During my stay in Australia, I took a week to go visit the island nation of Vanuatu. Only 30 years before I visited, it was still a Condominium of England and France. Not much has changed since independence. People still live their lives and no one stresses much about anything. The brief week I spent in Vanuatu was wonderful but incredibly expensive. If you get the chance, I strongly suggest you go. Vanuatu is a wonderful place and not to be missed.
- New Caledonia Overflight: The flight corridor to Vanuatu from Australia passes directly over New Caledonia.
- Efate: The island of Efate holds the Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu. I stayed for several days in Port Vila to do some SCUBA diving.
- Landing at Port Vila: The approach to Port Vila gave me a great view of the city and the island of Efate.
- First Night in Port Vila: On my first night in Port Vila I went for a dive on a shipwreck.
- Port Vila Day One: A trip to Hideaway Island, more diving, and fun.
- Port Vila Day Two: More diving, a tall ship, and the bunkhouse.
- Port Vila Day Three: Live to dive and dive to live.
- Port Vila Day Four: My last day in Port Vila before heading to Tanna for some
- Tanna: Island hopping from Efate to Tanna, I encountered a very different land full of black volcanic soil, eruptions of magma, and a wonderful bungalow hotel.
- Flight to Tanna: The flight to Tanna was on a 72 passenger plane. The landing was a wee bit rough.
- Ride to the Sunrise Bungalows: Tanna is not an island for small cars or people who don’t know how to 4×4.
- Sunrise Bungalows: I wish I could have stayed more than one night at this hotel. It was absolutely perfect.
- Cook’s Hat Bay Beach: A gorgeous beach didn’t have a single person on it save for us.
- Mount Yasur: I’ve been on several dormant and active volcanoes over the years but as of writing this, this is by far the best volcano I’ve yet visited.
- Flight Back to Port Vila and Sydney: Saying goodbye to the easy life of the islands is hard.