A couple more holiday stops...

I thought I would share some more holiday highlights today.  I have actually been sewing but it is all secret squirrel business so I can't share any of it until next month.  


I usually share all my holiday adventures on my blog, so my next two stops on our cruise were Champagne Bay and Vila, Vanuatu.  This post has lots of photos.


Champagne Bay is a little Island and absolutely beautiful.  The water was clear and warm and we had a really great day. We had to catch the tender across to the island for the day.

There were lots of market stalls along the beach.  I do have to say though that I was disappointed with the markets.  Most of the stuff for sale was made in China kinda stuff and I was just looking for hand made things to collect.  I found this on all the islands we went to.

This crab/lobster pot was just on the beach full of deliciousness to eat.  Many people were eating the fresh lobster and crab that was cooked up by the locals along the beach but we didn't.  I am slightly petrified of eating stuff like that.  I do not want food poisoning on my holiday.

Yummy fresh coconuts.

And it wouldn't be a holiday without holding a snake.

 Some locals. 

 The swimming and snorkelling was great.

Who could resist taking a photo of this gorgeous face.

And some photos from the tender on our way back to the ship, that water is just beautiful.

Vila, Vanuatu was our next stop.  We have been here a few times before so we did a morning cultural tour and then spent the afternoon shopping.  These first few photos I just took as we drove to our tours destination.

The ticket desk when we arrived.

Nathan and Emma had a ball here, holding all sorts of creatures and you will see more snakes.  What is it with my kids and snakes?

We learned a bit about island cooking.  This lady is showing us how you grate the coconut.

And this lady is grating the banana.

Smashing a coconut with his bare hands.

 And some traditional costume.

We had a good shopping day too, with new shoes and watches and shirts (all for the kids) and some other little treasures from the local market. It wouldn't be a holiday without some shopping would it?


I've been thinking a lot about our holiday photos of late.  I am passionate about photos and would die if I didn't capture an important experience with them (like many know I did have a major melt down when my camera broke in Paris last year).  So after a bit of thought I have decided that our photos just don't get looked at and appreciated enough so I am going back to printing our photos and putting them in photo albums. I started this weekend by printing off all the photos I want from our cruise and part of our Europe holiday from last year.  


Does anyone else print their photos?  I worked out that years ago I would of spent hundreds of dollars printing photos.  These days they are so much cheaper and you can pick and choose the prints you want.  We often enjoy sitting with the kids and looking at photo albums but they are all photos from before they were born.  


I have also been thinking about purchasing a digital photo frame to put up.  I might put it on my Mother's Day list!