Hannah and Jack are now staying there for 2 nights, and we dropped in today, by invitation of course, to check things out. Yikes.. as I kissed her goodbye I whispered was she having cold feet, did she want to comeback to Vila with us? But boy was I on the wrong track. She was absolutely fine and totally comfortable with the idea of sleeping on the floor of this rather rural and basic of structures. No dramas, mum, just relax! In fact, it was more cosy that I was imagining. Even a real loo and a shower of sorts with plenty of talk about a BBQ followed by kava and movie night. Oh so comforting! Consequently and unofficially it follows that they are now considered extended family, which means automatically that we are all signed up too. Holy heck, I hope they’re not planning coming for Xmas. There were babies and puppies, kittens and piglets, and the ubiquitous chickens happily roaming around this ever blossoming expanding clan. Its both hilarious and humbling as of course they have so little but offer us so much.
As it happens, Sael won a Toyota Yaris in a raffle 5 years ago. He quit his day job (toiling the greens of the golf club) the same day, overwhelmed and overjoyed by this stroke of luck, and overnight became one very well connected and industrious taxi driver. He drove us the 40 mins back into town, entertaining us the entire trip with his stories of growing up in Vanuatu and how he will make his first OS trip this coming November .. to Brisbane. Did i worry that he was coming to Sydney?? No, not for more than a moment.
We were led around the village by Han and Jack who in fact had met Sael on their previous visit to Vanuatu, and were only reacquainting themselves with an old friend, it turns out. We meandered around all manner of shanty looking shelters, mostly supported by frighteningly small foundations and clad with the patchy packings of corrugated iron that seem to feature in most of these village houses, no matter where we are in the world. We had arrived in time for the local soccer match, and were treated to a volley ball game going on alongside. It was all action stations – with massive preparations for a wedding this coming Friday seamlessly going on in the background. Happy chaos.
Tricia, Paul and Darragh have arrived in Port Vila, much to our delight, travelling no less than 28 hours to get here. Poor things are emerging from the lag and are all set to come on board on Wednesday. The next chapter begins! Ted, Sophie and Naomi left today, and I’m coping. All good!! Quite nice, in fact, to reclaim, even for a moment, some space on Resolute.