The last couple of weeks has been mainly a succession of ‘lasts’ for me and Ed, as we prepared to leave Samoa. Last weekend away to beach fales, last swim, last visit to the fruit and vegie lady, last day at work, last mango smoothie, last night out on the town in Apia, last outrigger paddle, last time to see friends… Some lasts came and went without us realising, for example the last time I drove across the Cross Island Road, the main road straight over the middle of the island, was quite a while ago and I can’t even remember where I was going. Some lasts were more momentous, like hugging goodbye our friends, not being sure when next we’ll see them, and also the last forty minute drive from Apia to the airport, waving ... read more

A couple of weekends ago we farewelled a group of volunteers, our friends, who had finished their year here and were heading home. It was something of a milestone, as it was the first group we have seen leave that we were also here to greet as they arrived in country. Previous volunteers have left but they had all arrived before us; we’re now the longest-serving Aussie volunteers in Samoa. (See the pics of the farewell weekend at Vavau, complete with coconut tree climbing demonstrations). We certainly know the island inside out by now, helped by a recent flush of visitors. Ed’s family arrived to stay in July, toddler Jasper in tow on his first international holiday during which he also had the excitement of his first ever ice-cream. We spent a lovely time at various ... read more

Here's the second instalment of my trip to Tokelau for their series of women's events in March. See the first instalment for the painful boat trip and an intro to the intriguing atolls of Tokelau. Day six - Saturday I rose early to get to the handicrafts market; the main event of the economic summit. Tokelauan handicrafts are quite coveted, several of my Samoan colleagues asked me to pick them up a fan or two while I was there. Of course there was another opening ceremony, with many speeches and some singing, but then it was a free-for-all at the stalls. I filmed for a short while people buying and selling, and then in no time almost everything had gone. Luckily a woven tray I had had my eye on the day before was one of ... read more

Hello, Julia here - and a very belated Happy New Year to all! I recently joined a local soccer team, having been invited by a colleague who plays with a bunch of his former workmates from a previous job. It’s 11 a side with a minimum of five girls on field at any time, and we get to play on the fields from the South Pacific Games so the set up is pretty good. I’m the only palagi (foreigner) on the team, and everyone speaks in Samoan so I’ve spent a bit of time nodding along to the pre-game pep talks pretending I have a clue what they’re talking about. And of course they all knew my name straight away, but it took me weeks to work out any of their names after one introduction to ... read more

Who would have thought life in Samoa could get so busy! Excuses aside, I’ve finally written the first instalment of our trip to the other side of the world. Europe really is on the other side from Samoa, you can go either way around and it takes about the same time. So here you go: Having barely spent three months settling in to our new island home, Ed and I suddenly decided it would be a really good idea to jump up and leave again for three weeks to Europe. I’d been hatching the plan for a little while, but it was only at the very last minute we decided it would actually work. It wasn’t completely harebrained, we did have a couple of good reasons for launching off again - my cousin Rachel’s wedding in ... read more