I vistied Vanuatu in November 2003 as a guest of Fiji & Pacific Specialist Holidays. They have been organising groups (prmarily Australians) to travel to the Round Island Relay for a few years and they have even taken out advertising on CoolRunning in 2002 and 2003. I had never been to any other Pacific Islands and had been busy at work all year, so had almost zero expectation of what was there.
I had met Allan Kalfabun before, and knew what a bright uplifiting person he was. It had never really clicked with me that he came from Vanuatu and that he knew everyone who lived there, or it seemed that way! If anyone has local knowledge it is him.
I travelled with Kylie, a Fitness First Boot Camp instructor from Melbourne and Matthew who was the owner of the Running Australia newspaper/magazine.
We arrived late at night on the Weds - accompanied by a string band at the airport. The air was very heavily laden with that tropical dampness - a very strong smell. We transferred direct to the Melanesian and went to bed. It seemed like a more than adeqaute hotel.
On the Thursday morning, I got up fairly early and went out running. I had no idea where I was going, as I hadn't bought any maps or looked at any. I just sort of followed my nose and went roughly in the direction of the coast. There were lots of people about going to work (I presume). They all said "hi" and waved. Very friendly. It was an effort on my part to say anything back! I was very impressed with the lushness and the greenery. The weather was going to get warm. I ended up in a small village near a beach. hmmm.. they seemed fairly poor but pretty happy. I felt very safe - high-fiveing all the kids waiting for the bus.
I got a glimpse on the way back of some views to a bunch of other islands - it looked realy beautiful. You know some of them looked close enough to swim to. Back at the hotel Matthew had checked out the pool. We had breakfast. It was good to get a lot of local fruit here. Fairly standard hotel fare I suppose, but you could really help yourself.
We had a look over all different types of hotel rooms they have - all very clean. It was a good hotel. This is priced at "budget" end, but it looked pretty good to me
We then got picked up and drove around the island of Efate (the main island we were staying on) to check out the race route. It's a 138km circuit or varying legs from about 11km to 16km. Some of the sections are quite hilly. The race brochure describes the course as "Road conditions vary from tar sealed to rugged coral & dirt roads, passing through traditional villages, taking in mountain rain forest, crossing crystal clear streams and through coconut plantations. The latter stages of the race take runners along the edge of coral reefs and white sand beaches offering some of the most breathtaking views you'll ever see." which is a good description - definitely good scenery. I wouldn't call it a particulary easy course although some legs were easier than others. There were some nice villages to go through. A fantastic beach that we stopped off at on the way past.
It was comforting to know that Allan would be there on race weekend as he knew so much about the event and the island. It felt like a real cultural learning tour as well as an athletics event.
Back at the hotel, I walked into town and check my emails in an internet cafe (the hotel room would have been also) and had a look around the market areas. I had been told that a good spot to go snorkelling was on Iririki Island, a short (free) ferry ride from town. Luckily I brought my mask, snorkel & flipper with me !
I had to walk through the Iririki resort - wow ! a very fancy place indeed. They don't allow kids to stay there, which ruled me out as I'd though of bringing the Kids with me (since then we found that the race is during term time so they will have to miss out !!). Around the back of the resort are some steps down to a secluded beach. The snorkelling here was fabulous. Water was perfect. Oh such bliss! After a while I walked around the rest of the Island to a beac on the other side and went swimming there, then walked back, caught the ferry and strolled back to the Melanesian.
That evening, Matt, Kylie, Allan and myself had dinner with the owners of Iririki. Yes a very classy place indeed. They have a round the island swim here, which got me thinking ...
On Friday morning, I knew we would be checking out of the Melanesian to go stay at Le Lagon, so I got up early and went out for my run, but decided I would combine it with a swim. I took my mask and ran in my swimmers and CoolRunning singlet. At the small village I got to the day before, I went to the end of the village and swam off the end of the island across a short stretch of water to the next island (I later found out this was Allan's home village). The water wasn't that deep, was crystal clear and had lots of beaut fishes that I could clearly see. I had previously been told that there are no sharks, no sea snakes, no nasties in the sea so felt quite safe.
On this island I trotted along the length (I just ran and swam in my running shoes so they were squelching). The villagers were somewhat surprised to see me I suppose at that time of the morning in the state I was in! There were a lot of chooks running around. At the end I had a decision to make, swim short to Iririki or head off to that distant part of the mainland over there. I decided to go long and walked into the water and headed off.
Probably lucky I bought a mask so I didn't have to worry about my goggles fogging or anything, and I have done a couple of Tris, so know enough to keep looking up (and make sure I am not heading off to sea). Anyway, the swim was great, but it took longer than planned - it was probably about 1km I estimated. I don't wear a watch but knew instinctively I'd be late for brekkie. I rolled out of the sea and ran off, homeward bound. My legs and body really struggling to stop swim-mode.
Eventually I loosened up as I realised that it was going to be easy to work out how to get back. I picked up what I thought was a bit of pace. I strolled into breakfast feeling totally buggered, scoffed some food down then checked out.
We walked into the tourist office on town and looked at some videos of the event and asked some questions (what happens if we can't fill a team - either locals can fill it up or some runners can run a 2nd leg or so). We had a coffee at Chantilly's restaurant then went back to the hotel to check out.
Allan laid on transport for me and Kylie to go to the Cascades Waterfall. It was really neat to walk up through the bush and then go for a shower under the main waterfall (cold water...) and then some of the other plunge pools. We then walked from there to the (free) ferry that takes you to Hideaway Island. We didn't have a lot of time here, as we had to get back to the Melaneasian to pick up our stuff, but we did have time to have a cold drink and sit on the beach.
When I come back to do the relay, we will definitely go snorkelling or even scuba diving on Hideaway island. It is just beautiful.
We moved on to Le Lagon, which is advertised as being Kid-friendly ie they travel free. Wow - it was even more beautiful (see website). They had neat little bungalows dotted around right up close to the water. I bought some gifts for my kids and echeck my email from my room. We then had a buffet dinner at the restaurant. They had a lot of seafood. Lots of quantity - great for runners. They even had a what I thought would be cheesy cultural music/dance troupe, but was actually pretty good.
Saturday morning - we were leaving late in the afternoon to head back home, so wanted tomake the most of it. Decided to miss a run this morning, and picked up a free Kayak from the hotel and went around Erakor Island. You can see its only 200 metres from the mainland, and it looks like a 1km total around the edge. Anyway, there was a bit of a current and wind blowing but I was determined to paddle all the way round. I did but it took an hour or so. Then I had breakfast and had an hour long massge on the beach. Wow this is a neat holiday.
Feeling invigortaed I asked a local person where the best snorkelling was, and he said on Erakor Island, so I caught another free ferry over there, and went snorkelling. After I'd finished I dropped my gear off at the ferry and swam back. Got changed then headed out to the airport.
I think we all enjoyed the trip on Vanuatu - I was impressed by how close everything was and how relaxed the place was. I understand the weather at the time of the relay will be ok for doing all these outdoor acivities (and more that I didn't get around to testing).
Definitely, the relay would be a good focal point for a brief stay, but there is quite alot of other things to do, tied in with a run each morning and with a few keen peple it could be really good fun - a good place to go for mid-winter!
Certainly staying at Iririki or Le Lagon, as both are so close to the water, would be just perfect, but all places are pretty close to each other. I will try to work out some good running routes in advance of the CoolRunners arriving.
Allan is a great guide, as he just knows everything about the island and is a great person to be around.
