Writing this in bed, it’s 9 pm but we have abandoned the Super rugby semifinal game that’s being shown in the main dining room as the Crusaders are giving the poor Blues an absolute hiding, at 32 to 3 at half time. Yikes. Glad I’m not at the game, not least because it’s 9 degrees there v a very pleasant 27 degrees here.
We have had another fabulous day here in Samoa.
I had two cups of instant coffee first thing while Simon was out on his usual holiday early morning run. Not sure how old the instant coffee sachets were but they had congealed into hard lumps in the humidity. They dissolved eventually in the hot water and the taste was nothing that a generous amount of sugar couldn’t fix.
I picked up some snorkelling gear before breakfast. The man in charge of gear hire asked me what size flippers I wanted, and I hesitated trying to figure if they used European, NZ or UK sizing. Ummm 38? I mean, small, medium, or large? Oh! I said. Medium. We don’t have any mediums. Oh well, small? No, we don’t have any smalls. What size do you have? Large or extra large. OK, large then. So he gave me a pair which were labelled 38-40 – medium. It was very reminiscent of the cheese shop sketch.
The breakfast buffet was nothing to write home about (although is that what I’m doing here?) and we then set off in our hire car to our first destination of the day.
15 minutes of driving got us to Sopo’aga falls. These were very impressive after yesterday’s rain and worth every penny of the twenty tala we had to pay to see them.
From there we drove 50 k in the other direction to do the coastal walk, 1.8km return through native bush over old lava fields. I really enjoy rock hopping, it’s a real pleasure to be nimble on my feet, long may it last as I age. We wizzed past several groups of walkers who were much less light on their feet. There were sheer cliffs down to the pounding waves below which were alarming and awe inspiring, and the lava fields were terrific, you could see were the lava had flowed and then hardened. It reminded me of making chocolate fudge as a kid. I usually overcooked it and it ended up hard and unpleasantly crunchy.
By now we were quite warm and sweaty as the temperature climbed up into the late 20s, and very humid. We decided to head to a beach on the far East of the island which the Lonely Planet recommended as one of the top beaches of the world. Unfortunately this meant another hours drive back past the way we’d already come, which meant more driving for Simon. Earlier in the day he had asked me to google “why do people drive so slowly in Samoa?” but that was just before we came across a herd of cows wandering aimlessly across the road. These plus numerous dogs, chickens, some sort of small weka-like birds that love to dart across the road with no warning, families of pigs, and innumerable school children at all hours of the day, make driving here a stressful experience. We also had to cross several fords (fordes? fiords?) on our way up the East coast, which isn’t something I’ve done for years.
Anyway, we got to this highly lauded beach only to find that it was pretty ordinary, the only thing of interest being a stand of trees full of bats.
We back tracked a short way to another beach that was gorgeous, I suspect there was some sort of mix up at the Lonely Planet office on the day they were writing up their “best beaches” segment.
We had a lovely lunch – all the raw fish we haven’t been able to get at our hotel, I had a swim, and we drove home for nap time.
I stuck with wine for happy hour, and then we went for dinner, at a later hour than last night in an attempt to avoid children. This tactic didn’t work as the restaurant was once again heaving with kids, but actually they were much less annoying today. I think that was because of the live music, which seems to tame the savage child in the same way it does the beast. The band was four young people, sitting on a bench, a young man with a guitar and three young women. They sang covers and did a very good job.
Raw fish was off the menu again, but the food was fine, and the special dessert of the day, a lemon tart, was absolutely devine. We were chased up again during the evening to sign for some drinks we’d ordered earlier in the evening “you forgot to sign this” whereas no one ever asked us to sign anything originally and it seems to be random what you have to sign for and what you don’t. Never mind.
Simon is looking forward to seeing what the other resorts we’re staying in will be like. Our holiday is a kind of slow road trip, and we’re going to be staying in several different places. I sent him the original article “A week in Samoa” and he has done all the work since then, booking everything, so I’m not to make any complaints about anything. And fair enough too. I’m not even tempted so far.
PS Final score 52:15. Ugly, but not as bad as it might have been.