Today we are off to Fergusson Island on the zodiacs. Part of the D’ Entrecasteaux Volcanic Islands. Our Guide is Haley, a young girl from the village who is waiting for her exam results. She was called Haley after an American Doctor who visited many moons ago and she wants to become a doctor like her. She speaks three languages and attends school on another island.

We stuck close to Haley through a tropical jungle walk. Our destination, the hot springs at the end of this walk which were nothing short of boiling hot, bubbling, effervescent, smelly, sweaty and beautiful all at once.

Haley explained how you have to be very careful where you place your feet. She was, of course, barefoot. In some place the water is boiling – literally and food is cooked in it.

There are pools which are deep and blue, banks of red stone and sulphurous yellow and little spouts of hot gurgling water.

The kids were all perched in the big tree on the beach, welcoming us. Their wares were shells and fruit and lumps of obsidian and limestone. Neat houses with flower gardens and joyful faces throughout. Members of the Von Trapp family have lived here and there is a little plaque dedicated to them. They lived and worked in the Catholic Mission in Oyau village.