Retiring in Vanuatu

Having lived in the wonderful New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) in the 1970's we decided to buy a house in 2012 and retire there. How the place had changed and how wrong we were. Probably the worst months of my life! Luckily we managed to sell the place. My advice, retire somewhere else.

electricnick wrote:

Having lived in the wonderful New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) in the 1970's we decided to buy a house in 2012 and retire there. How the place had changed and how wrong we were. Probably the worst months of my life! Luckily we managed to sell the place. My advice, retire somewhere else.

Gosh - bad luck, Nick. I'd be interested to know what went wrong for you. We lived in Vila in the 1970s too (1972-75) - and we bought a suburban lot next door to where we were renting, as a prospective retirement home. But after we left, the new independent government stole it, without notice! I paid Dave Hudson (do you remember him - an Aussie lawyer?) $500 to try to get it back, but no luck: it was too late. I took the government's action as an indication of hostility towards non-resident foreign investors, and have castigated it in many forums since. I'm now wondering if you ran into the same sort of thing.

Hi Gordon, it's hard to know where to start. The water pump was stolen days before we arrived there, We discovered that a brutal gang rape and murder had been committed in the house we purchased and the murderer had escaped from prison and was hiding up Klems hill looking for another white woman to murder. There seemed to be collusion amongst the expat community to rip people like us off as much as possible.
We did manage to help the Kintergarden in Mele  Maat build a new classroom but were not allowed to pass on our skills for free (maths and electronics).
We made the house carbon neutral and were due to be the first house in the nation to feed power into the grid but were obstructed by 5 government departments.
We had some very unpleasant frightening encounters on the beach and suffered many break ins.
Car purchase or hire was astronomically expensive and Devils Point Road which had been superbly constructed in the 1940s was ruined by graders making it virtually impassable after heavy rain.
Corruption is endemic.
When we heard a girl being raped on the beach one night we rang the police who said they could not attend because they had no fuel.
One person we knew lost her dog. She found the remains on the beach, it had been barbecued and eaten.
Oh and did I mention Cyclone Pam?
I did not know the solicitor you mentioned but had some very unpleasant dealings with another one.
I could go on and on and on ha ha.
We are happily retired elsewhere now btw.
Best regards,
Nick.

I think Pam sorted out some of the things you mention! Vanuatu was certainly pretty dependent on outside intervention following the Cyclone. We were there, so we saw first hand how much damage had been done to both resorts and homes of all kinds. Most parents we talk to are desperate to get their kids into college. They understand that it's not enough to just produce a brood ! And be dependent on the kids . We have many ni van coming to NZ working in the orchards, this gives them a broader view of the world, and what they can achieve in their own villages. Unlike some expats I know many of our local working visitors have been warmly welcomed by locals. I am still disgusted with the way some expats talk to their workers, in the hotel industry.  We are going through the immigration process, not without hurdles, but the NZ pension is transportable, so combined with savings should allow for a modest but comfortable lifestyle.

Hey nick
Bob here we rented the murder house off you during cyclone Pam , I can see where your coming from ,but I have to say my experience has been somewhat different ,and I believe it has a lot to do with the area .we purchased land at mangaliliu north efate  (3 acres ) and cleared and built,,being the first white man in the area we had some trials  but it was expected being fresh off the plane , we did have a crow bar stolen ,that was later returned and made sorry ,,I did build everything myself and had no expats ripp me off  I also helped build the school and other projects ,and I understand you need a really good sense of humer ,and  deep pocket but we are largely self sufficient and have assimilated into the culture and proud of our village and proud to call it home