A 6 day sail from Fiji during which André caught a blue-fin tuna, brought us to Lenakel on Tanna, one of the Vanuatu islands. Before independence in 1980 the country was ruled by both the British and the French. Therefore most people speak both plus their language. There are British and French schools and within a family some children attend a British school and others a French one! When at first there were cars, the British drove on the left whilst the French drove on the right! There is a lot of unemployment and often people go to Australia for a season to pick fruit.
Tanna is famous for its active volcano, Mount Yasur. From Lenakel the taxi drove through lush forests and suddenly near the volcano we crossed lunar landscape. Arriving at the top of the volcano on foot at sunset we saw the volcano spewing out rocks and lava and when night fell this was particularly impressive. The noise, the sky lighting up with each eruption….quite something!
Being mid-September and the cyclone season fast approaching we decided to leave Vanuatu and head to New Caledonia.
