Flying to the Ends of the Earth (2005) s02e02 Episode Script
South Pacific
1 Whoa! Wow, wow, wow, wow! - Whoa! - That wasn't a good landing.
- Whoa! 'On our crowded planet 'there are still beautiful and remote wild places.
' - It's absolutely stunning out here.
- Yeah.
'But if you're determined enough' It's all in Russian! '.
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there is a way to reach them.
' Buenos dias.
'I'm Arthur Williams.
'I used to be a Royal Marine 'but eight years ago I was paralysed in an accident.
'Then I learned to fly' Yeah! '.
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and regained my spirit of adventure.
' Why would you let a small thing like not being able to feel two thirds of your body get in the way? 'Now, I'm going to use the aeroplane to reach 'the world's most isolated air strips and meet the people living 'at the ends of the earth.
' The volcano is our gateway to heaven.
I'm not toasting to Stalin! 'To get there, I'll have to tackle 'some of the world's most dangerous flying.
' Oh, my God! Jesus Christ! Whoa! 'And take my chances in the toughest places on our planet' This is a different kind of flying than I'm used to.
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to find out how to make a life out here' I feel like Del Boy.
'.
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and why.
' The people, the community.
'This time I'm flying to paradise and beyond, 'deeper and deeper into the largest expanse of ocean on our planet, 'the Pacific.
'I'll meet a woman who bought her own island.
' You have to be kidding! 'But this is a fragile place.
'I'll visit people rebuilding their piece of paradise 'after a violent cyclone.
'I'll fly with a doctor who saves lives 'on 18 of the most remote islands on earth.
'And I'm granted an audience with a leader of a tribe 'who worships a World War II God living in a volcano.
' Because he's asked the volcano to be calm, - the volcano has agreed to be calm for us.
- Yes.
'Being an aviator here is no joke.
'Tropical storms, endless ocean and sketchy runways' Careful, careful, man! '.
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are all part of the deal.
' These are the islands of the South Pacific! It is absolutely stunning out here, isn't it? 'The first time I really learned anything about Fiji, 'I was hunkered down in a trench trying to avoid being shot at.
'That was back in my Navy days.
'The Fijian marine commando next to me then became a good mate.
'But I never thought I would be lucky enough to visit 'his idyllic Pacific home.
' I just want to get my trunks on and get in the water.
The former British colony of Fiji is made up of over 330 islands, sprinkled over 500,000 square miles of the South Pacific.
'Each one offers a taste of paradise, but where I'm going you don't have to settle for a taste, 'you can have the whole lot to yourself.
' You don't just book a room here, you have to book the entire island.
That's how exclusive it is.
- Before I arrived, obviously.
- Before you arrived, obviously.
What do you reckon the price tag is on this place? I wouldn't have a clue.
'The private helicopter charter whisks guests to the island 'in about 15 minutes from the mainland.
' 'Last night's customers have just left, 'which is lucky because owner Tracy wouldn't have allowed us 'to land if they hadn't.
' - Tracy, how are you doing? - Hello.
- How are you doing? - Welcome.
- Thank you very much.
Nice place! - Amazing! - What a way to come in! - Yeah! 'Unless otherwise agreed, guests' identities 'remain strictly confidential.
' I actually feel like a bit of an intruder, to be honest.
I mean, I went to the Maldives once and that was really lovely but this is another level.
Look at that! Cor! It's like James Bond meets Robinson Crusoe.
'Wadigi Island is Tracy Johnston's paradise found.
'In 2002, she and her recently retired husband, Jim, 'checked out of city life in Australia 'and headed for the South Pacific.
'Tracy had found a small island where her husband could relax 'and she could get to work.
'She built her Fijian dream from scratch, 'concentrating on exclusivity and luxury, 'neither of which comes easily on an uninhabited off-grid island.
' - Cheers! - Cheers! Bula! Bula, indeed, yeah.
We'd holidayed in Fiji -- the first time ever without the kids on a holiday And as everyone does, you lie on the beach and you think, "I could do this.
" Is there any point during building this up that you just thought, - "What am I doing in the middle of the Pacific?" - Yeah.
"I am so out of my depth?" We have to make our own electricity.
We have to get everything out by barge.
But we have a saying in our family, bite off more than you can chew and then chew like hell.
Today she lives on Wadigi full-time with Jim, while A-list celebrities and the super-rich help to balance the books by hiring her top-notch guest accommodation.
What does it cost to stay here, then? ¤2,600 for two people a night.
- But that includes the whole island to yourself.
- Yeah.
It's not cheap to run an island.
'This place is amazing.
'It feels remote but you have everything you could possibly desire 'at your finger tips.
'On the other hand, 'it costs more to stay here for a night 'than the average Fijian earns in a year.
'It's time for a dose of reality.
' 'Tia Ratubuli's family are the traditional owners 'of the Wadigi Island, 'which they lease to Tracy and Jim.
'Both he and his friend are also employed there.
'They commute to Wadigi by boat from their own island, 'where Tia is a senior member of his village.
'They've invited me for lunch but I'm going to have to earn this meal.
' One thing I noticed though is you haven't got any fishing rods.
- How are we going to fish them today? - Hand fish! Tia! Hand fish.
Yeah, catching fish in his hands! - Hand fish! - I've never seen anybody catch fish with their hands.
They're too fast! 'I'm not sure if this is a wind up or if he is really going to try 'and catch a fish with his hands.
'Either way, I'm up for giving it a go.
' - He is working for 18 years.
- 18 years? - 18 years.
He learned fishing from his father and grandfather.
This one, here! We put the anchor.
- Yeah? Are we going get in? - Yeah, ready.
I bet you've never seen anybody get in the water like this before.
- Are you OK? - Yeah.
- Clear water.
- Oh, It's beautiful, eh?! 'Underneath us is the Ro Ro Reef, part of the Malolo Barrier Reef.
'At low tied red snapper, sea bass 'and something called a leatherjacket fish 'hide out from predators under rocks on the reef floor.
'With only a rag to protect our fingers.
'Tia says I just have to stick my hand in and grab its tail.
'Simple!' This is hard work.
Tia, you must have lungs like Superman.
Right, let's get this fish! Got it! Yeah! It's unbelievable.
I tried to get in there and when I felt him But as soon as you touch him he was like that all over the place.
That's amazing! Although, I need to get back on the boat because I feel so tired now.
- Hello! - Say, "Bula!" - Bula! Bula! Tia's home is on Malolo Island -- one of only three amongst 20 on this reef that are home to Fijian communities.
The rest are holiday islands.
That's it.
Then pull it.
Beautiful.
- Hello! Bula! - Bula! - Is this your wife? Hello? - This is Pauline.
Pauline, Bula.
I'm Arthur.
It's nice to meet you.
Right, let's get in and cook it.
Is there anything that I can do to help? - No, it's OK.
- Are you sure? 'With Tia's wife, Pauline, in control of lunch, 'I've got a chance to explore.
' Bula.
Bula.
All right, boys? All right? This place is a world apart from the luxury of Wadigi.
Malolo feels like the real Fiji.
And England suddenly feels a long, long way away.
'But then, out of the blue, I'm right back at home.
' I've just seen these up here.
I don't know whose house this is, but there's Army Air Corps British Army Air Corps pictures up there, just like I've got at home.
'Fijian nationals have been fighting in the British forces 'since the Second World War.
I've served with many of them 'and I'd love to find out more about this bloke.
'Thankfully, his auntie is just around the corner.
' - A bit of a hero in the village, eh? - Yes.
Well, he was lucky to be picked from the British to be one of the soldiers from Fiji to go and serve in the British Army.
What did you think about him going all the way to England to fight for the British military? It seems odd, does it? No, because they go for money! That's what That's all.
That's what they do.
Right, well, anyway, we'll leave you to your shade.
Thank you so much for talking to you.
- Thank you for talking to you.
- All right, take care.
- It's lovely.
- Fijian style of fish.
- How many does he normally come back with? - Many.
- Lots? - Seven, eight.
- What, in one trip? One trip.
'Everyone has their own idea of paradise' but I know life isn't always easy here, especially on the less developed islands.
Just a few weeks ago, parts of Fiji were devastated by the worst storm in living memory.
The remote island of Koro found itself right in the path of Cyclone Winston.
Now, the people who live there have to rebuild their piece of paradise brick by brick, and that's where I'm going next.
This place is like a military war zone.
You've got a warship down there that's huge, with landing craft coming off it.
On our nose down here you've got a couple of Black Hawk helicopters.
'This is the remote Fijian island of Koro in the South Pacific.
'There is no war here, but three weeks ago it found itself 'in the path of Cyclone Winston, the worst storm in Fiji's history.
' Before, this place was the greenest thing I've ever seen in my life, it was like thick, thick jungle.
All the trees -- look at them, they're all down.
'I'm travelling with volunteer teachers Frankie and Danny.
'They've lived in Fiji for nearly four years 'and recently spent several months living on Koro.
' When it struck we were in Suva, so straightaway we were trying to find out what was going on but it's not going to be the Koro we once knew, I don't think.
After the storm, the Fijian government imposed strict controls on travel to and from the island.
Only military personnel and aid workers were allowed to enter.
We're the first civilian aircraft to land here since the disaster.
That was the airport.
It's, like, post-apocalyptic, isn't it? To date, eight people are confirmed to have died on Koro.
Frankie and Danny are desperate to find out if the families they lived with are safe.
So that's the school up there.
This is the first building we've seen standing.
This is Sinuvaca Village.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, I'm Arthur.
Oh, here she is.
- How are you? - Fine.
Frankie! Marianna was one of the first people Frankie and Danny met when they arrived on Koro.
This is Arthur.
It's lovely to meet you.
How's the house? - Damaged.
- Yeah? What about the farms and stuff? They're still? Maybe two years like that we have to do farming again.
Two years?! That's a long time.
- Long time.
- What about now, what are you guys doing for food now? They bring rice and sugar and flour.
We excited.
We are alive again, we have rations.
It's amazing to see the animals still alive, you know, it makes you wonder how on Earth they survived.
Before the cyclone, the cows, the pigs, they all missing.
One day, two days before the cyclone.
Really? That's bizarre.
- Up on the hill.
- And all the livestock that you have? Yeah.
It's all missing before the cyclone.
Just knew that was going to happen and they went up to the hills.
- How do they know?! - Yeah, how do they know that the cyclone come? Marianna, that's biblical.
That doesn't happen, you know, that's a thing you read about and you don't actually think that really happens.
Marianna's coastal village was the first to feel the full force of the 170mph winds.
Her neighbours scrambled for shelter, seeking high ground and concrete walls.
But Marianna was still at home with her 13-year-old daughter and three-year-old niece when the first giant waves arrived.
We was having our lunch here when the water entered that side.
The water up here to me.
You were serving your lunch in here? Yeah, our table there, we were having our lunch there.
- And then the water started to come? - The water was here.
All the glass must have come through.
You've got an idea of the kind of force because look at the wall here, this is all sort of reinforced iron bar, must have just ripped that out.
The church there, the big church, the second one on top.
Over the church? Wow, that's a big wave.
That's the big one we see.
Over our house.
What did you do? You must have panicked.
I was panicking, I lift my food and run in the room.
- Into here? Bula.
- Bula.
- Who's that? So they're staying here with you? - OK.
- So you are all helping each other out.
That's amazing.
Her family have survived, but after 13 years, Marianna has decided to leave her house by the coast.
So now that you've seen the cyclone, it's made you want to - move to higher ground.
perhaps? - We have to move up on top.
All of us moving up.
But if anything, the damage was even greater on the higher ground.
Up here, the wind tore houses straight off their foundations.
We lived in this house -- we're stood in our bedroom now.
It's a bit of a shock.
Doesn't even look the same.
There's a whole house on the other side of there that's flattened.
This concrete building you never would have thought would even move.
Just the platform left.
Ever since we arrived on Koro, 24-year-old Frankie's been desperate to find Inni, the woman she calls her Fijian mum.
She stayed in the house, the house started to come down? - Yeah.
- And then she? Yeah.
What was she doing in the house? - She was just trying to get ready to leave? - Yeah.
Georgina and Vatulele lived next door to Inni.
So when the house came down, then what happened? Did she go up to the hall, or? No, no, she couldn't walk any more.
- Lying there.
- She was just lying there.
Her daughter, she was with her.
Then she rolled herself with the mattress and she rolled down until she reached that house.
She rolled her down the hill? Yeah, from there to here.
- In the middle of the storm? - In the middle of the storm.
The lady we were staying with, our mum, Inni, I just found out this morning that she got quite badly injured .
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and some timbers and stuff fell on her head and the skin on her head apparently got pulled back, apparently, so she's now on the mainland .
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in hospital getting treated for that.
Thank you.
I've been to places that have been devastated by war, and others ruined by poverty, but I've never seen anything like Koro.
Put the nails in a bit of a pile down here.
If I was at home, I'd probably chuck the nails away, but because we are on an island miles away from nowhere, it's best to keep hold of them, I think.
'People are still in shock, but rebuilding, 'both physical and emotional, has begun.
' The people I've met here seem overwhelmed by the help they've received from abroad.
But I get the sense they are ready to do the hard yards themselves now, at their own pace.
The weather in this region has always been violent, but the signs are it's getting more severe, and we must find a way of helping this fragile piece of paradise prepare for the future.
I'm leaving Fiji now and flying even deeper into the South Pacific to a country that, if I'm entirely honest, I'd never heard of before planning this trip.
Vanuatu.
80 islands spread over 260,000 square miles of ocean.
The amazing thing about being out here is, throughout this flight I've not seen any other aeroplanes, we've not seen any boats on the water, there's hardly any islands in front of us, or to either side, and there's no radar.
Normally wherever you're flying in the world, there's always something there, but there's nothing here.
It's a really, really strange feeling.
'I'm going to meet a flying doctor who runs a clinic 'on the tiny island of Gaua, one of the Banks and Torres chain 'in northern Vanuatu.
' Think I've just seen the bush doctor's plane parked up in the only hangar.
I'm guessing it's his because it's the only other aeroplane on the airstrip.
Let's go out the front here.
'Pilot Mark Turnbull is the only qualified flying doctor 'in this part of Vanuatu.
A lay minister, 'he moved from Australia to this remote jungle island in 2004.
' That is a bona-fide bush aeroplane, isn't it? Big tundra tyres.
'He lives here with his wife Naomi and two children.
' - Hello, we haven't met, I'm Arthur.
- Kay.
- Nice to meet you.
So where are we off to today, Mark? We're going to Mota Island.
- Mota? - Mota.
It's a remote airstrip, a bush strip.
We're going to see a few patients, I'm not sure exactly who's going to be there.
Wait and see.
Let's have a prayer.
Father, we pray for your protection as we take off from this small bush airstrip.
Help to lift those wings.
- Amen.
- Amen.
Is that something that you do every time you fly? My work is risky, so I need to know that God is helping me.
All right, let's go.
Wow.
It's got so much power.
OK, so once we get to this point we want to stay down, get our speed up.
Whoa! That's like a helicopter.
This is a beautiful spot.
It's breathtaking.
I'm 1,500 miles north-east of New Zealand, over the island nation of Vanuatu, deep in the South Pacific.
I'm flying with a man who might just be the most remote flying doctor in the world.
We're heading for Mota, a tiny island in the extreme north of the country.
How big an area is it that's under your responsibility as a doctor? It's got to be about 200 miles square.
And there's about 18 different islands.
18 different islands? So you have to fly to individually to do your work.
Only eight of those have got airstrips but we are putting in other airstrips to other places as well.
Wow.
So you're constantly having to build strips to do your work.
I can't see anything but a canopy of trees.
Then I spot it, a landing strip, or at least I think that's what it is.
I'm the only one that's ever landed on this airstrip.
We're getting quite close to the stall.
We're going to be going through a wind shear.
We've got a bit of a crosswind, so we've got to crab towards the strip and as we go through the trees, we've got to correct for that wind shear.
We're fighting the gusts here, OK, now we're going to drop into this spot here.
OK, so.
- Here we go.
- Whoa.
We've got to fight everything.
OK, here we go.
Wow, wow, wow, wow.
- Wow.
- That wasn't a good landing.
- Whoa.
Wasn't the best for the Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing, Mark, that was fine.
Hello.
Hi, hello.
Mark, there's a never-ending line of them just coming to say hello.
Hello.
Hello.
Hello.
Hello.
Hello.
- Hello.
- There's quite a few visitors just come to meet you.
- They've heard that you're a pilot.
- Oh, really? So they'll be amazed to see .
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amazed to see somebody who can get around without the use of their legs.
Yeah, and go to a remote place.
Very, very surprising for most people.
OK, so one tooth, no more? I think maybe start with them over there.
OK, so we're going to do the tooth first.
We've got to pull his tooth.
This guy's got two teeth, - I think.
- Mooar's rotten tooth is first up.
I want you to hold the patient's face.
- Whilst you're pulling his teeth? - Yeah.
You're going to be my assistant.
OK.
Dental assistant.
Baptism of fire.
- Where do you want me? Where do you need me? - If you could come down here.
- Am I OK to get on the mat on my wheelchair? - Yeah.
OK.
Cool.
Now, Mark, I've never held a guy's head like this before, now am I going to have to hold it really hard? Basically you're stabilising the facial bones.
When I get to his bottom tooth then you're going to do that.
- OK.
- So that's all you're going to do, it's very simple.
You feeling OK, is it feeling numb? Feel numb? Numb? Apart from using the torchlight on his mobile phone, it's a completely manual operation.
I'd rather be the one holding the head than the one whose head is being held.
My mother would be very proud, very happy for me to see this because this is exactly what happens when you don't brush your peggys.
Bush surgery, jungle style.
All right.
So, this other tooth.
Is that better? Feel good? - OK.
- Yes.
- OK.
I'm no masseuse, but if I was in your shoes this might be quite nice comfort.
At a time when you haven't got much, my friend.
Mooar seems pleased, as do the rest of the village, who seem to have enjoyed the live surgery.
Doctor Mark moves from tooth decay to an antenatal scan.
Is that the baby's head? Baby's head.
This is a breech case here.
We've worked out from the head size that it's about 33 weeks, so we know we've got seven weeks to get ready.
She's going to be coming to Gaua for delivery.
- And we're going to have a little one.
- Yeah.
Congratulations, I hope everything goes well for you.
- OK.
Let's go.
- Doctor Mark must touch down back on Gaua on before sunset, but he always makes time for his old mate, Leonard.
He's a good friend of mine, so I want to make sure - he's in good condition.
- Tickety-boo.
He's in an amazingly good health considering he's a very old man.
He says that he's 100 years old.
Two years ago he was 100.
So he'll be 102.
But I think he might be off.
Well done.
You borrow wheelchair? You, wheelchair.
- What did he say? - He says he wants you to give it to him.
Erm Hmm.
Do you want to take off? - Absolutely.
- All right, so basically I'll take the rudder, - I'll just help you a little bit.
- Sure, no problem.
- OK.
So, OK, you just push lightly on the nose, just get the level.
- Right, we're going to kick from the left.
- Keep down, keep down, keep down.
Wow.
I have control.
What an aeroplane, thank you, Mark.
For these islanders, the plane has come to mean medical treatment.
But where I'm going next, aircraft play a much more unexpected role.
The remote island of Tanna is located in the extreme south of the Vanuatu chain and it's home to one of the region's strangest religions.
Getting there is a major challenge.
I've come to Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, to find one of the few people experienced enough to fly there.
However much I'd love to play, I've got to go and do some work.
Yes.
It's good fun, huh? Yes.
- Matt? - Yes, please.
- I'm Arthur.
- Arthur.
- Nice to meet you.
- All right.
- Welcome to Vanuatu.
- Thank you, buddy.
Is this our bus for the day? - Yes, this is it.
Flight time to Tanna is less than one hour .
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but the volcanic island is infamous for its unpredictable, sometimes violent weather.
It can get quite rough down there in the hills, so just make sure your seat belt's fastened and nice and firm, mate.
Quite thick cloud now, so it's going to get a bit bumpy.
Look at the rain on the windshield.
30 seconds ago we were in beautifully clear skies with the occasional puffy cloud and now we are getting bumped around quite a lot.
As we get closer to Tanna, the weather gets much, much worse.
Bloody hell.
Woohoo! Former crop-dusting pilot, Matt, knows how to fly super low.
He dives under the clouds to try and avoid the storm, perilously close to the jagged mountains below.
We're like 50 feet from the side of the valley here.
Matt, this is like tight, mate.
- Not really.
- It bloody is.
What's the problem? That's the problem! Mate, we're like 50 feet off the deck and the cloud base is there.
I wouldn't worry about that if I was you.
This is a different kind of flying that I'm used to, mate, I tell you.
Wow.
Matt, that volcano is amazing.
Mount Yasur is one of the most active volcanoes on earth.
Experts believe it's been continuously erupting for nearly 800 years.
Looking into the Earth's core.
- This is why we learned to fly, right? - Yeah, mate.
I've come here to meet a remote community living in the shadow of the volcano.
How often do they get to see aircraft doing this, Matt? No-one flies over their village very much.
The people here farm the nutrient-rich soil, fertilised by a never-ending supply of volcanic ash.
I'll remember this flight for as long as I live .
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which, if Matt lands this plane where I think he's going to land it, could be about 30 seconds.
There is no runway here.
Matt is about to put his aeroplane down on a strip of volcanic ash.
Careful, careful, Matt.
That was the most insane flight I've ever done in my life.
That wasn't an airstrip, that was a path.
Here we are.
The leader of the community has agreed to meet me first thing tomorrow morning on top of the volcano, which is just about the coolest invite I've ever had.
It's just so peaceful here.
Yes, yes, everybody gathers in the afternoon.
Yeah.
It gives me the rest of this evening to explore this extraordinary place.
Hello.
My driver, Phil, has brought me to his village on the west of the island, where every evening the locals gather under the shade of the banyan tree and the kids enjoy a spot of flying.
If the mothers hear the kids crying, they give this to the kids to stop them from crying and play around.
- And they're aeroplanes? - Yes.
I think my propellers are a little bit unbalanced.
It's a magical place, but tomorrow promises to be even more memorable.
When I meet the leader of a village that worships a World War II god living in a volcano.
I've travelled over 10,000 air miles to the South Pacific island of Tanna.
I've come to meet Chief Isaac, the leader of a remote community called the John Frum movement.
He's agreed to meet me at the top of Yasur volcano.
Jacob, a member of the community, will act as my translator.
Our people here believe that .
.
the volcano is our gateway to heaven.
- So, when we die - Yeah.
.
.
your spirit has to go through there to go to heaven.
But if you're a bad person then you will go down to the big fire.
- Oh.
- But down there beyond that big fire - Yeah? .
.
that's where the paradise is.
Hang on, Jacob, hang on.
It's incredibly hard.
But I think for what we're going to see at the top of this hill it will all be worth it.
Why would you let a small thing like not being able to feel two thirds of your body get in the way? It's about 30 degrees today.
I've just shoved myself up a volcano and now I'm in danger of being hit by molten lava.
- If you hear a big blow, then you stop.
- Wow! - You stop and look.
- Like that one? - Carefully watch where they are going to.
- Yeah.
People have been hurt up here before.
- Hurt, killed? - Killed.
- Wow.
Right.
Well, let's bear that in mind, then.
Whoa.
Shit.
Village elder Chief Isaac comes here to communicate with the spirit of John Frum, who he believes lives in the volcano's fiery belly.
- Chief Isaac.
- Chief Isaac.
Pleasure to meet you, sir.
Hi, there.
The volcano will be calm for about an hour or two.
- Because he's asked the volcano to be calm - Yeah.
.
.
we've got an hour or two - Yes.
- .
.
and the volcano has agreed to be calm for us? - Yes.
Wow.
John is spirit person, like God person.
- God? - Mmm.
When Christianity came to this island, - they start destroying custom.
- Right.
John appeared to his grandfather to save custom.
In the 1930s, the John Frum movement emerged out of resistance to Tanna Law, a strict Christian code imposed by missionaries.
Some say John may have been an American pilot calling himself John from America.
Others think he was made up by village elders.
But John's message was clear -- abandon Christianity and embrace old traditional customs.
Do that, he said, and great wealth would follow.
As if by magic, ten years later, the prophecy appeared to come true.
In 1942, 250,000 US servicemen flooded into Vanuatu in readiness for the invasion of Guadalcanal and the war against Japan.
Planes and ships packed with supplies swept into the remote islands.
Money began to flow as thousands of islanders were hired to help build the largest forward operating base in the history of warfare.
The new-found wealth could easily have seemed like the fulfilment of the John Frum prophecy.
Ever since, US Army jackets have replaced religious robes.
Jacob, they're all in their American uniforms, they've all got a uniform.
That's right.
Those uniforms were original uniforms that they used during World War II.
Did the Americans send them the uniforms? - Yes.
- The Americans did? So, the Americans know that this is going on? They support it? - Yes.
- That's amazing.
They wear the uniforms in the hope that by honouring him, John will send more riches to Tanna.
World War II clearly had an effect on the evolution of the John Frum movement.
It wouldn't be the first religion to move with the times.
Thanks, mate.
That was awesome.
That was amazing.
But whatever John Frum is or was, he's not finished with me yet.
There are five John Frum villages on Tanna.
Each one celebrates their religion a little differently.
Here in Sulphur Bay, it's less about the marching and more about the dancing.
OK, what do I do with the flowers? Just put it beside where you sleeping.
- OK.
And those are good spirits that keep an eye on you? - Yeah.
- Wow.
It was a bit naive to think I'd go unnoticed.
A local healer seems to think John Frum's spirit might do me some good.
She's stealing my shoes! Wow.
This is unbelievable.
Oh.
I don't know.
I don't know what's happened with this lady here.
It's like she's in a trance or something.
Just -- wow.
What's she doing now? So, they're trying to cure it? Yeah.
A few years ago, I'd never have let anybody touch my legs.
I'd have just felt way too uncomfortable.
This is mad.
We've just come from the volcano.
I don't even know these people and this lady just grabbed hold of my legs, ripped off my socks and is trying to heal my paralysis.
God.
This has been a pretty intense day.
If travel broadens the mind, then consider me on the fast track to enlightenment.
I've just been thrust a guitar into my lap and I have no idea what for.
Do I start playing it? Start playing? I can't play guitar.
The people here have taken me in, shown me their lives, and I leave here a slightly different man than the one that arrived.
What more can you ask for than that? Well, there is one thing.
Matt, can I have a go? Yeah.
I'm flying in the Pacific Islands.
Now, I know, Matt, that you might do this every day but I'm going to remember this for the rest of my life.
Next time, I'm flying into South America.
to explore the remarkable country of Peru.
Wow.
I'll start in the deserts of the south before heading into the Andes mountains to a remote gold mine reached by one of the world's riskiest airstrips.
These mountains are ridiculously close.
This is insane.
I'll fly deep into the jungle to explore an isolated floating city This is the only ever time I want to have my arm inside an alligator's mouth.
.
.
and go in search of a tribe who, until recently, were cut off from the outside world.
- Whoa! 'On our crowded planet 'there are still beautiful and remote wild places.
' - It's absolutely stunning out here.
- Yeah.
'But if you're determined enough' It's all in Russian! '.
.
there is a way to reach them.
' Buenos dias.
'I'm Arthur Williams.
'I used to be a Royal Marine 'but eight years ago I was paralysed in an accident.
'Then I learned to fly' Yeah! '.
.
and regained my spirit of adventure.
' Why would you let a small thing like not being able to feel two thirds of your body get in the way? 'Now, I'm going to use the aeroplane to reach 'the world's most isolated air strips and meet the people living 'at the ends of the earth.
' The volcano is our gateway to heaven.
I'm not toasting to Stalin! 'To get there, I'll have to tackle 'some of the world's most dangerous flying.
' Oh, my God! Jesus Christ! Whoa! 'And take my chances in the toughest places on our planet' This is a different kind of flying than I'm used to.
'.
.
to find out how to make a life out here' I feel like Del Boy.
'.
.
and why.
' The people, the community.
'This time I'm flying to paradise and beyond, 'deeper and deeper into the largest expanse of ocean on our planet, 'the Pacific.
'I'll meet a woman who bought her own island.
' You have to be kidding! 'But this is a fragile place.
'I'll visit people rebuilding their piece of paradise 'after a violent cyclone.
'I'll fly with a doctor who saves lives 'on 18 of the most remote islands on earth.
'And I'm granted an audience with a leader of a tribe 'who worships a World War II God living in a volcano.
' Because he's asked the volcano to be calm, - the volcano has agreed to be calm for us.
- Yes.
'Being an aviator here is no joke.
'Tropical storms, endless ocean and sketchy runways' Careful, careful, man! '.
.
are all part of the deal.
' These are the islands of the South Pacific! It is absolutely stunning out here, isn't it? 'The first time I really learned anything about Fiji, 'I was hunkered down in a trench trying to avoid being shot at.
'That was back in my Navy days.
'The Fijian marine commando next to me then became a good mate.
'But I never thought I would be lucky enough to visit 'his idyllic Pacific home.
' I just want to get my trunks on and get in the water.
The former British colony of Fiji is made up of over 330 islands, sprinkled over 500,000 square miles of the South Pacific.
'Each one offers a taste of paradise, but where I'm going you don't have to settle for a taste, 'you can have the whole lot to yourself.
' You don't just book a room here, you have to book the entire island.
That's how exclusive it is.
- Before I arrived, obviously.
- Before you arrived, obviously.
What do you reckon the price tag is on this place? I wouldn't have a clue.
'The private helicopter charter whisks guests to the island 'in about 15 minutes from the mainland.
' 'Last night's customers have just left, 'which is lucky because owner Tracy wouldn't have allowed us 'to land if they hadn't.
' - Tracy, how are you doing? - Hello.
- How are you doing? - Welcome.
- Thank you very much.
Nice place! - Amazing! - What a way to come in! - Yeah! 'Unless otherwise agreed, guests' identities 'remain strictly confidential.
' I actually feel like a bit of an intruder, to be honest.
I mean, I went to the Maldives once and that was really lovely but this is another level.
Look at that! Cor! It's like James Bond meets Robinson Crusoe.
'Wadigi Island is Tracy Johnston's paradise found.
'In 2002, she and her recently retired husband, Jim, 'checked out of city life in Australia 'and headed for the South Pacific.
'Tracy had found a small island where her husband could relax 'and she could get to work.
'She built her Fijian dream from scratch, 'concentrating on exclusivity and luxury, 'neither of which comes easily on an uninhabited off-grid island.
' - Cheers! - Cheers! Bula! Bula, indeed, yeah.
We'd holidayed in Fiji -- the first time ever without the kids on a holiday And as everyone does, you lie on the beach and you think, "I could do this.
" Is there any point during building this up that you just thought, - "What am I doing in the middle of the Pacific?" - Yeah.
"I am so out of my depth?" We have to make our own electricity.
We have to get everything out by barge.
But we have a saying in our family, bite off more than you can chew and then chew like hell.
Today she lives on Wadigi full-time with Jim, while A-list celebrities and the super-rich help to balance the books by hiring her top-notch guest accommodation.
What does it cost to stay here, then? ¤2,600 for two people a night.
- But that includes the whole island to yourself.
- Yeah.
It's not cheap to run an island.
'This place is amazing.
'It feels remote but you have everything you could possibly desire 'at your finger tips.
'On the other hand, 'it costs more to stay here for a night 'than the average Fijian earns in a year.
'It's time for a dose of reality.
' 'Tia Ratubuli's family are the traditional owners 'of the Wadigi Island, 'which they lease to Tracy and Jim.
'Both he and his friend are also employed there.
'They commute to Wadigi by boat from their own island, 'where Tia is a senior member of his village.
'They've invited me for lunch but I'm going to have to earn this meal.
' One thing I noticed though is you haven't got any fishing rods.
- How are we going to fish them today? - Hand fish! Tia! Hand fish.
Yeah, catching fish in his hands! - Hand fish! - I've never seen anybody catch fish with their hands.
They're too fast! 'I'm not sure if this is a wind up or if he is really going to try 'and catch a fish with his hands.
'Either way, I'm up for giving it a go.
' - He is working for 18 years.
- 18 years? - 18 years.
He learned fishing from his father and grandfather.
This one, here! We put the anchor.
- Yeah? Are we going get in? - Yeah, ready.
I bet you've never seen anybody get in the water like this before.
- Are you OK? - Yeah.
- Clear water.
- Oh, It's beautiful, eh?! 'Underneath us is the Ro Ro Reef, part of the Malolo Barrier Reef.
'At low tied red snapper, sea bass 'and something called a leatherjacket fish 'hide out from predators under rocks on the reef floor.
'With only a rag to protect our fingers.
'Tia says I just have to stick my hand in and grab its tail.
'Simple!' This is hard work.
Tia, you must have lungs like Superman.
Right, let's get this fish! Got it! Yeah! It's unbelievable.
I tried to get in there and when I felt him But as soon as you touch him he was like that all over the place.
That's amazing! Although, I need to get back on the boat because I feel so tired now.
- Hello! - Say, "Bula!" - Bula! Bula! Tia's home is on Malolo Island -- one of only three amongst 20 on this reef that are home to Fijian communities.
The rest are holiday islands.
That's it.
Then pull it.
Beautiful.
- Hello! Bula! - Bula! - Is this your wife? Hello? - This is Pauline.
Pauline, Bula.
I'm Arthur.
It's nice to meet you.
Right, let's get in and cook it.
Is there anything that I can do to help? - No, it's OK.
- Are you sure? 'With Tia's wife, Pauline, in control of lunch, 'I've got a chance to explore.
' Bula.
Bula.
All right, boys? All right? This place is a world apart from the luxury of Wadigi.
Malolo feels like the real Fiji.
And England suddenly feels a long, long way away.
'But then, out of the blue, I'm right back at home.
' I've just seen these up here.
I don't know whose house this is, but there's Army Air Corps British Army Air Corps pictures up there, just like I've got at home.
'Fijian nationals have been fighting in the British forces 'since the Second World War.
I've served with many of them 'and I'd love to find out more about this bloke.
'Thankfully, his auntie is just around the corner.
' - A bit of a hero in the village, eh? - Yes.
Well, he was lucky to be picked from the British to be one of the soldiers from Fiji to go and serve in the British Army.
What did you think about him going all the way to England to fight for the British military? It seems odd, does it? No, because they go for money! That's what That's all.
That's what they do.
Right, well, anyway, we'll leave you to your shade.
Thank you so much for talking to you.
- Thank you for talking to you.
- All right, take care.
- It's lovely.
- Fijian style of fish.
- How many does he normally come back with? - Many.
- Lots? - Seven, eight.
- What, in one trip? One trip.
'Everyone has their own idea of paradise' but I know life isn't always easy here, especially on the less developed islands.
Just a few weeks ago, parts of Fiji were devastated by the worst storm in living memory.
The remote island of Koro found itself right in the path of Cyclone Winston.
Now, the people who live there have to rebuild their piece of paradise brick by brick, and that's where I'm going next.
This place is like a military war zone.
You've got a warship down there that's huge, with landing craft coming off it.
On our nose down here you've got a couple of Black Hawk helicopters.
'This is the remote Fijian island of Koro in the South Pacific.
'There is no war here, but three weeks ago it found itself 'in the path of Cyclone Winston, the worst storm in Fiji's history.
' Before, this place was the greenest thing I've ever seen in my life, it was like thick, thick jungle.
All the trees -- look at them, they're all down.
'I'm travelling with volunteer teachers Frankie and Danny.
'They've lived in Fiji for nearly four years 'and recently spent several months living on Koro.
' When it struck we were in Suva, so straightaway we were trying to find out what was going on but it's not going to be the Koro we once knew, I don't think.
After the storm, the Fijian government imposed strict controls on travel to and from the island.
Only military personnel and aid workers were allowed to enter.
We're the first civilian aircraft to land here since the disaster.
That was the airport.
It's, like, post-apocalyptic, isn't it? To date, eight people are confirmed to have died on Koro.
Frankie and Danny are desperate to find out if the families they lived with are safe.
So that's the school up there.
This is the first building we've seen standing.
This is Sinuvaca Village.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, I'm Arthur.
Oh, here she is.
- How are you? - Fine.
Frankie! Marianna was one of the first people Frankie and Danny met when they arrived on Koro.
This is Arthur.
It's lovely to meet you.
How's the house? - Damaged.
- Yeah? What about the farms and stuff? They're still? Maybe two years like that we have to do farming again.
Two years?! That's a long time.
- Long time.
- What about now, what are you guys doing for food now? They bring rice and sugar and flour.
We excited.
We are alive again, we have rations.
It's amazing to see the animals still alive, you know, it makes you wonder how on Earth they survived.
Before the cyclone, the cows, the pigs, they all missing.
One day, two days before the cyclone.
Really? That's bizarre.
- Up on the hill.
- And all the livestock that you have? Yeah.
It's all missing before the cyclone.
Just knew that was going to happen and they went up to the hills.
- How do they know?! - Yeah, how do they know that the cyclone come? Marianna, that's biblical.
That doesn't happen, you know, that's a thing you read about and you don't actually think that really happens.
Marianna's coastal village was the first to feel the full force of the 170mph winds.
Her neighbours scrambled for shelter, seeking high ground and concrete walls.
But Marianna was still at home with her 13-year-old daughter and three-year-old niece when the first giant waves arrived.
We was having our lunch here when the water entered that side.
The water up here to me.
You were serving your lunch in here? Yeah, our table there, we were having our lunch there.
- And then the water started to come? - The water was here.
All the glass must have come through.
You've got an idea of the kind of force because look at the wall here, this is all sort of reinforced iron bar, must have just ripped that out.
The church there, the big church, the second one on top.
Over the church? Wow, that's a big wave.
That's the big one we see.
Over our house.
What did you do? You must have panicked.
I was panicking, I lift my food and run in the room.
- Into here? Bula.
- Bula.
- Who's that? So they're staying here with you? - OK.
- So you are all helping each other out.
That's amazing.
Her family have survived, but after 13 years, Marianna has decided to leave her house by the coast.
So now that you've seen the cyclone, it's made you want to - move to higher ground.
perhaps? - We have to move up on top.
All of us moving up.
But if anything, the damage was even greater on the higher ground.
Up here, the wind tore houses straight off their foundations.
We lived in this house -- we're stood in our bedroom now.
It's a bit of a shock.
Doesn't even look the same.
There's a whole house on the other side of there that's flattened.
This concrete building you never would have thought would even move.
Just the platform left.
Ever since we arrived on Koro, 24-year-old Frankie's been desperate to find Inni, the woman she calls her Fijian mum.
She stayed in the house, the house started to come down? - Yeah.
- And then she? Yeah.
What was she doing in the house? - She was just trying to get ready to leave? - Yeah.
Georgina and Vatulele lived next door to Inni.
So when the house came down, then what happened? Did she go up to the hall, or? No, no, she couldn't walk any more.
- Lying there.
- She was just lying there.
Her daughter, she was with her.
Then she rolled herself with the mattress and she rolled down until she reached that house.
She rolled her down the hill? Yeah, from there to here.
- In the middle of the storm? - In the middle of the storm.
The lady we were staying with, our mum, Inni, I just found out this morning that she got quite badly injured .
.
and some timbers and stuff fell on her head and the skin on her head apparently got pulled back, apparently, so she's now on the mainland .
.
in hospital getting treated for that.
Thank you.
I've been to places that have been devastated by war, and others ruined by poverty, but I've never seen anything like Koro.
Put the nails in a bit of a pile down here.
If I was at home, I'd probably chuck the nails away, but because we are on an island miles away from nowhere, it's best to keep hold of them, I think.
'People are still in shock, but rebuilding, 'both physical and emotional, has begun.
' The people I've met here seem overwhelmed by the help they've received from abroad.
But I get the sense they are ready to do the hard yards themselves now, at their own pace.
The weather in this region has always been violent, but the signs are it's getting more severe, and we must find a way of helping this fragile piece of paradise prepare for the future.
I'm leaving Fiji now and flying even deeper into the South Pacific to a country that, if I'm entirely honest, I'd never heard of before planning this trip.
Vanuatu.
80 islands spread over 260,000 square miles of ocean.
The amazing thing about being out here is, throughout this flight I've not seen any other aeroplanes, we've not seen any boats on the water, there's hardly any islands in front of us, or to either side, and there's no radar.
Normally wherever you're flying in the world, there's always something there, but there's nothing here.
It's a really, really strange feeling.
'I'm going to meet a flying doctor who runs a clinic 'on the tiny island of Gaua, one of the Banks and Torres chain 'in northern Vanuatu.
' Think I've just seen the bush doctor's plane parked up in the only hangar.
I'm guessing it's his because it's the only other aeroplane on the airstrip.
Let's go out the front here.
'Pilot Mark Turnbull is the only qualified flying doctor 'in this part of Vanuatu.
A lay minister, 'he moved from Australia to this remote jungle island in 2004.
' That is a bona-fide bush aeroplane, isn't it? Big tundra tyres.
'He lives here with his wife Naomi and two children.
' - Hello, we haven't met, I'm Arthur.
- Kay.
- Nice to meet you.
So where are we off to today, Mark? We're going to Mota Island.
- Mota? - Mota.
It's a remote airstrip, a bush strip.
We're going to see a few patients, I'm not sure exactly who's going to be there.
Wait and see.
Let's have a prayer.
Father, we pray for your protection as we take off from this small bush airstrip.
Help to lift those wings.
- Amen.
- Amen.
Is that something that you do every time you fly? My work is risky, so I need to know that God is helping me.
All right, let's go.
Wow.
It's got so much power.
OK, so once we get to this point we want to stay down, get our speed up.
Whoa! That's like a helicopter.
This is a beautiful spot.
It's breathtaking.
I'm 1,500 miles north-east of New Zealand, over the island nation of Vanuatu, deep in the South Pacific.
I'm flying with a man who might just be the most remote flying doctor in the world.
We're heading for Mota, a tiny island in the extreme north of the country.
How big an area is it that's under your responsibility as a doctor? It's got to be about 200 miles square.
And there's about 18 different islands.
18 different islands? So you have to fly to individually to do your work.
Only eight of those have got airstrips but we are putting in other airstrips to other places as well.
Wow.
So you're constantly having to build strips to do your work.
I can't see anything but a canopy of trees.
Then I spot it, a landing strip, or at least I think that's what it is.
I'm the only one that's ever landed on this airstrip.
We're getting quite close to the stall.
We're going to be going through a wind shear.
We've got a bit of a crosswind, so we've got to crab towards the strip and as we go through the trees, we've got to correct for that wind shear.
We're fighting the gusts here, OK, now we're going to drop into this spot here.
OK, so.
- Here we go.
- Whoa.
We've got to fight everything.
OK, here we go.
Wow, wow, wow, wow.
- Wow.
- That wasn't a good landing.
- Whoa.
Wasn't the best for the Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing, Mark, that was fine.
Hello.
Hi, hello.
Mark, there's a never-ending line of them just coming to say hello.
Hello.
Hello.
Hello.
Hello.
Hello.
- Hello.
- There's quite a few visitors just come to meet you.
- They've heard that you're a pilot.
- Oh, really? So they'll be amazed to see .
.
amazed to see somebody who can get around without the use of their legs.
Yeah, and go to a remote place.
Very, very surprising for most people.
OK, so one tooth, no more? I think maybe start with them over there.
OK, so we're going to do the tooth first.
We've got to pull his tooth.
This guy's got two teeth, - I think.
- Mooar's rotten tooth is first up.
I want you to hold the patient's face.
- Whilst you're pulling his teeth? - Yeah.
You're going to be my assistant.
OK.
Dental assistant.
Baptism of fire.
- Where do you want me? Where do you need me? - If you could come down here.
- Am I OK to get on the mat on my wheelchair? - Yeah.
OK.
Cool.
Now, Mark, I've never held a guy's head like this before, now am I going to have to hold it really hard? Basically you're stabilising the facial bones.
When I get to his bottom tooth then you're going to do that.
- OK.
- So that's all you're going to do, it's very simple.
You feeling OK, is it feeling numb? Feel numb? Numb? Apart from using the torchlight on his mobile phone, it's a completely manual operation.
I'd rather be the one holding the head than the one whose head is being held.
My mother would be very proud, very happy for me to see this because this is exactly what happens when you don't brush your peggys.
Bush surgery, jungle style.
All right.
So, this other tooth.
Is that better? Feel good? - OK.
- Yes.
- OK.
I'm no masseuse, but if I was in your shoes this might be quite nice comfort.
At a time when you haven't got much, my friend.
Mooar seems pleased, as do the rest of the village, who seem to have enjoyed the live surgery.
Doctor Mark moves from tooth decay to an antenatal scan.
Is that the baby's head? Baby's head.
This is a breech case here.
We've worked out from the head size that it's about 33 weeks, so we know we've got seven weeks to get ready.
She's going to be coming to Gaua for delivery.
- And we're going to have a little one.
- Yeah.
Congratulations, I hope everything goes well for you.
- OK.
Let's go.
- Doctor Mark must touch down back on Gaua on before sunset, but he always makes time for his old mate, Leonard.
He's a good friend of mine, so I want to make sure - he's in good condition.
- Tickety-boo.
He's in an amazingly good health considering he's a very old man.
He says that he's 100 years old.
Two years ago he was 100.
So he'll be 102.
But I think he might be off.
Well done.
You borrow wheelchair? You, wheelchair.
- What did he say? - He says he wants you to give it to him.
Erm Hmm.
Do you want to take off? - Absolutely.
- All right, so basically I'll take the rudder, - I'll just help you a little bit.
- Sure, no problem.
- OK.
So, OK, you just push lightly on the nose, just get the level.
- Right, we're going to kick from the left.
- Keep down, keep down, keep down.
Wow.
I have control.
What an aeroplane, thank you, Mark.
For these islanders, the plane has come to mean medical treatment.
But where I'm going next, aircraft play a much more unexpected role.
The remote island of Tanna is located in the extreme south of the Vanuatu chain and it's home to one of the region's strangest religions.
Getting there is a major challenge.
I've come to Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, to find one of the few people experienced enough to fly there.
However much I'd love to play, I've got to go and do some work.
Yes.
It's good fun, huh? Yes.
- Matt? - Yes, please.
- I'm Arthur.
- Arthur.
- Nice to meet you.
- All right.
- Welcome to Vanuatu.
- Thank you, buddy.
Is this our bus for the day? - Yes, this is it.
Flight time to Tanna is less than one hour .
.
but the volcanic island is infamous for its unpredictable, sometimes violent weather.
It can get quite rough down there in the hills, so just make sure your seat belt's fastened and nice and firm, mate.
Quite thick cloud now, so it's going to get a bit bumpy.
Look at the rain on the windshield.
30 seconds ago we were in beautifully clear skies with the occasional puffy cloud and now we are getting bumped around quite a lot.
As we get closer to Tanna, the weather gets much, much worse.
Bloody hell.
Woohoo! Former crop-dusting pilot, Matt, knows how to fly super low.
He dives under the clouds to try and avoid the storm, perilously close to the jagged mountains below.
We're like 50 feet from the side of the valley here.
Matt, this is like tight, mate.
- Not really.
- It bloody is.
What's the problem? That's the problem! Mate, we're like 50 feet off the deck and the cloud base is there.
I wouldn't worry about that if I was you.
This is a different kind of flying that I'm used to, mate, I tell you.
Wow.
Matt, that volcano is amazing.
Mount Yasur is one of the most active volcanoes on earth.
Experts believe it's been continuously erupting for nearly 800 years.
Looking into the Earth's core.
- This is why we learned to fly, right? - Yeah, mate.
I've come here to meet a remote community living in the shadow of the volcano.
How often do they get to see aircraft doing this, Matt? No-one flies over their village very much.
The people here farm the nutrient-rich soil, fertilised by a never-ending supply of volcanic ash.
I'll remember this flight for as long as I live .
.
which, if Matt lands this plane where I think he's going to land it, could be about 30 seconds.
There is no runway here.
Matt is about to put his aeroplane down on a strip of volcanic ash.
Careful, careful, Matt.
That was the most insane flight I've ever done in my life.
That wasn't an airstrip, that was a path.
Here we are.
The leader of the community has agreed to meet me first thing tomorrow morning on top of the volcano, which is just about the coolest invite I've ever had.
It's just so peaceful here.
Yes, yes, everybody gathers in the afternoon.
Yeah.
It gives me the rest of this evening to explore this extraordinary place.
Hello.
My driver, Phil, has brought me to his village on the west of the island, where every evening the locals gather under the shade of the banyan tree and the kids enjoy a spot of flying.
If the mothers hear the kids crying, they give this to the kids to stop them from crying and play around.
- And they're aeroplanes? - Yes.
I think my propellers are a little bit unbalanced.
It's a magical place, but tomorrow promises to be even more memorable.
When I meet the leader of a village that worships a World War II god living in a volcano.
I've travelled over 10,000 air miles to the South Pacific island of Tanna.
I've come to meet Chief Isaac, the leader of a remote community called the John Frum movement.
He's agreed to meet me at the top of Yasur volcano.
Jacob, a member of the community, will act as my translator.
Our people here believe that .
.
the volcano is our gateway to heaven.
- So, when we die - Yeah.
.
.
your spirit has to go through there to go to heaven.
But if you're a bad person then you will go down to the big fire.
- Oh.
- But down there beyond that big fire - Yeah? .
.
that's where the paradise is.
Hang on, Jacob, hang on.
It's incredibly hard.
But I think for what we're going to see at the top of this hill it will all be worth it.
Why would you let a small thing like not being able to feel two thirds of your body get in the way? It's about 30 degrees today.
I've just shoved myself up a volcano and now I'm in danger of being hit by molten lava.
- If you hear a big blow, then you stop.
- Wow! - You stop and look.
- Like that one? - Carefully watch where they are going to.
- Yeah.
People have been hurt up here before.
- Hurt, killed? - Killed.
- Wow.
Right.
Well, let's bear that in mind, then.
Whoa.
Shit.
Village elder Chief Isaac comes here to communicate with the spirit of John Frum, who he believes lives in the volcano's fiery belly.
- Chief Isaac.
- Chief Isaac.
Pleasure to meet you, sir.
Hi, there.
The volcano will be calm for about an hour or two.
- Because he's asked the volcano to be calm - Yeah.
.
.
we've got an hour or two - Yes.
- .
.
and the volcano has agreed to be calm for us? - Yes.
Wow.
John is spirit person, like God person.
- God? - Mmm.
When Christianity came to this island, - they start destroying custom.
- Right.
John appeared to his grandfather to save custom.
In the 1930s, the John Frum movement emerged out of resistance to Tanna Law, a strict Christian code imposed by missionaries.
Some say John may have been an American pilot calling himself John from America.
Others think he was made up by village elders.
But John's message was clear -- abandon Christianity and embrace old traditional customs.
Do that, he said, and great wealth would follow.
As if by magic, ten years later, the prophecy appeared to come true.
In 1942, 250,000 US servicemen flooded into Vanuatu in readiness for the invasion of Guadalcanal and the war against Japan.
Planes and ships packed with supplies swept into the remote islands.
Money began to flow as thousands of islanders were hired to help build the largest forward operating base in the history of warfare.
The new-found wealth could easily have seemed like the fulfilment of the John Frum prophecy.
Ever since, US Army jackets have replaced religious robes.
Jacob, they're all in their American uniforms, they've all got a uniform.
That's right.
Those uniforms were original uniforms that they used during World War II.
Did the Americans send them the uniforms? - Yes.
- The Americans did? So, the Americans know that this is going on? They support it? - Yes.
- That's amazing.
They wear the uniforms in the hope that by honouring him, John will send more riches to Tanna.
World War II clearly had an effect on the evolution of the John Frum movement.
It wouldn't be the first religion to move with the times.
Thanks, mate.
That was awesome.
That was amazing.
But whatever John Frum is or was, he's not finished with me yet.
There are five John Frum villages on Tanna.
Each one celebrates their religion a little differently.
Here in Sulphur Bay, it's less about the marching and more about the dancing.
OK, what do I do with the flowers? Just put it beside where you sleeping.
- OK.
And those are good spirits that keep an eye on you? - Yeah.
- Wow.
It was a bit naive to think I'd go unnoticed.
A local healer seems to think John Frum's spirit might do me some good.
She's stealing my shoes! Wow.
This is unbelievable.
Oh.
I don't know.
I don't know what's happened with this lady here.
It's like she's in a trance or something.
Just -- wow.
What's she doing now? So, they're trying to cure it? Yeah.
A few years ago, I'd never have let anybody touch my legs.
I'd have just felt way too uncomfortable.
This is mad.
We've just come from the volcano.
I don't even know these people and this lady just grabbed hold of my legs, ripped off my socks and is trying to heal my paralysis.
God.
This has been a pretty intense day.
If travel broadens the mind, then consider me on the fast track to enlightenment.
I've just been thrust a guitar into my lap and I have no idea what for.
Do I start playing it? Start playing? I can't play guitar.
The people here have taken me in, shown me their lives, and I leave here a slightly different man than the one that arrived.
What more can you ask for than that? Well, there is one thing.
Matt, can I have a go? Yeah.
I'm flying in the Pacific Islands.
Now, I know, Matt, that you might do this every day but I'm going to remember this for the rest of my life.
Next time, I'm flying into South America.
to explore the remarkable country of Peru.
Wow.
I'll start in the deserts of the south before heading into the Andes mountains to a remote gold mine reached by one of the world's riskiest airstrips.
These mountains are ridiculously close.
This is insane.
I'll fly deep into the jungle to explore an isolated floating city This is the only ever time I want to have my arm inside an alligator's mouth.
.
.
and go in search of a tribe who, until recently, were cut off from the outside world.