12 months and 4 trips to Vanuatu later we are now proud owners of our own slice of “heaven” (even the island “Espiritu Santo” means “Holy Spirit” in Spanish).

Matevulu Blue Hole
No, it’s not on our property but so beautiful – one of Santo’s famous Blue Holes

It is hard to believe that almost a year ago we were busy selling our family home of 9 years , anxiously waiting for the offer and wondering where our life will turn. It was like a new chapter of life opening up.. A couple of months later I was lucky to get a cheap fare to Vanuatu and unbeknowlingly to us our life train had changed the tracks.

Being away for the weekend in September 2013 opened our eyes to this beautiful country;  even then we didn’t think about living there. Some conversations that started on that trip sparked an interest that made us rush back to Port Vila only 2 months later in November , this time to look at possibility of owning a property.

Things didn’t go as planned though and we left with more questions than answers and rather disappointed than excited. We started questioning our humble desires and a following 4 week trip to Thailand ( country we both LOVE) planted further seeds of doubt.

However there was something there that made me check 5 real estate websites every single day for 5 months 🙂 Oh yes, when I research I RESEARCH!!

We thought that we had to make a longer trip to put an end to our doubts  once and for all.

Tagging a 3 day Espiritu Santo stop at the end of our 10 day trip to Vanuatu was just an afterthought.

And then we saw it, we fell in love and we knew what we wanted all along.

2 years ago our plan was to travel around Australia on a motorbike for 5-6 months during my long service leave. Do I regret giving that dream up?

bike and trailer
Preparing our trailer for trial camping run

Some days I do but obviously it never meant to be.. at least for now..

There is still a road ahead of us before we make any drastic decisions (like leaving work). Buying land on a small island in a Third World country is drastic enough for now 🙂

 Who knows where our life will be in 1 year as our dreams had changed so dramatically from 1 year ago that its impossible to predict anything!