Good Sunday morning to you all.
The last couple of months have passed so quickly between moving home,cleaning ,packing and unpacking, it is only now that I have been able to complete my blogs at last.
You will have already received my Samoan experience this week and now enclose our unbelievable Dingleburn Escape at the end of April.
If you are keen to have a week in Samoa, I am happy to customise a tour for you. Contact me re yr interest.
Apologies for sending you out 2x updates in one week, but hopefully you will all now be up to speed with whats happening ‘Road Less Travelled’ wise.
I am at the Nelson Womens Expo Sat 5 and Sun 6 July 08, so love to see you.
Have a fantastic week and many thanks for the fab feedback.
Keep warm and cosy
Anah

Last day in Samoa with final cocktails with Auntie and Anita last night.

Anita and her Mum operate a small cocktail bar on the beach at Lalomanu with the best Pino Coladas around. They have such fantastic smiles with the best service and lived in Aussie for many years. We were often found at the cocktail bar watching the spectacular sunsets and checking out alpha and beta centauri, the pointers towards the Southern Cross.

Auntie and Anita also have 6 Fales as tourist accomodation and were the cleanest around with the best and cleanest toilet facilites, as all girls need a clean loo and shower! Fales provide basic accomodation but for me, with an immediate beach and reef view were absolutely aok.

Travel light and make sure you take a towel as none are provided. A hand sanitiser also a good move. As with developing countries around the world, drink only bottled water and use this to clean teeth.

If you are thinking about travelling to Samoa and want to check out Fale beach accommodation, Auntie and Anita’s new website:  www.samoabeachbungalows.ws  Tell them you know me from June’s wedding from NZ.

Thank you Auntie and Anita and the very best for your new website and fales. ))

4pm: The Sydney Cafe = the best cafe in Apia with the best lattes, smoothies and wholesome food. Fresh fruit and veges are often hard to find. But there are always the ever versatile coconut tree products, delicious finger bananas and fresh fish. I did not think there was a lot to shop for in Apia, however some of the wooden bowls ,fabrics and bags were just stunning. And thats exactly what I brought home.

It is great to visit the markets in Apia with everything from food, to handcrafts and to the stall owner always providing a cool flow of air with the very effective handmade fans.

Many flights home seem to travel during the late evening or early hours of the morning. At 1.45am Saturday 21 June ’08, Air New Zealand flight NZ861 departs Apia for Aotearoa.

Its so easy to stay on the beach, read, lie a bit in the sand, watch the waves ebb and flow and generally just chill, however a tiki tour around the isle is a must. A much greater appreciation of Samoa is gained.

The Robert Louis Stevenson home, Vailima, is incredible. Here, there is an acute sense of history and his colonial mansion has been restored and I personally think, a visit here is on top of the to do list!

Robert Louis only spent 4 yrs in Samoa and died with complications of TB. A disease he had as a child and the reason his parents moved to the tropical climes of the South Pacific.

His writing in those 4 yrs was prolific and he wrote approx 13 books during that time.In total, if I remember rightly, Robert Louis wrote over 40 books in his lifetime dying at the age of 44. The well known ones we know,”Kidnapped” and “Treasure Island’.

He was an advocate for Samoan autonomy and was revered amongst the Samoan people for his generosity and humility. His tomb is at the top of a mountain close to his home and has ‘The Requiem’ engraved on his stone. Sadly his children also died later, both creative artists in their own rights and the Robert Louis Stevenson line disappeared. ‘Vailima’ and its magnificent tropical gardens imbue a sense of calm,tranquility and history.

Samoa consists of two main islands Upolu, the most populated, (where I stayed) and Savaii, where you will find traditional tapa making and much less people. This art is dying out but a resurgence to teach the young is underway.

I am under cover in our Fale ( hut on the beach) just metres from the lapping waves of the Pacific Ocean in tropical rain.

Today is wedding day and we have had a cyclone off shore, overnight so as we are practising a hula Samoan style dance with all the girls and the boys the haka hoping the rain will disappear this arvo in readiness for the bride to come ashore to conch shells on her waka by the local boys.

The dining room is beautifully decorated with tropical plants in vibrant colours and shapes. Its going to be such a wonderful experience for all.

And it was just beautiful!!!!!

Plants here are lush and hold many medicinal secrets.A wee walk to a hilltop taro plantation with some of the girls had us very enlightened. Papaya for healing wounds and the Noni plant now sold in many countries, hold the life giving properties for health and wellbeing. Its so good to see local plants being used so benefically.

One of the plants we saw, may hold the secret to assisting the spread of Aids virus in individuals. Studies are still being carried out and it sounds like ‘watch this space’.

Being a Registered Nurse, I was very keen to see how things work at the local village hospital. So under the tropical sun I walked the village roads leading to the new hospital and greeted with ‘ Where you from?’ Many of the Samoan people have links with New Zealand, love the rugby,…go Manu Samoa. Many have family who go to work in NZ to help their whanau here, some of the girls returning home to look after aging patents. A young RN showed me around the wee village hospital and without Drs,they become the practioners seeing people acutely and in clinics.

Medicines are often in short supply and everyone has to make do. With Apia being an hour and a half away, immediate treatment takes time so the Nurses have to do the best they can. As NZ nurses ,we take for granted our dressing packs and medicines always being on hand. Here it is back to basics, the nurses making up their own supplies for dressings.

Thank you for the insight.

I arrived in the Pacific Isle of Samoa in the early hours of the morning, in the darkness of Samoa’s capital, Apia’s airport. About 12 of us flew from Auckland to celebrate our friends wedding, in Samoan style. There will be about 70 of us coming over from NZ to join in the celebration.

What a way to share their special day!
We are staying at Tafua Beach Fale on the Sthern Coast of Samoa about an hour and a half’s drive from Apia. I guess the thing that has struck me most, first was the elevation points of this island -volvanic pacific rim. For some reason I thought this isle would be relatively flat however the ups and downs provide great contouring from a visual delight aspect.

The second thing was that the villages appear very poor with both santitation, health and water issues. Although I have been to Rarotonga before, Samoa’s tourist industry appears to be just getting in the swing of things and this isle is beginning to attract more and more tourists, particularly those who are prepared to go off the beaten track.

Many Kiwis travel here. Samoa is the midway point for the Pacific and is a day behind us in Aotearoa. The beaches with idylic white sands and coral reefs are just beautiful. For families and individuals, swimming and snorkling is heaps of fun and safe for children, as all is so close to the shore in what is very pleasant warm sea temperatures. Relax moments join together in the clear blue waters.