1 August 2006 - Vanuatu

11:30 am (GMT+10), Monday, 31 July 2006.

View Photos: http://www.bradwarden.com/vanuatu/photos060801/

We're in the air over the Pacific Ocean! Never seen so much blue before. I can see where they get the name "Pacific Blue". We're about half way. We had mild turbulence before, which is not really much, except the plane bumps a bit and the wings wobble. I got a window seat which is nice. Jared and I will swap seats soon so he has a window seat. It's starting to get a little boring now, but not that bad. The plane is a Boeing 737-800. The weather is perfect. Bright and sunny, with a few patches of cloud, making it interesting Taking off from Brisbane airport was fun. It's like using Google Earth when we're in the sky looking down, only this is real life! I was not allowed to use the GPS on the plane. That was a pity. It would have been quite interesting.

The ocean is very empty... as in I have seen hardly anything on the water. The horizon is a bit hazey, and hard to define. Up here, you can see the slight curve of the earth's surface on the horizon. I've got photos to prove it! It's a BIIIIG earth. We met Jill and Alistair on the plane briefly before. Will go back and talk to them some more soon.

Also, up here (how ever many thousand feet), we are above all the clouds and if you look up at the sky, it si quite dark. Probably a navy colour, half way between the day and night sky colour. It's dark, even though its day time! We're travelling between 900 and 1000 km per hour. Will arrive in Port Vila about 2:15 pm, Vanuaut time (GMT+11). Any times I mention from now on are in Vanuatu time, an hour ahead of Brisbane, all year round. Hope to arrive safely, get through customs, have lunch, and arrive at the mission. will try to get to an Internet cafe to email people. Walk around Vila, buy some food and have tea. We're staying one night at the SDA mission in Pt vila, then moving on to Santo for one night, and then finally to Gaua. Gaua is where we do our mission work. 9:30 am, Tuesday, 1 August 2006.

Just yesterday, I was at home, and now I'm in Port Vila, Vanuatu! It's my first time overseas and has been an interesting experience so far! My first sight of Vanuatu was not quite what I was expecting. I was expecting green green and really sunny weather. That's not quite what it was. Yes, the place is very green, and it was cloudy, sometimes with the sun poking through. Then the airport. It was a nice relaxed procedure, compared to Brisbane International. Walked off the plane onto the tarmac and walked into the arrivals office. They had about 7 men with local clothes, playing a few native songs. They had a couple of guitars, a drum, a bass string on box and a few other percussion "instruments". It was quite fun to watch them. The only word I was able to understand was "Wan-oo-ah-2", the country we came to see. Put a smile on a few people's faces. Immigration and customs was quite simple. Then caught a taxi with Jill and Alistair to the SDA (Seventh-day Adventist) Mission in Port Vila. They drive on the "right" side of the road! (opposite to Australia) That takes a bit of getting used to, well, for me, at least. Especially crossing the road... you have to look in different directions and get you mind around it. There's a lot I could share. I think I was a bit disoriented for a little while, until towards sunset time. I didn't have time to work out where north was (I think I rely on that a fair bit in Australia). I was not settled, and I hadn't had lunch and we went to the markets. Banana, pawpaw, lettuce, carrots, coconuts, etc, and I just wanted a quick, hearty meal, because it was 3pm. It was a good experience. We ended up walking back to the mission. For lunch/tea we had peanuts (boy, they tasted good), banana, coconut milk and coconut, orange, bread (!), and I think that was it. Sent an email off at one of the Internet cafe's downtown, got the coordinates for Port Vila on the GPS I had (17deg44min south, 168deg18min east). The furthest east I've been. Then had a shower and went to bed. Had a reeeeally good sleep. One of the best sleeps I've had.

Woke up to the sounds of birds out side, bit of rain. Got up late-ish and saw the school kids outside playing before school. The headquaters for the SDA church in Vanuatu, an church and primary school, the residence of the mission president, and admin offices, are all hear on this property. It's towards the southern side of Port Vila, about 1km from the markets. Jill told us we had a couple of earthquakes earlier in the morning! I vaguely (half-asleep) remembering my bed wabbling a bit, but thought it was Jared on the bunk below. But he wasn't on the bunk below, so that must have been it. It was only a few seconds and very mild. Probably less than 2 in magnitude. We had much the same food for breakfast as we did yesterday for tea. Did some Bible reading about ancient Israel in Deuteronomy 7. God chose the Israelites because He loved them, and not because they were a great people. The currency here is Vatu. 100 Vatu is about 80cents Australian, or 1 US dollar. About 140 Vatu for loaf of bread. 100 Vatu for 10 bananas. 1500 Vatu for taxi from airport to middle of Vila. 15 Vatu per minute at Internet cafe. I'll try learn to speak Bislama (the most common language over here). Most people in Port Vila speak English, but outside Vila, you really need to know Bislama. The people are quite nice. Met some really nice people on the mission. Jill and Alistair are very friendly. They work on Aore, a small island next to Santo. Alistair work at a trade school there. The weather so far has been cloudy with some sun and some rain. Temperature is about 25 most of the time with a cool (20 degrees probably) night. Slightly sticky because of the higher moisture content in the air in the tropics. This is winter and quite pleasant. Summer would be very hot! Got a few things to do soon. Need to get some phone cards, some coins (change), send off an email or two, give some equipment to the mission we were asked to bring over, lunch, and find our way to the airport. Many thanks for your prayers and best wishes.

God bless you all.
Brad and Jared