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| Thread ID: 136652 | 2014-03-27 01:34:00 | Vanuatu holiday | Greg (193) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1371388 | 2014-03-27 01:34:00 | Can anyone who's been there give some feedback on good and/or bad experiences and pitfalls to be aware of? We're about to book for a week in June at a lux place in Port Vila with a hugely discounted air fare with Air Vanuatu (she pays only $50 return, me just $200). |
Greg (193) | ||
| 1371389 | 2014-03-27 01:43:00 | Why is the fare so discounted? | Nick G (16709) | ||
| 1371390 | 2014-03-27 02:12:00 | Why is the fare so discounted?She's in the industry, so it's a promotional thing from the airline. Mind you... the $200 fare on my part is gonna cost me $2200! $200 Auckland return to Port Vila, a $100 or so for flights from and back to Napier, parking at Auckland, transfers, meals and grog and other entertainment which I'm budgeting $800 for. But.... the accommodation costs are for the best sea-front villa we can find, allowing a grand each for the three of us. The real attractions for us are sea kayaking, warm waters, swimming with sea turtles, walks amongst the jungle flora, and native inspired meals. The luxury accommodation hopefully will be up to the resort's blurb. We're planning for early June, which is about a month outside the cyclone season. |
Greg (193) | ||
| 1371391 | 2014-03-27 04:26:00 | Sweet! A guy I know had his wedding at a pacific island country, wasn't Vanuatu though. Had all the wedding stuff pinched one night. So just be careful with valuables. |
Nick G (16709) | ||
| 1371392 | 2014-03-28 06:17:00 | be careful with valuables.Perhaps the valuables would be worth an exchange for a sweet Island girl? | Greg (193) | ||
| 1371393 | 2014-03-28 06:39:00 | Don't go there independence week which I think is about May. It gets very noisy all week. | paulw (1826) | ||
| 1371394 | 2014-03-28 18:33:00 | Article about the place today: www.nzherald.co.nz |
pctek (84) | ||
| 1371395 | 2014-04-03 05:23:00 | Bit slow on the reply but I only come here once a month or even less now. Was there June last year for 10 days, stayed at Nasama Resort which is a couple mins drive out of Port Vila. Just up the road is Breakas which has an awesome restaurant. We went down there a few times and were never disappointed, Nothing much to look out for except the taxi drivers. Don't bother with a taxi ever. They will be at the airport and will try get you but there are vans (buses) everywhere and they will do the same trip, drop you off wherever you like, for a couple of bucks...taxi more like 30 and they are still a piece of ****! All vehicles there should have been scrapped 10 years ago. They also don't respond well to bartering, not because they are offended, more that majority don't speak english well enough to understand what's happening. Plus local goods are so stupidly cheap that you couldnt care less anyway. There is tons of stuff to do there but if you do any of the tours get the resort to book it for you, that way you are paying the fixed price and not the "walk in" price. We did 4 or 5 tours over the time we were there and they were good value for money, some are pricey but they do look after you and you get to see some stuff that you probaly wouldn't normally be able to. There is a round island tour which does a complete loop of Efate and that was cool, couple of cousins run it and they are great value. We actually ended up buying the younger one a drink after the tour and left a tip before he headed off to a resort as a Waiter. This guy was like early 20's and doing 15 hour days 7 days a week to make sweet f all. He was saving for a patch of land for his family to move onto which was going to set him back around $5k kiwi! Very friendly people overall though, always smile at you when walking past. Fruit is amazing, meat is amazing, veges are just weird and the local brewed beer "Tusker" was going down bloody well. I think it's a great place, if/when I go back I will be aiming to see more of the islands and check out some of the volcanic stuff but that's where it starts getting a bit expensive. Hope that helps. Where are you staying? |
hueybot3000 (3646) | ||
| 1371396 | 2014-04-03 11:34:00 | Thanks for your input Huey - very helpful. We'll be staying at the Surfside resort... it has great reviews on the Tripadvisor website, and the bungalow is absolutely luxurious, huge rooms, all ensuite and it even has a private pool. A cool feature is the two downstairs bedrooms also have an extra private outdoor shower. It's right on the beach, and is only 10 minutes bus ride from the airport. | Greg (193) | ||
| 1371397 | 2014-04-03 19:16:00 | Oh that's just up the road from where we were.A bus in to town will set you back about 2 bucks and takes about 5mins and they come about every 30 seconds! Couple more things...wear sunscreen, even though the weather at that time of year can be overcast it still has the potential to fry you. Also note that nothing there is poisonous, I think that just applies to Efate but no matter how creepy it looks it's safe to pick up and touch if your that way inclined! Have fun! | hueybot3000 (3646) | ||
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