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PICTURE: Andrew Read, Vivid Vanuatu

Shopping In Paradise

here are islands … and there are islands. Manhattan, for instance, is around 59 square kilometres, with a population upwards of 1.6 million (topped up by 47 million visitors a year!) – that’s 27,500 people per square kilometre. Efaté is huge by comparison, at 895 square kilometres, but with a population of approximately 50,000 is a little less crowded – 55 people per square kilometre. So Efaté, or Sandwich Island as Captain Cook chose to call it during a moment of culinary inspiration – well, no, it was actually in honour of his patron Lord Sandwich – is a lot easier to get around than the home of the hamburger.

While the recreational consumer may find more in NYC, there’s still plenty to keep a tourist or local occupied on our little island. We, too, can do Rolexes and restaurants but we can also do reefs and resorts. It’s rumoured that some people actually come here to do nothing – naught, absolutely zilch, zero. And there’s no better place for that either. But if an urge strikes from nowhere – to get aerobic or stimulate the mind with some culture or pick up a few baubles or go for a cruise or a take a drive around the island or prepare your own lunch – following are a few suggestions.

Port Vila’s harbourside art and craft market is a wonderfully vibrant shopping experience. It’s laden with pareos/sarongs, clothing, wooden artefacts, art, shells and souvenirs, and is a great spot for a drink.

EAT LIKE A LOCAL The Port Vila supermarket chain is exotically and derivatively known as Au Bon Marché. There are three branches but the best is at Nambatu, which is at the top of the hill on the southern edge of town. While not quite on a par with La Grande Epicerie of its Parisian namesake, this is a good supermarket. Well stocked with French, Australian and New Zealand wines (not available between midday Saturday and Monday morning), they also have air-freighted French cheeses and hams, tinned confit de canard, terrines, saucisson sec, fish and fresh meats, as well as clothing, stationery and household goods.

A new French supermarket, Leader Price, has recently opened in the area opposite parliament house. This is particularly good for frozen foods (the ice-cream is absolutely addictive), as well as fish, meat and limited but cheap wine.

For the best selection of wines, try Vila Distribution. Opened in 1979 to service a predominantly French market, it stocks fine French wines and liquor. It has expanded to be Vanuatu’s exclusive wholesale and retail supplier of Moët & Chandon, Heineken, L’Oréal, Vittoria Coffee and French, Australian and New Zealand wines. Vila Distribution supplies hotels and restaurants throughout Vanuatu but also welcomes personal shoppers at their Tebakor retail store.

Residents are invited to join their Vila Vino Club, where locals meet for monthly wine-tasting nights. With

The produce market is restocked daily by different villages with whatever is fresh and seasonal.

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PICTURES: Craig Osment

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English- and French-speaking staff, dedicated account managers and delivery available, Vila Distribution is Vanuatu’s most prestigious wholesaler of quality products.

For retail supplies, get down to the Vila Bottleshop at the northern end of town, where they have a great selection of wines and spirits.

Vanuatu beef is sensational and one of our best exports. It can be bought at Bon Marché or from Boucherie Furet at Leader Price but Boucherie Traverso is the place to pre-order a large fillet. This shop is an Italian-inspired mini market, with a good selection of pastas, herbs, spices, fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as wine and delicatessen items.

Just up the road is Boulangerie La Parisienne – the place for some of the best baguettes this side of the Ile St Louis. Both these shops can be found on the main road that skirts the northern end of Port Vila, in an area known as Champagne Estate.

For truly organic, cosmetically untouched fruit and veggies, go to the local produce market in the middle of Port Vila. This large, open building

right on the harbour is shared by different local villages on a rotating daily basis, so the produce varies each 24 hours.

The women wear bright ‘Mother Hubbard’ dresses, which look like floral mini-marquees among the displays of coconuts, watercress, wild raspberries, trussed live crabs, huge bunches of exotic flowers (of the heliconia variety) and the local staple, yams. The presentation is often a work of art in itself, with the produce sold in baskets woven from coconut-palm fronds or laid out on banana-leaf mats. Adjacent to this is another outpost of Bon Marché.

SHOP LIKE A TOURIST Also in town is a clothing and craft market on the harbourfront, just north of the produce market. Here you can buy the stuff of P&O cruise wardrobes: T-shirts, sarongs, woven bags and other handicrafts which can and do look wonderful when worn with restraint and minimal tattooing.

The finely woven straw bags are a must, and distinctively Vanuatu. Hair braiding is also offered.

Here you can buy a tam tam (not R E TA I L + W H O L E S A L E

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a biscuit but a wooden, totem-like vertical slit drum) and any number of wooden pigs. The pig (or at least the tusk) of prosperity is everywhere, from the national flag to the local beer label, Tusker – beer blong yumi. Or the beer belonging to you and me – the people of Vanuatu.

The Hebrida Market Place is an undercover craft and clothing market in the middle of town. Here, local women can be seen working at their sewing machines, creating colourful sundresses, sarongs and shirts.

As well as clothes, you’ll find shell jewellery and carved souvenirs.

Just up the road near the French Embassy is the Espace Culturel which is also a good place to seek out better-quality art and carvings if there is an exhibition in place.

In addition to the uniquely Vanuatu produce, you’ll find several duty free stores on the main road. These stock genuine brands and quality merchandise, from sound gear and electrical goods to watches and perfumes. Try Paris Shopping for a great selection of Longchamp bags.

The South Pacific black pearl is good buying in Vanuatu and makes for a longer-lasting memento than a fake

a large collection of Pacific artefacts which, along with their own artwork, can be seen at the Michoutouchkine & Pilioko Foundation Art Gallery on the Pango road, alongside Erakor Lagoon.

While you’re in this area, visit Diana Tam’s gallery. A local artist of many years’ standing, her postcards, paintings of tropical scenes, and handcrafted fabrics and jewellery are highly regarded.

Port Vila is becoming increasingly sophisticated on the tropical-wardrobe front, with a number of stylish ragtraders now in town. Among the better ones are Cargo Trader, Rococo and Carla for pareos/sarongs and swimwear. Bébé Roi stocks some great Petit Bateau stuff for kids and grown-ups, and Frangipani Bay and Pandanus both sell interesting jewellery and gift items.

A different fashion shopping experience is to be had at JoJo Vanuatu. Here you’ll enjoy a massage, a champagne afternoon tea and a fashion parade featuring local and imported garments, all in her fabulous grounds at Paradise Cove.

OUTDOOR STUFF If you’re arriving with a marmoreal pallor and want to catch a bit of

watch or a palm tree in a snowdome.

For a real watch, you could try Fung Kuei at the northern end of town.

You may notice a distinctive locally printed, tropical-colours-onwhite fabric used as tablecloths in restaurants, and also as shirting.

This is the signature of (the late) Michoutouchkine and Pilioko, a couple of expat artists who worked in Vanuatu for many years.

Apart from being well known for their tropical fashion range, they have

sun and sea time, then snorkelling is an easy way to appear active while lying face down in the water.

There are many terrific places but among the best is Hideaway Island, only 15 minutes northwest of town and offering both scuba diving and snorkelling in the pristine waters of a marine reserve. About the same

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Top: Nangae nuts, sold threaded on skewers, are a treat. Right: Pilioko’s studio on Erakor Lagoon.

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PICTURES: Craig Osment

distance the other side of town is Turtle Bay on the southern coast of the island. You pay a small fee for the use of the beautiful white sand beach, and its thatched umbrellas and farés.

A little further along the same stretch of road you’ll find Eton Beach. There is a small entry fee payable here, too, but it’s worth it just to loll around in the stunning lagoon, which is a mix of saltwater from the sea and freshwater from the crystal clear, cool stream that empties into the bay.

A drive around the island can take anywhere between two and three hours to cover the 130km (which is now paved) and can be an interesting experience. On the north side, Kakula Island in Undine Bay is a beautiful private tropical paradise which takes a limited number of guests and daytrippers for lunch from the small wharf.

Recently opened at Havannah Harbour is The Havannah, a five-star resort that does cater to lunch guests but only if you book in advance.

The food here is wonderful and only matched by the location and views across the bay. Almost next door is the very casual Wahoo Bar which specialises in freshly caught seafood.

Around the shores of Port Havannah there are various (sea-)shell and WWII curio vendors, mostly selling old Coke bottles. There are also a couple stores with fuel and food supplies if needed.

A harbour cruise is a good way to get a look at the better residential and scenic parts of Port Vila Bay. The two-hour sunset cruise with Meridian Charters takes off from outside OUT+ABOUT

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Café du Village and includes drinks and nibbles. The ultimate way to see any part of the island, or to simply be delivered to lunch in style, is by helicopter. Call Vanuatu Helicopters to book a flight.

Vanuatu’s other great claim to fame is the game fishing. Marlin, tuna and wahoo are all plentiful, and offer great eating (when you can keep your catch), as well as the excitement of the chase. For a glimpse of the more raffish side of this cosmopolitan little town, drop by the Waterfront Bar/ Grill for a beer and a snack, and check out the day’s catch as the fishing boats come in to unload.

In addition to this small and personal sample, there are many other wonderful, sweaty, outdoorsy things to do. The 18-hole championship golf course on Mele Bay is only about 15 minutes from town and comes with the bonus of great lagoon views, worth deliberately getting into the rough for. There are also two smaller resort courses, one at Le Meridien and another at Le Lagon.

Other options are to take an eco-

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tour, sail a catamaran on the Erakor Lagoon, abseil down waterfalls, hire beach buggies, ride horses, take a scenic flight or cruise the bays on the northern side of the island. Evergreen Tours is a good place to start if you want to organise your activities at a one-stop shop.

For something really exciting, open an offshore company or get married (you’ll need to give 28 days’ notice for this activity though) or take a trip to Vila Hardware and start buying materials to build your house.

If all that sounds a bit too exhausting, then enjoy the relaxation of one of Port Vila’s numerous day spas for a meditative wind-down.

Or pop into Vanuatu Post to start your stamp collection.

The central place for all tourist advice, contact details for places mentioned here and access to knowledgeable, helpful people is the Vanuatu Tourism Office. You’ll find them in the middle of town or visit their comprehensive website at www.vanuatu.travel

By Craig Osment

Charter a fishing boat, liven up your wardrobe, buy a singlet (if you must) or, better still, French cheese and wine, and some colourful local art.

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