Our Vanuatu Farm Dream Got Complicated FAST!

I love your big dreams!! I can hardly wait for the wedding.. I wish we could be a part of the whole thing!!! Keep making videos. We'll keep watching!!!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYTDjzWIU_z/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Keep the faith and do you SLV. I’ve been following years with hubby now and originally with son who introduced us to you. I got this video from someone follow and thought of you. Would be fun place to visit and take boys on one of your sea getaways in the future. https://youtu.be/RrCu63QGSTI?si=7e-E5OGE_miuOVeM

I wouldn’t worry too much about the haters. It seems to be a growing trend on YouTube lately. A lot of other channels I follow get criticised unfairly for the smallest things — even something as simple as enjoying a trip to China. Haters start accusing them of being communists when, in reality, they’re just travelling and sharing their experiences.

Love the knot tying ?

Hey Riley and Elena I am a carpenter that specializes in new construction of custom homes for the last 25years so if you have any questions about anything from the rough lumber for the construction or the best types of eco friendly interior & exterior finish materials please feel free to reach out I would actually love to help! I actually know of a few different types of wood that are found and harvested locally on Vanuatu that are excellent choices to combat the humidity , fungus, insects and even rot

Hey guys so lovely to see you navigating Vanuatu. It’s a magical amazing place, full of wonderful and fascinating people and kastom/culture. We lived there 20 years ago, had our kids in school, my husband flew planes around the islands transporting local people and tourists, I worked with local women assisting them in creating programs. You are doing a wonderful thing, you are not the first people to move there and all that you are creating is beautiful. The issue people are talking about colonizing etc, they are entitled to think that but you will be living side by side with local Ni Vanuatu who are warm and welcoming. We lived there too and have maintained friendships and also got into sailing and just finished our sailing adventures after sailing to Raja Ampat, now home in Australia. Learn the local Bislama it will help enormously, learn yo understand the local unspoken language, make lots of local friends, it’s paradise. Wait till you get under the water it’s stunning. Be prepared for cyclones, power outages, earthquakes and get yourself a really good first aid kit relevant to land, there is malaria so have good etiquette re mosquitoes. Just enjoy every bit of what you are doing. Lukim yo long smael time

Fantastic. I cannot wait to see how this all works out. I think a sensible build plan is, in time, about 18 to 26 months including services implemented and safe fresh water provision and your energy sources. So good luck another great adventure. Xx

Dear Elay and Riley I am sure you will always have second thoughts are what you are doing a future for your family but at the same time not hurting the culture that is on the island. I have pondered this working in the oil industry in 3rd world countries where I am working near villages that have pre Inca civilizations. I am able to bring to them jobs, pure drinking water, medications and much better health care but also what will come is drugs, alcohol, venereal diseases. Once you bring this level of civilization it is impossible to take it back. I still ponder have I hurts these small villages and ancient people more than i have helped them. It is a joy to be around them and so trusting and wanting the new ways. I hope that you can bring good to Vanuatu because they are already suffering the impacts of modern man on rising sea levels

We enjoy watching your transition from sea to land. It’s pretty cool to learn and discover with you. Keep it going…great things ahead.

Why not keep the current caretakers? I am enjoying the new chapter in your adventures.

My family bought land overseas (and built there) in the 1970s and expanded the plot in the 1990s. The secret, as you are well aware, is to behave respectfully towards the locals and to employ them (just as you are doing). Offering opportunities for locals to generate income and supporting the local school and clinic financially will help you integrate beyond measure. Difficulties to watch out for are the inevitable local vendetta issues, for example if you employ enemies to co work in some way (eg supervisor/worker), or you ignore local customs and sensitivities such as wearing inappropriate clothing when in public. I think the most sensitive part of your situation concerns the fresh water resource, which is (it seems at least in part) along your boundary and therefore not owned or not wholly owned by you. Any tapping into, use of or sequestration of this resource could potentially give rise to conflict.

Being a bit of a genealogist and amateur anthropologist, here's my take. If you settle anywhere in the world outside of Africa, you're pretty much a "colonist." Humans moved out of Africa into Europe and Asia, tens of thousands of years ago, and then on to the Americas, Australia, and everywhere else since then. We are always moving, migrating, colonizing, and mixing. It's the way it's done that matters, and you two are so very gracious and humble, much unlike the first Europeans there.

Hi Riley! Do you want some info on fresh water supply for your property?? Free info! im a retired Australian ferro cement tank builder ! Google ferro cement tanks! Its a 3rd world cement tank building process! like to help you guys if i could? Good luck!

You are being so respectful and honoring the locals. You may increase the tourism to the area. But that may not be bad. I would love to see the culture and the the beautiful islands. It sounds amazing. The problem is the people that don't respect the locals. You guys have no control over that. It is hard to get there and it is expensive. I think it is similar to the boat. We can watch and enjoy the beauty, culture and adventure from afar. What a beautiful life you are living. Don't let other people's jealousy and negativity damper your achievements and dreams! Congratulations on doing the dream and living a beautiful respectful life.

I think if you are humble and respect the country and try to assimilate to the culture and not change things. You will be welcomed.

usa today is about immigrants complaining about immigrants. But! Humans are migratory. We colonise. Another mantra is, 'Walk softly in your shoes and leave a place better than how you found it'. Fabulous vid as usual, you keep earning my sub...

Do not worry yourself over the virtue-signalling people who think you are colonizing the land. They want to project their guilt about their own history of colonialism on anyone else. You do not represent a foreign entity whose goal is to claim land for themselves and extract it's wealth back home. Colonizers don't look for For Sale signs and legally pay for their property. Soon they will call you "occupiers" . I am confident that you will handle this well but please DO NOT let them make you feel bad.

I’m so proud of you guys! I was a little worried that you were going to put up fences and ‘own’ the property in a western sense. But you have done such a good job of building relationships with the locals and expats to respectfully approach a compromise that suits all. Of course after watching you for years I should have known better. Much love guys. Enjoy your new piece of paradise. So glad that you’re looking out for the little kitten too. 🥰

Hi to all of you! At first I wasn't at all interested in following you anymore, BUT!!!!!!! I love the attitude you are carrying forward into this new project and particularly your interaction style that honors the locals. I do not know if you know them, but Kaylee and Jordan Saglio at The Nomadic Movement did the same thing with the same honorable attitude in Panama hiring locals plus people who live at an indigenous persons reserve (so to speak). Check them out and perhaps get in touch with them. They are really doing things the right way. You will really get a lot out of contacting them. I could tell you lots more about them. I really love how/what they are doing there. Peace, love and joy be with you all.

Love this new content. As much as I love the sailing videos, it is great to have a change and watch your new adventure. You are not colonizing. You are definitely acting with good intent, integrating yourselves with the community, sharing and learning with respect, care and kindness. It is awesome.

did he finally propose :)

Thanks for sharing,so interesting seeing how you two decide and resolve things, i don' think t your colonizing either, for what it's worth

❤ GR8 VID ❤ LOVED IT ❤ I miss the sailing adventures but the new land & building adventure is awesome too .. both stories are entertaining

Hey guys love what you do and would love to help you out with bilding the house. I am 23 from Norway and I am a certified carpenter and skafolder here in 🇳🇴. Would be a great opportunity for me and one of my best moments in my life if I can get this opertunete.