booking own tour from vila with crusie ship in town

hi we are in vila for one day only, on saturday, 5 july, from the cruise ship. the tours p&o provide are extremely expensive. i tried to book online a village circle island adventure, including trip up epule river and village visit but the operator, adventures in paradise tours, told me that they worked only for p&o when the ships were in.

does anyone know another tour operator i could contact, or if i could just arrange a tour from the wharf with a local when we arrive? and either do around the island or visit the ekasup cultural village? and can you pay in australian dollars. we are a family of 4.

thank you for any assistance you can offer mike

Try
http://www.vanuatutourism.com/vanuatu/cms/en/activities/tours.html
Horizon Tours were ok.

Not sure about the AUD.. possibly/probably not. You can easily change money at Goodies (next to Horizon Tours) or get Vatu from the ANZ autobanks. The market in Vila is good too, better on some days of the week than others.

There are plenty of tour operators in Port Vila, and a multitude of owner operated buses that are falling over themselves to take you anywhere you wish.
P&O prices just outrageous, they dictate the fees (its not Adventures in Paradises' fault, they are contracted to P&O) and the indigenous operators get very little of this.
Dont negotiate at the wharf.
Go to town (10 mins by bus at 100 vatus per person or AUD$1.20-1.50) and talk to the Vanuatu Tourism Office (in centre of town) about where you want to go & prices of tours ( they are 2 mins from Goodies). Then go and exchange at Goodies the amount you will need, then pick a new looking bus in the street (any minibuse that have a "B" on the number plate) and ask him if he is interested to take you where you want to go at the price you have been told by the VTO office (You will have brochures/maps from the VTO office to guide you). If he has passengers, he will ask you to jump on and drop the passengers first , then his all yours.