Savaii

Our Beach Fale On Savaii

We reached Savaii and headed up to the north of the island. The thing with all the Polynesian Pacific Island nations is that they were all formed by volcanoes - well they basically are volcanoes. Recently Tonga (a nearby Island) made the headlines as just offshore of the country - huge amounts of gas and ash spewed from the sea. Magma from below the oceans floor was being released in a new volcanic eruption. With enough magma release land will start to form and poke it's head out of the sea and with enough magma a new island will form - just like all the others in this part of the world. It's a shame that it doesn't happen around England. It would save dramatically on overpopulation, if suddenly a large bit of land popped out of the North Sea. We would have a lot more housing space!!! The main volcano on Savaii (Matavanu) last erupted in just 1905 and because of this so much of the island's coast doesn't have a sandy beach but instead is replaced by black volcanic lava flows. The northern region, where we were heading however did have a beach - and a very nice one at that too.

Again we stayed in an open beach fale and again we did a lot of lazing about in the sand. We did however, make some time to get off our arses and explore. Our mode of transport was push bikes (as we couldn't afford a car and they don't have motorbikes or anything really similar, which I found unusual as mopeds were the main way to get about on the Asian Islands. We did however look ridiculous. 5 tourists cycling down the street while local's waved and shouted at us. I thought we looked like we were straight out of the film E.T and I just wished our bikes had baskets on the front.

We stopped off at the nearby lava flows. The last eruption from Matavanu Volcano between 1905-1910 produced huge amounts of material, spewing lava for miles and wiping out small villages. We stopped off at a very famous church in which the lava flowed around it and onwards, then decided it would turn back somehow and then barge straight through the front door. The only things still standing are the brick walls. The lava flows were very impressive for me at least, although everyone else didn't appear as excited as I was for some reason. Predictions are that Matavanu Volcano will erupt again in the next 10-15 years.

Later Scott and I headed off in another direction to find the Dwarf Caves. We knew roughly where we were going but had no idea it would be so hard to get too. It took us about an hour to ride there - up-hill. At one point I was sure I was dead but eventually you reach a small village with a sign pointing the way. Then you have to wait until a guide turns up. He walks you for another 30 minutes past farmland and rainforest, pointing out all the crops that they grow and what plants are used for healing etc. Eventually we reach this tiny hole in the floor. He guides you as the caves are pitch black. I then realise that these are lava caves and are huge. He took us deep enough to reach the first pool (apparently there are 6 altogether but probably would have taken forever to reach the latter ones). In the pitch black he then tells you to stand on the ledge and jump into the pool - you can't even see where your jumping - but you do hit water and cold water at that. He guided us to some other parts of the cave. At one point he went very quiet and then suddenly shined his torch up to the ceiling to reveal a large bat. Then shouting "batman, batman" to us, swiftly disturbed the poor creature which decided to fly straight towards us and over our heads. While Scott was panicking (he really doesn't like bats) - I'm scrambbling around in the dark shouting - "Rabies, Run!!!". He eventually led us out and we returned down-hill by bike to our resort.

We learnt a lot about Samoa and it's people. While the country isn't really poor - a lot of people's earnings are tied up in the church. Apparently 60% of your wages go to the church and there are a lot of big and extravagant churches around the country. Still, everyone seems happy. It's a relaxing life for the most part although they do work hard, generally in family businesses. The country doesn't really have any dangerous creatures - at least not on land anyway. I was most worried about standing under the coconut trees as falling coconuts kill more people each year than sharks - fact. The sun here is as strong as in New Zealand - that hole in the o-zone must be growing, yet for the entire time in Samoa we had perfect weather. It's a tropical climate and so at night we did have a couple of thunderstorms but in the day we didn't feel a drop. Mostly even the nights were wet free and we would spend a lot of time lying in the sand and looking at the Milky Way. I don't think I have ever seen so many shooting stars before.

We left Savaii after our three days on the island and returned by ferry to Upolu. We had one day left and the airport really isn't very far from the capital - Apia, so off we headed there. We took a local bus to Apia. Local buses are certainly an experience. They are brightly coloured, have no windows and are crammed full of people. Then with the wind in your hair, they crank up the music. It's the way to travel in my opinion. In Apia, we walked around the markets (haggling for everything we wanted) and took in the sights. On the local bus, Scott was seated next to William - Samoa's Chief of Police and also a United Nation's peace keeper. He took us under his wing - telling us where to stay and even giving us a ride to the airport at 4am. We said if he was ever in Auckland - he could come and stay in our flat!!!

We arrived at the airport a little sad. It was soon taken over by fear though as rumours of something called Swine Flu had suddenly burst onto every news channel on the planet. There were no delays and we arrived back in Auckland, cold and utterly depressed. We soon got over it though. I'm heading off to the travel agent on Monday. Now - I've heard Vanuatu is nice.