What a massive 6 weeks it has been!

Our first guests since cyclone Pam arrived today and were greeted with beautiful sunshine and big smiling faces. A big welcome to Hayley & Paula from Wellington – thanks so much for coming to Eratap! (see main photo with fruit punches in hand!).

I must say that the Resort looks great, so much work has gone into getting the place in order and it’s an incredible feeling to have it open again and guests back in house.

Everyone has worked so hard to get to this day on top of dealing with their own problems. Cyclone Pam did her best to slow us down but through a massive team effort we have managed to come back.

A huge part of this recovery has been the wonderful support from all of you. Your massive contributions to the Appeal funds and desire to hold your bookings is what kept us energised through this period. After all, we are nothing without all of you. Thank you to those who kept faith in our reopening date, what a difference it made to us knowing people were ready to have a holiday at Eratap six weeks after Cyclone Pam had her holiday here.

We are still carrying out distributions to the Village, we have another one planned this coming Tuesday. The staff will be getting their third distribution tomorrow. That means the Village Fund has received in total $25,000 and the Staff fund has received $31,000. An incredible result and so incredibly generous of you all.

Life on Efate is continuing on along well. The Central Markets have reopened primarily with stock from Santo. However lots of roadside and village markets are selling some fruit and veg in smaller quantities, it just takes a bit more looking. The weather has been lovely which helps and all leaves continue to come back very quickly.

I thought you all would enjoy seeing the following photos. They are a collection of photos of the Resort taken on the day after Cyclone Pam and the same photos taken today on our reopening day. It’s amazing what can be achieved in 6 weeks!

We now look forward to welcoming all of those people coming to Eratap this year and we also thank all of those who cared so much about us over this period.

Best wishes

Tony