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Matilda - On our way to Oz



We haven't blogged since our arrival in Tanna, Vanuatu, which seems like years ago now - so much has happened! The volcano was spectacular as expected and I hear they are restricting access now to ensure the safety of tourists. The evening we went the visitors were scattered in panic by a huge lump of molten lava which landed a few meters behind where we all stood. When we arrived it was still glowing red - nice to see lava so close up; not something we experience every day, nor would we want to...

The gift giving ceremony in Tanna was wonderful and it was great to see a new Vanuatan friend of ours (he had invited us to a cava ceremony the night before) wearing one of my favourite old t-shirts not ten minutes after the gift exchange! We also managed to donate Heather's old Sony Vaio laptop to the school (their computer screen is on its last legs) for which they were very grateful. We left Tanna feeling warm and fuzzy and headed for Dillon's Bay on Erromango Island. The village chief there also wanted to have a gift ceremony, which nobody had warned us of, so we had a frantic search for anything we could afford to lose from the boat. It was difficult as we'd already done quite a thorough job in Tanna, but we did manage to find our old digital camera and underwater case, which the chief's son was thrilled with. More warm fuzzies and some spectacular snorkelling before we made an overnight passage to Port Vila.

We were pleasantly surprised to be awarded third place in our division for the crossing from Fiji, especially as we had guests aboard so the sailing was definitely more about comfort than speed. Port Vila seemed very cosmopolitan after the Southern islands of Vanuatu and we had a wonderful time there. Philippa and Jari's son Finlay even managed to complete his open water diver (PADI) certification whilst there - at ten years old no less. I was the only one from matilda to do the waterfall abseiling, which was very cold but immensely fun.

We sadly bid farewell to Philippa and the boys as we left the marina in Port Vila. We've had a much better crossing than expected so far, with a day of parasailing, a little motoring and the last couple of days on a fast beam reach. The conditions promise to last till at least Wednesday, so we may be putting in to Mackay earlier than expected - hooray! Not that we've been roughing it aboard; both of us have been getting plenty of sleep and today I had a BLT sandwich for lunch - a real treat.

Mackay will be a very busy stop for us as we have a lot of work to get through, plus the usual World ARC functions and my sister and her family will be joining us for a week of cruising. We are looking forward to welcoming Anne, Barry and Amethyst aboard for a week sailing through the Whitsundays to Townsville. Heather will sadly be abandoning me there for two weeks back in the UK. :(


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