Tania's Tales...

	Life at home	07/01/07 Cricket... sigh
		15/01/07 Ergonomic workstation, 10-pin bowling, Varekai
		22/01/07 Greenpeace boat, Nik and Ross, party in Pukekohe
		Stop gap No spare minutes!

	Samoa	23/03/07 Friday: farewells all round
		23/03/07 Friday all over again
		24/03/07 Savai'i, and big spider!
		25/03/07 On the westernmost point of the world
		26/03/07 Alofaaga Blowholes
		27/03/07 Lagoon chalets and exotic fish
		28/03/07 Pulemelei Mound, Afu Aau Falls
		29/03/07 Robert Louis Stevenson Museum
		30/03/07 Tofa Samoa! Home to NZ

28 December 2006 29/12/06 Next Back to top Home

At last! Another week-long bach holiday to start the new year! Before we left, we CLEANED UP. Really did. Got our tiny little unit ORGANISED. Recycled our Christmas tree (so organised that we started the pile at the Onehunga tree place), posted thankyou notes, supermarketed for last-minute holiday provisions, tidied the house, packed up the car, and finally left fairly late in the day. We arrived to find our tiny wee cabin at Waihi Beach. TINY. Tiny tiny tiny. It was big enough and had everything we needed, but although it was true to its advertising it was much smaller than we expected! Still, we made ourselves at home and had dinner at our wee picnic table outside. Then: a band began to play somewhere across the way. Oh no! We love early nights and early mornings, and we don't like bad, loud music. After deciding they weren't going to stop, we took an evening walk on the beach. There were a lot of people out enjoying the fine weather (escaping the music?) The concert had lulled a bit by the time we got home, then they struck up again - this time, though, we recognised some songs.... OK, it was still too loud but Shihad's alright. We finally got some sleep around midnight, wondering if we should have holidayed at home in the quiet of Epsom.

29 December 2006 28/12/06 Previous 30/12/06 Next Back to top Home

Mmmmm... the strong scent of lemon blossom right outside our door... cicadas... Monarch butterlies... bumblebees... But we woke a little pessimistic about our holiday, knowing that several more concerts were planned at the Waihi Beach Hotel during our stay. We hadn't even unpacked properly. Still, today was our fifth wedding anniversary, it was sunny, and we were at the beach! So for today, we counted our blessings. I had some very vague memories of Waihi Beach, having stayed at a bach with my schoolfriend Robyn's family when we were very young. It's still a lovely little town, but the signs of development are there too, with large, modern houses two to a section in some parts. There are still some lovely old baches though, on sections large enough for several tents as well as several cars... which many people were making use of. Warwick had brought grape juice to celebrate our anniversary, and we went out for siesta burgers at Cactus Jack's for dinner. Yum! On the way there, we window shopped the real estate agents - we're chronic real estate window shoppers, but we never set foot in the shops! Needless to say, we were shocked at the prices, and at the fact that one real estate agent was open at 8pm on a Friday night and open again throughout the holiday period!

30 December 2006 29/12/06 Previous 31/12/06 Next Back to top Home

While browsing dinner options last night we had come across a sign advertising a local fun run. Aside: Actually, while browsing dinner options last night, we had also come across a hand-written sign advertising bonnet rides - adult supervision provided, safe but if your kid falls off you get a refund, both 15-year-old drivers had their learner licenses...! Anyway... a 6km fun run from Athenree to the surf club at the north end of Waihi Beach was to take place today at 1pm. We both went down to the start wearing our running gear, but I piked out at the last minute. 6 km through the estuary mud and along sand, then a 6 km walk back to collect the car...? Nope. So I sent Warwick on his way and drove back to Waihi Beach to meet him. The only trouble was I had no idea at that time where the surf club was. So I decided to stop in at the beach at various points along the way to try and spot it. My first stop was 15 mins later, and I went down to the beach only to spot the race leaders heading my way. I waited until Warwick had passed then headed back to the car... and near the beach access I spotted a young man who looked remarkably like a young cousin of mine. It had been a while since I'd seen him so I didn't approach him just in case I was wrong... then around the corner came my auntie Joy. They and my other cousin had been at the Gyspy Fair in Bowentown that morning. Yay! After a quick catch up, I headed back along the road and dropped in to the beach only to spot the race leaders once again. I gave Warwick a wave as he ran by (he'd been running 30 mins by now) and headed right to the end of town where the surf club was. Warwick beat me there, and was absolutely exhausted after running through mud, knee-deep water and sand! We got home and cleaned up, then met Joy and our cousins again for most magnificent ice-creams at the yellow dairy where we had met earlier. Yay! And yum! (Mmmmm Tip Top Caramel Fudge...) Joy's bright lime ice-cream looked perfectly summery.

31 December 2006 30/12/06 Previous 01/01/07 Next Back to top Home

We began the healthy routine of doing our weights out in the sunshine this morning... yes, we brought our weights and bench (!) on holiday with us! Despite incredibly patchy cell phone coverage (6 bars at the end of town, 5 closer to home, 4 closer to our street, 3 on our street, 2 as we approached our gate, 1 in the driveway and none indoors - except for the occasional spontaneous few seconds or minutes of coverage which disappeared with any bad weather) we managed to arrange to see mum and de Lautour relations in Bethlehem and Rich in Tauranga today. We had a delicious lunch in Bethlehem, all salads and new potatoes... yum! We also caught up with grandad, my great-uncle and my mum's cousins. Later, we stopped in for a cold glass of water with Rich's parents, then walked around the suburb of Bureta. Before the subdivision that created the suburb, Bureta was the farm where Warwick's dad had grown up. They had a farmhouse on the hill, the farm ran all the way down to the water and gave a clear view across to the Mount (Mount Maunganui). When we told this to Rich's mother, she directed us to a sign down on the waterfront which had a history of the area... so we wandered through beautiful sunshine to find it. And there it was, complete with photograph of Warwick's dad, aunt and uncle as children! Fantastic! We sauntered home past the dairy for ice-creams (and a free frisbee as part of a Tip Top promotion - Tip Top is winning my heart this summer!) Then it was back to Waihi Beach where we listened in to The Feelers' new year's eve concert and the local fireworks, which went til well after midnight.

01 January 2007 31/12/06 Previous 02/01/07 Next Back to top Home

Happy new year! 2007 began with a run for me - suddenly all the events I signed up for last year are THIS YEAR! We decided to drive up to Whangamata this afternoon, to see what all the fuss was about as neither of us had ever been there. We took Trig Rd North and Golden Valley Rd, a lovely drive in the beautiful sunshine, only to hit Auckland-like traffic as we entered Whangamata. (Actually, Evan pointed out to me later that it probably was Auckland traffic, Auckland traffic on holiday in the Coromandel!) We inched through town, impressed with the number of cops we saw, especially cops on motorbikes. Finally we found a park and made it to the beach. And the beach was comparatively empty! A lovely, long stretch of sand, blue water, and bright red pohutakawa. Lovely! And here's our shock admission... we didn't swim here, and so far have not swum even at Waihi Beach... the weather is beautiful but the water's just too cold! So we inched back out of town, drove through Whiritoa to have a nosey there as well, and headed back to our lovely little spot (although the traffic at the Waihi Beach shops on Wilson Rd can be pretty mad at times as well). Our free Waihi Beach Hotel entertainment that night came courtesy of Blindspott - am I a philistine in thinking they would be better named Tonedeaff? A shocking night's sleep.

02 January 20076 01/01/07 Previous 03/01/07 Next Back to top Home

Grandad, mum, Joy and cousins brought food around today, and we had a shared lunch at our picnic table - lovely. And then it came out that Warwick and I hadn't actually yet swum this holiday... so on this gorgeous afternoon (apart from one refreshing thunderstorm, we have had none of the Met Service's promised bad weather) we put on our togs and headed to the beach. There our unstoppable grandad went for a run, our athletic young cousins surfed and backflipped respectively, and Warwick and I braved the waves... it took ages to get into the water, and it was so cold my toes hurt! But the waves were fun (OK, slightly scary cos I don't like waves) and the sun was warm and it didn't take long to get used to the water.

03 January 2007 02/01/07 Previous 04/01/07 Next Back to top Home

I ran again today, for the third time in three days, really enjoying the early morning before many people are about. Inspired by yesterday's swim I even ended my run with a knee-deep wade in the sea - and it felt wonderful! Today was my cousin Evan's 21st birthday, and a celebratory brunch had been organised for him at the Lobster Club in Mt Maunganui. Hooray! It was effectively a long, lovely family reunion, and we all talked non-stop for hours. When it was finally time to leave, Clem and Brad took us out to the driving range at Bayfair, where we both tried our hand at hitting golf balls for pretty much the first time (Clem had once given me a brief golf lesson at home, but I can't say I retained much). Today we got 50 balls each, and the advice from Clem was just to hit them hard. And it was fun! A few balls hit the ceiling and bounced around us a bit, but by and large they went out into the driving range. We followed this up with a bit of window-shopping, and I ended up buying the sandals I had meant to get before summer... I was still in shoes and socks! Today though I got 2 pairs of sandals and a pair of reef shoes for the grand total of $12.95. We also scored 2 sleeping bags for $20 each at Briscoes - what a shopping day! We dropped Clem at Bethlehem and headed home via a quick look around Omokoroa. And this evening, we finally did the bushwalk we had been meaning to do since we got here. The path from the north end of Waihi Beach to Orokawa Bay is a little steep in places but generally easy and very pretty. The views back to Waihi Beach are spectacular, and it is really wonderful to emerge from the track onto a secluded beach. The number of footprints told us it had been busier during the day, and we met several runners and fishers on the track, but when we arrived there were only a couple of campers and a fisherman with his two boys, trying to reel in what they thought might be a stingray. We wandered around as the sun slowly sank behind the hills - beautiful pohutakawa, whole mussle shells, and rogue waves that ran right up over the dry sand and wet my feet! When we got back to the beach the sun was setting beautifully, and we lay on our backs on the grass in the park, watching pink and grey clouds in the yellow sky.

04 January 2007 03/01/07 Previous 07/01/07 Next Back to top Home

Time to leave our lovely holiday! For all our initial dismay at the size of our wee cabin and the noise from the hotel, for me this had been one of the best holidays ever. Lots of sunshine, lots of ice-cream, and of course catching up with lots of lovely people :-) After starting to pack we headed back to the beach for a swim. I decided on a new attitude to the water and walked in boldly, and really, it wasn't so cold. In fact, the water felt warm! Perhaps the sea is starting to warm up at last? Or perhaps it's the power of positive thinking! We had a fantastic swim, and I sat on the beach while Warwick continued jumping in the waves a while longer. I had taken a few photos that morning, and we took a few more this afternoon. We also took the well-beaten path to the dairy for an ice-cream - this one fell off the cone twice but luckily I caught it twice! And after cleaning up our cabin we headed back to Auckland. The traffic was OK but it was a hot drive home... after a record cold December, summer certainly seems to have arrived.

07 January 2007 15/01/07 Next 04/01/07 Previous Back to top Home

Today's a day for catching up with things, including updating this website. Yesterday... well yesterday we (with Rich, Nige and Martin) went to the cricket. Sigh. The life of a Black Caps supporter is never easy... but chasing 262 we were all out for 73...! Sigh. And it was freezing. I always forget how cold it is watching the cricket at Eden Park! So we got home early and even had time for a game of Munchkin with Rich and Nigel. There has been some good cricket this summer: Australia's Ashes performance has been remarkable (apart from the odd stand-out performance, England really just made up the numbers). And there's a triangular series (v England and Australia) in two weeks' time! And the World Cup in only two months! Sigh. Don't wanna talk about the cricket anymore. Much more entertaining than the Black Caps was the large crowd of Sri Lanka supporters in the Panasonic stand. They stood (as one) and danced and cheered to a drum beat for pretty much the entire game. Now that's commitment and passion! PS We have made use of Clem's Christmas present of an ice-cream recipe book and the ingredients for classic dark chocolate ice-cream... home-made ice-cream is delicious! Rich! Creamy! Sigh... swoon...

15 January 2007 22/01/07 Next 07/01/07 Previous Back to top Home

Woohoo! In December I bought an ergonomic keyboard for $6 from TradeMe, followed up last week with a 3M ergonomic mouse for only $15. I have noticed an almost instant reduction in OOS/RSI, especially since the mouse arrived. Such a huge change I had to mention it! The 3M mouse is like a joystick and took no time at all to get used to. The keyboard has highlighted the bad habits I have developed since high school typing days... my right hand can now no longer cross the keyboard to type for my lazy left hand! On the weekend just gone we went ten-pin bowling with a group from Warwick's high school - and Warwick scored four strikes in a row! One on his ninth ball, and three on his tenth! It was a social weekend, and mum joined us to see Cirque Du Soleil's Varekai across the way at Auckland Showgrounds. What a fantastic show, with some astounding acrobatics! Stunts that stick in my mind: a one-handed handstand in a net suspended above the stage; an acrobat sitting on another's upturned feet, backflipping to end up standing on the other's feet, and backflipping again to end up standing with only one foot on the other's foot; fantastic jumps, including backflips, between swinging benches. There was more comedy than I expected - some hilarious moments included a singer chasing a spotlight, better seen than described though.

22 January 2007 Stop gap Next 15/01/07 Previous Back to top Home

Another busy, social weekend! We had phone calls from Sarah and Nikki on Friday, then a much-needed slow morning catching up on things around the house on Saturday. In the afternoon we took the motorbike into town, to take a tour of the Greenpeace boat Esperanza, which was in port. The Esperanza has a helipad, and is kitted out with satellite technology which allows the crew to communicate in realtime over the internet with people around the world. She is in Auckland until Thursday, when she leaves for Antarctica. The difficult and dangerous work of the Greenpeace crews absolutely amazes me, and I loved learning about how they use the smaller, inflatable boats to disrupt the whaling. One of these boats has several modifications to make it more difficult to detect. This includes water nozzles which rain a waterfall down behind the boat. One of the big dangers to the teams on the little boats is hypothermia, as the whaling ships turn large water hoses on them. The Greenpeace workers wear suits that keep them dry as much as possible, but they need to keep changing the team in the smaller boats to avoid the danger of hypothermia. We also learned about the history of whaling in Japan - how the USA helped refit Japanese boats for whaling after WWII, to help feed the starving nation. One of the current Greenpeace campaigns in Japan runs along the lines of "The whales saved us in 1945, now it's our turn to save them". Apparently 69% of the Japanese public do not support whaling, and that figure is higher among younger people there. Our tour ended with a fantastic video of Greenpeace activists putting their bodies on the line in the course of their work. Almost immediately after that, we headed south for a 60th birthday party in Pukekohe, with the entire South Island family up for the occasion. Despite the rain we had a great evening catching up with everyone. And early the next morning I was up early at the airport to pick up our lovely Nikki and Ross. They had had a very extended day, with only snippets of sleep since leaving Alabama, but held up well throughout the day. We climbed One Tree Hill and looked out on Auckland, supplemented breakfast with a visit to Eve's Pantry, arrived to find Clem waiting at home for us, and hung out (literally!) in hammocks until lunchtime. Then we headed back to Pukekohe - Warwick and I on our wee Virago, which ticked over 24,000km on the way. A lovely lunch in front of the tennis and the cricket. Sigh! The cricket... the season is not going too well for our Black Caps. We were very tired when we got home from Pukekohe but when our kiwis showed signs of a decent fight and a possible win against Australia, we stayed up to see it. Sigh... two significant misfields lost us an otherwise well-crafted game. We turned the TV off before the end.

Stop gap 23/03/07 Next 22/01/07 Previous Back to top Home

We did a whole lot of stuff in February and March, but I just haven't got round to writing it up! I kept notes in Samoa anyway, so that will get done first... I'll come back sometime soon and fill in the gap here :-)

23 March 2007 23/03/07 Next Stop gap Previous Back to top Home

Today was the day of all major and important things happening at once. Clem dropped Nik and Ross at the airport, where I planned to go and say goodbye after an un-reschedulable appointment first thing, but plans went dramatically awry when the un-reschedulable appointment threw up some un-delayable paperwork, which I thought I had just time to deal with before leaving. It was after I'd taken care of that that I realised Warwick had left for work accidentally taking our only spare housekey... I didn't have a key to lock up. Aaagh! A quick call to Warwick - I would leave the house unlocked, head in and grab the key from him, come back and lock up before continuing on to the airport. There was still a chance I might miss Nik and Ross, and on the motorway into town the fuel light came on. Oh no! I drove as quickly as I could given the law and fuel economy - a strangely smooth and stressful ride - and noticed Warwick practically doing star jumps to grab my attention on Nelson St. He gave me the key and some handy local knowledge: a little private alley that spits you out onto Hobson St avoiding lights and queues of traffic. And I was off again. Traffic was heavy, but moving, and my only decision was where to stop for petrol. Would I make Gillies Ave? Yes, and I would risk staying on the motorway a little longer. Would I make Market Rd? Yes! Would I make the Caltex on Manukau Rd? Yes! Woohoo! Home - lock door - head out to airport - meet our favourite travellers with about 15 mins to spare. What an effort! [Sad face... farewell to our lovely Nik and Ross who have been fantastic company for the last few weeks]. Oh, OK, better tell the viewing deck story... Clem and I were upstairs at the viewing deck, chatting away with our backs to the glass (expecting our travellers to be a while in passport control). And almost simultaneously...: 1. I mentioned how funny it might be if we actually missed them. 2. Dad approached us, about to pretend we had missed them. 3. The three of us turned around and there below us were Nik and Ross, dancing around and pulling funny faces to get our attention! We really had almost missed them! Then it was home to pack because lovely Clem had a second airport run to do today - Warwick and I were flying out to Samoa at 10pm. Flying today brought back memories of so much travel a few years ago - I miss it. I slept on the plane and awoke to see the Samoan islands of Upolu and Savai'i edged by lights so they stood out from the dark ocean. We touched down at 3am local time, and walked into a temperature of 28 degrees...

23 March 2007 23/03/07 Next 24/03/07 Previous Back to top Home

... and it was Friday the 23rd again. (Samoa is 23 hours behind New Zealand, so the time difference is great but there is no jet lag). As in Rarotonga, we were greeted by music - this time a four-piece band consisting of two guitars, a ukelele, a tea chest (broomstick) bass and four rich and harmonious voices. Our easy transfer took us past plantations and donkeys on the side of the road, to Airport Lodge, where we slept until 10am. We shared a big breakfast (cornflakes, papaya and lime, scrambled eggs, toast, juice and tea or coffee) in an open communal fale with Clare, an Australian off to train teachers in American Samoa. We decided to walk a bit along the coast road to see what was around... after several false starts including going back for hats, sunglasses and sunscreen, we finally made a bit of distance. The island of Savai'i was visible across the clear, blue waters; thatched fales were scattered here and there on the roadside; a traditional outrigger bobbed on top of the water close to the rocky shoreline; and everywhere along the roads, and from the back of open utes, children who saw us would yell out "hi!" and "bye!" One group of pre-schoolers were playing a game where they set three jandals up as a sort of wicket, then threw the fourth to try and knock them down. And suddenly a bus rounded the corner. On a whim we decided to take it into Apia (a good 20+ kilometres away) to see what we could see. We had read about seating in the colourful, noisy buses... that older people and palagi (foreigners) would always be given a seat if possible, and that as the bus filled up, people would start to sit on each other's knees to make more room. This all turned out to be true! On the way into town, I noticed a lot of people sleeping through the heat of the day in open-sided fales. Dogs and pigs wandered along the road, and as in the Cook Islands there were graves beside the houses. Apia itself was hot, dirty and busy. There was lots of fresh produce for sale, including drinking coconuts, large stalks of bananas and flax baskets of taro. We took in some fat, salt and sugar at the airconditioned McDonalds, then wandered through the flea market and along the waterfront before getting a local driver's licence for Warwick. The licence lady, an old man and some school girls at the bus stop all helped us find the right bus (one that wasn't too full) and we headed home, past a rugby game, for a much-needed shower. We were so hot and sweaty! And it felt like we had already been in Samoa for days.

24 March 2007 25/03/07 Next 23/03/07 Previous Back to top Home

We woke early today and read a while, enjoying the peace and quiet here. Warwick ran but I wasn't sure I should - I hadn't seen any women running or dressed in anything remotely like running gear yet, and because Warwick said he himself had attracted quite a lot of attention on the road I think it was a good decision not to go out. I might have run along a beach but not a road. We met a couple of surfing kiwis on our transport to the ferry, then with our luggage stowed safely on the car deck we headed upstairs for the hour-long, very rolling journey across to Savai'i. People slept across seats and in the aisles. Some distance out from the island we could see the famous blowholes - we were due to visit them later in the week. We took a taxi to our rental car place - a very informally run family business by the looks - and picked up the cheapest car we could hire, a Toyota RAV4 with a few dings here and there and a large webbed crack in the top right windshield. Perhaps it had been parked under a coconut tree?! People greeted us with waves and nods as we drove north. Lots of them walked with umbrellas up against the sun, and some carried flax bags on poles across their shoulders. On one property, women were working with bark to make tapa cloth. Rubbish was put in high trays at the side of the road. Samoa drives on the right - our RAV4 was left-hand drive, but right-hand drive cars were common enough that they had big RIGHT HAND DRIVE stickers on the rear to let you know where the driver was. Warwick suddenly mentioned he'd seen a large spider crawl over the bonnet. It's not like Warwick to mention spiders - this one was certainly unexpected and must have been pretty big - but it wasn't until later in the evening that I saw it myself: a huge furry animal with a leg span almost two-thirds the size of my outstretched hand! I'm impressed Warwick kept the car on the road when he first saw it, and I'm very glad it was on the outside! We found our very pretty accommodation site - Regina's Beach Fales - which we had confirmed by email months before, only to find they had no record of our booking. Still they had room for us, and served us lunch when we arrived after 2pm. They seemed to take our vegetarianism in their stride - we were to eat a lot of eggs over the next few days, but they made sure we were always well-fed. A quick note on most of our meals: we had brought our own packaged food from NZ, because of the first words under Lonely Planet's section for vegetarians and vegans: "It's tough." (!) This was true indeed, except for our stay at Regina's. We lunched with an American couple, an Austrian and a Kiwi, and a UK journalist. Later we sat in our thatched fale, watched the ocean and the crabs sidling up and down the beach, and met Frankie, a young boy somehow part of the establishment, who learnt from us the English for water, and who jumped around and played silly games to entertain us and himself. Later he and an older boy were out fishing in the lagoon - the older boy had a long bamboo rod with a line attached, which he would cast into the water then drag along by hovering the bamboo around him in a wide semi-circle. Messy, mixed clouds piled up as part of a colourful sunset, and I walked in the warm water. At dinner we all talked a lot of cricket (the World Cup is on just now), and were served Pina Colada in a coconut shell, decorated with a frangipani flower in a slice of lime. After dinner we looked out at the clear, starry night sky, half moon shining onto the waves (our "moonphorescence"!), listened to the water lapping so close to us, and to the impromptu fiafia taking place in the dining fale: singing, clapping, drumming, and another tea chest bass. What a great place! Much later into the night I looked out again at the sky, it was a deep black with bright clear stars.

25 March 2007 26/03/07 Next 24/03/07 Previous Back to top Home

Sunday: we had heard last night that we shouldn't drive today, because Sunday is a day of rest here (definitely true) and people might even stone your car if you drive (unsubstantiated rumour!) So after breakfast (pancakes, coconut, banana, papaya, scrambled eggs) we checked with our hosts, who said it was fine to drive around and sightsee. With Kim and Lisa in the back and Phillip in the boot (not that bad - it was an SUV!), we drove and drove, through villages, past churches from where we heard beautiful snatches of song, over unexpected speed bumps, past groups of people walking to church dressed all in white, past glimpses of blue ocean, past wandering pigs. We could guess what side the road markers had driven on - one lane was thin and the other normal width! As we headed north, the white sand on both sides of the road gave way to lush plants, part of the overgrown wastes where lava had devastated the north-east of the island a century ago. Farther west, we missed the north entry to the loop road we were looking for, found the south entry to the same loop road, and stopped at a remote white sand beach for a break. Here the water was crystal clear, and broke over large rocks and chunks of shell and coral that hadn't yet been ground down into sand. Farther up the beach, new sand dunes had been put in place and young palms planted as a barrier against the sea. Refreshed, we carried on west - as far west as anyone ever can go on land. Beyond Cape Mulinu'u is the International Dateline at 180 degrees longitude, opposite the Prime Meridian in Greenwich. There were no guides about, but we found a sign, a quiet pool, and a shoreline of large lava rocks, all as described in the guidebook. And scrambling over the rocks we found the white painted cross that marks the westernmost point of land - looking west out to sea (and into the future!) there was only water between us and the dateline. I love that kind of stuff! For Samoans, this is also the traditional departure point of spirits to the underworld (similar to Maori tradition at Cape Reinga, New Zealand's northernmost point): here, most people's spirits are said to follow the trail of the setting sun over the ocean, while chiefs are said to travel through a nearby underground cave. We turned east again, along the north coast road, stopping at the nearby ruins of a Catholic church, destroyed in 1990 by Hurricane Ofa. This was a very poignant place for me - a true ruin, overgrown, no real pathway maintained at all, on its own on the coast as the surrounding village was destroyed. A few of the stations of the cross were still visible inside. Continuing along the road through Falealupo Peninusla, we stopped at the Rainforest Canopy Walkway where our Kiwi-Samoan guide Joe took us along the swing bridge and up a steep and winding staircase to the top of a 225-year-old Banyan tree. I've no idea how high up we were, but we were a long way from the ground! It was refreshingly cool as soon as we stepped under cover of the trees. Back on the ground we talked rugby with Joe and his colleague, received a formal thankyou and farewell from the older man, and drank some much-needed water that had been sitting in the sun in the car for 20 minutes. Warwick decided "I've had tea cooler than this!" We headed home again, and the Sunday afternoon activities around us seemed much less formal than in the morning - lots of children swimming in rock pools. Cold Coke and water hit the spot when we got back, and the wonderful staff at Regina's made us a late lunch including the incredibly delicious palusami (baked parcels of coconut cream and onion (and sometimes meat) wrapped in taro leaves and baked). We swam in the lagoon - with my new prescription goggles I could spot tiny striped and speckled fish. We turned in early after a dinner of light sandwiches. Oh - I got a lot of sun again today! Just kept forgetting to apply sunscreen as often as I needed to. I was not exactly burnt - but very well done :-( On top of my mild sunburn from Tongariro, I am having an unusually sun-stupid summer.

26 March 2007 27/03/07 Next 25/03/07 Previous Back to top Home

Tofa Regina's! We left today. After a usual big breakfast (including large yellow-green-fleshed avocado) we packed up and left our lovely wee fale. The owner of Regina's, aparently the local chief, gave us a formal farewell, and we headed south along the lava-covered eastern road to drop Meg and Mike at the ferry. We dropped our bags at our next accommodation - Lusia's Lagoon Chalets, where we met Analua - then continued on through villages and jungly-rainforest to the powerful Alofaaga Blowholes. A local man (John) threw coconuts into the blowholes for us - they were broken up and flung extraordinarily high into the air. We headed back through Salelologa where we picked up some Panadol for me (I was coming down with a cold likely caught off the plane), dropped off our rental car in Lalomalava, and took another noisy, colourful, wooden-framed bus back into Salelologa (Red, red wiiiiiine... goes to my heeeeeaaad!) This bus had no fewer than seven rear vision mirrors, some stuck onto the windshield by suction cups, and only two of them not covered in decorative stickers of one sort or another. Most of the buses in Samoa have some kind of slogan painted across the front or along the side of them, slogans like "Meanest", "Cool and Unusual", "You Wish", "Poetry in Motion". There were a couple of police officers on the bus - we had hardly seen any outside of Apia. In Salelologa we walked through the market (lots of children wandering around selling chips made from breadfruit or taro), then stopped at a shop for a soft drink. Like most shops, this one looked like a house with a large serving window in front, rather than a door, and lots of advertising for Coke, Streets, etc outside. We waited at the window but couldn't see anyone about. Then just as we were talking about leaving - up popped a guy from where he had been dozing under the counter! He sold us a large bottle of ice-cold coke, which I'm sure is what helped me walk the rest of the way to Lusia's. On the way a very friendly young man came up to chat to us, practising his English, until he came to his place of work: "I'm work here." Lusia's gave us a lovely chalet built out over the lagoon, in a garden setting - we could see Upolu from there. I love Samoa! We swam in the lagoon (alternating warm and cold currents) and in the shady little rock pool, which was fed by the sea but was much colder. Lots of mozzies here - we were under the mosquito net early! I fell asleep listening to some lovely classical piano music from somewhere nearby, and the gentle lapping of water against the poles under our fale.

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Oh I am so sick...! Breakfast was welcome though - more fresh papaya, banana, coconut, scrambled eggs and toast. When we got back to our fale we went out onto the balcony, and there in lagoon below us were schools and schools of exotic fish! I don't know what they all were, little silvery ones being herded into one spot by big fat ones with horizontal stripes, little yellow and black angel-fish types, yellow and black or blue and black clown-fish types, grey ones, white ones with blue and red markings on their backs, little blue and orange ones, black and white vertically-striped ones, and one large yellow-green fish with a little black one following him around like a shadow. It was as if someone's tropical aquarium had been tipped into the lagoon between our fale and the rock pool. Beautiful! We lazed around a lot today because I wasn't well - in fact, I think I managed to sleep heaps. In my clearer moments I read Dava Sobel's The Planets, a birthday present from dad and a very good read. Warwick swam a lot, including sitting among the many fish in the rock pool, and in the afternoon we had a brief but heavy shower of rain. I slept well through the night despite my sleepy day - I was used to the sound of the sea by now, and obviously needed the shuteye - I think I got most of February's sleeping done today!

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We woke to a golden sunrise over the lagoon. Our fish were back but not in quite the same number or variety. Warwick took a last opportunity to snorkel before we packed up, ate breakfast, and left Lusia's. We would return later to pick up our packs - in the meantime, we headed to the ancient Pulemelei Mound and the Afu Aau Falls. To get there, we walked up a quiet forestry road (saw a red centipede like the black ones on Rarotonga) to the main road, where we caught a bus to Vailoa. We heard a lot of Samoan music on the bus radios throughout our holiday - there's a definite preference for reggae and hip-hop here, but also local music and Samoan covers of a variety of big hits such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Scar Tissue and Bee Gees' Words! Actually not bad! A really nice man on the bus helped an older woman carry her large cooking pot onto and off the bus as she needed, he also asked us where we were going and made sure we got the right stop. The track was marked by two iron poles and a tiny little sign. Best decision of the day: go to the more distant ancient star mound first, then finish off with a swim at the waterfall on the way back. We walked, and walked, and walked through the plantation, getting hotter and hotter and more and more disheartened, until we checked our guidebook more thoroughly and realised we had embarked upon a 2+ km journey! It was easier once we knew what kind of distance lay in front of us. Soon we were there, and we climbed up the mound on a path dotted with red-leafed plants. And then the rain came down! It poured. Luckily there were trees for cover. The mound is basically a really big, square pyramid of volcanic rocks, almost perfectly square to the points of the compass, and noone really knows what it was built for. It would have taken a lot of work though! The rain cleared, giving us a view to the lagoon and the ocean beyond, and bringing pretty blue butterflies out in great number. By the time we got 2km down to the falls again (passing a friendly Samoan who graciously forgave us for being Aucklanders...!) we had sure earned our swim. We crossed an open valley of coconut trees, and could soon hear the water tumbling down in the distance. The spot we found was even better than I had heard it described: a tall, lonely waterfall crashed down through the trees into a crystal clear swimming hole, which was also fed by other smaller waterfalls around its edge, and by underground springs. What a place - probably the most beautiful little spot I have ever been, and we had it all to ourselves. It was a steep and slippery climb down to the swimming hole, but most definitely worth the effort. We swam and swam around the thundery waterfall, then I warmed up again on the rocks in the sunshine. Did I hear singing coming from somewhere in the direction of town? I'm not sure, I think so. Among the insects around were thin blue dragonflies, and fat red ones. They reminded me of the bright yellow and bright red (and very big) wasp-type things we had seen at Lusia's. As I got out of the pool for the last time, I slipped and smacked my shin square into a big rock. Ouch! Got an impressive graze and bruise! We climbed back up the steep path - probably not everyone could do this - then bussed back to Salelologa where we changed a bit of kiwi cash at a good rate, and walked to the ferry terminal. Because I was still exhausted and not 100% recovered from my cold, Warwick walked back to Lusia's and brought both our packs back himself. Soon we were out on the ocean again, and could see our lagoon chalet - and later some blowholes - when we looked back. We taxied back to Airport Lodge, showered and relaxed in an airconditioned room for the first time in several days.

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Woke to early church bells... our last full day in Samoa, and so many things we haven't seen or done! We'd like to come back, and see more of Upolu next time. A little bird sat at the edge of our table during breakfast - we found later at the botanical gardens that this was an introduced bird called manu palagi, or Red-vented Bulbul, and the bird we saw throughout the trip stretching its little neck out in front as it ran across the road was a Vea. We caught the bus to Maketi Fou, the big market in Apia which I hadn't recognised when we wandered through on our first day here. As we had been told, a group of men sat around a big, many-legged kava bowl at the back of the market. We couldn't decide what to do: Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, Papasee'a Sliding Rock, or snorkelling at Palolo Deep Marine Reserve? We would only have time to do one thing. We headed to the Tourism Authority to check buses and admission prices, then decided to head to the bus stop and take the first of the recommended buses wherever it would take us. The first bus went to the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, so the decision was made. A very long drive led us up to a grand lawn and large house, where a museum employee was kicking a rugby ball around (a couple more joined him shortly after). We took what was probably the world's fastest tour, but it was really interesting - I had no idea how prolific Stevenson was, especially given his chronic illness and early death. He chose a spot with beautiful views, and built fake fireplaces in the house to remind him of home (there's no need to warm the house here). First editions of Kidnapped, Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde were displayed in the house, as well as some original pieces of furniture and original 100-year-old medicines. At the end there was a short exhibition on the history of photography in Samoa. Stevenson was so well-loved here that when he died, lines of local people passed his body along to his resting place at the top of Mt Vaea. We met a Kiwi outside who had returned from the walk to Stevenson's tomb at the top of the mountain - she was utterly exhausted and as we were in two minds about going anyway, we decided to give it a miss. Instead, a guide (Toetu) showed us down to Stevenson's favourite swimming hole, and on the way showed us cinnamon trees, noni trees, lemon tea leaves and giant oranges. We also saw huge black lizards. On the way out we stopped in the office of the Botanical Gardens, where we identified the birds we had been seeing and spoke to a young man about the development of the gardens in Samoa. He seemed happy to stop a chat and take the time of day with us, just as our host at Airport Lodge had been in the morning when we told her about our trip to Savai'i. Nice attitude to people and to life. We walked down to Apia, past a schools rugby 15s game and through welcome showers of rain, then got cool and fed at the air-conditioned McDonald's. Busloads of schoolboys drove through town, the boys singing their hearts out in fantastic tune! We wandered back through Maketi Fou and bought an iced drinking coconut which was very refreshing. The variety of food on sale was fantastic, including ever-present taro, breadfruit, bananas, coconut and delicious palusami. There was a lot of unidentifiable stuff in Coke bottles... one of these was labelled Fanuu, and turned out to be a kind of healing oil. On the way back home the bus was really full, and everyone, including us ended up doubling each other! More bus notes: speedos usually stuck on zero... truck body built in 1964... I could see right through to the road under the gear stick...! I loved the buses, they were musical and colourful and I thought it was fantastic that they had already had such long and useful lives. We saw rugby (with tree-branch goal posts) and volleyball being played as we rode along, then we arrived home to pack and shower and contemplate returning to Upolu and perhaps American Samoa next time...

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We had arranged a wake-up knock on the door at 4:40am, then the alarm went at 4:45, and we were up, dressed and had our bags in the airport transfer van by 5am. Then... the engine wouldn't turn over. Rain began to fall and we were pushed back and forth, up and down the drive, while the driver tried to start the van, but all with no luck. The owner, Dave, had to give us a lift to the airport himself. We passed a church on the way, a white glow in the dark morning, an open-sided building all lit up with beautiful stained glass, with one adherent and one priest. We overtook a very full bus on its way to Apia - apparently the buses start running about 4am! With all the delays we were just beaten to the check-in queue by Aggie Grey's shuttle bus, which meant we were last in a long line. Then we were delayed because we hadn't paid our departure fee (stung with this in Auckland as well - our tickets included all airport taxes but not airport fees), and delayed again because we hadn't filled out departure cards, but finally we were crossing the tarmac... I spotted a beautiful rainbow in the clouds, while Warwick spotted a huge dent in the plane (that thankfully was actually meant to be there!). We were sad to leave and hadn't done everything we wanted to, but a week was the right amount of time to be away from home. On the flight I saw a little atoll in the middle of the vast ocean, and soon after that a lonely volcano that looked forested (uninhabited) right down to the sea. Different layers of clouds moved below us at different speeds, and a circle rainbow appeared for a while in the clouds below us. For a while, nothing worked on our side of the plane so Warwick gave me a hilarious voiceover of the movie on the big screen. We were pretty tired so it was a really giggly journey! Friday lasted only those first few hours, then it was Saturday already. Saturday 31 March: Jen and Derek kindly picked us up from the airport and we went out for coffee and snacks at Constant Cravings down the road from us. YUM! Sunday 01 April: Warwick ran the Whenuapai Half marathon, but I pulled out because I really was not recovered from that heavy cold. Boo hoo! Samoa won the Hong Kong Sevens this weekend - we'd have loved to have stuck around for the celebrations. Wednesday 04 April: Got a flu jab today, through work. Because of our Samoa trip, this was my fourth vaccination against five different diseases in a month!