Smitten by Espiritu Santo

Who would have thought that in the last twelve months I would have been to Vanuatu four times. For some travellers there is an unwritten rule that you don’t visit the same place twice. For us that rule has been broken more than once. In fact I can’t remember all the places that we have returned to. Some places we’ve revisited; we’ve even taken friends to proudly show them what we enjoyed.

But with Vanuatu it’s been different. It’s a place that we’ve enjoyed and kept for ourselves although we have told all our friends about the place.

Our fist trip was as tourists and as the discovery that we could live her unfolded the frequent trips began. It’s hard to believe that we’ve returned only a month after leaving the last time.

Only this time it’s not to Port Vila as a destination, this time it’s to return to the largest of the 83 Islands that make up the group formally known as The New Hebrides up until 1980 when Vanuatu gained it’s independence from the French and British who jointly ran the country.

Up until our third trip our eyes were firmly fixed on the island of Efate and life living in Port Vila, that was until the returning flight to Brisbane went via The largest island in the group Espiritu Santo. In just two short days we came to realize that this island represented all of what we were looking for over many years.
Elena has always wanted a large piece of land that we can grow organic produce, have chickens and live a self-sufficient lifestyle. As for me I’ve always wanted to have a piece of land that gave way to the sea.

Having grown up in New Zealand and having access to the Pacific Ocean I kind of took for granted and only once in the middle of Russia did I come to this realisation of my connection to the ocean. I really couldn’t see myself living miles from it.
Living in Brisbane has allowed us to have a pretty good life with both of us having good secure jobs and a lifestyle envied by others.

Now we are prepared to change it all and merge our current lifestyle into semi-island way of living. While some expats have made a commitment and sold up to move to Vanuatu we’re being a little more cautious with our decision. Having jumped into a small business in 2008 and torching over 150,000AUD we know that we not survive financial should we make an unwise decision at this stage in our lives.

We have to blend our love for Santo (as the locals call the island) with our goal of long term travel and our current jobs. Elena has the good fortune of being able to work as a temp for her company and the rate is very attractive. As for me I know that once I leave my role there will be no turning back and I’ll have to go it alone. My online business project is taking shape and will provide a modest income once it’s off the ground,but it’s only once it’s up and going so until then we’ll be relying on what Elena’s income and our hard earned savings.

Arriving from Brisbane at 11pm and Ataying at Anabru Pacific Lodge last night I hardly slept. With the street noise in the Ni-Van suburb of Anabru and the couple in the room next door banging away like porn stars I’m up early this morning contemplating the events about to unfold for today.

As a side note – Yesterday I turned the ripe old age of 47 and managed to sell one of my great passions – my motorcycle. I know that my immediate future holds no place for the old girl. It’s going to leave a huge void in my life as we’ve had so much fun on it.

It’s 6.30am, Elena’s still sleeping and there’s light rain on the roof as I sit on the patio in front of our room, in only a few hours from now I’ll be back in paradise.
The mission for today is to visit 3 blocks of land each is over two acres and with beachfront access.Our planned meeting with Warren from First National Real Estate has fallen short as he’s currently in New Zealand, but with some quick phone calls we’ve managed to secure some appointments with a colleague of his to show us around.

Fighting the crowds to get a view… Santo International Airport

Flying from Vila to Santo is always an experience as you enter the domestic terminal and everything looks a little makeshift. Trying to listen to flight announcements in English yet don’t really understand at all, maybe there’s a little of the local language thrown in. Bislama is the most interesting language, a combination of local dialect mixed with English words .

Santo is only a 50 minute flight north of Port Vila and has direct international flights to Brisbane twice per week. That means one flight inbound on Tuesday and one outbound on Sunday, all other flights are via Port Vila, hence the shortness of our trip.

Getting off the plane feels like we never left here only 6 weeks earlier. Although catching our small taxi into Luganvile we spied the P&O Cruise Ship, The Pacific Dawn docked in the harbour. To be honest it looked so alien, foreign and out of place here. It’s what needed in though, tourism is a must for Santo as so many locals struggle with day-to-day living.

Arriving back at The Espritu Hotel a hurried greeting and obtaining the rental car and we hit town before the last of the shops closed. Being a Saturday, most shops close at 11am and since it was 11am now we really didn’t get much of an opportunity on our last visit and it was shaping up that this trip was going to be now different.

Thank heavens for Skype and the quick thinking of a way to contact Warren’s friend Torquil who we arranged to meet at the first of three properties we were here to see at 1pm.
Driving on the right always takes a little adjustment and after getting my bearings again we were soon heading up the hill past the cruise ship terminal and into rural Santo.

The first block we looked at was divided into 5 lots and had a small beach front. We were interested only because we could sell of the other blocks, however the wheels turn slowly here in Vanuatu and even slower here in Santo, so buying with the view of turning over the other 4 blocks was a gamble that we weren’t prepared to take.

The other two blocks were 4 km north of Lope Lope lodge and only 15km from town. Each block consisted of 40m of beach and just over 2 acres of untouched land, that means bush, scrub….. Work. But you know what? I love it and just couldn’t wait to get back to the car and tell Elena in private.

Torquil was great and gave us a lot of insight into what goes on around the Island. Being an ex English Police Officer and now the owner of his own 25 acre island he’s seen a lot in the last 4 years here. He’s imported his own car, set up rental accommodation on his island and built a kitset Lockwood home that he had shipped from New Zealand. He’s a real go to guy and has invited us to come and visit him on our next trip…. For sure we want to check out his island! For more www.malvanuaisland.com

We promised our friend Colin that we would visit his lodge at Lope Lope for dinner as he wanted us to meet his sister Matilda, a local Real Estate Buyers Agent. But I also had another reason, to watch the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team play the English at Colin’s sport bar.

Dinner was fantastic, if you ever make it to Santo come here and try the Organic beef steak…. It’s bloody awesome! What made the night better was that the All Blacks won. It was good to put faces to names and now the network of people is starting to form. It’s these people that over time we’ll be relying on for information. One thing Matilda mentioned is that the expat community here can be as big or small as you want it, which suits us fine.

Driving in the dark home is always an interesting affair, as locals do walk along the roads and with no streetlights or illuminated lines on the road you have to keep your eyes on the road. There’s also a casual approach to dipping your headlights, so trying to look for the white line on the side of the road becomes incredibly dangerous should you discover a local walking the line!

Walking over the block on Sunday morning gave us a new perspective and just standing among the bush and hearing the sounds was breathtaking.

When something feels right you savour the moment and this morning was one of those moments.

This is paradise, but stubbing my toe put a damper on my thoughts as it continually swelled and I had to run under cold water from the tap. We loved it here and 2 hours of just being on the land was not long enough, neither of us wanted to leave.

Our plans now were to drive the remaining 35km to Port Olry, but after noticing the gates open to Velit Bay Plantation we thought we’d check it out for lunch.
This place is huge 1600 acres and 3km of beach, oh and it’s for sale too, although it’s way out of our budget.

Noticing a boat and owner struggling with getting off the beach I left Elena at the beach bar and raced across the lawn to lend a hand. The boat was surely stuck and it was a case of waiting for the incoming tide for about half an hour.

Time turned to discussions of our days events and as luck would have the guy we were talking to was the property owner. I asked how long he’d been here and what his experiences were. Some where good and some were bad and by the sounds of things based on his advice buying equipment here can prove costly with inexperienced mechanics and cheep copies from shoddy manufacturers in Asia.

Burger and chips washed down by a Tusker, the local Vanuatu beer it was time to soak the throbbing toe in the water. The beach here is white and clean, although is not as soft as Port Olry or Champagne.

Travelling back to town on now what seems a familiar road I’m starting to get a feel for the pace here. If you build it they will come…. But build it first you must and that will take you twice as long as anywhere else….. Why?…. Island time.

Now the numbers need to be stacked and the decisions to be made, if it works and the price is right could this little slice of paradise be our palace in the Pacific?

Our little oasis and place of seclusion, a place simply known as…….Santo.

Oh yes, we are smitten…