Vila to Brisbane and back again part 1

When I was expecting Tyler we visited Vanuatu. Here Lauren is sulking because after forcing her to go to the kids club, she then decided she loved it and didn’t want to come exploring with mum and dad!

Now nearly exactly 27 years later we still have the flavour of Vanuatu in our veins and we have the best news. We became grandparents again! Little Sophia Clare was born while we were in Australia and we all simply adore her. Here is Lauren and I trying to get a three generation picture and we couldn’t stop laughing, and little Sophia just kept sleeping.

Dean and I were more successful getting a nice photo, and little Sophia just kept sleeping. What a little darling.

It was also lovely to spend time with our precious Eli. While we were away Dean had sent him a postcard from New Caledonia, written in French, not that that matters since he can’t read. One of the things he loved when he was with us was going off with Dean and getting a green coconut that Dean would open and he’d drink the coconut water. So he was carrying around his postcard at home and said to Lauren “When grandad is small and Eli is big, Eli will chop open the coconuts for grandad”. It is hard to imagine while he is 2 years old, that yes the day will come when he will be bigger than us! Later Lauren said, you are going to be a big brother soon. Clearly still thinking about coconuts, he said “Great, I can get an axe and open coconuts now because I’ll be big”. Oh how we will miss him desperately.

In between new arrivals we also packed up the house for rental. I tried very hard to be ruthless and we got a skip so we could get rid of our accumulated “stagnant chi”. Anything worthwhile went to the Salvation Army, and the remainder into storage. We did a good job and needed a second skip which we also filled.

Before our trip my Audi had a catastrophic engine problem. We had left it with our mechanic while we had been away and he had been unable to fix it easily so he bought it off me. Thank you Jason, you are my favourite mechanic. Now we had one less thing to worry about. I was a bit dirty because the timing chain had been a known problem in these cars and in the US a class action had ensured owners were compensated and the problem fixed, but that didn’t carry through to Australia. Anyway that’s life and I can’t dwell on it.

In my last blog I had just left Vanuatu ahead of Dean. I went straight into packing house mode in between looking after Eli while Lauren and Blake squeezed in an attendance at a wedding before the baby arrived.

Dean oversaw the last remaining jobs to perform on the boat and getting her put up on the hard. Before I had left we had to prepare it for a possible early cyclone so we had done all of the, what Dean had termed, “3 hand jobs” together.

This included taking off all of the sails and stowing them downstairs. What a cow of a 3 hand job that was. But in a way it was a good exercise because as we were taking the Genoa off the furler, it actually got stuck. I had to winch Dean up and he found the grub screws in the foil were loose. It was much better that we found this out on a nice still day in harbour, than if we had to take it off in an emergency. This sail is enormous, so folding it up was really difficult up on deck, but we managed to get it into a tight enough square to drop down the hatch.

The Staysail was small and easy to handle. The mainsail, although smaller than the Genoa was most difficult to fold up and we had to refold it a few times before we got it compact enough to get through the front hatch to store below deck. We also had to take off the outboard engines. We have a large heavy one for when we need power and distance, and a smaller back up one. These had to be drained of fuel and stowed. Here is RTP at anchor stripped of her sails.

The airport isn’t far so you just need to catch a “bus” there. These buses are basically mini vans that drive all over the place in various states of disrepair. If you are walking you will hear a brief beep behind you and if you need them you flag them. You say where you want to go, thay say if they can take you or not, you agree on a price, and away you go. The first one we flagged wanted to charge me 2000 vatu (AU$25). No that was too much. The next one 500 vatu (AU$6). That was also more than the going rate (150-300 vatu), but I just wanted to go, so I accepted it. Although it sounds stingy squabbling over a few dollars, once it becomes acceptable to rip off visitors, it can turn into a nasty downward spiral so it is better not to accept unrealistic quotes like the 2000vatu.

Vila is pretty safe but I did feel a bit uncomfortable, the only woman with the driver and three big men. So I had hoped Dean had got the number plate as I drove away (I think not) and I ran my fingers through my hair to leave a few strands of blonde hair behind. Yes I know, I know, I listen to too many true crime podcasts. We went through villages, past markets, down bumpy roads, dropping people off and new people getting in the whole time, but eventually I saw billboards that indicated we were getting close to the airport. Phew. Once there I couldn’t open the door to get out. So the driver is yelling at these people on the sidewalk to open it for me. We are all heaving and tugging, and finally it opens and me and my bags kind of fall out in a heap into the gutter. But I am there safe and sound and suprisingly quick considering our roundabout journey.

The airport was quite crowded but it is mainly inter-island travel as International flights are still ramping up. As soon as I got in I squatted down to open my bag and get my phone out to let Dean know I had arrived. Even with the place being so crowded, a staff member immediately came up to me and asked me what flight I was on and if I needed help, which was really nice. Though by this time I am red in the face and sweating profusely after falling out of the bus, so I probably looked in need of help.

Being school holidays, my flight was full of families. I was surrounded by young children in various states of madness, that only got worse as the flight went on. Thank goodness it was only 3 hours. The poor hosties deserved a bonus. Clearly Vanuatu had some good school holiday deals going to celebrate their opening up to the world. The flight then was maxed out by a large group of evangalists, and an even larger group of seasonal workers embarking on their fruit picking tour of Australia.

After I had left Vila Dean had spent time doing “single or two hand jobs” on the boat and getting the boat out of the water. We had made friends with a yachtie family on a boat from Australia and they had Dean over for dinner to share the Maui Maui they had caught. I will just quickly share their story as it is really scary for any boatie. In brief as they approached Fiji from Australia they had a problem with their engine. Basically they had stray current, they think from a lightening strike on a nearby boat in harbour. It ate through their sacrificial solenoid, then moved onto their propeller and drive shaft. Their boat could very well have sunk and their dreams with it. If you are interested in the details you can check out Dave discussing it here:

Dean has already described the process of the boat coming out of the water. He kept me updated with snaps. I was glad I wasn’t there.