Trip to Samoa

Well the day finally arrived when Chelsea and I head to Samoa. We had been waiting to go on a trip for a long time and the last couple of days really dragged.

We are sitting at gate 1 waiting for the call up. Chelsea is a little excited but also nervous, hoping she won't get sick while in Samoa.  

It was a great flight with just a little bit of turbulence coming into Samoa. A great view out the window and the lightning flashed all around the cockpit.

Arrived at Coconuts. Tala was driver ...

It was a bit of a restless sleep for me as I was so hot and didn't drink enough on the plane. 

The morning came around and I had to resort to a painkiller and back to bed. By 8.00 I was feeling better and we headed down for breakfast. Chelsea had the pancakes and I has the American full breakfast. Both were nice and a great way to start the day. 

We headed to reception to finally check in and sign up for the meal deal. It gives us our breakfast, lunch & 3 course dinner as well as as much drink as we like for 250tala. 

We didn't do a whole lot today but that's the whole point. 

First day comes to an end and its been amazing. Great food and very friendly staff. Our dinner staff was full of wonderful ladies who kept our drinks fill and were always checking on us. One of them, Lei took the time to stop and chat with us.  

A wonderful end to the first day

Day Two:

Today we felt like we better understood the running of things and we were going to 'do something' today. After another yummy breakfast; pancakes and waffles, we set ourselves up around the pool and read some of our book. A quick swim later and chat with the helpful poolside bar lady and we decided what our adventure for the day was-snorkelling. 

The reception recommended a tour of the island taking us to the hole in the rock and a lovely snorkelling beach. They organised us a packed lunch and a whole lot of drinks as part of our lunch deal. The trip is costing 200tala for the both of us so I think that's a pretty good deal. 

Returned to reception ready for our adventure and were told we would be joined by another family. Had a lovely chat with the receptionist while waiting for the family who were typically late. 

Jack was our driver for the afternoon and he was great. He has a super sense of humour and an even better knowledge of the area. He told us all about the different areas, church's, schools, and rebuilding efforts. I was able to learn an lot from him. 

We arrived at To Le Sua 

It was a beautiful spot and we made the slow climb down into the water at the bottom. After about 30min we headed back up as we were getting hungry. 

Another quick drive and we arrived at our final location for the day. It was a beautiful beach with the softest sand I've ever been on. 

We ate our picnic lunch that was really nice under the shade and I enjoyed what was not my first or last Vailima for the trip. 

Now that lunch has settled its time to hit the water and explore the marine life. 

After a beautiful swim with some very colourful fish I headed back up the beach to Chelsea. Again we had a great chat with Jack and then headed home. 

We were constantly reminded of many beach movies with huge coconut trees growing everywhere. It was a great day wonderful way of seeing the sights of Samoa. 200tala well spent. 

Ended the day with another wonderful dinner and even tried the 'captapult' cocktail. Boy did it launch me into a great night. I had NZ steak for dinner and it was amazing. Mixed with a few more Vailima and we had another perfect night. 

Day Three:

Today's plan is to relax and have a spa so that's exactly what we did. 

Had a little bit of a sleep in before heading down for waffles. Popped into 'The Spa' and booked in for 2:00. We headed back to the pool where I finished my book and soaked up some more sun. 

Looking forward to 5:00 when happy hour starts at the 'Three Stools Bar'. 

We had another wonderful lunch and headed to our spa treatment. Wow it was amazing. A beautiful salon and calming atmosphere soon had Chelsea and I on the edge of sleep. Really enjoyed the back, neck, head and arm massage came out very relaxed and feeling good. 

Headed out for another snorkel and another Vailima. 5:00 rolled around and we headed to the bar for happy hour. Chelsea enjoys her Vanuatu virgin while I keep the Vailima flowing. 

I think that the staff now know to keep my drink fill as I get halfway through a Vailima and they come and fill it back up. Endless sun and beer, what a great place. 

Day Four:

Today we collected our car and well that's about where the fun ended. To cut a very long story short, through a lack of communication we didn't know to pick up our ferry tickets the night we arrived and Samoa Scenic Tours cancelled our car transfer. 

We spent a long day travelling trying to locate our tickets and eventually ended up at Aggies Beach Resort. The rep there put me on the phone with the manager who was very apologetic and informed me of the new arrangements. SST had booked us to seats on the 2:00 ferry. They would pay for a car hire on Savii and had book the return car hire aswel. It felt good to get all that sorted but had put a little dampener on the trip and made me get a restless sleep. 

Day Five:

Woke up pretty early today as I wanted to get all the tickets and stuff sorted. Packed up our room and headed down for our last breakfast. Stuck with what I knew and got the pancakes again. I will definitely miss the friendly faces and great food. After breakfast we sat in the reading room to finish off our books. Check out we quick and easy and the staff were so nice they forgot to charge us for the 'meal deal'. I'm an honest man and after the 2,000 tala was added to the bill it was settled and we headed for the ferry. Looking forward to heading back to Coconuts Beach Resort and getting our complementary upgrade and 20%off next time we visit. 

We arrived with plenty of time at the ferry 11:00 as we were told that at 12 we would meet a person with our tickets. 12 rolled by and with me getting a little stressed again we decided to head back to Aggies where Samoan Scenic Tours is based. The guy there was super helpful handing us our return tickets and ensuring that we were looked after. 

Dramas over and when our rental car was picked up I was told that because we returned the car 2 days early that his manager said to email them and discuss a refund. Looks like everything is working out. I love karma. 

The trip over on the ferry was let's just say long. It was a case of first on first seated. We didn't know this and Chelsea was lucky enough that someone moved over for her to sit down.  The view back to Upolulu was impressive as we slowly made our way to Savaii. 

I got talking with the people around me who were from Australia and New Zealand. Seems like everyone we meet is from oz or NZ. Is anyone actually Samoan?

2 hours it took to cross to Savaii. A long time for Chelsea and her small bladder. 

We managed to pick up the car easily and there was no dramas on that front. It was a beautiful drive on very good roads (a change from Upolulu). Before we knew it We arrived at Stevenson's @ Manese

Day Six: 

Today I headed up Savii to the cater rim for an amazing view aswel as collecting the required info for an Earthcache. It was an interesting drive and ill never complain about NZ roads again. 

On the way down I was intercepted by a local who claimed to be the caretaker of the land. He said that I was up very early to which I told him he was just late.  It coste 20tala which I didn't really mind as it was for a cache and I hope for the area    

I returned to the fale at 9:30 to find Chelsea relaxing in the sun. We gathered up our stuff and headed to explore the lava field and swim with the turtles. 

Our first stop was the lava field and they were very impressive. The different textures and directions the lava took was thought provoking. We couldn't help but make comparisons to custard or heated milk. The Virgins Grave was to be unimpressive. We didn't really understand the location as the name doesn't indicate what was there. However the church and fale were remarkable. Looking at how the lava flowed into the church with its thickness and texture was memorable.

After the church we went out to a fale that was constructed on the lava flow. Sitting amongst the vastness and looking at the plants struggling to grow in this desolate wilderness was sombering. We often complain about the position we find our lives in and yet these people have chosen to return to their land, which is infertile, because its better than any other option


Total cost 5tala each.

Our next stop was to be the highlight of the day. Despite its lack of signage and look of organisation the 'swimming turtles' were amazing. Now it's another case of its not what the sign says. What it should say is "swim with the turtles-7tala"  or something similar. 

We ended up following a dusty road for about 800m before we came to a sign pointing is into the parking spot. The lady's were very manor of fact saying it would cost 7tala each and after we paid simply saying "follow path"

There was another family already there with their taxi driver who was more help telling us about the turtles and that we were able to swim with them. 

It's hard to put into works how cool it was holding, touching, & patting these beautifully peaceful creatures. 

And all this done before lunch. 

We headed back to our resort for lunch and to lie on the beach, snorkel, and relax. It has been a really nice time at Stevenson's and we will do it again next time. 

Day Seven:

Our last day of what has been a long and relaxing holiday. We have made an early start to the day so that we have plenty of time to get around the island to see the blowhole and waterfall into the ocean. Apparently there are only a handful of waterfalls in the world that go directly into the sea. 

We have enjoyed our stay at Stevenson's and would come back again but only for a couple of nights. The accommodation is very beautiful on the waters edge and we enjoyed the sound of the water lapping at our door. The beds were a little less impressive with a few finer details letting the experience down.  This is a very quiet resort where relaxing was easy to do. The beaches were soft and white with a huge amount of coral. 

Seven days away from home and we feel relaxed but are missing our family and pets

Back to geocaching

It has been a very long time since I've been out geocaching and the other day Steve invited me along on a hiking trip.  I thought about it and with me stopping squash and been staying at home I decided I deserved a day geocaching.

I checked the statistics part of my profile and it turns out that in the past 2 months I've only found 2 caches.  This is a problem. Normally I find about 60 a months. Time to get back into it.

5:00 and the alarm ripped me out of a deep sleep. Thats the first sign that its caching time.  I struggle out of bed and collect my backs and lunch that I prepared last night. With the car loaded up I head to Steves for a big day caching.  It was a quick trip up to Auckland and great to catch up with a good friend. Almost at the car park we came across a tree fall. Steve and I got out of the car and quickly cleared a way past.

We Started our walk and Were greeted with a beautiful sunrise over one of the dams in the area.  It was a good walk and felt great to be back out in the wilderness.  We found all the caches quickly and even a couple that were huge.  Had a really great day and am thinking about my next tramp already.

Good to be back on the caching wagon.

So as a quick recap I went out caching in Hamilton today to collect all the new caches.  You know its caching in winter wen you are ankle deep in water and still have a smile on your face.

Samoa Holiday

It was always planned that Chelsea and I would go on holiday this year but the location was always up in the air.  We planned on going to Dubai then the UK.  As it turns out plans change and our decision was kind of made for us, but thats a whole other story.

We had been looking on the website Teacherexpress.co.nz at a couple of different locations and decided that Rarotonga was going to be our destination of choice.  Before booking and paying for the flights I decided that it would be best to head into Flight Centre and compare prices.

After spending a couple of hours talking with the agent we soon realised that finding accommodation was going to be the challenge. After the cyclone that hit the islands earlier in the year there is limited resorts and with us wanting to travel in the school holidays the resorts are very full.

We had crossed off Raro, Vanuatu, Fiji, and Niue which left us Samoa.  With fingers crossed we left the travel agent to sort out the details while we did some retail shopping.

Upon return to the Flight Centre we were greeted with good news. She had worked around our dates and managed to locate flights and accommodation in Samoa. You Beauty.  We are flying out on the 20th staying 7 days.  We are staying on both islands - Apia and Savaii.

We are going to stay at the Coconut Resort for 5 nights in the treehouse Suite, and Stevens at Manase in the Euro Fales.  Both places look really nice and I know we are going to have a great time.

Treehouse Suite

Euro Vila

We paid for most of the trip today and have to go in and pay the last little bit by Friday. We are also wanting to get a rental car while there and also looking at getting some meal deals to try and save some money.

I've been to Samoa before and thought that it was a really lovely place. I'm looking forward to showing Chelsea around and getting to explore the island of Savaii, its suppose to be amazing.

Auckland Zoo

This weekend was going to be one to remember and nothing was going to change that.

Saturday started with an early morning wakeup to watch the Chiefs playing over in South Africa.  I new that we were going to win but didn't think it would be as close as it was.  Having watched my team chalk up a win I was in a good mood as we climbed into the car and headed north.

Chelsea has an attachment to all zoos and Auckland is one of her favourite. When she found out we were heading to the zoo and even better, doing a Zoom Experience she was like a kid a christmas. The smile on her face went from ear to ear and she kept doing this funny dance.

On the way to Auckland we experienced 3 seasons, beautiful sunshine, rain and wind. Even if it was pouring down and blowing a gale it wouldn't have affected how amazing the experience was.  We arrived at the zoo at 9.30 just as the gates were opening.  Taking the opportunity to see the animals waking up we made beeline for the tiger as they can always be found lazying about. Then it was the alligator, orangoutangs, sealions, penguins, rino... well you get the point. Even though we only had a short time before the tour started we still managed to see a lot of the animals waking up and starting their day.

Then it was almost time, 10:35 and man did it go slow. It felt like the night before christmas, when you just want the morning to come only time goes so slow. This was the same. We had to wait 10 minutes which felt like an eternity.  We were greeted by a lovely lady Harriet who was going to take us down to the enclosure and take photos.  She was a super friendly and energetic person to take with and had lots of interesting things to say.  We got to see the Auckland Zoo Shoe Shop which stocked the best in gumboots.  With a pair of gummies on we were ready to get our hands dirty.

Harriet took us down to see Burma and told us lots of interesting things about the zoo and the elephant.  After learning lots of new things we were then takin into Burma's sleeping area and meet the very friendly zoo keepers.  We were told why its important to scrub down an elephant and watched as Burma was lead into her 'shower'.

Seeing this amazing animal so close and hearing her speaking was a moment I'll have forever.  She is such a beautiful animal with a fun attitude.  We were given half a banana to feed her so that she knew we were friendly and not a vet.  Didn't really have a problem meeting as Burma loves her food and once she realised we had some, we were friends.

Andy, the keeper, let us into the enclosure and we got to give Burma a quick pat before he got her to lie down.  Watching such a large animal get on the ground is a sight. Every movement was careful and slow as she doesn't want to move her 3,500kg twice.  Once on the ground she was given a pile of fresh veg's and I was reminded of a scene in a greek move with a lord or lady lying on a bed while being feed and cared for.

We were invited back into the enclosure, given a scrubbing brush and set to work. To begin with Chelsea and I were in awe. Not wanting to hurt this beautiful animal we were apprehensive about scrubbing to ruff. As it turned out Burma's skin is really tough. To touch it felt like leather and her hair was really bristly.  To say we enjoyed this experience is an understatement. It was amazing being able to help out the keepers and get hands on with an endangered species.  Burma so super relaxed, lying on her side eating and drinking while we scrubbed.

After her wash was over Burma was lead out the back to have her nails painted and her broken tuss cleaned out.  She was then lead out the front where Andy gave a talk to the general public.  While this was on we were in the enclosure with another keepers asking a raft of questions.  The keepers are so friendly and easy to talk, with you genuinely felt welcomed.

After the talk we left Burma to relax and got to have last chat with the keepers before they had to get back to their duties.  Andy was a real down to earth guy who clearly has a close bond with Burma.

This is a day that I will never forget. Thanks Auckland Zoo, Andy, Harriet and everyone that works hard looking after and caring for the animals at the zoo.

Mystery Weekend

With another weekend fast approaching it was looking like I wasn't going to have anything exciting planned. I set myself the goal of planning a trip somewhere or at least a hike.

After a little searching I came up with an idea and started searching the net to see if I was going to be able to pull off a Mystery Weekend.  After several phone calls and booking the tickets the plan was layed down and an awesome weekend was to be had.

To make things even better Chelsea had know idea what I had planned or where we were going.  I decided to leave her some clues along each day and make her guess.  Its pretty clear that I like tramping and geocaching so I tried to make the hints related to those activities.

Clue One: pack a bag for you weekend ahead, don't forget your shoes and a map.

It wasn't long before Chelsea and others started thinking that we were going caching or on a long tramp.

Clue Two: We depart at 10:45, don't worry its not a long walk but you will be getting muddy.

This stumped her as she knew we were not flying anywhere and now not tramping... but getting muddy??

Clue Three: This one is a little harder but lets just say it is a little slice of Asian culture.

That was all the clues that Chelsea needed. She came home from school with a huge smile on her face. I asked her if she had an idea as to what we were doing. She said she had a good idea but didn't want to guess incase she was wrong and was then disappointed.

Needless to say, after all her researching, she was right... For our Mystery weekend we are.... well you'll just have to wait and see.

Kawhia kayak

For a long time now I have been wanting to go to Kawhia and collect the 3 kayak caches that are scatters around the harbour.  I had a phone call from Steve, middle of the week, explaining he was planning on heading out on Saturday to collect them and did I want to join.  There was no way I was missing out on this opportunity.

Saturday morning came around fast enough and I found myself crawling out of bed at 6.00.  I had to get my lunch and water ready as well as a change of clothes.  I have had some bad luck with forgetting this so placed all my items at the door, double checked then tripple checked that I was ready.

Steve turned up at 7.00 with Jane and we set off for, what will turn out to be, a long tiresome day.

Our first cache for the day saw the three of us walking around a point just before the harbour.  It was a nice stroll and only had to dodge the sticky, slippery mud.

The second cache was one that we really wanted to get.  It hadn't been found in over 12months.  We parked and walking along a new scenic track. There has been a lot of time and money spent fencing off the sand dunes and placing some lovely picnic tables.  It was a little bit hard going as walking in the sand is always going to be a workout for the calves.  On the walk to GZ we meet a lady who was on her way to see her husband. Apparently there is good fishing to be had at the mouth of the harbour.  On the walk she told us about the rock falls and slips that have recently occurred and how the sand levels can rise and fall my a couple of metres.   We had to carefully say good by as we reached GZ.  Once she had walked off we began the search and found the cache within seconds.  It wasn't even covered.  Signing the log and noting that the last finder was back in January 2012 was a great feeling.  We stayed at GZ for a little while enjoying the views before heading back to the car.

After collecting all the drive by caches in the area it was time to unload the kayaks and set off on the journey to collect the 3 caches located on the different islands scattered around the Kawhia Harbour.

We had a quick chat as to what was going to be the best direction to go and we decided, while we had lots of energy to head against the wind and tide to start with.  With the first island just a speck in the distance I knew it was going to be a long slog.  Jane and I just knuckled down and begun the paddle to the island.  It was hard work and there was a lot of water splashing over the bow... but luckily Jane stopped most of it before it got to me.

After a long paddle we finally found ourselves landing on the island. The plan had been to paddle right to GZ but with sore arms and 1km to go as the crow flies, and about 3km kayaking we decided to leave the kayaks on the beach and walk.  There is always a little bit of apprehension arriving at a cache that has taken so much effort to get to .. will I find it or wont I?

Today was my luckily day as it only took a minute of searching before we had the cache in hand and were signing the log book.  A quick walk back to the kayaks and we were paddling to the next cache. It was a lot easier as this time we were going with the wind and tide.

Our next cache was located at a place named pancake rock. We had a good idea as to what the island would look like, and on the way we paddled past many rock formations that looked like pancakes stacked on top of each other.  By this stage we were stating to ach with the sun leaving its mark on our shoulders.  Several times we asked ourself why the cache owner hadn't placed it closer.  Eventually we found ourselves pulling up at a beach with pancake rocks all around.  I took some time to take a couple of pictures while Jane and Steve began the search.  They kept looking around a stack and I heard a couple of french words cry out from behind some off the bushes.  Wanting to get a better view of the area I saw a path to the top of the island.  Climbed to the top and was rewarded with a set of great views and a cache.

The last cache for the day was a quick paddle of only 600m. The third cache for the kayak and a third find. It was great to get it even if I wasn't allowed to start the search. Having found all the caches for the day the others told me to wait and give them a chance to search.  Glad to find another cache using the kayak.

We then had to start the long and hard paddle back to the car.  After a full day in the sun paddling, our arm were already sore.  There was no option but to paddle.  With heads down and distracting myself by reading my drink bottle over and over again I noticed the car getting closer... ever so slowly. Im not going to lie and say it was easy. I was definity starting to tire and off in the distance I spotted a small island to rest on.  Asked Jane if she wanted to stop there and was given a quick nod.  Arriving at the island I stared to weigh up the options of living here.  With only shells and bird poop it was decided to keep on.  Arriving at the car was amazing.  I would compare it to Captain Cook landing on New Zealand for the first time.  He also must have come to hate the boat that was his prison and his saviour.

In total we paddled 17km in a little over 5 hours.  Another day that I will not forget quickly. Thanks Geocaching??