry them up a tree to drop them, or join forces collectively with other crabs.  So, our guide opens a few up and leaves them out as "bait" and the crabs swarm them overnight.  Then he can catch them with ease.  They apparently taste quite good! 

We were also treated to displays of traps for catching wild pigs and birds.  He let Jack & Xavier try to catch his fingers as he pretended to be a bird landing on the trap.  They loved that part of course - he even made sound effects!  

There were no towns in walking distance of the port, so we wandered down a small road towards a "lagoon" area that was reported good for snorkeling.  Indeed, you can see how clear the water was and the amounts of beautiful, untouched coral visible.  We didn't have any gear, nor wanted to pay for rentals today, but we used the boys inflatable rings again and some goggles and Dave and I swam around and pushed the boys in their rings for awhile.  There were hardly any waves to deal with and you could see the fish swimming right from the shore!

It is still amazing, even after 2 weeks, that after a lovely day onshore, we get to return to such a fabulous ship in the distance and travel onwards again!

Island traditional dancers gave us a goodbye presentation and then we went to wander up and down the beach in full view of the ship.   Dave was swimming in search for the sea turtles that had been reported found just off the pier, but only saw the tail end of one swimming away from him.  We were the last people back on board the boat that day.  Not because it was sunny or particularly warm, but just because it was worth lingering at such a peaceful place.

Sailing & Snorkeling in Vanuatu

We had booked a half day tour from the ship and set off on a large sailboat for a snorkling adventure and beach play in a small bay near Vila, Vanuatu. 

 The blue water looked lovely and clear.  The boys were excited to have a ride in the "tinny" over to the beach . . . until they saw everyone else on the tour strap on their fins and snorkels and jump off of the big sailboat and swim to the shore.  Then they *HAD* to do that and saved the "tinny" (aluminum boat) ride for our return to the sailboat after snorkeling. 

Actually, if they truth is told, after swimming from boat to shore and checking out the fish with goggles on, the boys played on the coral beach while mommy & daddy snorkeled and fed the fish.  Yes, they put a bag of bread crumbs hanging from this pole in the middle of the bay and you reach in and pull out a handful and the fish swarm all around you, bumping into you and nipping a bit (they were all of 6 inches long) to get at the crumbs.  Way cool!

Dave took the boys out in the kayak to let them hand feed the fish too. 

On the sailboat ride back (45 min), we managed to sneak in a little "unschooling" with a vocabulary game I had tucked in my bag for just such a *bored and tired* moment.  Luckily our hosts also treated us to hot coffee & tea, freshly toasted raisin bread with cinnamon and sugar on it and a tray of biscuits.  Xavier managed to grab 3 of these to sustain himself!   

It turned out to be a rainy on-again off-again sort of day, so we left the kids in Ocean Adventure Kid's Club and wandered back off the boat for a short walk on "dry" ground around the port and to check out the market stalls.  Totally forgot to take a photo of the market, but the women had set up their tents on both sides of the street for about 1 kilometer.  I found a lovely tablecloth for my mother-in-law who was to put up with hosting us for a few weeks shortly in New Zealand.  

 Mango & banana trees

 Wild pigs . . . well, actually there was a homemade pig pen nearby, but these ones were roaming free.

 Dave's brush with wildlife on the island . . . hermit crab. 

The shells were amazing! The whole beach was broken coral, not sand and the shells were often as big as my palm.  We couldn't take anything with us as entering Aussie & NZ regulations are very strict. 

Local children could be heard playing and laughing on a smaller island in the middle of the harbour.  

Today, we "avoided" town and such and really just contented ourselves with the scenery, the fish (We saw huge coral, large purple starfish, Nemo - type clownfish and even a baby shark hanging around underneath the sailboat, only about 2 feet long!) and the bird songs.  Beautiful cluster of islands on Vanuatu, we saw some lovely resort cottages too . . . wanna visit??  My exact words to Dave while sailing past this home was "I could live there!"

Resorts!

Welcome to the Port of Suva

We were ready for a cultural experience in Fiji and took a tour from the port that promised a trip to an authentic village.  Again, a taxi ride without seatbelts.  I sat in the middle of the boys in the back seat with my arm across them holding onto the door handles, prayers on my lips, because there was a wee bit more traffic in Suva! 

We started with a tour around the city and important landmarks including the gardens and parliment buildings where the coup occurred.  

We managed to jump out near a misty waterfall (complete with barbed wire as they are in the middle of constructing a viewing platform of some kind).  

We arrived at the village about 30 minutes outside of Suva.   It was only the 2nd time this village has hosted tours from the cruise ship.  They were quite excited to have us and were graciously hospitable, offering watermelon and pineapple, a tour to their village church and hall. 

The whole village from the babies and children to the old (toothless) men were seated with us in the hall and they re-enacted a kava ceremony for us as they would perform for a visiting chief.

 The women greeted us with floral leis, demonstrated weaving mats and wanted to dote on the boys (who were rather intimidated by the whole show). 

 We had a brief stop at a backpackers hostel for refreshments and discovered that we were 9423km from Vancouver, Canada, and admired their peaceful lagoon. 

 Lovely tour operators gave the boys some clay pigs and a Fijian flag and thanked them for sharing in the joy of their island home.  The boys were a bit overwhelmed by the day and mostly shy and quiet during the village visit, but I think it was good for them to be exposed to another way of life. 

Pretty sure we ended this day in the hot tub . . . feeling grateful and a bit more clear about the reality in the islands that not everyone who lives there gets to sit back and enjoy the beach. 

Western Samoa

We managed to skip Oct 3rd altogether as we crossed the international date line in between our visits to the Samoan ports of call.  However we were more prepared for our on shore adventure this time and haggled with a couple of taxi drivers (waiting at the port in a bit of a mob) to take us to an attraction called Sliding Rocks.  Now is the time I mention that in the south pacific there aren't many seat belts (sorry mom!)  We had a little ride through town and out into the countryside.  Gazebo style houses (few walls and fewer windows), many banana trees, coconut and mango trees.  Dogs and chickens roaming free.  It was misty and raining, but no one bothered to take their clothes off of the line - they would get dry when they got dry. 

Down the rainforested hillside we walked on a path and staircase to the river.  There were 3 different waterfall "sliding rocks" to choose from, with deepish pools beneath.  The boys (yes, all 3 of them!) did #1 & #2.  I didn't let them anywhere near #3 (you'll see why in the later photos). 

Here's the view from the bottom of the staircase we climbed down through the rainforest (yes, it was in fact raining!) of the #2 slide.  We figure it's a 15-20 foot drop.  And yes, you have to climb back up on the far side of the river on wet, slippery rocks . . . and we were not the only people crazy enough to try it! 

 Here's the *baby* slide.  It was clever of us to have brought their life jackets as this is a "use at your own risk" activity and while you pay an admission fee to the landowner, it's completely unsupervised. 

After enjoying the warm up of the small slide (I say "warm up" loosely as the water was quite CHILLY!) Jackson graduated to the larger slide #2.  The next photo is him sitting in the same spot as above, but from a different camera angle.  This the 15-20 feet slide. 

 And he's done it!  Over and over again!  Xavier slid at least 3 times down the pair of rocks as well as Daddy.  And yes, on the 3rd time down, Dave managed to remember to give his tailbone a nice bruise.  It was raining too hard by then to get out the camera, so you'll have to take my word for it.  There was a little "ramp" in the rock here that launched you into a 5 foot free fall to the pool like Jack's showing off (he must have managed about 7 or 8 turns).


So, this is the 3rd sliding rock below . . .   It's hard to tell from the photo, but there is a deep pool at the bottom of the waterfall after quite a tall vertical plunge.  A couple of brave kiwi blokes tried it.  We watched in awe! 

Just outside the cruise ship the local port authorities were participating in a fundraising campaign to provide themselves with official uniforms (so far they have only vests) by selling fresh mangos, young coconuts etc.   Here's Jack & Xavier tasting a juicy mango . . . Daddy drank some more coconut juice!  

Yep.  Another sunset.  Just doesn't get old, does it?