Western Samoa - South Pacific

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Trip Start Apr 15, 2008 Previous
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  Apia, Upolu, Samoa Western
Friday, October 24, 2008

Samoa, South Pacific
We arrived at Apia Airport at 5am after a ten hour night flight from LA, today is a big milestone for us, Mrs F and I have been married for 25 wonderful years, I think we'll remember this special time for sure. 
As we walked off the plane the humid air hit us and I turned into an instantaneous water fountain! We cleared customs and emerged into a throng of taxi drivers calling out to us. We had arranged a transfer over the web with our accommodation but there was no one to be seen!? We were just about to take another cab when a guy pulled up with the name of our beach Fales on. It was actually for another guest but we weren't proud it was a mini bus so we jumped in anyway! The trip down the coast road took two hours. We had to make two stops for the hefty Samoan driver to have a cigarette! Although it was still early there was heaps of activity as we passed through the villages, children of all ages were dressed in their crisp school uniforms waiting for the school buses to take them to school

Our 25th Wedding Anniversary

. Pigs wondered the kerbs often with a pack of piglet's toddling on behind and dogs all over the show, they all seemed to be streetwise slowly dodging out of the way as our minibus whizzed by. 
The countryside was lush with tropical plants covering just about every inch of spare ground, palm trees swayed in the morning breeze and just off shore blue waves crashed into a white froth as the hit the protective coral reefs which surround the islands. We had arrived in paradise!  As we turned the last corner of our journey we were met with the most beautiful scene, a powder white beach, lining an azure blue lagoon with a mountainous and densely covered off shore island, the perfect picture post card scene, this would be our home for the next week. 
Our "shed on the beach"! Taufua Beach Fales has the best location on the island, well worth the two hour drive from Apia Airport. Sili the Samoan owner warmly greets all his guests as they arrive. The resort is built in the typical Samoan style, no air con here! but as you are right on the beach, with a constant breeze it's actually ok. The fales are set on stilts, we opted for a private bathroom, which was handy! There is only cold running water but as it's warm all the time it's really quite refreshing. In our fale we had a proper bed but as we had changed our booking to fit in Peru we had to have one of the basic Fales for our last two nights

Our local beach

. These are again on stilts but consist of an open sidedshack, topped with coconut thatch, the bed is a traditional mattress on the floor, these open up just feet from the tide line so you can literally walk down your wooden steps when you wake up and splash straight into the lagoon, you really don't need all the creature comforts when the view is this good! Meals are served looking out over the ocean on communal tables, which was a great way for us to mix with fellow travellers from around the world. 
After our relaxing week on Samoa we return to Apia to catch our flight to Tonga. Unfortunately the plane sprang a leak on the fuel pump which initially delayed it by one day. The following evening we went out to the Airport, boarded the flight, sat on there for an hour and a half only to be told the leak had not been fixed fully, I'm glad I wasn't on that flight down form LA! We were ushered back into the tiny terminal and there we stayed until 4am in the morning, until they finally realised there was no quick fix. We stayed over night in a hotel and were told the following morning the flight was cancelled and we would have to wait until 5.40am the next day to fly out. Unfortunately we were only going to be in Tonga for a couple of nights and now we'd miss our connection. The upshot of it is we are now crossing our fingers that the flight leaves ok and we will go direct to Auckland, NZ. We'll let you know how it goes! These Islands are extremely remote so you really have to go with the flow and Air New Zealand have kindly put us up and fed us for a couple of days so at least that's good for the budget!

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Martina & Betina from Norway	Cocktail Time!	Sunrise outside our shed!	Our shed on the beach!

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