Where are the Turtles?

On Tuesday got cab to Wan Smolbag ("one small bag"!) which was our meeting point for the project. Due to meet at 9am; nothing happened til 10.30am! Island time! Were invited to go and watch some filming of "Love Patrol" - it's the 3rd series of a very popular drama/soap opera. A lot of the actors are famous across the region as it's aired in Fiji, PNG and on Maori TV. The director, a Brit, Peter, is one of the founders of Wan Smolbag and the producer was an Ozzie guy called Pete. Am planning to watch some of the show as we were almost extras!

Had our briefing then headed into town for lunch. There are 7 of us, 6 girls (4 Ozzies, 1 German and me; me being yet again the mother hen by about 15 years!) and a German guy in his late 50s ish. We met 2 volunteers who had just finished their stint and they gave us the lowdown including the fact that there are huge spiders in the rooms - great!

The minibus then puffed its way up the mountain to the other side of the island and we got onto our rickety boat. This was truly the point at which I started to really question what the hell I was doing! Got to the island to be greeted by another George Formby style "when I'm cleaning windows" band accompanied by some watered down juice and soggy biscuits (where'sthe alcohol when you really need it?!). Went to our rooms which are 2 "bungalows" with 2 bedrooms in each and set up our mozzie nets. I was in a blind panic as mine isthird the size of everyone else's.

It then got dark all of a sudden (like, light.....DARK!!!) and we got to test out our very attractive headlamps. We'd been told dinner would be at 5pm and then were abandoned. 6.30 came and went and we were sittingin the dark, not sure where to go or what to do as we hadn't been told any of the rules yet (which are really strict in the village!). Anyway, finally got fed and then heard music coming from the village so we ventured up there. It was a regional church gathering and was all a bit "hallelujah, praise the lord" for my liking with a lot of random dancing and jumping around. It seemed really late (don't wear watches anymore as we're on island time) so we decided to call it a night - big party animals, it was only 8.30pm! Got to my room and a spider had decided to settle on my pillow - it could only happen to me; bloody typical Tucked myself into my anti-mozzie (and anti-everything else!) cocoon, plugged in my earplugs, put on my eye mask and managed to sleep reasonably well....considering.

So, facilities:

-Bucket flush toilet - ie toilet bowl over a hole in the ground that you pour sea water over after you've done your business.

-Shower - camping style bag of sea water that you hang up on a stick and let the water trickle out over you. Felt dirtier after using it than before!

-No running water - we have to fill buckets of semi-salted water from a well about 100 yards away that's used for the toilet and showers. We then fill up containers with drinking water which comes from a tank that collects rain water - filter? Pah! Suspect I may get sick over the next month or so.

Woke up next morning intact having survived the night! There was evidence of 'intruders' in our room and my room mate thinks she heard scurrying and jumping. Aaaargh rats! We'd already discovered a nest on our thatched roof and one of the girls spotted a few - eeeek! Thank God for ear plugs and eye masks - see no evil, hear no evil!

Didn't even wash my face and felt so grubby and this was only day 2! We took a walk to the local school where only I (yes, me, the child-fearer!) made some little friends. Had a 'meeting' after lunch to decide on our schedule of activities for the next month which seems to involve doing as little as possible! That was all far too much stress and work for the day so we did diddly squat for the rest of the day until dinner - at 4pm! Dinner is so early as we have to leave for the turtle beach at 5pm. We did a massive sprint to cover the 6km across the hill to the other side of the island and then the length of the turtle beach. b***** it! We saw nothing! They had seen one turtle the night before and watched it build its nest and lay eggs and then they'd tagged it so we're hopeful to see one tonight at least. When it's a new moon they can get up to 10 coming in at once so roll on whenever that is! We then did the 6km trek back to the village in the pitch dark with just our headlamps lighting up the various creatures. I kept my head down as I don't want to see anything that will freak me out but the girls said they'd seen eyes looking at them and huge spiders. Yikes!

Anyway, on that note, we made it into Port Vila this morning for our weekly outing. There's a wedding in the village tomorrow that we've been invited to so that should be an interesting experience so we've just bought a present for the couple so we can be fed and watered! We've also just booked a 2 night trip to Tanna for next weekend which is a live volcano - apparently quite scary as it's the only place in the w0orld that you can get super close to the spouting ash! I put my bartering skills unto action and managed to get us all a discount.

Right, must go as we are chilling out in a waterside cafe and I'm being very unsociable! Until next time!

Linda xx