Port Vila - Vanuatu

What a fun town. Go anywhere by bus for 100 vatu per person – first on first off unless of course your destination is along the way, in which case you ask the driver to stop and he does. 80% of vehicles on the road are vans of some sort with a “B” for bus on the number plate.

Great duty free shopping for wines and spirits, perfumes, diesel. Great shopping along the only strip for clothes, music, DVD’s.

A place well set-up for yachties, providing respite from the self sufficiency the lifestyle demands. Jill’s café has hamburgers and chips! Waterfront Bar and Grill and Yachting World are near the dinghy jetty for beer, music, camaraderie and laundry. Even a free shower at the Bar and Grill.

To stock up to travel to the northern islands Port Vila is ideal. The market is openb 24 hours - stall holders just sleep on the ground under their stalls. Beautiful organic fruits and vegies , flowers, lap lap lunches, much taro, kava roots provide a diverse and colorful display.

Vanuatu beef – export quality? Just walk up the hill to the boucherie and you can order it in a varierty of cuts, packaged and frozen for the long months up north. Also veal and chicken. If you want, they provide export packs with the necessary paperwork.

The handcraft market sells carvings, baskets, cloth, jewellery, bows and arrows, model canoes. Great fun on a cruise ship day to watch families buying souvenirs and the girls having their hair braided.

The French influence still abounds although English is commonly spoken – but the patisseries are very nice.