Thursday 25th August

Yesterday was busy yet again…a lovely Port Vila day.

I got up and scrubbed the decks with the hose and the broom; always fun, always satisfying. There was still, believe it or not, volcanic ash from Mt Yasur lurking in various crevices. Oh those volcanoes!

Pete spent a lot of the day down various hatches trying to fix the rudders – the steering is still alarmingly stiff. By the end of the day he was a sodden wreck and had to be revived with cold showers and beer while I sailed forth to find wild raspberries at the market. I also went to a very shmick pharmacy looking for antibiotic ream and dressing for my surgery wound. I knew where the dressings where because of my rusty ladder wound experience, but I couldn’t find the correct dressing. A dreamy young chick came up to gaze at the shelves with me; she didn’t have a clue either and went off to find a superior pharmacy attendant. “Hmmm…” she said, looking at my wrist. She showed me her catalogue and said that this particular item, No: XJY 3456543 216789765 was out of stock. I could feel my woundette throbbing and mild panic rising so I pointed, mutely, at a package of Johnson and Johnson dressings, waterproof, which looked exactly the same size as the one on my wrist. “Oh yes…” said my helpful assistant. I suppose that might be the same…” So...I bought the required items – antibiotic cream, strong painkillers (just in case) and dressings from my reluctant new friend…

At midday we met up with Mark and Leah, and, as a bonus, Mark’s lovely mother Tauchi, who had escaped from her village school in Ekipe to spend the day in the Big Smoke. She was delighted to have a big chocolate milkshake all to herself and to have a tour of 2XS. “It is my dream,” she said happily, “that one day Mark and Leah will have a boat like this!” Well I didn’t like to put too many obstacles in her way but…Leah gets fearfully seasick…

Leah let me know very gently that…I was no longer in possession of beloved iphone. I had taken it to the showers in the morning, and had left it – OH NO – on top of the toilet. I think I had been so bamboozled by the coldness of the shower (BRRRR!!) that I had taken temporary leave of my senses; no other excuse will do; I LOVE my iphone! Leah had sent me a message and a very wonderful woman called Dominique, temporarily on Chasse Spleen, a big yacht not far from 2XS, had texted back saying she had rescued my phone from almost certain disaster. I am so grateful for this I can barely type…and even better, I didn’t know I had been parted from my phone until Leah told me, so I didn’t have to implode with anxiety! (Well only retrospectively.) I spent a long time in the bottleshop choosing the most appropriate reward: Wolf Blass champagne won the day; I hope Dominique and her friends enjoy it as much as she deserves.

Leah says that ni-Van people don’t generally steal; they wouldn’t take your handbag, or mug you, or slither things out of your backpack. But…they LOVE phones and would very possibly take your phone right from under your nose. So…how lucky was I??

Pete and I had another battery-chasing excursion in the afternoon. I don’t think one single stone has been left unturned in Port Vila in the search for this particular battery… Bus trips are great fun in Vanuatu. You clamber into a Tarago-style van and give some vague sort of indication as to where you might like to go. Then the bus takes off and may or may not veer in a completely different direction. (Tauchi, for example, said it would take her from 2-6 to get home to Ekipe, which is only really 30 minutes drive from Port Vila…) We enjoyed our detours in the back blocks of Vila very much. We were also fascinated by the battery shop. Pete had rung to check and the shop assistant had said, “Yes, we have hundreds of batteries.” What she meant was, “We have hundreds of exactly the same battery, none of which is what you want.” Too funny!

We went for dinner at a different restaurant, just along the waterfront – the Village Café, I think. Lots of atmosphere – a leafy flowery bower, in fact. We had a great time. Delicious food once again – I had – so surprising – fish with veggies; Pete had steak with potatoes and salad (he wanted veggies but never mind…) There was great music as well - three singers, a big synthesiser, the same sort of repertoire as the Waterfront – a bit of Frank, a bit of Bob Marley, Lionel Ritchie, Leo Sayer… We made some lovely new friends, from Australia (Mt Colah NSW), New Zealand (Christchurch) and there was much dancing and merriment. The Australians, Anne and Laurie, had been to Vanuatu before, many years ago, and have travelled widely. “We usually bring the kids,’ said Laurie – they have six. “But…our oldest is now fifty-four so we thought it was time we had a holiday by ourselves.” They were great dancers; Anne had been, until the age of 74 a ballet, jazz and tap teacher, and Laurie was a ballroom dancing whizz. I enjoyed my dance with him very much while Pete was jiving with Anne.

At 10.30 it was time for Cinderella and Cinderello to go back to 2XS to watch moves and wait for Andrew Miedecke to arrive on the midnight special…We were thrilled to bits when he arrived and frolicked around making him tropical fruit salad and pouring beer into him.

Today is hot and sunny. Pete and Andrew are already in a lather of sweat, having powered around Vila and its environs in a bus (I went on this trip, great fun going up all the by-ways) looking for something-or-another, not finding it, borrowing an enormous socket thingy…oh dear I MUST let Pete write these details.. What we are SUPPOSED to be doing is going to the Cascades with Leah and Mark. I have let them trudge up the hill (mad dogs and Englishmen) looking for a another widget for a wadget; I am in the Waterfront Café in the shade with a large lime juice, admiring Mary who is wearing her new Tasmanian earrings (not gold but she is happy with silver adorned with bright blue beads…)