No where in the world gets you closer to a live volcano than here on Tanna and we were very excited that we had our trip organized. At about 3.30 we all piled into one of the very few vehicles, all 4WD in Port Resolution and drove the bumpy track part way up Mount YAsur. This is the real deal here, no street lights, no marked parking bays, no hand rails, no safety barriers.......just a rough path up to the crater rim and there you are, 200 metres from the most amazing firework show you will ever see. The safety brief was as follows......." Don't run when you see the red hot lava coming towards you, stay and see where it is going and then dodge it as it flies past". With this in mind we packed our backpacks with torches, warm clothing and food for Luca (most used sentence on this whole trip is " I'm hungry Mum"). We were lucky, it was a great night for a viewing, the wind was blowing the ash away from us. It was still light when we arrived and were told of the 3 viewing areas. At this point I decided that I would not be taking the kids up to the highest ledge. Whilst I support the lack of "nanny state" health and safety presence here, as a parent I am not going to put my kids at risk in the dark on a small ledge with a bubbling volcano on one side and a sheer drop on the other. We walked along to the second viewing spot which was very close to the action. You could feel and hear the effect of the closeness to the 2 active craters and as night fell your eyes joined in with the sensations. 2 craters were erupting and red hot glowing lava rocks the size of our dinghy were being thrown high into the air seemingly right in front of us!!!!AMAZING!!!
Our guide said that the action was getting a little close so we should go back to the original viewing area or continue up to the ledge. Charles hiked to the top with the good camera and the kids and I enjoyed the show below. We were very glad of our warmer clothes and soon the night was pitch black with just the little white lights from torches and the spectacular lighting up of the area when Yasur blew, which she did about every 3 minutes.
It was a great evening and the sights and sounds kept us all deep in thought on the return bumpy ride. We have some great photos to remember it by as well as being covered from head to toe in gritty ash! No way was that coming back on the boat so we all stripped off in the cockpit and endured a cold shower before bed time, the sound of Mt Yasur still echoing in our minds....sweet dreams.