Doing the Laundry

Certainly no laundromats in this part of the world, so it is necessary to hunt for a good supply of fresh water. Usually this means collecting rain water - a rain catcher over the deck with hose attached, and various buckets at strategic points to catch what pours off the cockpit cover. The first collection is for laundry and washing, then we reckon it is clean enough to fill our drinking water containers. After that it is poured straight into our 100 litre water tank. If we can get the laundry washed while it is still raining, then the scuppers make a good rinsing spot. And it is very likely that after everything is hung out to dry it will rain again so giving it all an extra rinse.

Recently we have had a much more efficient and effective laundry. In Malekula there was a river we could get up in the dinghy. It was narrow and overhung with mangroves and huge banyan trees. Crabs scuttled up the trucks as we chugged along, and a local man was gently pushing tied bundles of logs along with his dug-out canoe to the spot where he was building a new house. We had to go quite a way up until the water tasted fresh rather than brackish, then while we drifted slowly back to the bay we rinsed sheets and towels in the clean if brownish water.

On the island of Pentecost a much faster flowing river was fresh right to the sea, so we only had to walk over a pebbly beach to stand in knee-deep water. A couple of boys came and chatted to us - one was the chief's son. They showed us a bit of cliff face where 'Cook' and a date were engraved. Capt Cook certainly went to that area, but who knows whether the engraving was genuine! Anyway they were nice lads, and shinned up a coconut tree to get us drinking coconuts.

It got better, because on the next island, Maewo, there was a beautiful waterfall that came right into the bay. The cool deep pool below the falls was perfect for a bath and hairwash as well as the laundry. Evidently at some stage the village received help to build a small hydro power station on the falls, but it didn't seem to be working while we were there, and the only lighting at night was from a couple of small generators. Maintenance is always a problem - there is a great lack of technical expertise in villages where most children only get primary education, and only the 'wealthy' can afford to send their children to a secondary school where they usually have to board. Visiting yachts often get asked for help for repairs, but the equipment is nearly always far too rusted and seized up.

The one thing that all the islands have is a cell phone mast, and a phone is something that is a prized possession. The mast, and a solar panel below it for charging up phones, has been provided by NZ or Oz aid. The sight of a woman sitting on the ground weaving panandas mats for the walls of her house, with a phone next to her is very incongruous.