VANUATU
 

Can anyone give me a "heads up" on Iririki resort and the town of port vila and the country itself?

Thanks.

I think Vanuatu is often regarded as the best of the melanesian countries.

Irriki resort is beautifully located on a small island off shore at Port Vila.Great spot...however you have to get a punt to and from the island.

Port Vila is an interesting town with a curious mix of french/british influences.

Do some snorkelling/diving,take a trip around efate,fly down to tanna(live volcano),sample melamesian culture.

vanuatu is a developing country. people go there for the unique cultures on the outlying islands: tanna's volcano; ambryn's "original bungee jumping".

port vila is a jumping off point. a tiny one street "town" with a market for veg and souvenirs. the outskirts feel very british or caribbean: inlets, boats, small markets.

several of the islands have malaria, so you'd have to check on where you plan to go.

efrate seems to be more upmarket and a better target if you're seeking a beach holiday.

iiriki doesn't allow kids, if you have them, you may not have seen that fine print.

there is a great restaurant directly across from the jetty for the hotel...chez something or other (but that is the case with all vila restaurants).

are you looking for a beach holiday? then i think you are better off choosing a resort on the main part of the island or just going to one of the nicer places in efate. iriki has not got the shallow pale lagoon water or beaches of what used to be the crown plaza, or the le meridien, both on the mainland.

if you need to do work there irkiki is a nice place to stay- but if you're going on vacation..i wouldn't park myself there for a week.

Thanks for the responses.

So can you swim in the water off Irririki at all?

How much in aussie dollars would a higher car be for the day to drive around efate?

why are you going?

Hi Robert - we hired motor scooters to get around Vila and surrounds which worked well. Parts of the island are very scenic with old-growth tropical rainforest, beaches and bays. Also hired a car for longer trip but can't remember cost. Have stayed a couple of times on the small, laid-back resort on Erakor Island in the lagoon -it has 24-hour small ferry to run back to main island and a short bus ride into Port Vila.

the water between erakor and the crown is so pretty- i kayaked across it- pale blue full of star fish that were blue and red...spectacular. erakor's owner was a bit "testy"

not sure when pat went, but the island experienced an earthquake about 2002 and erakor had a lot of damage.

also, santo is the island that also has resorts. why not try hideawayholidays.au? they have pretty pictures of all your choices there. good luck.

thanks all.

it is for a holiday, not business.

the motor cycles sound like a good idea, I will investigate that.

Hi kerikeri - you made me remember the lovely clear water on the lagoon around Erakor Island, I too had a bit of kayak there. Don't remember too many fish, but tons of brilliant coloured starfish, beche de mer (well, they can keep those), the locals were fishing there so there must have been something about. Not far out there was plenty of good snorkelling and further away, diving. Whilst the coral I saw couldn't measure up to some parts of GBR there was plenty of other marine life. Just last night here there was a TV programme talking about the taking of tropical fish in Vanuatu to satisfy private aquarium owners - particularly the anenome clown fish, it seems everyone wants their own Nemo. Before we'd moved to tropical Queensland we often went to Fiji, then discovered Vanuatu which we much preferred. The people are not as tourist-savvy as the Fijians, and the food is generally better, possibly because of French influence.

I was on Erakor before the earthquake and a couple of other nasty cyclones, it seems that is now renovated and at least from its website is showing a remarkable improvement. The first time I went there the owners were very odd - Aussies who apparently were about to divorce, so if you were there then can see what you mean about "testy".

you've solved the riddle, pat!

i really had never seen anything like those starfish and i am glad to hear they were as "special" to a person who lives where you do and can pop out to THE reef anytime...

i can't tell you how many underwater pictures i attempted. i liked the slender blue ones the best and was so surprised when a vacationing aussie toddler plucked one of the dappled (red and white) ones up right out of the shallows and offered it to me (a grown woman) to touch. i was the one who was afraid.

a very pretty place, indeed.

Oh keri keri -wiah I could I pop out to the reef whenever I fancied - there's this awful thing called WORK which stops me. Much as I love the area here in FNQ I did find Vanuata a wonderful place to to visit,once I had some neighbours (and friends in Sydney) who sailed their yacht, with three tiny chidren, a poodle and a parrot (galah) to Vanuatu and didn't come back to Oz until the kids needed high school education in Oz. I just love the place. Port Vila may be a bit shabby, but there's some character there, after all its just a South Pacific tropical post-colonial townl

I can attest that Pat's hard work pays off. She and Mike run a splendid operation at Lilybank B&B and I'm amazed she has time to answer all these questions from nits like me.

A/D

PS Pat, was that sailing poodle one of yours?