CategoriesLocal Knowledge By kingsley

Seasonal Produce Calendar

Seasonal Produce Calendar

Seasonal produce calendar

What’s IN SEASON at the Markets?

Wonder what you’ll be eating on your holiday? Have a look at our local produce calendar which tells you what fruits and veggies will be in abundance during your visit. A combination of our fertile volcanic soils, and Vanuatu weather ensures that produce is available year round and in abundance and eating according to the season not only benefits your health, but it helps local Vanuatu farmers build a sustainable food industry.

During your time in Vanuatu, ensure you pay a visit to the local markets, which are located in Port Vila, on Espiritu Santo and right through the country.

Our fruits and vegetables are all fresh and organic, so you know that you’re only getting the tastiest, healthiest produce. Here’s what to expect in the markets:

JANUARY – MAY

Fruit – perfect for preserving and are delicious desserts, such as limes, mandarins, oranges, passionfruit, wild raspberries, watermelons and pineapple

Vegetable – typically what’s in season is delicious for roasting and cooking up warm soups, such as cabbage, pumpkin, shallots, potato, carrots, onions and corn

Local nuts – Pinnate, Navele, Nangai. 

 

JUNE – AUGUST

Fruits:  These cooler months mean mildly citric-scented Port Vila market house filled with grapefruits, lemons, limes, mandarins, oranges and guavas. You’ll also find butterfruit and avocado

Vegetables: All legume crops in full bloom perfect for green salads: Cabbage, Lettuce in all sizes and colors, Green Beans, Carrots, Raddish, Garlic, Ginger, Onions, Potato, Sweet Pumpkin.

Local Nuts : Green Peanuts. 

CategoriesLocal Knowledge By kingsley

Wake up in Vanuatu

Wake up in Vanuatu

Wake up in Vanuatu

Top reasons why you should escape winter in Vanuatu

Only a short flight from Australia’s east coast and New Zealand’s Auckland international airport, Vanuatu’s islands are the perfect place to discover a world of sunshine and wild adventures, especially now as we’re entering winter.

1. Swap your Ugg boots for flip flops

Escape the cold weather for some much-needed sunshine in Vanuatu. Temperatures average around a balmy 26 degrees from June to September, so you can be soaking in the tropical weather while the rest of Australia & New Zealand are struggling through the morning frost. Dig your toes in the white sand of one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Champagne Beach on Espiritu Santo and winter will feel like a distant memory.

2. The best form of wellness? Wash your worries away swimming through crystal clear water

Get rid of the winter blues by swimming, snorkelling and diving in the warm waters around the islands. The water clarity is at its best in the middle of the year, making it ideal for diving the SS Coolidge wreck on Espiritu Santo or reef diving just outside of Port Vila. Make sure to keep a look out for some of Vanuatu’s diverse marine life, like turtles, dugongs and reef shark. For those who don’t dive, you can still inject some adventure into your trip (and some water time) with a visit to one of Espiritu Santo’s beautiful blue holes, the Blue Lagoon on Efate, or the picturesque Blue Cave on Tanna.

3. Experience a new kind of winter festival

Whilst Tassie might have Dark MOFO and Melbourne has the Comedy Festival, the calendar here in Vanuatu is packed full of unique cultural events and festivals. Whether it be the incredible land diving on Pentecost or the music focused Back to My Roots Festival on Ambrym, these experiences are unlike any festival you’d experience in Australia. The best part? With Vanuatu only two and a half hours from Brisbane, you can get your cultural fix quicker here than you could heading to the laneways of Melbourne.

CategoriesLocal Knowledge By kingsley

Local Theater

Local Theater

Wake up in Vanuatu

Local theatre

Wan Smol Bag

Wan Smol Bag Theatre (Wan Smol Bag) is a grass roots NGO based in Vanuatu. They started as a group of 6 volunteer actors in 1989 with “One Small Bag” props. But now they employ over 100 staffs and have a group of over 200 volunteers. They are based in Port Vila but operate all over Vanuatu, the South Pacific and beyond. You will really enjoy watching their film’s which they mostly act about real life situations.

Namatan Short Films

Namatan Short Film Festival was first launched in 2012 to give the people of Vanuatu a chance to express their ideas and creativity through film. Over the years, the story has continued, with finalists screened to over 35000 people around the country, sponsored by the Australian High Commission.

CategoriesLocal Knowledge By kingsley

Photogenic Vanuatu

Photogenic Vanuatu

Photogenic Vanuatu

Picture-perfection from the northern tip of 83 islands, right down to the belly of the Earth’s core in the south and beyond, the sub-tropical climate, palm-fringed shorelines, evergreen jungles, and friendly smiles of the happiest people on the planet, Vanuatu is pleasantly photogenic – both naturally, with its photo-loving people, as well as the tribal chanting festivals, sporting events, and music concerts which draws in all sorts of photographers from around the world.

Everything is a feast for the camera’s lens and one of the best known, land diving (the original bungee) on Pentecost will have you biting your fingernails for a fast snap.

There’s just plenty on offer for your camera, so do bring one when you’re on holiday, or your smartphone for a quick selfie standing at the rim of the world’s most accessible, active volcano, and get ready to snap away.

Don’t forget to add hashtag #VanuatuMoments and you may just find your photo shared on our facebook page, instagram and twitter.