Wala, Luganville and World War II

Our last week feels like it’s been a bit of a lazy one, but we do seem to have done all we wanted to do.

After a nice long stay at Ambrym Island, our target was to get to Luganville on Espiritu Santo Island where we can check out to head back to Australia. The Ambrym to Luganville trip is a bit long for a day sail and so we decided to break the journey by calling in at Wala Island for a couple of nights.

Wala is just off the north-east corner of the island of Malakula and there is a nice sheltered anchorage on the western side. We had only been anchored a few minutes when a local man name Yannick arrived in his dug out canoe with outrigger, to welcome us to the island and invite us ashore for a tour. We were a little anxious as we had spent all of our cash on Ambrym and also exchanged most of our spare things there, so we had little to offer in exchange for a tour. It didn’t seem to matter.

Yannick explains to Debi how the stones represents their ancestors

Sustainable Housing on Wala Island

Cocoa growing on Wala Island

The next day we went ashore and had a nice tour of the small island that has an amazing 300 inhabitants. The kids all go to school across the water on Malakula but were on holiday when we visited and so were enjoying the beach and jumping off the jetty. There were kids everywhere and none of them seemed bothered by the lack of television or smartphones. It was also interesting to see all of the different things that they grow on the island, from the usual papaya, bananas and grapefruit to different sorts of nuts and even cocoa.

The kids here eat plenty of fruit (note the machete for peeling grapefruit)

Happy people

Yannick's well on the beach. It's about 5m deep and has surprisingly fresh water.

Yannick's wife, weaving mats

Yannick introduced us to a gentleman who did carvings from volcanic stone, but we explained we had no money. However, the opportunity for an exchange soon arose when he explained that his wife was suffering from a bad back. So we exchanged some paracetamol and pain relief patches for a nice carving.  We also managed to scrounge together a load of food and other stores that we shouldn’t need to give to Yannick as a thank you for the tour.  He asked to come back to the boat with us to see what it was like on board.  It seemed a fair exchange.  After all, he had shown us his house.

The man with his carving. 

With a following wind and just the headsail up we left on Tuesday for our final inter-island sail to Luganville and we have been anchored outside of the Beachfront resort since then.

Luganville was an important base for the Americans during World War II and indeed, at one point after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, the remainder of the Pacific fleet were stationed here. The remains of their presence are everywhere.

Work is currently underway to raise funds to build a major museum to tell the story of WWII at Luganville. We visited the project office, which also has a mini museum, which is very well done.

This reclaimed land and concrete slabs remain from WWII

There were hundreds of these buildings here during the war. A few still remain.

A few of the relics in the WWII mini museum

Pat couldn't resist buying a machete for the new garden

On Thursday we did “the tourist thing” and did a half-day kayak trip up a river to one of a number blue holes on the island. Santo is quite a mountainous island and in places along the coast natural springs have eroded out pools that are filled with crystal clear blue water. After a bit of confusion over our pick up and a fairly long drive across the island, we had a nice trip, kayaking through the rainforest and stopping at the blue hole before heading back down to the coast again. We went ashore in the evening for a meal at the resort and a jug of sangria. We then made the mistake of having a second jug of sangria. It was an exciting ride back in the dinghy that evening and a subdued morning the next day.

Who's meant to be steering this thing?

A huge banyan tree at the blue lagoon

The clear waters of the blue lagoon

At the end of the war, the Americans were left with huge mounds of equipment and troops on Santo. They donated all the buildings, roads and infrastructure to the islanders, but with ships in short supply after the war, they couldn’t repatriate everything and so attempted to sell the equipment (vehicles, tanks etc) to the French at what they felt was a bargain price. The French knew that the Americans couldn’t take it back and so basically held out to get the equipment for free.

The Americans were not impressed and so, instead, they dumped the millions of dollars worth of equipment into the sea at a place now known as Million Dollar Point so that the French wouldn’t get it. They literally bulldozed the equipment into the sea and then at the end drove the bulldozers in as well. What a waste. However it has provided a valuable tourist attraction and we headed off with our snorkels and masks to take a look. It’s fascinating to try to work out what everything is and to see how the coral and the sand and sea have gradually consumed it all.

Illegal dumping ground?

Once a bulldozer, now a reef

Some not so careful parking

The tyres seem to have lasted particularly well.

The coral is really getting a hold here

The beach here is strewn with bits of rusting metal

We have spent the last couple of days preparing for the trip home. We have bought a few provisions to top up supplies for the trip, filled up the fuel and water and have been watching the weather forecasts about six times a day. It is all looking good for a departure tomorrow (Monday) bound for Brisbane. The journey should take us 7-8 days.

It’s been great trip but we are both looking forward to getting home and seeing family and friends and our new house!