Five reasons why I love Vanuatu

It's no secret that my fragile little mind was blown away by Vanuatu.  here's a few reasons why.

1. Volcanoes. Whether its the splendour of mount Yusar (above), a lava pit on Ambrym or the extinct volcanoe of Ureparpara, I have never experienced such a show of mother natures As the ground shook with every explosion, all I could think was how fragile our existence is.Geology certainly does 'rock.'

2. Creatures of the sea. Turtles, whales, dolphins and dugongs all inhabit this part of the world. Excluding the dugong, I was fortunate to see the others in abundance.

3.  Beautiful people. There may have been exceptions, but on the whole, Vanuatans were warm and friendly to us travellers.

4. Mystical Jungle.

5. Outriggers. Best form of transport. Ever. Instead of riding their bikes around the estate, kids will cruise the waters on these bad boys.

So if you're planning on a trip to the South Pacific, be very careful.  Falling in love with Vanuatu is very easy, you may never want to leave.

Nature's fireworks

Mt Yasur - Tanna.  After anchoring at Port Resolution, we hopped in a truck,

climbed up a peak

and found this bad boy

As the sunset, the exploding lava became even more spectacular.  The earth trembled with every boom and I wondered, will it finally blow? Will this volcano turn me to a crisp? Obviously it did not. Instead, Mt Yasur reminded me how beautiful and powerful mother nature is.

A volcano walk

Impressive isn't it? Our four and a half hour trek certainly delivered.   

After a twenty minute lift in a truck, we hiked through jungle for an hour and a half...

then came to the ash plains, which came as a 'flat' relief...

but, uh-oh what's this, yes its boulders to climb over and around.

However, with great heights come spectacular views and even when I was crawling up the almost vertical path, all I had to do was look around for inspiration. I forgot how beautiful hiking could be.

and in this instance, great heights also came with a lava pit. Note: if you ever do this, bring a scarf to protect against the fumes (mmmmmm sulphur lungs!) and a jumper - it gets a little chilly at this altitude!

In our expedition up to the volcano, we were extremely lucky to see the lava mouth so clearly.  Previous crew had trekked up here only to find cloud coverage.  After lots of oohs and arhhs watching the lava spurt up, we hung about eating our pack lunch and took a few more shots.

And then it was time to start the long walk home...