We spent the next couple of days sailing around visiting nearby islands, then we sailed to Ambrym. This island has an active volcano on it and somebody came up with the idea of climbing it, I can tell you it wasn't me.
The captain went and had a word with locals and they said that it would be ok as long as we took along a couple of their men to act as guides and paid them a nominal fee of coarse! That night we organised ourselves into two groups, a slow party that would set off early and take their time climbing the mountain, and a fast party that would set off later but travel quicker. The idea being that we would crossover at the top and all get back at the same time down the bottom. I decided I would be better suited to the slow group as it had been a while since I last climbed a mountain, about 14 years and then it had been Mt. Snowdon in Wales!
Next morning I woke up to find that I had over slept and would now have to travel in the fast party, oh dear! We grabbed some large bottles of water as it was looking like it would be another scorcher and 60% of the hike would be through thick jungle. We jumped into the dingy and went ashore to meet our guide then set off down the trail.
The hike through the jungle was really punishing and we where all glad to reach the lava stream that would form our 'yellow brick road' to the summit.
