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Published: September 24th 2006
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The September Hols!!!!!
At last ! After what seemed an eternity - the holidays finally arrived. Ivor and I lazed around a bit on the Saturday and then packed up and set off for Samoa on the Sunday morning. Who says that time travel is not possible?? We set off from Hobart at 9am on Sunday morning and arrived in Apia, Samoa at 1,30am Sunday morning - what on earth?? Turns out that you cross the International dateline when going to Samoa, so although it is only 5 hours away from Sydney, it is 21 hours behind Hobart. The journey there was uneventful. We got a lift to the airport from a colleague of Ivor's and arrived with plenty of time to catch the plane. We flew to Sydney in 2 hours and then had a 4 hour wait for the plane to Apia. We flew Virgin Blue which is actually quite entertaining - though you have to pay for everything on board. Ivor and I amused ourselves playing scrabble and reading.
When we finally arrived at the airport in Apia in the wee small hours - we were greeted by very hot temperatures and an airport full of palm trees
and men playing guitars to welcome us - somewhat surreal! We managed to get a taxi - with no hassle - Samoan people as a rule are very Christian orientated and consequently do not hassle you or try to 'rip-you-off'!!
We checked into our hotel and went to sleep about 3am.
The first morning (Sunday again) we got up leisurely and tried to shower - the power and water had gone off ! (just what you need when you have travelled to a sweaty country and had a very sweaty night !!) We tried to deal with it as the Samoans do and just said "ah well" - washed as best we could with drinking water and set off into town - where I am sorry to say we ended up having a Macdonalds breakfast !!!! Nowhere else was open and by this time we were starving!!!! We wandered around Apia (very very hot 30 something degrees) and then went back to the hotel and had a kip. We also had a read and a swim in the pool there. (though now I discovered that the country has a lot of mosquitoes!!!!- that are active in the day)We saw a
lot of Samoans going to church - they all dress entirely in white!
The next few days we discovered Apia. We went snorkelling in a very safe reef in the town - which was the most amazing experience ever. There was every type and colour of fish imaginable. We also saw loads of coral and underwater activity - the likes of which I have never seen in my life!! I was hooked! We saw a very beautiful fish that Ivor pointed at (sign language has its uses underwater - and Ivor is learning a bit!!!) that looked like a lion ! - we later discovered that it is actually quite poisonous.
We found a very nice restaurant in Apia that was actually owned by a Hobart man!
Next stop was Savai'i island. We caught the ferry across and stayed in a somewhat 'posh' cottage type place (we both later agreed that we preferred the Fales - though air-conditioning was very nice!) Samoa, and particularly Savai'i is amazing. It really is like stepping back in time. Every village has a hierarchy and a chief who is in control of what happens to some extent, they even manage their own
'crime'. Everyone is deeply religious and, as well as attending church on Sunday, they have prayers every day at 6pm when a horn is blown and any visitors or passers-by have to stop and join in, or just remain where they are. They are a very friendly self-sufficient bunch and we were often accosted by Samoans trying to help us - genuinely sincere.
We caught the bus one day and observed a really unusual activity - "stacking" -basically, there is a hierarchy of who should get a seat. Old women seem to take priority as do pregnant women. When someone who has priority, over a seat, gets on - people move onto other people's laps!!! Ivor and I were mesmerised.Children are at the bottom of the pecking order but were often stacked 3 on each other's knees!! Fortunately, foreigners were exempt from the game and the Samoans were just keen to give us a seat - though I refused when a little old man was trying to give up his seat for me!!!
We loved Savai'i and we were gutted when we were unable to hire a car to see the whole island. Taxis were very expensive
and buses knocked-off after about 2pm - or whenever the driver fancied packing up for the day. Times were very varied and unreliable! We did, however, do some more great snorkelling , including some around an old ship-wreck.
An Aussie couple did give us a bit of a lift and we went to see an old volcanic crater full of wildlife. We then went to see a village where Ivor and the bloke we were with played Kirikiti which is a form of cricket. No women were playing so I and the lady we were with just looked after the valuables. Neither Ivor or the bloke really seemed to understand what was happening.
Ivor's favourite part of that day was when it started pouring down and we spotted some children playing in the puddles - literally throwing themselves into them - absolute joy on their faces!!
One day we visited the Lava fields - the Women's Committee from the local village, were asking for the fee to look round (all the money asked for was directed back into the village) One woman told me that the men had done it before - but spent most of the takings
on beer!!! They were a very jolly crowd and gave us a cup of Samoan tea - luke-warm cocoa made from local cocoa beans. The lava fields were amazing - The volcano nearby had erupted in 1906 and destroyed the village - including 2 churches. Nobody was killed as they had escaped, though legend has it that the village was destroyed because people there had stopped going to church and God was angry. One grave was saved in the curchyard - where lava had simply gone around it - this was believed to be because the lady buried there was a deeply religious virgin!!!
The rest of our time was spent back in Upolo - we visited Robert Louis Stevenson's home (very impressive!!) and did a lot more snorkelling and swimming in waterfalls and craters. There was one crater called "The Trench" that was about 100 ft down. You had to climb down a vertical ladder. We were with another English couple in their twenties (we had hired a car by this point and were taking them out with us as they were on a very strict budget!!) We were all a bit wary about climbing down until a
Samoan lady showed us how to get on the ladder. In the end - I did it - on my own - whilst the others watched!!. It was ok (without looking down) and the water in the crater was great!!! The tide came into it - so you were sort of swirled (quite safely and gently) around!!!Another day, Ivor jumped over waterfalls into deep pools. We also both swam in cave pools - one of which you swam through a very short tunnel to reach another cave (Ivor was much braver than me on that one - but he swam through with me to push me through if need be!!!)
Before long - our trip was up and we left for Sydney. Wow - what a place ! We caught up with Ivor's second cousin Bruce and his partner Angie. The last time we saw him was 3 years ago when we got engaged.
Sydney was 30 degrees and an amazing place! I loved it! We did a fair bit of sightseeing of where the first settlers arrived - then the Opera House and Harbour Bridge - before going out and meeting up with UK friends who have emigrated
to Australia.
Definitely a holiday to remember!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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henri
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yeh wow! swimming in a crater sounds cool! i was slightly worried about how you got out tho... i guess you did if you wrote the blog!! look so sunny..gone all cold and novembery here tho wierdly warm up til now. enjoying some peace after mainc work and weekend! ah!