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Petanque Player beware

July 26th, 2011 · 2 Comments

We anchored off Waterfall bay, Vanua Lava, Banks group. There is no road access here. The village and chief are very friendly, also anchored is a boat called Elenya with Tori and Jim aboard, we had managed to beat them at petanque in Luganville. So when the chief says you must ask for what ever you need and we will see what we can do. We replied tongue in cheek that we would like a place to play petanque. A moments hesitation then he offered an excellent area. So we enjoyed the return match with the Jim and Tori. Off course we had an audience, when finished we asked, “Would some of the boys like to have a go?” “They haven’t really played before.” Now it was our turn to watch, mmm haven’t played before? I don’t think so. By the end of the game, all the balls were so close that you could have covered them all with an A1 sized piece of paper! We were lucky we hadn’t challenged them. So useful tip of the day, don’t offer a wager if you challenge Waterfall bay to a game of petanque! I guess the daily practice of hunting, and using their sling helps with their hand eye coordination. But they were good, very good.

We are having some of the best cruising of the trip so far. The sailing between the islands is excellent sometimes boisterous and usually fast. The people are so welcoming. You quickly get swept up in the village activities of celebrations and fixing things. We helped a school on the west side of Gaua (Santa Maria)with some supplies, the children were very excited about the tennis balls we gave them. The people from the villages here have been back only a few months, they had been evacuated for 15 months while the volcano had been more active. At Losalava on the north side of Gaua we were invited to a custom wedding. We were the only white faces at this one and were honoured that they asked us and allowed us to watch and felt comfortable with us eating with them. We understand the traditions much better now so could follow the flow and actions. One chief at the wedding asked me “if I knew how to cook curry” “yes” I replied, “so could I go to his village and tell the ladies,” “yes.” What I didn’t realise was I had just agreed to a demonstration, so when I arrived they were ready with notepads and fire lit. So thinking on my feet, I asked them to get the ingredients for two curries, and we made together dry island cabbage curry and veg curry with homemade paste and freshly made coconut milk. They didn’t feel so comfortable eating with us so when ready to dish up they thought it was dark and we should be going back to our boat! However at the 1st birthday party we were invited to, we had traditional food, complete with Kava, again the only white people present. Walks here were excellent too, more about them another time.

We left through the reef for the short trip to Ureparapara, anchorage is in the volcano! This is where we made some entrance, just as we were thinking about taking down sails David realised that there was something on our fishing line, we had caught a three yes three metre sail fish, to know how it was landed will come later! But the village was extremely happy with us especially as we share.

Monday July 25th, as well as being Mary’s Birthday, is Children’s day here in Vanuatu. We spent the day with the village on Ureparapara, church service, then childrens games starting with the youngest who played musical leaves, similar to our musicial chairs! (They have big leaves here) The older children ran around very fast with a range of ball games where you had to tag the opposition. We now understand why they were so excited by the balls we handed out in Gaua.

At anchor: Hayter Bay, Tegua, Torres Islands, Vanuatu Position: 13°15’S 166°36’E [-13.247,166.595]

Tags: At Sea

2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Michael // Aug 22, 2011 at 8:43 am

    Happy Birthday Mary!

  • 2 Glenys // Sep 7, 2011 at 8:25 pm

    A belated Happy Birthday, Mary. Lovely to think it coincided with “Children’s Day”.