Cheryl and Ron In Vanuatu

Adventure one ends - now for a new beginning in the UAE

2007-08-17T20:28:00.001-11:00

Well, we have loved Vanuatu and our work here. But it was time to move on. Ron was asked to take up a position in the United Arab Emirates - which we have accepted.

Follow our adventures (?) in the UAE on our new blog: www.Cherylandron.blogspot.com

Cheers
Cheryl and Ron of Arabia !!!!

Farewell Vanuatu

2007-08-06T00:56:00.000-11:00

Well, our time in Vanuatu has come to an end.

By the end of this week we will be in Abu Dhabi. Ron will be working with the Arab Emirates Education Council, through a consortium called GEMS (Global Education Management Systems) as a Design Specialist, Leadership and Organisation. The job is to lead a team of consultants working with a school in Al Ain. THe school is undertaking a major school improvement project -new curriculum, new processes and management etc. The consultants will be providing advice, professional development and mentoring of the school staff and leadership through this process. Contract is a 2 year contract.
We're both very excited at the prospect of working in another culture, another country and meeting lots of other like minded people.

Leaving Vanuatu was a tough decision. We had made so many friends, and were achieving so much. To all our friends, colleagues, and members of the volunteer community, we say a very big THANK YOU for the support, friendship and hard work. You made our stay in Vanuatu just absolutely perfect. If our stay in the UAE is as good, we will count ourselves very fortunate indeed.

Follow our stay in the UAE on a new Blog at: CherylAndRon.blogspot.com

Cheers Everyone!!

Cruising the South China Sea

2007-05-17T11:45:00.000-11:00

We finally got the chance for an “off-island” break recently. We had a lovely holiday starting with 2 days in Auckland - it didn't rain (! ! !) and they were two lovely days! Cheryl reacquainted herself with where she used to live and bought some classy Italian sandals (with heels!) on sale and we shopped madly for some new clothes for both of us.

After Auckland we flew off to Singapore for another 2 days of shopping and city life. We love Singapore - it is so orderly and well organised! (not at all like anything in the developing world). However there is poverty and people work hard to earn a living and there is a real current of deprivation under all the glitz and glamour. We noted it all and then just had a nice time in a lovely hotel and took in all the sights just as any tourist would.

And now onto the ship - the Superstar Gemini. We arrived to board and we were sure that everyone getting on the ship was in their dotage and thought 'Oh God - what have we done!' It was all gold and granite and very 'Asian deco' - and in the centre of the ship.... a Casino! We did notice there were hardly any children and thought this had to be good!

As it happened there were, of course, people our age and with similar interests and we met some lovely travellers from Canada and New Zealand and a heap of Aussies mostly from Western Australia. We settled into a lazy life of cocktails by the pool, being waited on for every whim and filling our time with nothing but sheer indulgence. The restaurants were sublime and the service and food fantastic.

There were only about 460 cruisers on board and I don't know where they were for most of the trip because we never felt crowded and rarely had to wait for anything. In fact there were more crew on board than passengers and we felt the benefit of that throughout the trip. If we had wanted to there were activities arranged for every moment of the day - movies, craft activities, dancing lessons, mahjong, cards, bingo, silly fun things like coconut bowling and sarong tying, line dancing, shuffleboard and deck quoits etc. and the cruise staff were enthusiastic and fun and so easy to get along with, nothing was too much for them to do to ensure we enjoyed ourselves. We did however choose not to do too many of the activities but took advantage of the gym, the spa and massage, the hairdresser and mostly the pool and pool bar! The cabaret and musical performances were very good and there was a troupe of Chinese acrobats, jugglers and contortionists who were sensational performers.

We had booked the cruise with some trepidation in light of the recent publicity of cruises as floating poker machine palaces with an accompaniment of Aussie yobo boozy louts who didn't know how to behave! There was no evidence of any bad behaviour or boozy indulgence (other than our own) and the whole trip was thoroughly pleasant, comfortable and luxurious!

Koh Samui in Thailand was the next stop after a day out of Singapore at sea. It is an island off the coast of Thailand. We did a day trip to the small town where the ship anchored. The resorts must keep the economy of the island afloat - the town had one cheap clothing shop after another, with a few furniture and souvenir places dotted throughout. The other cruisers booked rides on elephants and monkey shows, but we decided to just do a short visit to town and return to the ship. Ron went off to have a massage and Cheryl returned to the ship for more laying about around the pool and winding down – too easy.

After another day on the 'high seas' we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon - in fact everyone still called it Saigon when we were there. We chose to do a tour as the city has millions of people and we had no idea where we might go and what to do. As it turned out the tour was great - we visited the Regional Museum, had a ride in a pedalshaw (bike style rickshaw) - along with another 100 people from the cruise which presented a really funny sight! - visited the reunification palace where the north and south of Vietnam were reunited after the war and heard lots of history about the war and it's impact on Vietnam and development there. We also went to a factory where they produce some beautiful pieces of art. We bought a picture of some women planting rice in a field. The interesting thing about it is the picture is a mosaic of crushed duck shells in different colours and it is quite intricate and beautiful, and all handmade and finished by people who probably work for a week for less than the painting cost.

Another day at sea and then we visited Tioman Island, just off Malaysia. It was really just a resort island and would be a lovely place to go for a honeymoon or for that 'get away from everything' type holiday. We visited the island for a couple of hours and returned to the ship.

Then it was back to Singapore for another couple of days. We returned shopping to Chinatown and the ‘Little India” as well as Arab Street. A visit to the night Zoo was a must we were told and it was great. Lots of nocturnal animals all wandering about doing their things in the semi-light. In this artificial twilight you can’t see any of the fences and barriers so it was like we were walking / riding right next to them –lions, tigers, elephants, tapirs, etc etc. All capped by an amusing live show with some of the animal handlers.

Back on the plane, and home via an overnight stop in Auckland. The only down-side of the holiday was all the time you spend in airport lounges and queues waiting. But all was well worth it.

Just another week

2007-03-07T11:15:00.000-11:00

Well, it's been more than our usual 2 weeks since we updated the blog. tut-tut!

That's what happens when you get busy. -not that it's been all work -the social calendar has had a hammering too. But all in all it's been a busy month.

All in all,once you've been anywhere for over 6 months doing whatever, it's almost like --another day -work, sleep eat etc. But we do get to do this -- AND play in one of the loveliest settings, and amongst the lovliest people.

I started back at school - teaching year 13 statistics (hate that! -and a HUGE class of 35 students which makes for a LOT of marking when you set assignments etc). I also have a year 12 - that I like- because it's an easy roll, I don't have to put too much preparation, there's not so much pressure and we can have a bit of fun - AND the class is relatively small (25).

My VET project is ticking along -agonisingly slowly, but progressing nevertheless. I've scourged a few writers backs, used the cattle prod, done lots of begging and pleading and generally boosted egos to get the product coming. And still more to go.

However, on the ego-tripping side I scored a major coup recently. Using my former Royal Life Saving Society contacts I got them to fund a trainer to fly over here and set up a train the trainer network amongst schools and teachers and NGOs (that work with young people) -all at RLSSA's expense. All I have to do is organise this end and come up with a few bucks from the Ministry to fund the room hire and catering etc. Hopefully this will happen by the end of June.

As I type, it's raining -again- And while I know you would probably kill for a few inches of same, it's getting to be really tiresome over here. Haven't been able to get to the beach for weeks. My suntan has faded back to an Aussie winter hue! The rain here varies from drip drip to absolute bucketing for hours on end. Never mind the pipeline from Far North Qld to the Murray Darling -- a pipeline from here would be enough for the whole east coast!

Last fortnight (14-15th Feb) Cheryl and I celebrated my 56th Birthday -with a few friends at a French Restaurant here. A few of us had birthdays around the same time so there were about 20 of us. Great night. And it was also -to the hour - Cheryl and my 20th anniversary of meeting -at Penrith tennis club. SO many years -and still just a moment ago. We had a lovely night.

Cheryl too has been busy. They had 51 challengers come back from the islands mid February. This requires a de-briefing, full reporting and closure process over a week. Big busy time. Then at the end of this, the Program Director and Cheryl had to prepare for a major conference the PD was attending in Sydney. The whole Youth Challenge organisation was getting together in Sydney for 4 days. Reports, presentations, financial presentations, etc all required in the short space of time between finishing the closure process and the PD taking off to Sydney.

And we've begun a mission to try and set up a Youth Leadership Centre (we're calling it the Vanuatu Youth Training And Leadership Centre (VYTAL Centre) and at the same time find YCIV new premises. Their current space is about 45 sq m for a staff of 6, with up to 50 others coming in and out writing reports, getting training in IT, Life Skills, Job Seeking etc etc. SO>>>> if anyone over there knows a wealthy sponsor who would be willing to become a partner with YCIV in setting up a Youth Leadership Centre for Vanuatu, we'd love to hear about them.

You may also have heard that there was a State Of Emergency declared over here last night (Sunday 4th March). However, this is all a tiny corner of Vila -some distance from us. -And it's an inter-island faction dispute that isn't spilling over into the general community and is being well contained by the local constabulary and armed forces. We drove through the affected area this morning (on our way home from an overnight stay out of town) -and it seemed very settled. All here is quiet, peaceful and safe. And apart from that, the constant rain has a remarkable dampening effect on street gatherings - Ni-Vanuatu people just don't like getting drenched all the time and this really cuts down on the numbers willing to gather in groups! It's a bit like the Redfern riots -didn't affect many people at all outside of Redfern!

OK,
that's all for now. See you soon!
Publish

Snorkeling

2007-01-21T13:06:00.001-11:00

The underwater pictures in this entry are courtesy of Mike. He and Bec spent hours snorkeling the waters of Vanuatu taking pictures of fish and coral. They took some lovely pics and it was hard to decide which ones to use. The swimmer feeding the black damsels is Bec.

We have spent many pleasant hours floating around in our fins, goggles and snorkels just watching the fish play and eat.

The Neptune is a tourist boat that takes people for a 3 hours trip out of Port Vila to Paradise Cove for fish feeding and then back in behind Iririki Island to finish the afternoon off. It is an exceptionally pleasant, and not too expensive, afternoon. The crew of the boat are all local NiVanuatu people.

On reaching Paradise Cove one of the crew throws chunks of bread into the water and you see some large red fin bass and coral trout leap up and snatch the bread as it hits the water. They are quite big fish and spectacular to watch. The spectacle doesn’t end there. We all don our flippers, snorkels and goggles and drop off the back of the boat into the water, taking some bread with us to feed the fish. As soon as we hit the water we are besieged by hundreds of black damsel fish and other beautiful tropicals in an amazing array of fabulous colours. They come right up and eat out of your hands. The children on the trip are just screaming with delight – not to mention the adults who are nearly jumping out of the water in fright as the damsels nibble on assorted body parts!

Another great spot is Hideaway Island where the fish come right up to the beach and there are plenty of reefs to glide over and watch below. Our last trip to Hideaway saw 13 of us piled into the truck to come home. We took some people over and met others there and by the time we came home we had quite a gathering. It is common to see truckloads of local people coming and going but not so common to see a truck load of volunteers! Even the locals were having a good laugh at us on the way home. You could never do it in Australia without being arrested! Mind you Ron was driving very carefully because it had also started to rain! Too bad for the passengers in the tray – Willy got his goggles and snorkel out !!

Tanna and Mt Yasur

2006-12-29T13:10:00.000-11:00

Your feel it first - - - - -through your feet. A vibration, a shudder. An instant later you see a plume of smoke, and the first of the rising column of exploding lava. Then the sound hits you. A deep rumble in a wave of sound and you feel it again – in your chest, in your stomach. And finally there it is, a huge spout of lava pieces rising fifty, sixty metres into the air. Pieces the size of golf balls, pieces the size of a small car. Molten rock changing shape as the airstream has its effect. Some we’ve spoken to have said the chunks of lava sometimes actually go over their heads and land on the side of the volcano behind them. We can see the evidence of this with black rock everywhere. We’re happy this is not happening today.

We’re 390m above sea level on the top of Mt Yasur on the island of Tanna around 250Km south of Vila. We stand on the edge of a 2 tiered crater, looking down into its mouth. In front of us is another shallower crater, and then, the throat of the volcano with its (currently) 3 vents. Whilst we cannot actually see the lava bed, we don’t need to, There is enough here to be awesome without it. All we can see around us is black ash and rock. The carpark is over 300m from the crater and 150m lower. It also is strewn with the detritus of eruptions. There are slabs of cooled lava up to 2 metres long scattered over 300m from the base.

On our drive to the volcano we crossed the ash plain north west of the volcano. The prevailing winds here are from the south east, so this is where most of the ash from the volcano lands. It is some 3km wide and crossing it we circumvent the volcano’s base. Occasionally you will see the adventurous ash-boarding down the slopes. There are rocky outcrops here, evidence that, in the not too distant past, there were solid lava flows here. It’s all very pre-historic. And yet, a number of villages are quite close.

We visited two of villages during our stay here. One, called Tapu (we think) allowed us to see the men of the village doing some of their kustom dancing. Fascinating to watch – and their dance brings echoes of the volcano as they stamp their feet in unison, making the ground vibrate. They also show us some firemaking, using Hibiscus wood and finally entertain us with flute playing. The old man with the flute is almost mystical, playing from his perch up in the Banyan tree as the children watch, mesmerised.

The second village is one belonging to the John Frum Cargo cult. Every Friday, they gather from sunset to play music and dance until dawn. This village is a recent split from a larger village so the dancing is not as spectacular as we’ve heard. Nevertheless a fascinating insight into the culture of this island and its people. And I find I have a link to them. For they believe that, one year, on February 15 (my birthday), John Frum will come and deliver them a cargo containing all they will ever need. I observe that, in their simplicity and abundance of food, in the way they all work together with so very little conflict, they probably don’t need much more.

Such was our stay on Tanna.

December - and some quirky things

2006-12-05T15:40:00.000-11:00

Well, it’s been a hectic month for both of us.

Cheryl has been flat out at Youth Challenge upgrading training materials, finding a new place for orientation programs and hopefully a new office location - AND getting ready for the 45 challengers who arrive next week. We had one of the group leaders stay with us for a few days recently. Johnny is a great bloke with a lovely sense of humour and considerable talent. Hearing him speak Bislama with that thick Scottish brogue makes me wonder how on earth the villagers on Tanna will cope!

I’ve all but wrapped up at Malapoa for the year and yesterday ran the last 2 day workshop for the year of my TVET project. This one was to train the Ni-Van writers in MSWord, to complete a peer review of the curriculum they have written and to plan the contents of their teaching-learning and assessment booklets. This project will continue next year –just to give me something to do.

And amidst all this we manage to get to the beach / a local resort pool / have dinner with friends / have a BBQ / visit an island etc.

One of the downsides of being part of the volunteer community here is that we regularly have to farewell people we have become close to. Recently we saw Don and Carol off back to Perth. Don had spent 12 months working on a project to extend primary schools on some of the islands –building extra classes, upgrading resources etc. They are a lovely couple and we will miss them.

We’re really looking forward to having Mike and Bec arrive for Christmas. Having some family here will be lovely. Hopefully the weather will continue to be reasonably mild for them. So far we’ve had very few really hot days –though the humidity is getting up into the 90%s regularly.

The pictures on this blog entry are a collation of just SOME of the quirky – interesting – funny things we’ve noted about Vanuatu. Click on a collage to enlarge it!

Turtle monitoring in Tassiriki

2006-11-11T14:01:00.000-11:00

Well we have finally had our cultural – village- experience! We spent a weekend on a small island in a village called Tassiriki. The island was Moso, which is about 25Km up the west coast from Vila. AS well as it being an excuse to get out of town for the weekend, we went there to monitor turtles! Yep, to observe turtles coming up on the beach and laying eggs, by the hundreds. This village, until 12 months ago had actually been eating turtles! However, through the efforts of a couple of locals and the organisation that Jacquie works for (Wan Smol Bag) they have embarked on a conservation project instead. It’s a kind of eco-tourism deal, using tourists as monitors to count the comings and goings of turtles and gathering lots of information besides.

This was the inaugural tourist visit, so on arrival we received a lovely official welcome with lots of speeches, music and fabulous Kakai (lunch). The chief, David, welcomed us to his village and several other elders provided a few words of welcome as well. The entrance was garlanded with fresh flowers, the paths were newly sanded and swept and the huts, though rudimentary, were more than adequate for our needs.

Tassiriki is one of the nicest villages we have seen. Spacious, clean, well organised and with a really strong community spirit. Our two Ni-Van guides were obviously passionate about their work of turtle conservation.

We stayed in small huts (completed the night before) and became part of village life for the weekend - even attending church on Sunday morning. They had four pastors! One was the quiet, strong type, then there was a singing pastor, followed by a hell fire and brimstone - the devil's gonna getcha and the lord is watchin out for ya type, then we were treated to sincerity and reflection........2 hours of sitting down, standing up, singing in harmony, clapping hands, joining hands in a circle, shaking hands and shouting alleluias! Then we were invited to line up at the door shake hands with each member of the community. What struck me (Ron) was the obvious sincerity of every one. We were truly welcomed into their community –not just intrusive tourists.

On Saturday evening we did a 3.5 klm hike across a mountain to get to see the turtles - half in daylight and the rest by torch light. Ron fell over a stump and got a stick speared into his foot so we didn't actually get to see the turtles as I stayed with him on the beach and we watched in total silence the moon riding over the water on an isolated beach with not another person (apart from the turtle monitors who had trotted off 3 km up the beach) for miles around. We collected shells as big as saucers and spent about 3 hours just being quiet and together.

The others arrived back around 11:30pm and made us envious with their story of one turtle (amongst others) a metre long laying some 250 eggs and then scrambling back to the sea. They tagged the turtle and named it Tamaarana and released her to the sea. Tamaarana means Twin and is the name of the guest house we stayed in. Wherever she turns up now, we will be emailed about her. The turtles were laying well up the beach and on the dry sand in the bush. The local people say this is because there will be a cyclone this season!

At almost midnight we set off by torchlight back through the jungle and over the mountain to go home to sleep. Arriving in the village an hour later we popped a bottle of white and sat around in a circle with our other volunteer friends toasting turtles and Ron's poor speared foot!

Our truk really came to the fore as we packed in 10 people and all their gear to travel up to the boat landing and catch the boat out to the island. A lovely experience with lovely people (ni-Van and our volunteer gang). The only hard part was the drive up and back. The roads here really are something else once you get out of Vila. The 25Km journey took an hour each way!

Weather, Weather and more Weather.........and a few shakes

2006-10-24T21:42:00.000-11:00

We were told before coming to Vanuatu that May to November is the dry season! I think I can count on my fingers the number of days we have had dry since our arrival on the 8th of July – 3, maybe 4??.

Each day we rise to look at the sky and every day the clouds have been evident. If it hasn’t been raining outright then we have had a few showers in the morning, and a couple in the evening, and a bucket down over night just to make sure we don’t dry out and suffer dehydration! It is nigh on impossible to get the washing dry.........

Many of the roads are coral and soil and quite frankly it defies belief that there is still soil to be seen between the chunks of coral! The topography is quite hilly and how we haven’t ended up with a major part of the island in Port Vila harbour I have no idea.

Now rain has its attractions and if we could just send about half of this current lot over to the Central Coast of NSW we would have a segment of Australia totally in our debt for many years to come! I am told we are on level four water restrictions at home and that is pretty dire.

And now to add insult to injury a cyclone call Xavier is threatening to dump monumental amounts of water on us. The northern provinces of Vanuatu are already under heavy fire from Xavier which is described as a small but very intense weather system – winds of over 110knots and waves that threaten to reach 28 feet in height. Predictions are it may turn west before it reaches Port Vila BUT......

We will know by tomorrow afternoon whether we need to ‘standfast’, pop up the cyclone shutters and gather in food, water and batteries to ride out the storm. We have never experienced a cyclone so we are in fact just curious enough to hope one comes our way – so long as it is a little one that won’t do too much harm!

Ron has discovered the cyclone tracking service provided by the Fiji Met Bureau and he is tracking Xavier and keeping an eye on it for us. I hope we get more warning than we did for the tsunami a couple of weeks ago – we were in the pub the next day when we heard that there was a possibility a tsunami was on the way – YESTERDAY!

AND there have been 2 earthquakes in the last week. One on Tuesday afternoon – measured about 5.7 and was centered just off Port Vila. The other was in the islands north of us on Wednesday night measuring about 6.3. They give us a shake, but nothing much more.

Trevor (our resident expert on things Vanuatu) said that we should worry when the NiVans get a bit giggly about the earthquakes – it means they are nervous. Well you would have thought it a full on pantomime at our office on Tuesday afternoon. People had a weird response to me asking whether we should be ducking under the table – nervous laughter was all I got in reply!

With cyclones and earthquakes reminding us of our tenuous hold on the earth of Vanuatu I will sign off and sit back and pick up a book, knowing that I have no control over any aspect of either phenomenon and simply let fate take a course that I hope steers us through to finer skies, warmth and sunshine, snorkeling and swimming – and just a tincey wincey bit of the dry we have missed out on!

Life continues in paradise!

2006-10-14T22:59:00.000-11:00

This week we took a very important decision in our life in Vanuatu. We decided to buy a ‘truck’. It is my understanding that the word ‘truk’ describes most modes of transport here – be that car or bus or, indeed, a truck. Our particular truck is a SSangYong Musso Sports 4 WD, green in colour and just a couple of years old. We know she is a great truck because she has the approval of our friend Trevor and he is an expert on trucks! Trevor is a connoisseur of the ‘back of the truck’. The one thing that is missing is a little bit of comfort, and something to hang on to, in the back. So Ron is now on a mission to fix up the tray area for the comfort of our external passengers (particularly Trevor and Paul!). Pictures of the truck will be forthcoming!

So a couple of us with trucks took a spin out to Eton Beach today. Two trucks can fit 14 people with room to spare for goggles, snorkels, flippers and picnic fare. Ladies take precedence for front row seats and the boys/kids are relegated to the ‘back of the truck’ where they revel in being in the dust and bounced until their bottoms go numb. It is some secret badge of manhood that we girls just have no appreciation of really!

Eton is about 20 klm out of town and that translates to about a 30 minute drive from our place – yep the roads ARE that bad! But the pictures will show you just how worthwhile it was. The beach is kitted out with huts with tables and benches and a sandy floor that is perfect for a locally made pandanus mat. There is even a flush toilet with paper included – and all for 300vatu per person!

We donned our snorkel gear and headed out into the small bay. Though not real deep it has an array of reef formations and plenty of tropical fish types to play with or feed. We swam around for a while, sat and nattered, had some lunch, swam some more and generally relaxed. At about 3 pm all the locals came down for a swim. The village is nearby and everyone came down to wash and have a game of footy on the beach. The kids were gorgeous – cavorting about in their knickers and less!

Yep – it was just another day in Paradise. Nothing special but splendidly remarkable… that truck is going to come in VERY handy over the time we are here!

Snorkelling in the harbour --WOW!!

2006-10-07T19:17:00.000-11:00

Just had a ball out snorkeling off Ifira and Iririki Islands. (a paid jaunt -but now we know the spots and the technique, we can reach them by land no problem -wiff me new truk!) We got on board a "glass bottom” boat (-actually a normal flat bottom with a couple of viewing panels) and cruised out about 20 minutes from the wharf but still "in" the harbour and near to Ifira Island, an all Ni-Van island and the larger of the 2 islands in the harbour. The Captain anchored there and First Mate tossed a few stale bread rolls into the water -whoosh! gone each time.

Chez and I donned our snorkels and flippers and splashed in off the boat. The First Mate then tossed us a couple of bread rolls which we held in front of us --to be besieged by masses of fish! All sizes from a few cm to over a foot in length. All colours. Black & Whites, yellow striped, azure blue, purple, green, name it we saw it. But they stayed a respectable distance away. We had to release the bread before they'd approach.

Then, all of a sudden, a school of smaller (10cm) black coloured fish approached and got really game. Swimming all around, bumping into us, nibbling at the bread in our hand, nibbling on Cheryl's hair (thought it was seaweed I suppose). So here we are, absolutely surrounded by all sizes, shapes and colours of fish. A-Ma-zing.

Captain then called us in and said we'd move to a less windy spot. -Just off the back of the smaller Iririki (Resort) Island. And again, a few seconds after we hit the water, we're totally surrounded. And some also thought Cheryl's finger would make a tasty treat! (but then I've always known she's a tasty dish!). The Barrier Reef may have prettier coral, but the fish are more friendly (or maybe that’s assertive!) here in Vanuatu!!

Just WOW!

Our next purchase will be an instamatic underwater camera!

A Youth Challenge Experience

2006-10-04T19:15:00.000-11:00

Tanna is one of the southern most islands in the Vanuatu. We thought that for this blog entry, we would share with you the experiences of one of the Youth Challenge International groups recently returned from Tanna. They had an amazing experience on their way there. The writer is one of the group leaders, Liesa. The photos are also Liesa’s……………

“Finally arrived back in Vila yesterday from 5 weeks in the remote jungle. It was amazing. We were in the middle of nowhere, in a mountainous jungle, next to a stunning black sand beach, not far from a rumbling live volcano, living in a grass hut with people that don’t speak English or Bislama - only their traditional language, and who have never seen white people before. And it was fabulous. We had no electricity of course, and no running water, and had to walk 10 minutes to a pipe that came from a river to have a bucket shower in a palm frond cubicle.

We organised a Youth Skills Summit that went for a week, and invited all the youth from surrounding villages. We had to do 9 hour hikes up and down ravines to deliver the information at the beginning, then they all came to stay at our village during the Summit.

They had never heard of HIV/AIDs, Sexual Reproductive Health, never seen a policeman before (who came to do a talk), didn’t know that you should wash your hands after going to the toilet or before eating, or anything. Quite amazing. Having said that, they are highly intelligent and extremely resourceful. No one has a job, they all just live off the land, build their own houses, raise chooks and pigs, which are wandering around everywhere. Skinny dogs and cats wander around too, but they don’t get fed because they don’t get eaten. They are all poster animals for the RSPCA. I kept sneaking one particular malnourished kitten and pup tinned mackerel (eeew...blah....spew) and tuna. The Ni Vans were horrified. They have no concept of being nice to animals - they are purely a resource to them.

After a horrific 24 hour boat trip on an overcrowded cargo ship to Tanna from Vila, we finally arrived at our destination at 9.30 at night, only to be told that the crew wouldn’t unload our equipment because they were too tired. What the? So the Captain agreed to let us sleep on the ship that night, sans passengers.

As it happened, we arrived on the night of the amazing Toka Ceremony, which occurs only once every 5 years. It is a 3 day ceremony where men and women from different tribes gather and dance for 3 days straight, then kill 200 pigs. It is where they find wives.

So my team of 14 headed up a goat track in the back of uts in the middle of the night. We drove up a steady incline in the middle of the jungle, which is very disconcerting when you don’t know your drivers and there are lots of strange people appearing from the bushes in the darkness, all heading towards the hill top. We finally arrive near the top of the hill, and climb out of the back of the utes to the sound of clapping and chanting and stamping. We looked up toward a spot lit clearing, dust hovering above a wall of dancing female bodies in traditional costumes (grass skirts and not much else) with their faces painted bright red. The atmosphere was electric.

After negotiations with 3 serious looking men (chiefs), we made our way up the road, when suddenly, about 100 men holding spears came running toward us, stamping and chanting. The group split in two and bolted to each side of the road. Our escorts dragged us over the fences on the sides of the road, out of the way of the men.

Apparently, if the scary chanting men grab you, they take you away and you don’t get seen until the next morning. I didn’t ask what happened to you in the meantime.....

The men stomped past, turned around and ran back up the hill, melting into the crowd on the clearing. We made our way back up the road, to the clearing in single file, holding hands. We pressed through bodies - between the dancers and onlookers. The scary men tried to grab some of the gals, but luckily the onlookers pulled them back again. We continued on and made our way to a temporary viewing platform built in a huge banyan tree, via footholds cut into the tree, using strategically placed saplings as handholds.

From the platform, it was like arriving on the movie set of a Hollywood blockbuster. An area about the size of a small football oval was packed full of dancing, stomping, clapping, chanting women in various custom costumes, faces painted, bright feathers sticking out of their hair, grass skirts whirling. The scary men formed a really wide congo line that snaked its way continually through the dancing women, keeping the different tribes separated. A huge cloud of dust hovered above the clearing. It was amazing.

There were only about 5 other white people there. It was a traditional ceremony - not staged for tourists. We felt like we shouldn’t have been there and were privy to a sacred, ancient ceremony. (There was me and 5 Aussie gals - the rest of our group were Ni Vans). We stayed a couple of hours but because we were underclothed, underfed and overtired, I had to take the gals back to the ship, although I would have loved to have stayed all night.

And that's just one of the fabulous stories to tell from Tanna. There are many more………….”

Some of our favorite places

2006-09-18T17:49:00.000-11:00

Having moved to Vanuatu we have had to reorient ourselves to where the sun rises and sets and where the water is in relation to the land. As there is so much water and so little land compared to Australia things are very different here - in one day you can watch the sun rise and set over the ocean. You can be in the north of the country in the morning and the south in the afternoon, having travelled also from east to west.

We enjoy food and wine. (What an understatement I hear some people saying!) So one of the ways we have been able to orient ourselves and enjoy our time here has been to explore the restaurants, eateries, cafes and meeting places. Here is a selection of the fabulous and favorite places we have discovered so far.

Things of a personal nature

2006-09-08T23:24:00.000-11:00

Well some friends and relatives have asked us to update this blog not just on our ‘goings on’, but also on how we are faring personally. I actually had thought that this would be a bit self indulgent and I have avoided it till now so I thank the people who have been interested to ask about us and this is our response.........

First and foremost - we are well – our health, both physical and psychological, is fine. There have, however, been some MOMENTS of concern and I am now happy to share these with you. I will work up from the mundane to the significant and I am sure there will be a laugh or two in it for those of you warped enough to find it funny (as we have!)

The first (and most minor) affliction was the ‘Why have we done this’ syndrome. Your see we left Australia thinking we knew the answer to this and many other questions. The truth is there is no answer and we have no real idea of WHY we have done this just that we thought it was a good idea and that we had hoped we could contribute in some way. However we had NO idea of the detail and the requirements and the outcome. It is a bit like being an explorer both in another country and within our own heads!

We have now experienced 2 months of Vanuatu and we know that for all the surprises and fun we have had there are a thousand-fold of them left to come. We have not felt like fish out of water, but we have certainly experienced and felt deeply something different to our previous lives. We live in a culture that pays no homage to fashion and consumerism, one that has an intense focus on tradition and culture and speaks a different language to that we are used to. Life is simplified without accoutrements and pressures, be they other- or self-imposed. We struggle with the poverty and the lack of health and sanitation and at the same time we surrender to the implications of living and working in this wondrously different and challenging place.

Now lets not go overboard here – we actually live in the capital city and there is running water (both hot and cold), electricity, telephone and internet (at exorbitant prices), transport and infrastructure (banks, markets and shops; tourist activities, motels, restaurants and bars and etc.) We are not suffering any great degree of lack at all!!!

So we hear you say – ‘What’s it all about? What has happened and how are you coping”. We must say we are not only ‘coping’ well – we are loving it! The upside of living here far exceeds the down!

Like the time I had to visit the local dentist as I had broken a filling. My dentist in Erina has an immaculate surgery where everything is sterile and pure and so clean you would be forgiven for thinking your very presence is a threat to the sterility of the environment. This is necessary due to the ease with which communicable diseases are transferred through dentistry. The surgery I attended in Port Vila is a far cry from this. The equipment predates the 1970’s and the dental surgeon’s rubber gloves are recycled after each day (I saw them laid out to dry!). I have no idea of how the surgery copes with equipment sterilisation and the instruments look to be lined up for a days work. The chair shows signs of mud from the shoes of the previous client and is covered in torn plastic in an effort to make it look clean. The dentist is a true gentleman of the older ilk, probably in his late seventies or early eighties, pleasant and a little shaky but proudly confident in his ability to address what afflicts me. I leave having had the filling patched and with the ringing of a 10,000 meal guarantee for the patch he has completed. I am warned by a local nurse to ensure I am on antibiotics and to drop in to the hospital at the earliest indication of infection! I have however now survived a week and the filling is still in place and functioning well.

Then there was the day I fell under a bus! I rose from the ground covered in 2 inches of oozing mud, having narrowly missed the wheels of a fast accelerating Tarago by centimeters! I survived the tears and the indignity of it all and forced myself to walk that particular path again in the rain....it is the road to my office so there is no avoiding it!

Ron’s trip to school can take 15 minutes or 50! There are no bus routes so if he is late to school it is because the bus driver was not going directly his way this morning and needed to detour to take a child to another school, a shift worker home, a friend to visit his family – or any number of other important trips!

We both work in intensely resource poor environments. Printer cartridges, pens and pencils, markers and staplers, paper and ink are in very short supply – all metered out to within and inch of a tight budget. The human resources however are another story altogether.

We have developed a very real respect for the Ni-Van people. They have a quiet, knowing calmness and peace that is enviable. We have been accepted into their families and offered friendship without reservation. We have been recipients of such generosity from those who have so much less than us. After a while you don’t see the peeling paint, the sparse furniture, the faded curtains. What you see is the intelligence, simplicity, gentleness and genuineness. And the very real desire to ensure their country is developed in a way that improves everyone’s quality of life, not just that of the (ex-pat or local) entrepreneurs.

And what’s more, it is all so beautiful! We have stunning views all around, gorgeous local produce, lovely beaches, little traditional villages with the occasional fix of western culture whenever we want it at our choice of resorts and restaurants.

Mangaliliu and Roi Mata

2006-08-26T22:10:00.000-11:00

Today we visited the home of the legendary Roi Mata. (Photos will be added later as we forgot our camera and we are relying on Jacqui and Paul Birch to allow us to use theirs!)

Roi Mata was a great chief who lived about 400 years ago on the island of Efate. He was a peacemaker. The villagers of the island were all fighting for the resources offered by the land. Roi Mata gathered the people together for a great feast and invited everyone to come along from many villages around the area.

There were those that brought coconuts and those that brought yam. Many people brought many different items. Roi Mata said at this feast if you and your family brought taro, then taro would be your totem. Similarly for fish, yam, coconut and so on. Each family was assigned a different totem by Roi Mata at the great feast. Each village ended up with families of many different totems.

The people were instructed that if they belonged to a particular totem and wanted to visit another village, then the people of the same totem from that village would welcome them and treat them as family during their stay. They would receive the protection of the host family and this would be reciprocated when the host family came to their village to trade and discuss issues of concern.

The people respected Roi Mata and followed this idea. Roi Mata became a popular and honoured chief. He designated sacred places that could be used for particular ceremonies and instituted many rituals to support the development of a peaceful tribal system.

Included in this was the notion of ‘magic stones’. The stones had been thrown out from the volcano and he designated them as places of wisdom and sacrifice of pigs. From the stories told by our guide Jenny, and her apprentice Hilton, the system brought order and peace to the region.

On the island of Lelepa, just off the coast from Mangaliliu, the chief was not pleased by the system introduced by Roi Mata. He invited Roi Mata to a feast on Lelepa and told him he had to come without his wise men and advisors. Roi Mata was poisoned at the feast and taken to a large cave on the edge of the island to “take his last breath”. The cave had been a special place for the people of Lelepa for many years. There are drawings and etchings in the cave that are dated back many years. We visited the cave which is a short but steep hike up from the beach – 10 metres above sea level. It is quite huge and imprssive – even for a claustrophobic like me!

After the death of Roi Mata he was taken in procession to all the villages so they could bid him farewell. He was eventually buried on the island of Eretoka (named Hat Island by Europeans because of its’ shape). Buried along with him were his wives, the chiefs of all the villages that were loyal to him and a couple from each village to pay homage to his greatness. Some of these people were buried alive after being drugged with kava. I reckon this was a really successful strategy by the disgruntled chiefs to rid themselves of Roi Mata’s influence………however the legend lives on ….and so do the totem systems and Poor old Roi Mata is still revered as the most significant chief in Vanuatu history.

And the Mama’s at Mangaliliu cooked us up a big feast for lunch and we then got the bus back to rainy Port Vila. It had not rained a drop at Mangaliliu which is only 30 minutes away by bus – a bit like the catchment area for the water supply on the Central Coast - It never rains where you want it to!

International Youth Day in Port Vila

2006-08-13T22:59:00.000-11:00

Saturday 12th August we celebrated International Youth Day in a Vanuatu way! The Vanuatu Military Forces brass band led a parade through the main street of Port Vila commencing at the Anchor Inn and passing through town to Independence Park. A string band provided entertainment interspersed by speeches from the Minister for Education and Youth Affairs, a young woman from Youth Challenge and a song from another young woman to commemorate the day.

The theme was ‘Tackling Poverty’ and this theme is very relevant for youth in Vanuatu. There is over 40% youth unemployment and very few opportunities for young people in Vanuatu to earn money. Urban youth are particularly affected by poverty because the environment in which they live demands that they have access to money to survive.

Vanuatu is a developing country. Education is valued, employment is sought after and the gentle, wonderful people of Vanuatu are embracing commerce, tourism and economic development. They are proud of their new found reputation as the ‘happiest people on the planet’ and many I speak to look forward to the opportunities presented for future generations. At the same time there is a strong sense of the importance of traditional values and culture, and a pride in the uniqueness of their custom practices and lifestyle.

Ni-Vanuatu are an easy going people and this was demonstrated when the march reached the park. A cricket match was in full swing and yet space was made for the band and the parade to walk across the field and take up the stands. The match went blithely on while the ceremonies were happening on the edge of the out field. Tolerance and flexibility generously exhibited.

I haven’t had a banner in my hands for many years but I felt quite comfortable representing Youth Challenge International, standing amongst and beside youth from this lovely place, bringing attention to the need for ‘Tackling Poverty’

The weeks are flying by in Vanuatu

2006-08-08T20:39:00.000-11:00

Well the time is just flying by here in Vanuatu. We have now been in Port Vila for a month. In one sense we are still very new and finding our way around and in another we have begun to think of ourselves as locals! We know where to shop, where to eat and a few places to play after work. We are getting to know many new faces both expat and Ni-Van and some of those faces will play a large part in our time here.

So how are we going with learning Bislama? Unfortunately Ron is teaching at a school that does not allow him to speak Bislama on campus, and all classes are in English, so he has limited opportunity to develop his skill. The bus drivers and storekeepers are Ron’s main opportunities for practice.

On the other hand I am ‘right in the thick of it!’ All meetings at Youth Challenge are conducted in a mixture of Bislama and English and the other staff there are quite adept at switching from one language to the other and back again in the same sentence and breath! Negaya (also new) and I are looking forward to the time when we can conduct and contribute to meetings in Bislama.

Our Youth Ambassador, Nic, seems to have a pretty good grasp of the language so we are in for a few mornings of intensive language lessons from Nic and lots of practice with the staff – Joel, Nelly, Barenda and Leisau. Everyone is really supportive and happy to put up with the inevitable mistakes. Sometimes the office just dissolves into fits of laughter at my attempts but mostly they are patient and happy to help.

We are slipping into the lifestyle easily and despite the earthquakes, threats of tsunamis and our unfortunate break in and robbery – we are feeling right at home.

A visit to a village in Vanuatu

2006-07-28T20:05:00.000-11:00

Youth Challenge International Vanuatu (YCIV) arranges challenging experiences for Australian, Canadian and Ni-Vanuatu youth. The international volunteers raise money to come and undertake capacity building projects in remote communities in Vanuatu. There are usually an equal number (approx) of international and local volunteers on each project. The purpose of the projects is to have young people working together learning each other’s language and using their skills to accomplish a predetermined outcome for the community in which they will be living.

In Emua village in North Efate the outcome was a Youth Skills Summit. The volunteers had to live in the community, design the conference that would take place over a week, promote it and present it in a community that has limited resources. The community hall, a whiteboard, some pens and paper and a lot of good will and willing hands are the only real conference facilities. No electricity, no overhead projectors, microphones and Powerpoint presentations – no supporting DVD’s, videos, recorded music or electronics!

The village is an hour and a half slow bus trip over rocky and potholed roads to the north of Port Vila which is the capital. I travelled up there for the second day of the conference, accompanying guests speakers that the group had invited from the Department of Lands and the Ni-Vanuatu Business Association. There were over 35-40 youth from this village and others nearby who attended on that day. They sat quietly and listened to the guest speakers who spoke on land rights and ownership and also on how to start a business, and what might assist it to be successful. They diligently took notes and discussed the presentations.

I wandered around the village talking to the people and I was shown the living quarters used by the international volunteers. They slept on mats on the floor, under mosquito domes of varying shapes and sizes. There was an outdoor kitchen and eating area. The toilet and shower room were contained in a tin shed that the doors sort of didn’t quite fit! These young people live here for 4 weeks and a family adopts them to assist with language skills and integration to the village. What a fabulous experience for them – one that will live forever in their memories and longer in their hearts. Here are some photos from the day. Click on the photo for a larger version.

My school at Malapoa

2006-07-28T19:55:00.000-11:00

My work is fine but settling in is a slower process for me than for Cheryl, since I have a much bigger complement of staff to get to know –and tell apart!!. Now that I’ve been there a few weeks, I’m beginning to see past the peeling paint (and shortness of resources) and can see it is a school with a heart, lovely kids and staff who care. During these two weeks, I’ve been to a school open day, a national School Sports Week opening, met the Minister of Education and established a relaxed relationship with the acting head of the maths department. I think she was a little over-awed at my 'credentials' initially and the fact that I'm a 'grey haired' one (automatically revered over here - - - - -hmmm, something Aussies could do with methinks!). The last few days have seen us in relaxed conversation about some of the workings of the faculty and she seems willing to listen to tentative suggestions. But as is the case here ------hasten slowly.

The senior curriculum is taught over 3 years. Year 11, 12 and 13. Year 11 & 12 is sort of equivalent to Oz. However students who want to go on must study all subjects at a higher level (like our 3-unit and 4-unit type courses) to gain university entrance, and that’s what year 13 is about.

I’m teaching two year 13 classes –Maths with Statistics (34 students) and Maths with Calculus (18 students). Both will be a challenge since I haven’t taught that content since Westfields High School in 1988! I’ll also be looking closely at their curriculum, programming, registration and other processes to see if they need to be tweaked to push standards higher. Malapoa College (MC) used to be streets ahead of other schools in Vanuatu, but the rest of the field is catching up and MC wants to ensure it maintains its reputation as a leading school.

Tonight it's off to the Anchor Inn -apparently the place to be for local expats. Tuesday night was trivia night at one of the pub/resorts. Our team came second, but won a few beers along the way. Pity our volunteer's pay doesn't allow for more than the occasional night out -but nevermind.

Foodwise, local stuff at the market is cheap as. --and get jealous here::::: this morning I bought a bunch of small bananas (about 10 ) for 150VT (=$1.80). Local lettuce, tomatoes (rare), cucumber, bok choy, kumera (kumala), mandarins (plentiful), passionfruit, green coconut (I just love the clear juice and it is SO healthy for you) are fresh daily. Beef is also about 30% cheaper than Oz and really good. However if you want traditional European/Western stuff from the supermarket, it's about 200% of Oz prices. Wine is plentiful, and there are also bargains to be had -especially if you know a bit about French wines- lucky me- but prices are higher. Say around 1300VT (=$16) for a respectable 'Jacobs Creek' standard wine.

And here is the inside!

2006-07-25T21:00:00.000-11:00

The people in the picture are the other AVI Volunteers and our Bislama teacher and her husband. Ron and Trevor are at the back. Trevor is a librarian at the local library. Next to me is Trevor's wife Lois who is now back in Australia. Gail is the lady cutting the cake and she is on Espiritu Santo (Santo to us locals) - she is REALLY brave! Behind her is Anthony the husband of Stella our Bislama teacher, and that leaves Jacquie and Paul (also from Central Coast) Jacquie is working in a nutrition project and Paul is doing microfinancing for women! WHAT A TEAM!

Settling in - our house!

2006-07-25T10:45:00.000-11:00

Well we have truly scored a fabulous bonus with the house we are living in. There is very limited furnished accommodation available in Port Vila and we had to pay a little more than expected so we could secure somewhere to live. However, once again the Universe has certainly delivered a worthy outcome for us. You will see in the photos what both the outside and the inside look like and just what a peaceful and comfortable place it is. We have three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a lovely living and dining area with kitchen. There is a separate laundry outside. We still have a few teething problems in that the washing machine is not working, the lounge needs recovering and the curtains need replacing. Getting the utilities and the telephone and internet connected has been a marathon but we are now settled in and enjoying the house, sleeping and eating well and generally life is as good as we could have hopped for here in Vanuatu.

Mbae me updatem long blog afta

2006-07-19T15:04:00.000-11:00

OK, OK, OK - thanks for all the messages that have said the blog has not been updated for over a week and how slack we are! I know I said we would be doing this every Monday - but I am on Island time now and I could mean this Monday, next Monday or any Monday within the next month or two! However I will try to remember my Aussie work ethic occassionally and bring you up to date!

Well we arrived safely though about an hour late and checked into our accommodation in the early hours of the morning. The week has gone incredibly quickly and we have been through orientation, started in our workplaces and found housing. Each of these episodes will require a blog entry on their own and I promise I will be doing that as soon as time permits.

We have been to 2 parties and the races since we have been here so our social life is not suffering at all. The other workers we have encountered are friendly, helpful and fun and the local people could not be more interesting, genuine and welcoming.

Ron has already harvested a bunch of coconuts from a tree - yep I got photos and will post to this site now that I know I can access it at lunch time at work. We have a 2 hour lunch break and I have been told it is OK to use the internet during that time. Unfortunately I only have about 10 minutes of that time left now and I am using the bosses computer so I had better sign off soon.

Translation of the title of the blog for today is - 'By and by I will update the blog later' - so I promise I will and for those of you who have our email address - please send email to keep in touch.

So many people to thank

2006-07-02T12:02:00.000-11:00

They say parting is such sweet sorrow - an enigmatic mixture of excitement and sadness. We have some wonderful people to thank for organising some great events to say farewell to us.

Gerri and Geoff kicked off the goodbyes just as Australia was ready to play in the World Cup. They are soccer crazy in that household, with mixed loyalties to Australia and Holland, it was green and gold with a touch of orange! It was nice to catch up with others from Business SWAP and the lunch, conversation, wine and company was animated and fun. Thanks Gerri and Geoff.

$quid$ did it in style at the Gosford Sailing Club with a fabulous meal to celebrate the property settlement at Umina, Pat's birthday and our departure to Vanuatu. We are blaming Kas for us ending up in Vanuatu - she found our block of land over there and put the Universe on notice that someone would have to go over and keep an eye on the development, the prices and the the cost of building! We are wondering what the Universe has up it's sleeve for while we are there...maybe there is a house or some villas to be built...Geoff would love a place overlooking the golf course, Jen would revel in the Port Vila races..and we would all benefit from a 'spa' lifestyle! Watch this space.

The crew at WorkCover sent Cheryl off with a feast of home-made delights and some Aussie mementos that will come in very handy. An Aussie slang dictionary, definetly a 'must have' for any overseas traveller was the highlight of the afternoon. Thanks everyone at the IRG Branch - I'll think of you whenever I have to convene a meeting in the future! Drop a line or post a comment!

Of course the picnic at Nurragingy (already posted in the blog below) was great fun with the gang from Sydney and Wollongong.

And to cap it all off............What a party! Saturday night was a total hoot. Everyone dressed in costume for the Christmas in July. And it seems when we're dressed in costume then we all lose some of the inhibitions and really get into party mode. There were Santas, Mrs Clauses, elves of all shapes and sizes, living presents, angels of the both the black and white variety, St Nick, a christmas tree, and of course, the angel to top the tree. Rudolph was there, the wise men were represented by one wise man and the Christmas faggot, Pudding 1 and Pudding 2 (see the pic!) brought the pudding, and- to remind us all of reality - we had a post Christmas Debt! The food (as always) spectacularly highlighted our cullinary expertise, the wine flowed, and the music pounded. We danced, talked, laughed and had such a great time.

As well as a "Christmas in July" night, it was also a farewell get together. So there were a few farewell moments during dinner. Thank you Bridget, you spoke so kindly and eloquently of us, we love you dearly. John and Maureen did likewise for Katie and Gordon (moving to Mexico in 2 weeks). Others too bestowed their best wishes. Thank you so very much Geoff and Gillian. You are indeed the epitome of genial hosts and did so much to make it a successful night.

We are indeed blessed to have such wonderful friends and we will miss you all ---but only until, of course, you come to visit us in Vanuatu.

Over the weekend we also moved Mike and Bec out of their city apartment into our place. I'd almost forgotten what pain moving can bring! It is almost a case of 2 houses into one just won't go!! But, with the appropriate stacking of boxes, hiding stuff in the roof, dismantling of furniture, and trips to Vinnies / the Salvos, it will all work out.

Friends and Family are precious

2006-06-25T20:01:00.000-11:00

Yesterday we spent a cool but sunny day at Nurragingy Reserve saying goodbye to friends and rellies who live too far from us to expect them to visit too often. In fact Jill, Stu and Matt travelled up from the 'Gong, the Hutties from West Pennant Hills and Jan came down from Leonay, there were a few from around Penrith and others that are dotted across Western Sydney. Thanks everyone for coming along we really appreciated the opportunity of saying goodbye and offering you all some hospitality in Vanuatu if you happen to drop in - but please don't all come at once! Here you all are smiling nicely!

The next challenge for us is to create a 'booking system' as a link to this blog so you can book into Paradise for a holiday. However we might leave that challenge till we know how many beds we have and what floor space is available!

This is Cheryl's last week at work and she will be finishing up on Wednesday. Thursday we have our final vaccinations, Friday we are visiting Youth Challenge Australia to get the run down on Cheryl's work in Vanuatu and that will lead us into the weekend with Bec and Mike moving in and our last week in Oz commencing.

Keep visiting this spot - and if you want a copy of the photo let us know before we go.

Not a briefcase anymore!

2006-06-19T22:03:00.001-11:00

Well it looked like I was going to be a handbag there for a while, just a tag-along to Ron. He had almost schooled me in how to defer to his authority...coaching me in the appropriate home based activities I should indulge in as a 'kept woman'...I had nearly purchased sewing patterns for Mother Hubbard outfits to befit my new status in life...and then...

I had a call today from Max at AVI to tell me I had been successful in my selection to a position as Youth Program Transition Officer - sounds grand doesn't it? I will be working with Youth Challenge International Vanuatu. My role is to assist the organisation to transition to locally based management. Up until now this NGO has been managed from Australia by Youth Challenge Australia and that governance is now being moved offshore to Vanuatu. I understand there are about 6 staff in the organisation and I will be assisting the Program Director through mentoring and training and support, to ensure the staff have learned the skills required to keep YCI Vanuatu up and running in their own home base. I will also be liaising with the Board of Management to support them through the transition. I reckon this is a job written in Heaven for me - the Universe could not have been kinder. I am so excited I could burst (in fact anyone in the Industry Reference Group Branch at WorkCover today would have been forgiven if they thought I had!)

Speaking of the Universe and the strange ways it delivers goodies at just the right time...I was on a flight back from Brisbane last night after spending the weekend with my sister Helen, her husband John and my Mum. (Helen had a knee operation about 10 days ago). I had gone to help and also to say goodbye for what might be a long time (or may not if Helen can come and visit me in Vanuatu). I sat in my little window seat a little sad that I was not going to be seeing Helen for a while and reflecting on what she had achieved in her recovery over the weekend; when this woman told me I looked safe enough to sit next to. Clearly she had identified the only person on the plane that was so exhausted from her weekend that she couldn't have posed any real threat at all!

Anyway after only a few brief words I discovered Jennifer had been living in Vanuatu for 20 years, had taught at Malapoa High School and the Port Vila International School and was just a fountain of information. You can only imagine my glee as I invited her to move over next to me realising I could almost hold her captive for just over an hour and milk her brain for any piece of information she was willing to part with. I was delightfully surprised to slip into easy conversation and sat spellbound as she recounted memories, identified landmarks and places of interest, spoke of the people and the culture and teaching and working, and then gave me the names of her close friends and great contacts. She has identified a few prospective places that we might find accommodation and I feel like I nearly know some of our prospective landlords. I parted with her at Newcastle Airport, having met her husband and her son, feeling I had made a new friend and promising to badger her more with questions over a glass of wine before we leave. Thanks Jennifer - you made my day - and I will be in touch very soon!

It is only 18 more sleeps...and that is both exciting and scary! The house is beginning to sound rather hollow, our footsteps and voices are echoing and the furniture is dribbling it's way out to new owners. The garage is taking on a semblance of order with boxes stacked and packed - even the car can fit back in now. Makes me wonder where we have put it all!

2006-06-14T20:06:00.000-11:00

I was out playing tennis last night (my regular Wednesday tennis night). Damm cold too. But as we were playing (poorly) and talking, it began to crystalise that we'll be leaving all this behind -the people and the events / good times. And even though the friends and the times we have together are great, fun, and at times very important to us, leaving them behind is not necessarily a bad thing - but it will be, in some ways, a sad thing! Just something to give pause for reflection.

And I'm sure it will happen similarly at the other end of our 2 years!

Tickets and contact details received!

2006-06-09T21:35:00.000-11:00

Yesterday afternoon it all started to become very real. We have been notified of our departure and arrival times. We leave Sydney at 7.20 pm on the 8th July (one day later than expected) and we arrive in Port Vila at about midnight.

We have our flight details and a bed to sleep in when we get there. We will be staying at the Kaiviti Resort for at least one night - where to from there is still a mystery. Most accommodation is rented as furnished - however we have no idea what that will include! We have secured a Post Office Box for mail - PO Box 3104, Port Vila, Vanuatu. Please drop us a line!

I've just looked through my lists -and was surprised to see that all but a few items are completed. I've copied some music, bought more NiMh batteries, got the new torch, taken the dog for her vaccinations (no she's not going -they're the annual ones), created a family archive photo CD, completed the "Instructions to Executors" (oooh, how morbid is THAT!) and we're checking out freight companies. The wardrobe is amost bare, with winter clothes packed away, summer clothes on the back bed for taking with us. The house doesn't quite echo, but almost. And I'm sure the dog knows somethings up!

Another thing that has happened this week is that we have become very conscious of the personal cost of the decision we have made. Our friends here on the Central Coast are very happy for us and encouraging. They are however people that we have known and cherished for nearly ten years now and there are more than a few we have grown very close to. We are used to spending some wonderful evenings and events with them and we will miss them. There are some that are more than close to us - soul buddies is an apt description (and they know who they are!). It is heart wrenching to leave knowing that no matter what happens in this next two years, neither we, nor they, will ever be the same and our relationships will change. We will love them and we are thankful for their friendship - maybe they will visit us and maybe we will come home from time to time.

Christmas in July will be fun at Geoff and Gill's the week before we go - we have decided to go as Christmas Puddings!

We continue to stack and pack. It is a luxury to have all this time to do it and to be able to be ruthless about what we pack! The sound of the packing tape ripping off the reel and wrapping around boxes is constant but not hurried.

A few tears have been shed............. and there will be more............ and we are still excited and energised towards this goal.

Updating now that May has finished and June has begun!

2006-06-05T11:17:00.000-11:00

Oh boy! Where do the days go - we have started counting down the 'sleeps' and now that June has begun we are well into the 30's. Only 31 more sleeps to go!

It is difficult to pack up a house and at the same time keep it liveable for a while. The obvious things to pack are the ornaments and pictures and 'uneccessary' items - and yet, they are the things that make a home a home in some sense and the house looks really bare if they are not on display. It is a little like the post Christmas taking down of the Christmas decorations - for a week or two the house looks quite minimal after all the glitz of the festive season.

It appears our blood, poo, wee and other items are 'up to scratch' - the medics have not advised us of any untoward results. Mammograms are interesting tests to undergo and whilst I would never say 'don't have one' I reckon the quicker they are done and over with, the better! Ron survived well - Cheryl was bruised and knocked about by the vaccines.

Shopping to go has been fun. We have a new transistor radio (in case of cyclones that will knock out the power for days) and a lovely new suitcase big enough to fit a couple of bodies in (thanks Mum!). Our feet have been kitted out with 'Crocs' and 'Ecco's' and we have taken full advantage of the stores selling off their summer clothing stock.

Cheryl has put the finishing touches on her last project for Advantage Management and is winding up her coaching work, arranging for handover to other local coaches for her clients. Her work at WorkCover has been earmarked for someone else and she is in 'handover' mode already.

Ron delivered the first of a series of wine seminars to staff at the Crowne Plaza at Terrigal this week. There will be a few more before we go. He has now finished his wine course and is a fully accredited 'Somellier' (when they confirm he has passed all the assessments!).

And so our preparations go on! The garage is a MESS - empty and half full boxes everywhere. A pile for taking now, a pile for sending over later, a pile for 'Vinnies', a pile for the tip....and a pile of empty wine bottles - stress management in a bottle!

Some questions answered!

2006-05-29T22:04:00.000-11:00

Thanks to all of you who have blogged on and sent us questions by email. There are some common themes to the questions so we are going to answer them here.

You have asked what date we leave to go to Vanuatu - or even if perhaps we are there already. We are still living in Green Point but our heads are quickly moving to the new location... This week has seen us commence packing up the house so that Bec and Mike can move in early in July.

We have only been here five years and are wondering who put all that junk in our cupboards and drawers!! Not only that - but why is it so hard to sort it out and get rid of it? Why do we feel so attached to that item when we haven't even laid eyes on it for months!

Then there is the vexed question - 'When are you leaving?' MMMmmm - now that is an interesting one. Our country manager at AVI has indicated we have a target date of 7th July. However there are some tasks and processes that need to occur to confirm this date. We are in the process of getting vaccinations - typhoid, tetanus, cholera, hepatitis and whatever else is recommended. Because we are over 50 (I know none of you would ever believe that!) we are having to have mammograms, pap smears, poo tests, blood tests and any test that might prove we are not insane in wanting to do this in the first place!

When we pass all the tests and have provided every item of information, we will be able to be issued with visas - if the employing agencies have actually agreed for us to be employed, and the government in Vanuatu is convinced that we are upright and decent Australian citizens, with a real interest in capacity building in their country. So the answer to this question is (for now) July 7th 2006.

What is Cheryl going to be doing while you are there? These questions get harder to answer...not easier! Cheryl has applied for a position as a volunteer and will be interviewed later in the month (after 14th June) for that position. The University of the South Pacific may be able to offer some work and a training and education program has invited her to 'contact us when you get here'. The Australian High Commission tells us there are no employment agencies in Port Vila. A local person we have been corrresponding with indicates that word of mouth is the most likely way of scoring a job. If we have any news on this we will update the blog accordingly.

The weather in Gosford has taken a definite turn for the worse with frost, some rain and temperatures plummeting - typical of this time of year! We both abhor the cold weather so it is lovely to look up the weather in Vanuatu and note day time temperatures in the mid 20's with cooler nights (but not below 17C)...Paradise is looking good.

Confirmation arrives

2006-05-17T20:28:00.000-11:00

Today we received email confirmation of my acceptance by the authorities in Vanuatu. Guess that means we're definitely off. We had Mike and 'Bec up on the weekend and started talking about what furniture of ours stays in the house and what they need to be stored in our garage - and still leave enough room for their car! That'll be a challenge - the first of many for both no doubt. Cheryl and I go for our medical next week - the last hurdle we think. Hopefully they won't hold my dementia, arthritic back, knees and wrist, alcoholism, semi-blindness, and total lack of short term memory against me!!

Friends..... you know our contact email over there . . . . Keep in touch please.

And if you'd like to communicate to us via this blog (by adding comments and stuff) go right ahead and click on the "comments" link at the bottom of each post. Just remember that whatever you add can be viewed by everyone!
.........Ron

Cheryl and Ron - Voluntering for Vanuatu

2006-05-13T20:02:00.000-11:00

Well, it's finally happened! Two weeks ago we were told that I've been accepted as a volunteer by Australian Volunteers International (AVI). My posting will be to Vanuatu.

As yet, they havent found a position for Cheryl but lots of people both here at AVI and the ones we've 'spoken' to via email in V are very encouraging that Cheryl will pick up work quite readily once we actually arrive and she does a little networking.

SO who are we and how did this all come about? I'm a recently retired school teacher and school administrator. Cheryl is a consultant specialising in project management for NGOs and government departments in the community sector. We've been thinking and talking about working overseas for a long time. Recently, I made the decision to retire from my position in the public school system. Our children are all grown up and moved out. We (as yet) have no grand children (or impending pregnancies we are assured!) Thus, the window of opportunity opened, and so we began looking around through numerous agencies.

We must have put in 50 applications to a range of organisations including international schools, aid agencies, overseas corporations etc. And then finally, Australian Volunteers International contacted me and the process of my recruitment began. There were lots of phone conversations between Gosford and Melbourne, a psych interview, medical, and reviews of my (and Cheryl's) CV. Last week we received the invitation to attend the 3-day Pre-Departure Briefing at AVI's headquarters in Melbourne. What a great 3 days. Imagine spending 3 days with over 30 people of all ages where you all share the same basic beliefs and values and where every single person feels instantly like an old friend.

We talked, played games, read lots, listened more, shared stories and learned so much about AVI's (and AUSAid's) Development goals, capacity building, different cultures, support structures, and so much more. As we left for home, Cheryl and I both agreed we'd rather be taking off immediately for Vanuatu than returning home to wait another 6 weeks for our actual departure.