There are a number of waterfalls on the main island Efete in Vanuatu.
Some of these are very accessible as they are right next to the road such as this one.
Others are a bit more of a hike, but definitely worth it...such as these ones at Mele.
Unfortunately the access to the falls is not being very well managed. They have cut steps into the limestone and scrubbing the surface to avoid people slipping when walking. Unfortunately this also erodes and changes the waterfalls and I think they should put a walking track adjacent to the falls instead.
One day we hired a driver to take us around the island.
One of the places we stopped was the Blue Lagoon which is a small semi freshwater lagoon with large lime stone deposits making the water very blue to look at.
We also stopped at Turtle Bay which is supposed to be a turtle sanctuary...but for what it is (tiny) and the knowledge of your guide (none) very over prised.
But they did have some live coconut crabs.
Some baby turtles
And a couple of large turtles in a very small and dirty enclosure.
You would think that a country with access to some of the best seafood and freshest produce would have fantastic food.
Although the food was Ok, we didn't find it fantastic and generally very over prised.
There was plenty of restaurant in and around Port Vila and some of them serving specialties such as coconut crabs and flying foxes.
We tried the coconut crab...but it was overcooked and dry and had surprising little meat on it (no meat in the body itself).
So we stuck to more traditional seafood which most often was battered and deep fried.
And as usual Aiden got into the free kids menu desserts
This weekend we went up to Lake Macquarie with the family to stay for a couple of night at a resort. I didn't take a lot of photos because we either didn't do much or were too busy with the family.
I did however take this one photo one evening at Katherine Hill Bay.
26. April 2013 10:46
by Rene Pallesen
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Lucas is now 7 Months and for this month we decided to take his Monthly
photos while he was on his first overseas trip to Vanuatu.
This series of photos was taken at Eton Beach on the east side of the island
of Efate in Vanuatu...he loved the water and had a hard time to understand that
it is unpleasant to eat the sand and drink the salt water.
He is now almost able to crawl...he just needs to figure out that it is not
enough to just move the legs...you also have to move your hands.
3. April 2013 07:20
by Rene Pallesen
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I know it was a couple of months ago, but I only now got around to processing it.
Here is another photo that I took of Lucas when he was 4 Months.
27. March 2013 11:15
by Rene Pallesen
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The other night we went for dinner at Marks place. He asked us if we could help him take some photos of the kids Axolotls...our response was 'Their WHAT??'.
Anyway, it turns out to be some sort of Mexican Salamander and he'd attempted to get some photos using his point and shoot camera, but wanted something better that he could print and hang on the kids wall.
Here are some of my efforts:
27. March 2013 11:12
by Rene Pallesen
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When Lucas doesn't have any toys to play with then his favourit pass time is to suck his feet. Here is a quick snapshot from the other day when he was at it again.
He's now got two teeth, so hopefully he wont chomp off his toes.
Sunday I convinced Kim that we should go to the Beach. I wanted to try my underwater casing for my pocket camera in the waves to see if I could get some good photos. In 2000 I went to the World Press Photo exhibition and saw these great underwater photos from the surf and was inspired to see if I could re-create them.
Kim insisted that we picked up a beach shelter on the way there so that she would have some shade. We found on in K-Mart and then went on our way to the beach.
The first few minutes folding up the beach shelter was a disaster (It was one of those quick fold out ones where you just pull a string...junk!!) and eventually we just threw it all back in the bag deciding to return it on the way home (we'll get a pop-up one instead).
Taking the photos turned out to be a lot trickier than expected. It was fairly windy and the visibility wasn't great. Also the pocket camera tries to auto focus prior to taking the photo which was difficult with everything moving around constantly so most of the time the camera didn't take the photo.It was also quite hard to aim the camera while being battered around by the waves.
I did however manage to take these photos that turned out somewhat alright. I might try again one day when the conditions are better (and I've figured out how to lock the focus on the camera)
22. February 2010 01:12
by Rene Pallesen
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For the past three weeks my uncle and auntie (Eli & Henning) has been travelling in New Zealand with a tour group.
On the way home they did a 24 hour stopover with the group so do some quick sightseeing before continuing their journey.
They had a tightly packed program arriving late in the afternoon, out for a late dinner and then spend then morning next day on a tour around the city before heading back to the airport.
Kim and I managed to catch up with them in the evening for dinner at Nicks at King Street Wharf. Afterwards we went for a walk down to Circular Quay so that they could have a look at the Harbour bridge and the Opera House at night.
By the time we got back to the hotel it was midnight and they had to check out of their hotel early next morning.
We hope that they enjoyed the sightseeing the day after (it was a fairly warm day) and that they had a good journey back to Denmark. Apparently there is a lot of snow there currently so they were prepared for the fact that they would have to do a fair bit of digging to get to their car and into their house.
It is not very often that we have visiting family from Denmark so it is always a pleasure to see them.
19. February 2010 05:00
by Rene Pallesen
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We (Kim that is) are now almost half way through the pregnancy.
Last week we went to another ultrasound scan to check if everything is on track and to count the number of fingers and toes. Both baby and mum is fine so far. And how is daddy you ask? He is worried how he is going to handle being a dad...such a big responsibility and worried that he will be a lousy dad.
We
now also know the sex of the baby...and it is going to be a BOY and is
still due in mid-June!!! He has already started kicking according to
Kim, so he may be an active one.
We were hoping for a girl
because there is already more than enough boys in the family (Kayla
started crying when she heard that is was a boy...she was hoping for
someone to play with).
Anyway we can now start looking a good names for a boy.I suggested to Kim that we would start an auction on eBay where the winner would get the naming rights...Kim said NOOOO!!! So there goes my retirement plans and all the millions!
For
anyone who is planning ahead and start buying stuff for the boy...check
with Kim or myself first with regards to what we need (Sizes, Colours and brands).
Rules for toys:
1) No dolls or pink fluffy stuff....it is a boy for christ sake!
2) Climbing harness and shoes are perfect around year 4
3) A pair of skis at age 6
4) First Ice axe and crampons at age 10
5) Toys that required assembling and dis-assembling by the kid is perfect
6) Toys that can be assembled in more than one way is perfect (ie. Lego)
7) Toys that are created with the intension of making noise are banned
8)
And the most important: Don't buy a toy unless you can explain to me
what valuable lesson you hope the kid will learn from using that toy.
2. February 2010 01:45
by Rene Pallesen
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It is common for Australian households to get a number of critters (mainly insects) into their houses during the summertime.
This may range from anything as harmless as flies to more serious things such as spiders. The worst of the spiders is probably the Funnel Webs although they are quite rare and I've never seen one inside.
The more scary but relatively harmless ones are the Huntsman spiders. These can get huge (the size of a dinner plate) and they are quite common inside. We get them inside probably 2-3 times a year and they always scare the #$@#$@ out of us!
The one picture below was inside the shower cabin and scared Kim.
We also get smaller spiders inside...one of these is the Whitetail. It is a smaller spider but they can give a nasty bite that can get infected (but it is very rare for anyone to get bitten). I notice a lot of them outside when I'm watering the grass. I still haven't decided whether it is a problem I need to deal with as they also help controlling other insects.
We also get a lot of lot of other critter such as grasshoppers and caterpillars in the garden. Most of the insects I don't mind...the more biodiversity the more indication of a healthy micro ecosystem...if I could just get rid of the mosquitoes and the fruit flies.
