Arrival in Samoa

Travel

After much last minute packing and lots of cleaning we put our unit in the hands of a Real Estate agent to rent. We unfortunately lost 3 empty packing cartons off the roof of our 4WD in the main drag of Coolum Beach in our last minute mad dash at getting away. The moral is never put anything on the roof as you never check there. Drove to Brisbane on our last afternoon and had dinner at South Bank on the river for F’s daughter’s birthday and family time. Our first leg was to Aukland (NZ) in 3 hours, one hour to get our tickets, then nearly 4 hours to Samoa and the previous day as we crossed the Date Line. So it was a double Wednesday for us. Our accommodation driver was waiting as we emerged from Customs for a leisurely drive at night to Apia(35mph/56kph Highway Speed). Finally crashed at midnight, after a tiring day but we were here in the tropics with the air-conditioner on for the first night’s sleep.

My first day was spent walking the streets of Apia, lunch of a chicken meal deal at Macas (no skinny chips here) and they have the only toilet facilities that I can find in town. Taxi back with my bags of groceries, SAT 2.50. Went to get our Drivers Licenses’(SAT 100) in the afternoon and found the bakery for some multi-grain bread. Driving left hand vehicles, it’s tight right and loose left at intersections (a slight change of pace from Aussie)

The barking dogs kept our second night lively, so the air went on at midnight. I got a lift to the Uni and checked out the Library, then caught the local bus to town (60 sene) and finally walked to our accommodation (1 hour). I did this again in the afternoon, in practice for the Hash run next week with the RAN crew from a frigate that will be in town. Had my first night drive to Giordanos Pizzeria for take away, no dings as yet. The 4 litre diesel is very forgiving for my botched gear changes, my right hand will get better.

More photos when we get a better connection.

R&F