Located at the top of Vanuatu is the largest Island called Santo and its township is Luganville. Luganville is the second largest town in Vanuatu with developments happening from the port into town. If we were to move to a topical Island in the pacific, Luganville would be a great place to invest. We heard that Real Estate is value for money with a lovely 3 bedroom home with 180 degree waterfront views overlooking a tropical paradise only will set us back $300,000. Compared to Sydney Harbour at $3 million+ it’s a real bargain. There are many different market stalls close to port and the locals are keen to have a chat. Most of them speak English as a second language along with French but their national tongue is Bislama. However, each Island has their own dialect. Makes for an interesting way of life. The kids did the typical touristy thing by having their hair braided. I deliberately grew Josh’s hair out just so he could have it in plaits (rusta style) and Chloe loves having beads in her hair. This allowed us to have a seat under a shady stall with the cool ocean breeze blowing just enough to keep the heat at bay. The girls told us a little about their lifestyle. Family is everything. School is important to them but when they reach college age they will need to move to Fiji to continue their studies. They grow all their own fruit and vegetables and say it’s beautiful and fresh. They either fish for their supper (literally) or eat chicken, beef and special occasions its pig. They don’t buy their fresh produce like us from a supermarket. They also don’t have the same sort of income we have. It is a poor country and the tourism dollar is important to them. Family is everything and they learn to make do with what they have. I spoke about our stops on our trip and they laugh every time they hear that cruise ships takes a night to reach Champagne bay. For them, they drive ½ hour across to the other side of the Island. It brought it all back into perspective that this is a tiny Island. Next port is Champagne Bay.
