David Douglas StuartHi! Here’s my #introduction. I’m a digital #journalist at ABC News, mainly working on #YouTube stuff. I’ve just returned to the public broadcaster after three years of globetrotting with my family. I’ve spent significant time in #Japan and #Vanuatu so I’ll be tooting about those places as well as #rollerblading, #travel, #art, interesting #subcultures, #language, #journalism and much more. Nice to meet you!
Hobson Lane@bigkamo where in Vantuatu? How did you get there and find a place to stay?
@hobs I was living in a little bamboo hut in Mele Maat — I went over on an AusAID volunteer-esque program and worked at INTV (now VIT) about twenty years ago. I haven’t been back since 2008.
@bigkamo Gorgeous! I was there 2 years later on a sailboat. Surreal experience. Stepping back in time. A small tsunami rolled through and created panic without any real danger.
@hobs Oh nice. I used to chat with sailors down at the markets. One guy invited me to sail to NZ with him – I think he was delivering a boat to somebody there – and I was very tempted despite not knowing him from a bar of soap. Which islands did you visit? I didn't manage to get to any further south than Tanna or any further north than Pentecost/Malekula – gotta save some for the future. I didn't have much cash so I mainly travelled by cargo ship. I'll treasure those memories forever. Amazing!
@bigkamo Port Villa for a week or so. And another couple weeks on a nameless island where we tried to fix the chief's outboard motor... burned up impeller... handed off the part number to another sailor in PV and I think I heard that it eventually got fixed.
@bigkamo Thank you for the flashback! Do you remember #CargoCult? The chief at an island where we anchored asked us (in sign language and island English) to bring him an outboard motor when we got back from #PortVilla. He was so earnest, that we felt compelled to help his entourage disassemble the outboard. Tried to pass along the parts order to another sailor in PV. Here's a photo of our "landing party" taking the water taxi to shore. https://mstdn.social/@hobs/109371152429985101
hobs (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 image Vanuatu flashback triggered by a #journodon 's story of #AusAid trip there. Your taxi fare on this uncharted island was that you had to perpetually bail the bilge of the dugout canoe. Mooring fees levied by the chief were more expensive... involved sitting around the fire helping his chief technologist disassemble an outboard motor and identify the part number for the impeller C-clip that was missing after the previous visitor's failed repair attempt. And forwarding the order along to Port Villa
@hobs are you asking about the John Frum movement on Tanna? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frum
@bigkamo Yea I was just referring to the lasting impact on the psyche there when cargo planes dropped thousands of pallets out of the sky when requested by American GIs stationed in Vanuatu during WWII. On the islands I visited, locals believed white men could give them things like an outboard motor by just requesting it, like casting a spell. So it takes a while to convince chiefs that you aren't snubbing their authority when you fail to grant their requests for big expensive items.