Tales from the South Pacific: Part I

Back by popular demand, an introduction to our completely bonkers trip to Vanuatu.

One of the most exciting things about living in Australia, is that it puts a little-known, little-visited, corner of the world within relatively easy reach; the tiny and remote island nations of the Southwest Pacific Ocean.

This was our first foray into the South Pacific, and we have been positively smitten. 

Now, I pride myself on my geographic prowess but even I had to get out a map to pinpoint just exactly where Vanuatu is - the Pacific Ocean is a big place. Here's a map of the region to put into context just where it is in relation to Australia and surrounding island nations:

Vanuatu was in the international spotlight briefly last year after the capital city Port Vila and many surrounding islands were hit hard - very hard by Cyclone Pam (more on that later). After this brief burst of international attention Vanuatu faded back into it's usual state of international anonymity.

Vanuatu has only been an independent nation since 1980, and has a long history of colonization and foreign visitors - from Captain Cook himself to the US military in WWII. Vanuatu's importance during the War as an American military base is a footnote in most chronicles of the South Pacific campaigns and lacks the name recognition of other famous places like Midway, Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal

In fact, Vanuatu played a key role in the battle of Guadalcanal.  Vanuatu's only international airport (at Port Vila) is called Bauerfield Airport and is named for the American Lieutenant Colonel Harold Bauer, who worked with locals to oversee the creation of the landing strip that was a major base for air operations during the battle. Guadalcanal is just 600 or so miles north of Vanuatu in the southern Solomon Islands. Lieutenant Colonel Bauer was later shot down by the Japanese about 100 miles off the coast of Guadalcanal in late 1942 and never found.

No longer required for military use, the now paved runway brings flocks of tourists to Vanuatu from Australia and New Zealand. There is a small memorial to Lieutenant Colonel Bauer in a dusty, neglected corner of the international terminal at the airport.

John Frum followers raise the American flag in as part of their daily ritual

Meanwhile, south of Port Vila on the island of Tanna, the American soldiers were a particularly big hit with the locals and gave rise to the Cargo Cults that still exist to this day. John Frum (as in John From America) is the largest and most famous and still raises the American flag at dawn each day. Awed by the sudden appearance of previously unseen and completely incomprehensible modern toys - from airplanes to Coca-cola the locals understood this to be some form of divine intervention.

After the war and the foreigners returned home the cults built and maintained airstrips, control towers (complete with coconut shell headphones) and thought if they were just patient enough and if they could get the spells right, the foreigners would return with all of their goodies. (More on our Tanna adventure in the next installment).

After the War the Brits and the French hung around as the colonial administrators until 1980, as a result French and English are widely spoken today. The tribal dialects are vast and diverse but there is a national language - perhaps more accurately described as a patois, it is essentially a pidgin English called Bislama. If I ever decide to take up a foreign language, this will be it - we had great fun attempting (often successfully) to translate for ourselves.

Vanuatu is tiny. The CIA lists 230 nations and territories in the World Factbook, and when ranking by physical size little Vanuatu comes in at #164. Vanuatu comprises roughly 80 islands (65 of them inhabited) and the total area is just larger than the US state of Connecticut.

Check out the Bislama slogan.

The total population of these islands barely makes up a small city - with the total population sitting at just over 270,000 people - approximately 53,000 people live in the capital Port Vila, which is by far the biggest city. If ranking world countries by population, Vanuatu comes in at  a lowly 183.

Given its tiny size, tiny population and remote location - it's not surprising that Vanuatu is a relatively poor nation, with an average annual income of around USD $2,600 per person. Despite it's general poverty, there is virtually no  evidence of homelessness, starvation or outright destitution. It is without question one of the safest and friendliest places I have ever visited.

It's not a culinary destination as the food available is largely confined to what can be grown locally or pulled from the sea. There is a national beer - Tusker - which I can testify goes down very nicely just about anywhere or anytime.

More on our actual adventures next time.