We're on Island time

After a fateful day in July when Louie announced "I think we should go to Vanuatu" as casually as he would suggest something for dinner we are on our way!

Yet another adventure starts off in a dark Uber on a cold morning. Luckily this one is ending up in a much warmer place than last August (Queenstown -2c vs Port Vila 25c).

The driver was very chatty but he got to complainingabout the NZ Government closing something in Mumbai and then went completely silent, so that was a weird start.

Passport check, and a snazzy green boarding pass. Solomon Airlines wasn't as modern as others in the ticketing department. We had paid and could see our booking on their website but we didn't actually have any tickets. This morning we proved you just need to have your passport to get your boarding pass. To our relief.

Fantastic flight, especially for the cloud fanciers. Not a hell of a lot else to see.

Breakfast was fine, eggs, okay potato hash and other bits, plus the golden Whittaker's chocolate square. Bonus points for that!

Port Vila airport, I can't say I was too fond of the broken and damaged airframes scattered beside the runway. The airport experience was pretty basic, but I did get a stamp in my passport. I should say another stamp, because when the immigration agent stamped it, I noticed two other stamps in there - from Brazil which I never noticed before!

The rest of the process consisted of our luggage arriving on the most fucked conveyor belt I've ever seen, mostly held together by literal #8 wire stitching and going through the customs sections by a couple of very disinterested chaps. Glad to see they had large banners up that proudly delcared the presence of the Boarder Force.

For airport arrivals, Sydney is definitely fastest. Brisbane - pretty much on par with Vanuatu for speed and state of the facilities. Auckland - stuck in 1986.

After a bit of dicking around with ATMs getting money out, we got a ride from... Bill? Steven? yeah, my ability to forget someone's name 2 seconds after they tell me is still strong.

He was a great introductory tour guide and gave us plenty of pointers. Going by his recommendation of a restaurant we tried out, all his other advice is now flushed from my memory too.

The traffic rules here seem more of a vague suggestion. There isn't a speed limit as such, just a game of seeing how fast you can go before some wee comes out.

Added to that, they drive on the wrong side of the road so I will absolutely not be driving here. Having said that, they do have the most considerate drivers. We saw and experienced cars stopping to let people cross the road whenever they see someone waiting.

One of the crazy sights was this truck hauing a massive boulder that definitely did not look like it was balanced. Our driver stayed well back every time it took a corner.

Somehow the driver knew to drop us not at the reception, but to a BBQ area in the middle of the resort, where of course there was a woman who had the check in forms and took our luggage to be taken to our rooms. I don't understand anything about how this country works, but it seems to work nontheless.

While we waited for them to finish getting our room ready we tried out one of the on-site restaurants. No local delacicies here, it was burgers and pizza.

Obviously I tried out the local beer, and now I don't have to try it ever again, thankfully. It was fine I guess, better than Waikato Draught which isn't saying much but at least it was drinkable.

Burger. Advertised as Lousiana probably because that is what was on the packet they took the chicken out of.

Louie's pizza, made fresh but a bit of a weird one. Very thick base, not crispy at all and the cheese was just so thick.

The local cash, this one worth about $70. A lot of placs only take cash, including pretty much all transport so we have to get out heads around the currency. There is going to be some shananegins I can tell.

Despite the clouds, it's quite warm and the water is around 25c so very swimable. Tomorrow the snorkel gets broken out!

We took a "bus" down the road to the supermarket. Here, a bus is a white van with a red B on the licence plate. You wave one down, tell them where you want to go and they take you. If there's anyone else on the bus, you get to see where they are going too.

Our first trip was a bit of a shambles, not helped by me telling the guy in the front passenger seat where we were going instead of the driver.

Their supermarket has a much better selection of snacks than we do, with a mix of NZ, Australian, Fijian and Indonesian products. The prices are a bit higher but we got things we can't get in NZ. They have a lot more ice creams as well.

The Ministry of Climate Change sported a small solar farm, doing their bit I guess. I can image the social events are fun, with the Department of Energy busy running their diesel power generators to offset the efforts of the other departments.

Off we walked down the road - almost literally, the footpath kind of didn't exist. It was a great way to see the local way of life and annoy them by walking on the wrong side of the path. This is the widest the footpath ever got, and it was often just fucked and broken or had a power pole stuck right in the middle.

Our view during dinner, at least there was some good things about this place! Actually the service was fantastic, the staff were so hospitable to everyone.

Chris does a pretty good cider.

Now for the food. My short ribs were mostly fat and the meaty bits were't reheated properly so it was a bit cold in the middle. Fries were great!

Louie's snapper. Also not great. Around $120 for this lot. We won't be back!

Final shots of the view as we left and the restaurant. Great atmosphere, fantastic staff and the cook needs to be shot.

Off back to the hotel to relax, and do some sleeping after our 4am wake up.

Tomorrow we are probably checking out the markets, some swimming and who knows!

12/02/2026 Brisbane Sauna

Our last full day in Brisbane so we decided it was a fantastic idea to spend it outside with the minimal chance of shade and air conditioning. Destination - Caboolture Historic Village. Now known to us as the place of 70 buildings so authentic they have absolutely no means of cooling, including fans.

First up was a late breakfast at The Gunshop Cafe. No idea why it's called that, there was a complete lack of any guns. The silver haired brigade was out in full force, so we got to hear all the latest about Mavis and her collapsed haberdashery.

I tried a cold brew coffee for the first time, since it was just a hot day and it made sense.

And I never have to try that again, it wasn't great. Just tasted like dirty coffee water. A cup of black coffee that's gone cold is far better.

Breakfast was Chicken & Waffles with a szechuan sauce - and it was really good. Probably didn't need the spicy element today but it was far better than yesterday's choices!

The neighbourhood near our hotel - Brisbane just gives off small town vibes that I really like. Maybe its because it reminds me of New Zealand more than the other cities.

Did a visual safety audit while we were waiting for the train, just to keep my eye in. Graciously I allowed them to proceed.

The place names here are such a strange thing. They are the Anglicised versions of the Aboriginal names. The original name is bir burru, so they have "embraced" the indigenous peoples naming but in a completely botched fashion.   

Arriving at the front, we had pretty much accepted we had made a mistake coming here in this weather, but determined to see it through to the dehydrated end. I've only felt heat like this in Palm Springs and that wasn't anywhere as humid has here.

You know it's a rugged day when the locals complain how hot it is. Our train driver said as soon as she was finished with us she was off home to down a six pack, she couldn't stand this heat.

Always glad to see a model train, although none of them were running. Probably because the driver had buggered off.

They have done a great job with the village, there are so many different stores, each with a collection of related tools, machinery and posters. The only thing missing is information, it had either worn off or just wasn't there so you're just looking around at a collection of mostly well maintained or restored stuff that has no context.  

The post office was the exception, with an what they optimistically call a Hologram. This guy did a piece on the township of Caboolture and the history, beginning when he bought the land. Absolutely no mention of the indigenous people who were there first, and who it was he bought the land off. So Australian.

  

Another collection was the rock gallery. 100s of carefully cut and polished minerals in display cabinets and not a single piece of information telling us what they were. If you like identifying rocks you'd be in heaven here.

The Poultry and Bird Museum - yep, about as grim as you'd imagine. A collection of prize ribbons won at local A&P Shows during the 60's, 70's & 80's. Plus some skeletons of the prize winning fowl.

The military building followed the theme of the rest, at least here they put each era / war into their own cabinet. But still just a collection of stuff with no information at all.

And a bomb.

The Dairy Factory bucked the trend by helpfully labelling the important parts. Nice nod to realism with the inclusion of a cow pat.

Expo '88 seems to have had a lasting effect on Brisbane. Along with the carved Nepalese temple on the South Bank, the Caboolture Historic Village has inherited a bunch of the "art" from it.

Scattered around the place are some truly weird sculptures. Well made, but strange. They have no context or explanation, they are just there, and they are all over the place.

Thankfully there was a corner dedicated to the "rain forest" that gave a lot of shade. It also sheltered a few Water Dragons, who scared the shit out of us when they loudly scrambled away before we spotted them.

The World Expo '88 Toilets. Because.

A final nod to Australia and the Outback, in orange dust although almost completely lacking in flies.

We got back to the train to the city and I have never been more thankful for air conditioning. A 50 minute ride to revive us and get the heatstroke back under control.

We didn't have anything to eat since breakfast so we found a French themed cafe for croque monsieur and fancy things. Sorry Gold Star Bakery, your raspberry slice doesn't cut it.

As always when we head home, we are really going to miss the different types of food available. New Zealand is just awash with the same old boring overpriced Burgers, Indian, Rice/Noodle and Chicken franchises. At home we can never find a place that is interesting - here we have had a hard time choosing which ones to try. And there are so many on our map we haven't managed to get to.

With a severe weather warning in effect we headed back to the hotel, but I still had to get some last minute photos of the buildings. I've seen this one a few times over the week and it has really taken my fancy.

Aside from a couple of pretty big bolts of lightning and some light rain, the storm didn't come to much. This was about the only decent photo I got.

There is a small restaurant / cabana thing at the front of the hotel so we stayed here for dinner for fear the rains and flooding would start. It didn't, it just stayed very warm and the air was just absolutely thick.

Imagine stepping into a wet sauna, and not in a fun way. We are looking forward to the Winter with a renewed respect.

We saw this poor chap on the street, I think he must have been wearing board shorts and fell asleep in the sun. It looked very painful. Probably English.

Despite getting a significant amount of sun this week neither of us have gotten sunburn, thanks to a good amount of Brazilian sunscreen (no, that's not a euphemism, it's sunscreen we got in Brazil) and hats. Far more fogiving than back home.

For a final visit to our local Gelato place, Mango Cheesecake and Chocolate & Raspberry. Probably good we don't have anything like this nearby.

Last day tomorrow, supposed to be raining so we've saved the galleries and museums along the South Bank.