Caving and Canyoning

Tuesday 26th July was Millennium Caves day. 15 of us piled into the back of a truck and headed to the caves which are located about 45mins away from Luganville. I lost a game of 5's en route and had to eat some roar sausage/spring roll which didn't sit very well on my stomach, especially when the "road" is more a dirt track. Mama Lioni, a hospital cook who's taken us under her wing, also accompanied us (and was the donator of said food item).

We got off the truck and trekked for about 20mins in the pouring rain to a village where our guides for the day were waiting. We crossed a ridge made entirely of bamboo logs just laid down, which was pretty cool and also ridiculously slippy. The villagers had even built a toilet (hole in the ground under a shelter) especially for the baby docs arrival! We set off from the village and walked for an hour to the entrance of the cave, where we got our faces painted with some orange mud stuff, to keep us safe on our scramble through the caves. We had to descend some quite steep bamboo ladders in order to get down to the mouth of the cave - probably not the safest of steps. The water in the caves varied from ankle level to waist level, varying a lot on how well I managed to place my feet and if I slipped off any rocks into the deeper water. Unlike most other places in the world, our only safety equipment was a torch and our proprioception. The caves were literally pitch black and there were quite a lot of bats flying around and bat poo everywhere. I tried not to touch the bat poo but when you're having to grab onto anything to stop yourself falling into the water, you end up with a lot of poop on your hands! After about an hour, we reached the exit of the caves and stopped for a spot of lunch (more jam and bread for me) and then were given a small rubber ring ready for the canyoning and big swim!The canyoning was really good fun but not so great if you're short like me. My legs just didn't reach all the little foot holes the others could get to and I spent a lot of time on my bum, scrambling around. It was also really slippy on the rocks because of the rain. The big swim involved swimming in lots of lagoons and rivers that ran in the valley between the rocks. The water was pretty cold but really refreshing. We also jumped into one of the lagoons from a 10m rock - I tripped as I jumped and nearly ended up going into the water head first but just about turned myself around in time. Every now and again, I suddenly realise how lucky I am to be here doing this and today was definitely one of those 'wow' moments. It's really nice sometimes to just go and do something and get back to basics, without worrying about all the health and safety. At the other end we had to climb (literally) back up the side of the canyon and were greeted with coffee and grapefruit on our return.

My body was aching all over when we returned to Luganville and we headed straight to the huts for dinner. The huts are literally a row of stalls that have a kitchen inside them and a table outside and they do omelette/steak/chicken wings with rice for about £3. I went for the steak, which was a bit salty but a really ncie change from noodles.

Lonnoc/Champagne beach

On Wednesday all 17 of us headed to Lonnoc in the north of the island for a little holiday. Lonnoc is a beach resort with lots of wooden huts situated almost right on a white sandy beach with crystal clear water. Accommodation was about £11/night and despite it being very basic, it was more than adequate for a couple of nights on a beach. We were all soon in the sea playing volleyball, whilst trying to avoid random bits of coral. I think I was more hyper-aware because of current gash on my foot from the coral I stood on after diving. The weather was a bit hit and miss, showering for a bit and then brightening up but we definitely made the most of it. We got a load of coconuts down from a tree, hacked into them with our machete and drank some of the water inside and then ate the fresh coconut. You can't get mich fresher than that!

In the evening we headed to a little hut just next to the resort for kava. I can't remember if I've explained what kava is already but it's some kind of plant root that's mashed up and lookes like muddy water and tastes like chalk. In Fiji they make quite a big deal out of it whereas here, all the locals have one after work at about 5pm before heading home for dinner. They sell it in cups of 50/100/200 vatu (ie 40p/80p/£1.60) and the only way to drink it is

to down it. Anyway I had 100 to start, then another 100 followed by 2 x 50vatus. OMG it hit me hard. First of all your hips go numb, then you just feel a bit spaced out. I've never done drugs and I never would do drugs but I can imagine it must feel a bit like being on drugs. The only saving grace is that it contains no alcohol, which would make you feel 10 times worse. We then staggered to dinner, where most of us started to feel incredibly nauseous. Dinner was beef stew and rice, which was a bit of a struggle and then we moved into the "conference room" (aother hut with a sandy floor) and played a few games before hitting the deck about midnight. The owners also found some little lanterns for us to have in our hut and also said we could light a fire if we wanted.

I was up bright and early on Thursday morning and headed for breakfast, praying the torrential rain would pass. We had some toast at breakfast, which was a lovely treat (our place in Luganville literally has a hob and that's it, so toast is a definite non-starter). When the rain did stop at about 10am, Niki and I headed out for a kayak around the bay and a bit of a sunbathe. We later headed to Champagne beach, which is about a 10min walk away from the resort at Lonnoc.

Champagne beach is the whitest beach I have ever seen. It was absolute paradise!! The sea did seem extra salty, which is a bit odd. I spied my first Lion fish here - a poisionous fish which looks like it has a load of spikes coming out of it and when you get closer to it, it changes from a red colour to more of a white/blue colour. The rain started again, but I just rode it out swimming about in the sea and it eventually stopped again.

In the evening we had a fire on the beach, a couple of cans of atlas (the ridiculously strong lager I mentioned in my earlier blog) and more fun and games. People slowly drifted off to bed, but being part of the elite, hard-core group, it was definitely the early hours of the morning before I turned in. No idea what time it was because it was pitch black, so time telling was impossible.

So the next morning I woke up feeling a bit under the weather and we all piled into the truck to head back to Luganville, where I crashed for a couple of hours and then pottered round to Deco for a bit of a chill out session and a milkshake. Deco stop lodge is the nice little resort, 2mins from us and the hospital, where as baby docs, we can use the pool and internet for free.

This weekend is Independance weekend, celebrating Vanuatu getting it's independence in 1980. We headed into the town on Friday evening and watched some of the locals playing music and dancing. The whole town turned out and sat in the park infront of a big stage. There were also lots of stalls set up selling hot food, cakes, drinks etc. It was like being at a mini festival. It was also lovely to see all the children playing and running round. All the shops close over the weekend and everyone really enjoys the holiday.

I also got signed off for hospital work on Friday, before actually stepping foot into a ward or clinic. I will go in at some point next week, but I can definitely do as much or as little as I want!

Much love xxx