December: a week in paradise!

From the Tanna airport we were whisked away to our tropical get-away accommodation at Friendly Beach with jungle greenery and flowers leaping out at us along part of the route. When I say 'whisked' the last stretch was more of a thumping, teeth-rattling ride along rutted roads of soft black volcanic ash continually being washed away and the road gouged out by torrential rain - we were on a tropical, active-volcanic island! (Most of the roads were pretty rough as we were to discovery but there are a few good roads linking parts of the island; these I believe were funded by China.) Isolation comes at a price - but comfort was to come!  Our accommodation was tropics-idyllic tucked into the edge of the jungle overlooking a quiet beach and gently crashing sea.

We were staying in the southeast corner (circled in red) not so far from the infamous volcano, Mt Yasur

The road to our bungalow at Friendly Beach Bungalows. It was pretty and pretty steep!

Our bungalow was tucked into the edge of the jungle.

Our bungalow was basic but very adequate with a very comfortable bed protected by billowing, very effective, mozzie curtains. It was very romantically festooned with flowers fresh everyday. And the almost-openait bathroom was built straight onto coral and both beach and volcanic stones.

Our porch where I idled away many hours 

'Our beach'

Sitting on our little porch alternating between gazing out to sea, watching the insects fluttering around the plants and writing, I felt a little like Alfred Russel Wallace and could imagine staying there longer - providing I had someone to bring me cool drinks!  It was a veritable paradise. Tiny palm and papaya flowers, vibrant blowsy hibiscus flowers dotted the ground while ‘sea almond’ and ‘beach apple’ trees (my names for them) spread great branches like giant oak trees to shade the fringes of the beach. Bananas and papayas hung invitingly just a little beyond reach.  With no one to spoil my reverie, I daydreamed - what luxury! I almost dozed off watching little grey and umber butterflies in constant fluttering motion - it was quite hypnotic. They were busily depositing their eggs on the hapless tree fern. The larvae of course would eventually eat most of the leaves before they have a chance to unfurl but c’est la vie!

Kids fresh from the cool sea dung themselves into the sand to warm up 

Not far along the beach from us, young kids dived for shellfish and tiny fish then roasted them on small fires under the trees.  I longed to join them, to go swimming in the rolling surf, but I was nervous of unknown currents and reefs. The black sands were warm under foot from geothermal activity deep or not so deep below. At low tide village people clustered around headland rock pools to wash their clothes. These pools were continually refreshed by deep warm freshwater springs - this is not uncommon at least in this location (we were afterall close to Mt Yasur). We were taken to another beach further around the headland where the same thing happens at low tide - warm fresh water bubbles up through the ground to fill the rock pools. The water in those pools is quite hot in fact it is hot enough to cook food (we had a demo!) but the villagers use the pools to wash in.

Villagers washing in the pools of warm fresh water at low tide

At this beach while Lindsay went walking out on the headland with a guide to visit hots springs, I went exploring in the jungle for fruit with a local.  We found limes and cherries and delicious passionfruit. Talking fruit we tasted a number of different types of bananas and plantains. The cooks made delicious pancakes and other yummy things with the plantain which were all grown locally. We ate very well!

I collected a handful of tiny limes for the cooks in our kitchen

I also found another strange lime - dozens of seeds but it tasted wonderful

We found wild cherries with little flavour but the passionfruit were simply scrumptious

Everywhere we went we were offered delicious exotic food. At Port Resolution, the place named by Cpt James Cook in 1774, some days after we arrived, we were treated to a feast of local vegetables and eggs prepared by one of the local village families. This was served in a shelter by the beach, a place reserved for special occasions, feasts, holidays, etc. The people are very generous sharing their food and are so friendly but the littlies were a bit shy until I showed photos of our great-grandson - we passed muster as being safe to look at! 

Rather an idyllic picnic spot