Samoa

To celebrate our dear friends Jess and Fran's 30th birthdays, we decided to hop over to the tiny island of Samoa for a week of celebrating! We left Friday night and returned the following Sunday. Samoa is only about a 5 hour flight from Sydney... in between Australia & Hawaii. 

Day 1- The Longest Day Ever

We landed in Apia on the island of Upolu at 6am and drove the two hours to Lalomanu Beach. 

First thoughts- it's so green!

Piggies everywhere!

Taufua Beach Fales- our home for the next 4 nights

This was cool! We stayed in an "open-air fale' for the first night. It was wonderful. Luckily, it didn't rain!

Some board games and beer during lunch

Vailima is brewed in Samoa and tastes like... beer.

The first of many cocktails-

Meet Ginger, one of the resort kitties-

At Taufua, breakfast and dinner were served family style. Lots of seafood, bread, potatoes, and taro (a root grown in the area). We joked that we were on a high-carb, high-sugar, high-alcohol diet for our entire trip!

Lucky us, we arrived just in time for Fiafia Night! Fiafia is a celebration of Samoan culture with songs, dances, and a fire show. Each resort usually hosts its own fiafia led by the family owners and locals. 

They invited us up to try it out... I never say "no" to a stage.

Day 2- Ocean Trench Day

This is how morning coffee should be enjoyed every day!

We moved into a closed fale for the rest of our stay at Taufua. We actually preferred the open-air option.. until it started pouring rain in the middle of the night. Then we were very thankful to have walls.

We spent the morning relaxing on the beach...

With a break for a mid-wedding Facetime sesh with my Spain loves! Congrats Benny

Lunch was a roast pig and some sides. A "size 2" pig as they called it!

And then we headed to To Le Sua Ocean Trench for the afternoon. This was awesome! Volcanic activity caused a hole to open in the ground that connected to the ocean. Kewl dude.

The GoPro was doing some weird things this day...

We wrapped up the day with more carbs and a killer sunset-

Day 3- Extreme Adventure Day

What was described to us the night before as a "boat ride to a nearby island, a short walk, and some fresh coconuts"... turned into a much bigger adventure! 

With no instructions, safety briefing, signed waiver, or life jackets, we followed Tellie (one of the resort workers/locals) on a 45 minute kayak trip to Nu'utele Island.

 

We arrived on the island safely (barely). Some of us took a few spills en route.

We followed Tellie on a walk around the island. These were THE slipperiest rocks and this was not a leisurely stroll.. this was a trek. It is a true miracle none of us got hurt. And before we left the resort, I even asked Tellie if we needed to bring any athletic shoes. His response? "Nah..."

It was beautiful, though! 

We learned that this island was a former leper colony from 1916-1918 but is now uninhabited. Spooky, scary...

After the "walk" we learned all about coconuts. How they grow them, pick them, all the different stuff you can get out of them, etc. It was neat! 

We kayaked back to the island and nearly everyone capsized on the way in. Jono and I somehow made it through but everyone else flipped. I was too nervous to take any pictures (I had a death grip on my oar), but the mental images I have of people flipping over will never go away. It was scary and beautiful and hilarious.

Needless to say, we needed some strong cocktails that night. We headed to a neighboring resort for more carbs and some pool time.

Day 4- Culture Day

We went on a little excursion with Mama Sena!

Taufua is a family-owned resort, run by Mama Sena. Her parents were the original owners of the land and built up the resort several years ago. Tourism in Samoa only started in the mid 90s (when they got reliable electricity and paved roads!). The resort was destroyed in the 2009 tsunami and several guests were killed. Many of the resort workers were injured; Mama Sena was swept out to sea about 500 meters. The resort didn't have any insurance when it was destroyed and it took them a year and lots of donated labor and money to build it back up from scratch. Mama Sena had some crazy stories...about the tsunami, Samoa, life in general. John suspected some truth-stretching, but I believed it all.

Tsunami escape route signs-

Mama Sena drove us to some nearby waterfalls for a swim-

And a nice lunch at another resort-

That evening, the boys played footy and we enjoyed another beautiful sunset.

That night, a couple of the boys went up to "the big house" to watch the NRL Grand Final. There were no TVs at the resort, but Tellie invited Jono and John up to the house on the hill to watch the game. About 10 minutes into the game, the electricity went out. Turns out, they have pre-paid electricity and theirs was out! Tellie hopped in his truck, drove down to the resort where there was wifi, and paid to get the electricity going again. "Only in Samoa"... as Mama Sena would say.

Day 5- Travel Day & Birthday Dinner

We said goodbye to our Taufua family and headed out early to Faleolo Wharf. We caught the ferry to "the big island" of Sava'ii.

The water was SO blue!

Lots of crosswording going on. Also- we wore our matching shirts so we wouldn't lose each other. Safety first.

We then drove about an hour to Le Lagoto Resort 

Home for the next 3 nights!

Now this is a little more my style...you know what I mean, bro?

We had some pool time...

And then headed down to the beach for a wonderful private birthday dinner for Fran & Jess! 

Such a beautiful night with some of my favorite people.

Day 6- Chill Day

Day 7- Snorkel Day

We headed out to do some snorkeling and diving. 

The snorkeling wasn't that great... a lot of the coral was still dead from the tsunami. It was a little cloudy... and we didn't see many fish. I mean, it was still cool because we were snorkeling in SAMOA.

The coolest thing we saw-- this turtle! We got so close and it was really cool.

After our morning exercise, we rewarded ourselves with pizza. Which was actually really good!

Piggie sighting- 

Our last sunset at Le Legoto did not dissapoint! 

This arch was still up after a wedding earlier that week...we took full advantage!

Day 8- Travel Day and the Pool Bar

We said our goodbyes to this lovely resort and headed back to the ferry. We made a pitstop at these lava fields- very cool! Mt Matavanu eruptedin the early 1900s and lava flowed over 40 miles- even through a church.

We spent our last night of holiday at the Sheraton near the airport in Apia. The highlight of this hotel... the swim up pool bar. Duh.

My final thoughts on Samoa... 

Ok actually it really was an amazing trip. Friends, ocean, a new culture to learn all about, inexpensive drinks... what could be better?! Samoa was never on my travel list when we lived in the US... mainly because it was so far away and remote. But we feel really lucky to be able to see all of these beautiful places on this side of the world.

Now...when is our next holiday?