It was a Sunday, no buses run in or out of Lonnoc. The plan was to do a bit of snorkelling as it costs nothing. Heika (a German we met) however had arranged someone with a 4x4 to go over to Matantas and wanted to go with someone else. So we piled into the back of a pickup truck along with a couple of mad locals (complete with machetties) and headed west for the day. It seemed that the locals were just out on a jolly. Matantas is as far as you can go by road on...

From Lonnoc it was 15 minutes walk to Champagne beach and the promise of squeaky sand. When we got there we tried to get the sand to squeak by dragging our feet but only managed to get a very faint one - it takes a lot to impress us nowadays. Neverless it was one of the worlds better beaches with some good snorkelling and the same view as Lonnoc. Returning to Lonnoc a battle plan was formulated to get a better sleep. Search and destroy armed with insect spray,...

The time at Oyster Island has been good. A kettle in the room has meant I can partake in my usual hobby of coffee drinking (Vanuatu coffee is excellent due to the volcanic soil). Basically it has been a holiday from the holiday. One other nice aspect was having yatchs pull in for a drink and something to eat. This has opened up new and interesting travellers to have a drink and a chat with. Liz proclaimed the night when three yatchs pulled in as the best night f...

Vanuatu has been very wet, only the first four days have been sunny the rest has been like Blighty but warmer. This is supposed to be the dry season so I have been assuming this is freak weather. The locals seem to be divided on whether this is normal or not without any further elaboration. It eventually transpired the dry and wet seasons have swapped over a few years back! So to get to the point, we have been waiting for the weather to improve before we took a ...

This is basically a trek to a bat infested cave (complete with the inevitable poo dropping down) and the more enjoyable canyoning down the river on the return. The local villagers guided us, all they took with them was a machetti. Food for the guides was gathered from the forest during the trek. Despite tree roots, precipitous drops and slippery conditions that took all our concentration to negociate, a guide managed to do this whilst dehusking a coconut and un...