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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

The littler paradise of Port Olry (and a first excursion with the Dive Boys)

So, with a truck full of supplies from the aborted Malekula trip, and schedules cleared for Friday, it was time for Plan B (once again). Andrew’s workmate, Rex, is from PNG but is married to a woman from Port Olry, and suggested that we come up for the weekend. The final of the Milk Cup, another Under 12 football tournament was being played that day, so the morning was spent setting up, then it was back up north for the weekend.

Port Olry is a village of approximately 1000 people, renown for fishing. Apparently, before independence, it had movie theatres and restaurants, I assume reflective of a strong French influence.

On arrival, we headed to Rex’s house to meet the family. Surrounded by tonnes of pikinini and some of the more rotund pigs I’ve seen, we storianed smol then headed to our accommodation in the village beside the beach. After settling into to our bungalow accommodation, we headed out with Rex to find a nakamal for some “welcome” kava before dinner at the newly opened restaurant: Le bouquet du Port Olry. The restaurant was very island style, ngatangora thatching, bamboo walls, with the added touch of Christmas lights and the latest larger than life coca-cola poster. As we finished our shells at the adjacent nakmal, a string band arrived and proceeded to serenade us with classic Vanuatu Songs: ‘island dress’, ‘pentecost girl’ etc. A sumptuous feast was then served, lots of local kakae and fish. We headed back to our bungalow in preparation for an early start the following day.

Rising with the sun, we all jumped in the boat to go for a wee tour around some of the islands, before Andrew spent the rest of the morning fishing. We cruised around Dolphin Island, on the lookout for turtles. The water was classic turquoise blue, with plenty of sandy beaches. As we came back into the beach at Port Orly, we finally spotted a large turtle, so Jess and I jumped into the water, in our clothes, in an attempt to get a closer look. While Andrew spent the next 4-5 hours fishing, we played cricket with the pikinini, storianed with some mama’s, roasted some yams and generally relaxed. Early in the afternoon Andrew finally arrived back with some rather warm fish in the bottom of the tinny. We roasted and ate one, leaving the rest for the locals, then packed up and made our way to Lonoc to catch up with the Dive Boys and their band of merry Baby Docs.

That evening and the following day was interspersed with a party, beach fire, swimming and general shenanigans. Had a quick trip over to Champagne Beach for more swimming and then back home with a quick kava at ‘turtle’, the general haunt of aquamarine and the baby doc entourage followed by a market kakae.

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