The pleasure about going on a business trip to a tropical Pacific Island in the middle of a New Zealand winter is the fact you’re on a tropical Pacific Island in the middle of a New Zealand winter.
Vanuatu has often interested me, namely for the fact that its Melanesian culture and history of its islands extends back a far greater distance than the predominantly Polynesian islands I have regularly been to.
It has benefited through an increase in tourism from New Zealand, and the fact that it is only a three hour flight from Auckland or Sydney to Port Vila makes it a handy destination, whichever side of the Tasman you’re from.
We arrived late Saturday afternoon at the beautifully laid out Le Lagon Resort on the outskirts of the capital. Just enough time to put the luggage in the room and head off to the bar to watch the All Blacks and Wallabies clash at Eden Park in the second Tri Nations- Bledisloe Cup encounter. The crowd was fairly split between Aussie and Kiwis, but thanks to the men in black, their 39-10 thrashing of the green and golds ensured the visit started the best way possible.
Having a free day on Sunday enabled those of us on the mission to take a 55-minute flight to the island of Espiritu Santo, the largest of Vanuatu’s 83 islands (3955 sq km).
Compared to the busy streets of Port Vila, Santo’s only town, Luganville, had a quiet, laid back feel to it. The roads were surprisingly wide, due to the huge presence of Allied forces based there during the latter stages of World War II as they fought the Japanese for control of the Pacific.
The amount of military hardware left behind by the Americans, with ships and equipment sunk within its pristine waters, make Santo a diver’s paradise that is world renowned.
It took some effort to reach our lunch destination at Lonnoc on the north east coast of Santo, where we tasted the delicious local beef, formerly a major export product to the United States until they could no longer cater for the quantities demanded. Certainly the cattle, in conditions far warmer than New Zealand, looked healthy and well-fed.
A five minute drive further on took us to Champagne Beach. It’s a perfect half moon bay of fine soft white sand and beautiful blue water. Despite its isolation, there were a few tourists enjoying the stunning surrounds. I’d love to say I was swimming in champagne, but the tight schedule meant we needed to head back to catch our scheduled flight.
The remaining two days in Vanuatu were spent in Port Vila, on the island of Efate. The main harbour is a popular destination for cruising yachts and charter boats, and even in the heart of the city, the water appeared clear and full of fish life. A few of us had dinner and a drink at the Waterfront Bar and Restaurant, bustling with New Zealanders and Australian tourists and expats, only to be told that it was far quieter than normal being a Sunday.
The mission itinerary kept us on the go until the final afternoon when I headed into town to check out the markets with fellow media traveller Tim Cronshaw from The Press in Christchurch. We both eased our consciences by buying locally-made gifts for the family and enjoyed a smoothie at the popular Nambawan café. Many visitors who have had it recommended to them have trouble finding it as they search signs that read Number 1.
The vast majority of Vanuatu’s more than 230,000 inhabitants are Melanesians, whose descendants first settled there tens of thousands of years ago. Some tribes in the outer islands still live a primitive existence untouched by modern civilization.
The bustling capital, however, provides a vibrant mix of cultures with English, French and Asian influences.
While approximately 120 indigenous languages are spoken throughout Vanuatu, the common language is Bislama, which originated back in the 1800s as a common form of communication between locals and European traders. It began as a spoken pidgin or simple phonetic English and evolved using the structure of Vanuatu’s traditional languages. 85% of the 8000 word vocabulary is English based which makes speaking to locals easy, even though there are still a number of French speaking locals and French language schools.
It is hard to believe the French and British shared power over what was formerly named the New Hebrides by Captain James Cook. But they did from 1906 up until 1980 and even now locals reminisce about the good old days when the French (in particular) invested heavily, as they still do in their remaining Pacific territories of French Polynesia/Tahiti and New Caledonia.
The friendliness and the beauty of the small fraction of Vanuatu I saw and its history merely whetted my appetite for more. It was confirmation of yet another worthy destination which offers far more than the tiny dots on the map of the Pacific Ocean suggests.
Innes Logan traveled to Vanuatu as part of the Air Vanuatu RSE Business Mission sponsored by Pacific Islands Trade & Investment Commission NZ.