We woke early so that we could be ready for our 8:30 pick up, to head to the airport and fly to Tanna Island for our Volcano tour. Our plane was a tiny 8 seater (plus 2 pilots). It was just big enough to prevent Mick from getting a claustrophobic panic attack. Mick was a bit concerned when water started dripping from the roof onto Damo, and the concern levels were heightened when Mick felt wind coming in through the exit door he was sitting next to!
After arriving at airport we were picked up by a double cabin ute with seats in the back of the tray with a canopy. The truck was entitled 'Comfort or Adventure' - comfort being a ride in the cabin, and adventure being a ride in the ute tray. We climbed in the back and hit the road... The 'road' was unsealed and had many pot holes/craters. The extremely bumpy (and fast) 3min ride to a resort in the back was enough for Mick, who decided that he would go for comfort and sit in the cabin of the ute when we took off for our 2hr ride to the volcano. Damo sat in the back of the ute and was shaken, stirred and thrown around for 2 hrs on our way to the volcano. The ute had a canopy which was just too short, so we could not sit upright, so for the entire trip the 'adventurers' were hunched over getting sore backs, necks and shoulders. Throughout the whole trip, Mick who was having a rough rode in the front cabin (with a seat belt on), was feeling very sorry for the passengers in the back of the ute. At times Mick was convinced that the driver forgot that there was human cargo in the back holding on for dear life (with no seat belts).
After a few photo stops along the ash plain, we got to the volcano and walked up to the rim of the twin volcanoes that make up Mt Yasur. It was AMAZING. For 30min we saw plumes of ash erupt from one crater, as well as red hot lava and material being thrown up into the air by another. It's hard to describe how great it was - visiting a live volcano should be on everyone's bucket list. Photos will follow.
We then walked back down the ash slope to the truck. We had a pit stop in what must be one of the world's most basic toilets, before we piled back into the ute for the 2hr trip home. Mick gave up his cabin seat so others could travel in 'comfort'. While it was the right thing to do, he did regret the decision as he was being thrown around the back of the ute as we bumped our way back to the resort. There were 2 ladies who rode in the front both ways, they became the hated people of our trip! They kept trying to make excuses as to why they couldn't sit in the back, we weren't buying it. They tried to win us over with food; sorry ladies, cheese crackers don't make up for 4 hrs of bone jarring 4 wheel driving. Damo sat in the 'adventure' section along with a nice American couple for both legs of the journey, and was very sore afterwards.
When we arrived at the airport we had to run to the plane as we only had 11 minutes to get into the air otherwise we would have to stay the night in Tanna. There wasn't even time to pay the local $2 departure tax. We were surprised by getting a twilight flight home to see the volcano from the air at night (which usually costs an extra $50 each). This was spectacular as well - the red hot lava lit up the sky as we circled (rather closely) to the volcano, flying through the ash plumes! At one point the plane banked sharply to the right and we thought we were going to fall out of the plane and straight into the crater! Just after we passed the crater, Yasur had a large eruption and magma shot up high into the airspace that we had just passed through only 200m away. We would surely have been hit by some lava had we been only seconds later! After a few more passes of the fiery crater we settled into the hour long flight back to Vila. We were all really tired, but had to endure an hour of the 'Best of' Phil Collins album on the flight home, which prevented us from sleeping.
We got home after an amazing day, sore and exhausted. At dinner we probably said 10 sentences to each other, we were conserving our energy so we could chew. We had the best night sleep of the trip!
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