Week Two
Wednesday, 14th June
Wow, I can’t believe that I have been here one week already. Dismally, my stomach is no better. I had woken in the early hours feeling nauseous and started to panic that maybe I had inadvertently given myself Hepatitis A (again). Not an experience I cared to repeat after nearly dying in India in 2005, from eating contaminated food.
Let me explain...upon my return yesterday, I was juggling groceries while trying to retrieve the house keys from my bag; when the baguette I was carrying broke and one half fell on the ground. I quickly scooped it up thinking two second rule, it should be okay. Then a short time later I slathered a section of that bread in Skippy Peanut Butter and greedily ate it.
You can imagine my horror when I woke in the middle of the night, with a dawning realisation that perhaps I should have thrown that piece of bread away. I had forgotten that a couple of days prior to this incident, the lads had been doing some repair work on the sewer/septic tank, in that exact same area where the baguette dropped. Maybe I was just lucky that we had had a bit of rain in between but needless to say, I threw the rest of that french stick in the bin.
The plan was to meet up with Jenny, Paulie and Ingrid at the Robert Louis Stevenson (RLS) Museum around noon. Ingrid had mentioned that she was carrying homeopathic remedies and had one especially for stomach problems, which she promised to bring. They messaged to say they would meet me there around 12:30 and it suited Pablo to drop me enroute to work.
I don’t know how they missed the entrance but somehow those guys ended up driving right over the Cross Island Rd again before realising their error and turning back. They eventually showed up about a quarter to two! LoL. By this stage I was hot and sticky; humidity was high and silly me had forgotten my fan. It didn't help that my guts were decidedly unsettled.
Ingrid promptly gave me four tabs, a pre/probiotic mix in a packet labelled ‘Vidafy, Life Converted’ and some homeopathic tabs (Apis and Arnica) to slip under my tongue. Plus she gave me a Collagen Activ sachet to take later, on an empty stomach before dinner. It was a miracle, within an hour I was feeling a helluva lot better.
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| Villa Vailima - RLS Museum |
https://robert-louis-stevenson.org/?page_id=22146
In 1888, he and his family began a tour of the South Pacific, eventually settling in Samoa. In 1890 Stevenson purchased 314 acres of land to build his mansion, which was completed in 1891. He resided there until his death in 1894 and is now buried in a tomb overlooking his home, atop the nearby Mt Vaea.
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| RLS Study |
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| RLS Great Hall |
In the four and a half years that he spent in Samoa, RLS produced thirteen manuscripts, talk about a prolific writer! He was also critical of colonial rule, supported indigenous political interests and was beloved by the local community, who gave him the nickname Tusitala or Teller of Tales.
The cost of entry was $20 tala for either a guided or self-guided tour. I highly recommend the guided option. Pua our guide, a young mum in her twenties with a couple of young kiddies was excellent at her job; she had good knowledge and was very witty.
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| Pua - RLS guide |
After the tour we took a wee stroll around the grounds down to the swimming hole. The water was very brown and did not look very appealing, but there were a tribe of boys who were enjoying it very much; judging from the amount of laughing and yahooing going on.
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| Swimming hole - RLS |
Thursday, 15th June
I am pleased to advise that my internal plumbing is much improved this morning. The chia seeds for breakfast has been a good move. Jenny, Paulie and Ingrid arrived unexpectedly on my door-step half an hour early, around ten. Pablo, who had already left for work, has offered them accommodation with him should they wish to come back next year, so they wanted to check out the space, which they approved of.
The four of us took yet another drive over the Cross Island Rd. Paulie is doing a great job of navigating the roads, considering the back-seat drivers! Today we headed to Lefaga Beach, made famous by the Hollywood film, ‘Return to Paradise’ (1953). Which starred Gary Cooper and was based on the short story "Mr Morgan", from "Return to Paradise"; James Michener's sequel to "Tales of the South Pacific".
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046238/
Once again, forty odd years ago there used to be nothing out here but a small village and a lovely palm fringed white sand beach. Today, it houses, wait for it…the ‘Return to Paradise Resort & Spa’ . As well as hosting a cultural show serving traditional food every week, they pay homage to the film with a weekly screening for their guests.
https://returntoparadiseresort.com/
The place is pretty pricey but they offered an excellent deal for day visitors. $30 tala to utilise their facilities which included parking, showers/toilets, swimming at the beach, use of the sun loungers, but no access to the swimming pools; these were reserved for in-house guests only. However, our day fee essentially became a credit at the restaurant and was deducted off our lunch, ie food and beverage bill. Bit of a bargain really!
In the foyer of the resort hung a cool old photo of the beach that was instantly recognisable. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the beach itself hadn’t changed much at all, with it's reef close to shore and lots of lava rocks. Interestingly enough it was the vegetation that was completely different, all perfectly manicured and landscaped gardens.
Back in the day you had to be careful where you parked yourself on the sand, especially if it was in the shade. While the tall swaying coconut palm trees may have looked idyllic, they could be lethal. If a coconut chanced to drop on your noggin from that height, it could knock you out or do a substantial amount of damage!
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| Lefaga Beach - Then |
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| Lefaga Beach - Now |
A couple of hours later we headed to the restaurant. We had a lovely outlook from where we sat and enjoyed a beverage as we waited and waited and waited for our food to arrive. The staff were most apologetic, when it was bought to their attention that we had been waiting for over an hour. As compensation we were given complimentary drinks and our food arrived pretty swiftly after that. Then alas, it was time to head back to Apia.
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| View from Return to Paradise Resort Restaurant |
I got the occasional glimpse of Savai’i, the largest island, in the distance. As we approached the point at Mulifanua I could see a ferry was departing the wharf. It was a huge blue ship, no wonder they have several crossings a day now, it only takes an hour compared to the little barge type boat that once took several hours to cross and sailed once or twice a day if you were lucky. Jenny and I had a brief pit stop to use their bathroom.
I got upstairs to the apartment just in the nick of time, the torrential rain that followed was heavy and deafening. Chai raced me out of the rain and was being affectionate until whammo the little blighter took a swipe at my swishing dress with its razor sharp claws and pierced my left foot in three places. Youch! I wasn't taking any chances and disinfected my wounds immediately.
Friday, 16th June
Crikeys, I didn’t get to bed until two this morning, so intent was I on setting up my blog. I managed to get about 4-5hours sleep before I awoke with the birds and figured I may as well continue editing and adding photos, as I intend to go live later today.
The owners of Vaoala Heights Haven, Paul Tofilau and his wife Diane (Celine’s sister) are doctors who reside in Queensland, Australia. Niu Sila (Sila ) and Rasela (Sela) are also family members who help manage this property. They are currently caring for Sela’s sister’s twin daughters, Stasi & Suva who will turn two this weekend. Lots of S's!
As I was in possession of the only spare house key, it meant that Sila and Sela were unable to get into the apartment to clean yesterday, so they turned up with the two toddlers in tow to do the job this morning. Talk about double trouble…cute identical chubby cherubs.
Pablo offered to get another key cut for them as he has yet another day off. But first he dropped me off to meet up with Jenny, Paulie and Ingrid, as today is their last day; they fly out this evening. Nick & Rowena were also headed back to Oz this afternoon. Jenny had some leftover toiletry and food items which she kindly bundled into a bag for me, which I gave to Pablo to take home, after they said their goodbyes to him.
For their final day the gang wanted to travel out to Piula, the cave with a freshwater pool located in the village of Lufilufi. Coincidentally, it is a neighbouring village to Saoluafata where Ingrid’s grand-parents used to live. Ingrid also bequeathed me a gorgeous cotton jacket that she no longer wanted, which was very generous of her. I love it.
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| Piula Theological College - Then & Now |
The sun was out and I was super excited to be revisiting one of my favourite places on the island. The Methodist have now built a road so you can park below the Theological College to access the pool. Cost of entry is $10 tala/car and $5 tala/person. Alternatively we could have parked up top and walked down the stairs (like we used to), but as the others had all their belongings in the vehicle they chose to park nearby, keeping a watchful eye.
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| Xmas 1980 @ Piula with the Upson's, Groom's, Mordaunt's & Doug |
When we accompanied Dad to fix the generator at Piula we would often have the place to ourselves, it seems the pool is way more popular these days. On occasion we would stay a night with the Principal of the Theological College and his family. Initially Rev. Ian McKenzie and wife Val. Their two older children Janet and Murray were at boarding school in NZ and would come to Samoa in the holidays but their younger daughter Raewyn, lived with them.
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| Janet & Murray McKenzie |
After a year, Ron and Glenys Upson and their children Bronwyn, Laurita and Matthew from Australia, took over at Piula when Ian McKenzie relocated to become Principal of Levaula College. They lived on the compound too but above the school. Raewyn then attended Leifiifi Intermediate with my brother David and became a playmate for my sister Erana.
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| Piula Cave & Pool - Then |
The residence at Piula was a large rambling building at the time but it must've got razed when they created the road. There were lots of other changes besides the parking down below. I could see power lines, proper ablution blocks, new changing sheds, a cafe of sorts and about fifteen fales dotted along the sea wall, when there used to be just the one fale and two stone change rooms, one for men and the other for women, flanked on either side of the pool.
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| Piula Cave & Pool - Now |
The pool was still amazing but it had more vegetation growing from the rocky surface above the cave, which made the entrance appear more mystical. Access into the pool was rather treacherous, with no handrails or proper steps (no health and safety here folks) added to that, the moss covered rocks were slippery and could have done with a good scrub.
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| Piula Cave & Pool - Now |
The water however was blessedly cool and although I sought, I could not find the ledge that I used to sit on inside the cave, in the dark. Below this ledge on the cave floor was a tunnel that you could swim through. You would pop out in another cave around to the left of the main pool. I swam through it once and refused ever to do it again. Claustrophobic and terrifying, there were five or six of us that went through in convoy and I was smack bang in the middle!
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| The other cave!!! |
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| Me climbing above the cave |
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| and jumping |
Ingrid had bought panikeke and cinnamon buns with her so Paulie decided it would be a good idea to feed the few fish (species unknown) he could see swimming in the pool. Big mistake. Hundreds of fish came out of the woodwork, along with one humungous eel, at least 6ft long. It emerged from a hole in the rocks that I had shuffled my bum across to enter the pool. At least it didn’t do a death roll when it got it's mouth around the baked goods. I wasn’t terribly keen to get back in after that, but I succumbed, with a different access point of course!
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| The Eel |
We eventually took our leave and trekked back into town. Once again I was given a lift back up the hill. (Thanks guys for ferrying me around). Pablo was out and about and as the others had an hour or so to kill before going to the airport, they used the apartment to get changed and ready for their flight; consuming the balance of their duty free vodka in the process. Pablo eventually returned, so they got to say a second goodbye.
https://www.samoa.travel/plan-book/activities/piula-fatumea-cave-pool/
Saturday, 17th June
Well I guess things will be a bit quieter now that the troops have returned home. Which means that I can focus on my creative projects for a while. Some of you may be wondering what brings me to Samoa for such a long period of time? Aside from revisiting this beautiful place from my past, I wanted to immerse myself as I am in the process of transcribing my diaries from those years.
As well, my grandmother kept all the letters that my mum wrote to her when we lived here. Over the last few years my mum has slowly been transcribing those letters, with a view to telling our families story about our experience. I and my family also want to reconnect with some of the people that we knew when we lived here.
After breakfast, Pablo suggested that we go down to check out the SWAG markets (Samoan Woman’s Association of Growers) at the cultural centre. It wasn’t a huge affair this particular morning but there were some interesting stalls and food available so I will definitely return.
https://www.facebook.com/SamoaWomensAssociationGrowers/
From there we went to a small “drive-through” veggie market. I purchased a small cabbage, carrots, capsicum, cherry tomatoes, spring onions, sweet potato and bananas for $55 tala. A lot cheaper than the Fugalei market it felt rushed and I couldn’t select my own vegetables, which I prefer to do, as on closer inspection the carrots were pretty rubbish.
Next stop, the Fugalei market for more avocado. I also bought some breadfruit chips, a niu coconut, oranges and a second lavalava, purple this time. With a quick stop on the way back up the hill at Lynn’s for fresh bread, aloe vera juice and Taula beer for Pablo.
It was a very quiet rest of the day. Pablo had purchased some Opau (Moonfish) and cooked up half for our dinner. He also made a potato rosti and my contribution was coleslaw.
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| A popular car sticker! |
Sunday, 18th June
I awoke at 7:45am to the gentle rumble of a 5.7 earthquake, 155km off Savai’I. No tsunami warning in place. I figure as long as the walls don't fall down around me or the earth opens up in front of me then I'm safe and totally okay with the ground shaking beneath me.
I do recall one earthquake whilst in Samoa quite vividly. Our house was small and the kitchen was tiny so our pots and pans were hung on the wall between the bedroom I shared with my sister. It was the dead of night when there was a huge commotion - our pots and pans were banging and clanging. Alarmed, all five of us were shaken out of our respective beds and went running into the dining/sitting room. Back then a tsunami never even crossed our minds.
This morning I ventured out for a walk. It had bucketed down in the night and while the air felt cool initially, it was deceptive. By the time I returned 45 minutes later it was steamy and I was sweaty. Think I need to walk even earlier. It did feel good to get out of the apartment and explore the neighbourhood though.
I found the side road, Bank St. There were some pretty impressive houses with expansive views along the ridge. Most properties had dogs so I did my best to stay calm and not let them smell my fear even though at times the hair on the back of my neck prickled. Thankfully their barks were worse than their bite and they left me alone.
After a cool shower I marinated the remaining Moonfish in lime juice as I was making oka for dinner. I then read and relaxed for the rest of the morning. After lunch I prepped the veggies and mixed them with the fish in coconut milk. Hope it tastes as good as it looks.
Pablo had a siesta in the afternoon while I borrowed his car to visit the Tiapapata Art Centre. Gosh what a mission to get there. The driveway, if you could call it that was deeply rutted and full of giant puddles from all the rain. But it was worth it. Quite a neat spot, think I will definitely return to have a closer look at their gallery and eat at their cafe.
The main focus of my visit was the Veg Festival. The flyer advertised lectures on Thursday and Friday, a vegan dinner on Saturday and a market day on Sunday with a tasting of vegan treats by Dora Rossi and her son Giacomo, which by the way were delicious. There was also a cooking demonsration with one of the organisers, Vittoria for the kids.
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| Dora & Giacomo's tasty treats |
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| Vittoria's cooking demo |
I had an interesting chat with Dora. It turns out that we have a mutual friend, Shelley Oliver. Dora had previously collaborated on a TV production called ‘Pacific Island Food Revolution’ with Robert Oliver, a well-known NZ Chef, Author and TV presenter who specialises in the cuisines of the South Pacific. Shelley worked as the Talent Handler on the show.
https://www.pacificislandfoodrevolution.com/
Robert, who I never met as he must have been older again, and Shelley were the children of Dennis and Jean, who lived down the road from us in Puipa’a. Dennis (now deceased), was the executive director of the YMCA, while Jean played Mahjong with mum. Shelley was part of our car-pool in the mornings to Samoa College. She was in the 6th form and part of the cool 'in crowd' while I was a mere turd in the 3rd.
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| Shelley Oliver |
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| & the "in" crowd |
The "Cool Kids" include Margaret, Heather & Morrison McGregor, Sina Wendt and Corey Keil to name a few
Photo credits: Shelley Oliver.
I met and chatted with a couple of other lovely locals at the veg fest, which was organised by Ben & Vittoria who live in Fiji. They started the festival six years ago but due to Covid they had been hampered in their attempts to expand across the Pacific. This was their first event in Samoa, next year they hope to include New Caledonia.
Ben Czapnik is Australian and his wife Vittoria Pasca is Italian. She is a nutritionist and has published a couple of lovely books “Pacific Vegan” and “Healthy Eating with Pacific Plants”, that were on display. I stayed for a couple of hours then headed back as Pablo had suggested a swim.
We popped down to Mulinu'u Point, past the Parliament buildings and parked next to Sails Restaurant. We swam in the lagoon there. The water temperature was similar to that of a tepid bath but it was most enjoyable. There were several other local families down there with the same idea.
On our return Sila swung by the apartment with half a birthday cake and a huge plate of food, leftover from their toonai and Stasi and Suva's party. I gave him a couple of tiki necklaces to give to the twins as a gift. We saved the food for the following night because the oka and garlic bread were calling. It was scrummy, if I may say so myself, not a bad effort for a palagi.
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| Shrine of Three Hearts |
Monday, 19th June
I awoke with the birds so hauled my lazy arse out of bed and went for a walk. A much smarter time of the day! This time I headed a bit further up the hill and around the corner to check out the Shrine of Three Hearts. I had heard drums there yesterday morning as part of their Sunday service.
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| Morning walk pix |
Freshly showered and breakfasted I dropped Pablo at work so that I could use his car for the day. I was on a mission. First stop, the Methodist Church Head Office. I walked down the alleyway and was instantly transported back in time. The parking area out the back had not changed one iota.
However, one major thing had. The offices were no longer there. I discovered that they had relocated to another building, next door. I spoke to Kolia, the very helpful young guy on reception and told him my story. I mentioned some names and we exchanged numbers as he promised to find some contact information for me.
He also suggested that I might like to make an appearance at Avoca for the Methodist Church’s annual conference. It runs over two weeks (last week June/first week July) and many ministers from not just Samoa but all over the world will be in attendance. He thought there might be someone there who would remember our family.
After our meeting I swung by the Post Office (now across the road from where it used to be) to buy a stamps for a postcard to my niece Stella in Auckland. Pablo had asked if I would buy him a couple too, so he could send some postcards to his grandchildren.
On impulse, before I left the apartment that morning, I had googled the name Alo Kamu, who was the eldest son of Lalomilo Kamu (my dad’s old boss at SMLD) and his American wife Donna. According to my search, Alo and his wife Monalisa ran a successful store in Apia called Indoors. Incidentally I visited this shop the other day and spoke to a dressmaker.
https://www.facebook.com/p/Indoors-General-Store-Saleufi-28876-100064046193256/
I met Lisa, as she prefers to be called. She told me that Alo is currently en-route to Samoa from the USA and that they have three children. I had heard through the grapevine that Lalomilo had died some years ago but Donna is still alive. She is 86 years old now and lives with Dorothy, their eldest daughter who is a landscape gardener.
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| Donna Kamu dancing siva |
Junior, their adopted son and his wife are teachers in the Tokelau and Becky their adopted daughter is an artist and previously taught art at the National University of Samoa (NUS). We exchanged phone numbers so we could arrange a suitable time for me to visit the family. Am super excited to finally touch base.
Lisa was also able to point me in the right direction in finding another person of interest. A member of our Samoan family. During our time there, our family was befriended by one of the local ministers, Siaosi Selesele and his American Samoan wife, Hana and their children.
Siaosi also had a brother called Tafito, who had recently returned from studying agriculture in Fiji. I recall that he had been quite sick with malaria. Anyway, the brothers took us to stay at their family village in Sataua, located in the north west of Savai’i, near Asau.
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| Samoan Family @ Sataua, Savai'i |
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| Tafito Selesele dancing Siva |
I will never forget our visit because all three of us kids ended up with a nasty “Samoan tummy” and became major shitting and puking machines. Unfortunately it was like a cross-country course just to get to the long-drop, over a stile and up a hill, literally a mile away and at times some of us didn’t quite make it! We think it must have been the raspberry cordial mixed with creek water.
To top it all off I remember that there was a huge huntsman spider in the dunny and in my panic at seeing it, I knocked a full bog roll down the loo. Plus there was a flying albino cockroach which happened to lodge itself in my brothers butt crack. Talk about traumatising.
But most of all I pitied my poor mum who had to deal with the mess of it all and clean up. I remember that it was around New Year 1978-79 because my cousin Alison Shannon was due to visit us from NZ a few days later. She bought a large container of freshly picked strawberries with her but none of us were well enough for a few days to eat them. We subsequently stayed with Hana’s family in Pago Pago, American Samoa after that.
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| Alison Shannon arriving |
So, you could have knocked me over with a feather when Lisa informed me that Tafito Selesele is now the Minister of Health for Samoa and provided directions to his office. After taking my leave, I trotted over to Government Building #4, on the reclaimed land near the waterfront, and no questions asked waltzed right on up to his office.
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| View of reclaimed land & port - Now |
Tafito has more than one secretary and they were both delightful, helpful and curious about my story. They informed me that he will be back in Samoa later this week and have taken my details, which they said they will pass on. So fingers crossed they do and that he does get in touch. My parents would love to know where Hana and Siaosi are these days and I'm hoping that he may have some leads on where I can find a few of the others on my list.
After that excitement, I headed out of town to the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to sort out my Temporary Tourist Drivers Licence. Pablo had warned me that it might take a few hours, but I was in and out of there in about 20 - 30 minutes max. I just had to show my NZ drivers licence which they photocopied, then I took that piece of paper to the cashier and paid $42 tala for two months. Sweet, I’m legal tegal to drive.
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| Me at the SMLD - Then & Now |
The LTA was close to Levaula so I took advantage of the sunny day to revisit the SMLD and swing by the college to take some better photos. I met the principal, Rev. Aliilelei Lefua, who gave me a cursory tour to see the library where mum worked. He was a student at the college in the 2000’s and didn’t really know much about the school’s history.
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| Levaula College Bus Shelter & Fale - Then |
I also stopped at a large hardware store called Bluebird and Frankie’s Hypermarket (big supermarket) on the way back to Apia, just out of curiosity and to have a look. Then I made my way back to the apartment for a cold shower and a bite to eat before collecting Pablo from work.
We ate the leftover Oka for an entree followed by the plate of food from the family for main, which consisted of breadfruit, chicken, sapa suey and palusami (taro leaves cooked in coconut cream). The jury is still out on the palusami, I was never a big fan.
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| Wesley College Principal & Fale - Now |
Tuesday, 20th June
After Pablo left for work this morning I christened my yoga mat and did about an hour of yoga and stretches then I basically parked myself on the balcony to write this blog while listening to the radio. I live streamed Aotea FM. Which reminds me, I must finish programming Cee’s Sunday Sesh for when I return to Great Barrier Island in August.
I ate esi (papaya) for breakfast and eggs on toast for lunch. I had seen on fb recently that a cousin Stephen Arnet, one of the directors for Flying Fresh International had been in Samoa. He usually travels here once a year for work. He suggested I visit the Church of St Teresa of the Child Jesus in Lepea as they supplied the structural steel for it. (photo with red turrets below - but not with clock)
The Samoan's are a proud people with a strong culture and the only outside influence that has affected their culture occured with the arrival of the missionaries in the 1800's. The missionaries introduced modern religion and Samoa reformed and embraced Fa'a Samoa (The Samoan Way), which is centred around the matai (chiefs), family and church life.
The churches here in this country are truly a sight to behold, here's a few examples...
Until the next instalment…thanks for tuning in
onepurplefish
PS some other photo credits belong to Ingrid Hartmann, Jenny Bennett & Nick Bennett
PPS This weeks quotes:
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