Vanuatu Holiday Blog

I’m posting this from a new install of Windows 7 with the intent to test the Windows Live Writer I just downloaded and installed.

I know, this is unusual since I use a Mac and Linux and resort to Windows only for testing sites in IE but, it’s only fair to give new and possibly good things a fair go.

Let’s see how we can insert an image into this post.

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Just checked the post and it works very well. I’m impressed.

It’s so easy to insert a picture and format the post. Definitely a lot more comfy than from the default WordPress write post page.

Well, if you’re a blogger on Windows, go download the Windows Live Writer from the Microsoft site for free and link it to your blog. You may need to enable XMLRPC and/or any other remote access options in your blog settings if you get problems connecting.

The first thing you see as you approach Mt Yasur by one of the bumpiest rides you ever had is a belching crater in the distance. “Interesting”, you ponder… as the excitement mounts. The road snakes down steep slopes. Suddenly, everything turns gray and you are driving on the an expansive layer of ash. It’s the ash plains. A stream runs through and disappears into what looks like a miniature version of the Grand Canyon. Pancake rocks everywhere, uncovering decades of times past…

A woman washes in the stream, children curious about the two strangers with a camera. The water is fresh and cool and we take our shoes off. As the stream cascades, ponds attract the play of dragonflies.

A perfect day.

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Mt. Yasur is the world’s most accessible volcano. It’s only 15 minutes up the rocky crater slope from the carpark. You hear it rumble and the rumble is close, very close. Your guide checks out the wind direction and leads you to the safest place. You are in awe of the rawness of nature revealing itself to you. Some would say “aweful”, some: “awesome”… whatever awe it is, you feel it. Your guide explains to you calmly not to run for your life in case the volcano starts throwing rocks over your head. You must stand still and watch or listen for approaching molten rocks and dodge-em… then the stories about the Australian tourist who lost her leg because she was running away and didn’t see the hot bolide hurtling towards her. Night falls and now the fireworks really come to life…

We just refreshed some of the images in the galleries with some that were touched up a bit.

We also pruned some of the images we felt were redundant. The Wedding gallery suffered most of the optimising. Don’t worry, you won’t miss out on anything.

I’ve just been working a bit on the galleries. I’ve added image alt and title tag description. Should be good for inclusion in the Google image search index.

I’ve also updated the Mt. Yasur Volcano gallery page with a bit of a intro story just for fun. Enjoy.

We’ve set up this site to show our friends a little of what we’ve experienced on our holiday in Vanuatu in June 2008.