City life and loving it
Trip Start
Mar 15, 2006
1
Trip End
Ongoing
Sydney, Australia
Monday, March 20, 2006
It's been a while since my last update and I am just about to leave Sydney as I write this one. My last week in Vanuatu was a bit like my first, rainy! We had days and days of rain and drying my dive-kit was a challenge - so it had to come back to Oz slightly on the damp side. The final days at the school were good ones with the kids on much better behaviour. It might be that I finally cracked the code for successful lessons by using words games and awarding coloured pencils as prizes. Somehow that made me favourite teacher for a while!
The school teachers threw a party for me on the Monday before I flew which was lovely, they all cooked up a storm and we had a huge ni-Van feast in the school room. They cooked about 5 different types of Laplap, which is pounded banana, manioc, taro, yam, or mango into a thick pulp, baked in the ground covered in leaves and then served with coconut milk, island cabagge or some meat on top. They cut you these massive slabs of it and expect you to tuck your way through all 5 slabs just to start with! They then cooked a chicken for me and expected me to eat that by myself as the special guest of honour. Even though the chicken was pretty scrawny but I didn't quite meet their expectations!
There was a presentation and they gave me some presents and gorgeous wild flower bouquets. Some of the boys from my class six had to present them too me and I could see the embarrassment and fear on their faces that teacher might kiss them in return. I decided not to embarrass them and gave them a grown-up handshake!
My last day on the island was rather emotional. I had to say goodbye to all the kids after giving them their last spelling test and teaching them the rules to Frisbee. I was sad to leave the school, I've learnt so much during my time there and loved being with the kids. I then had to say goodbye to all the Ni-Van dive-guides who had been so good to me during my time there. They taught me lots about dive-leading and were great company and fun.
The baby-docs took me out for my last Kava that night which was as disgusting as always. There was also a torrential downpour for 6 hours so we spent a lot of the time trying to keep out of the rain while we downed our Kava. We had a last "stew mo' rice" at the market and then it was time to go home and pack.
My friend Enid gave me a ride to the airport in the morning and I was on the crop-duster flight to Villa. I was supposed to leave at 11.30am but they hustled me through check-in and pushed me onto the tiny twin engined Otter in record time. The pilot leaned through the passageway and announced that the emergency exits were behind us and off we went. Nearly an hour early and I'm not entirely sure why...the little plane was struggling to take off and during the flight you could almost feel the pilots urging it to keep going....I kept imagining the engines going "I think I can, I think I can....".
After landing in Villa I went for a wander in the town and it was a massive culture shock. To start with Villa is pretty touristy and there were places to shop and eat everywhere. Also it was a cruise-ship day so there were loads of "white fellow" all around. This was the busiest I had seen anywhere in quite sometime and I felt rather displaced! There were just too many people for me and cars drove on both sides of the road! How was I going to cope in Sydney?!
Luckily I've coped just fine, after several hours delay in Villa I finally landed in Sydney and was met by my friends Abbie and Nic. I was a bit concerned about getting through immigration and customs as they made me fill out a form about where I had been and whether I had been anywhere rural etc. I knew that if I ticked that box they may want my luggage and potentially my feet which looked a little like jungle feet. Trust me...2 months without hot water and a good shower with mud and rain every day and your feet would look pretty bad too. So I had to lie on my customs form and luckily they let me through. Was that wrong?! I emerged from the terminal looking like little Miss Island Girl, very brown, slightly unwashed and very weary looking (Abbie and Nic's explanation not mine! They have let me stay at their flat over the past few days and I've been getting used to the fast pace of life once again. Abbie has just moved to Sydney herself so we have been doing lots of the touristy things together. The first day I was in Sydney was weird as I was wandering around with my island mentality still on, I kept expecting to see someone I knew as on Santo if you saw a white person you could be pretty sure you knew them and would stop and chat etc.
With guide book and map in hand we have walked the streets of Sydney and been to the Opera House and Sydney Harbour, the Rocks, seen the Harbour Bridge (from many angles), done the Queen Victoria Building, Darling Harbour, the Aquarium, the City Centre, Hyde Park, the Anzac Memorial, Chinese Garden of Friendship, Sydney Fish Market (nothing like Billingsgate), checking out the surfers at Manly Beach and Bondi Beach, snorkelling in Gordon's Bay...and so on and so on. Oh and most importantly...an pedicure!! I had to get rid of my jungle feet, I was so ashamed of them. They are all clean now and sporting funky pink toenails. OK so not really very traveller like I know but I just had to get them clean!
It's been great, Abbie and Nic looked after me every step of the way and have let me take over their living room with all my junk for which I am eternally grateful. We had one night out but I don't think my body can take alcohol anymore as I felt really rough after a couple of drinks...could be a good opportunity to detox then! We've also been over to Nic's brother's place for the most amasing lasagne. It's been a good taste of what living in Sydney would be like, it's a busy place and is a lot of fun. The people are well dressed and very trendy and it sort of reminds me of London with less pollution and the people are nicer.
With the Cyclone hitting Cairns today I've had to think about whether to stick to my original plan and travel up the coast. I'm going to hope for the best and tomorrow I get a really early bus to Newcastle where I spend a whole 24 hrs before going off to Port Macquarie for another 24 hours. I'll make my way up the coast by bus staying in hostels along the way and hope to do some more diving in different places and see some new and exciting towns. I'm hoping to see dolphins and go to the koala hospital in the Port. Very exciting! I don't know what impact the cyclone will have had on the coastline, marine-life and tourists from Brisbane onwards but fingers crossed that it recovers quickly and the people in the path of the cyclone have all come through it safely.
I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update this log as internet may be sparse as I go up the coast. I am on an Aussie mobile number during my trip here which is 0061 423661768 should anyone wish to call or text me for a chat. It would be lovely to hear from you and I will actually be able to text you back at long last!
I'll end here and try to upload my log and some pictures. We're having squid for dinner which we bought at the big fish-market today and I can smell it cooking and am hungry....
Hope everyone is well and I'll look forward to seeing you after I get back to the UK on 10 April.
With love Sam xxx
