Talofa! Having just returned from a week-long tropical holiday with my mum and sister, I'm finding plenty to love this week, but the Auckland weather doesn't feature! (Oh my god, it's so fricken cold here right now, I feel like I could actually perish at night.)
None of our group of three had ever been to Samoa before, and I can't understand why because it's pretty awesome. We stayed on the southern coast at Coconuts Beach Club and spent most of our time either lounging around the resort, eating at another joint down the road or tiki-touring in our rental car across the island.
I was the sole driver and frankly, the driving was exhausting at times due to the sheer amount of pot-holes in the road. The locals ambling along the road three abreast are a hazard unto themselves as well.
Highlights for me included a waterfall we visited on our last day in the O le Pupu-Pue National Park. I was a bit too scared to jump in, but I did swim and the water was amazing, as was all the bush around. This was the one spot where I saw a lot of lizards too.
Oka was another trip favourite, none of us could get enough of this dish and at least one person ordered it at every meal pretty much. Oka was always raw tuna marinated in coconut milk with various additions like tomato, cucumber, chili, coriander and lemon. The best thing to eat in the searing heat.
Although the food at our resort was a bit hit and miss (actually pretty bad), their Fia Fia night was really fun and despite the torrential downpour through out dinner the performers kept us entertained with heaps of songs, dances and fire twirling, licking and dancing (this probably has a proper name).
Coconuts also made epic cocktails and Harriet and I did a great job of working our way through a big chunk of the list, and the staff were friendly, accommodating and sweet. In fact one girl helped Harriet in a medical emergency by taking us back to her house to find supplies because they had run out at the hotel. At Sinelei we managed to befriend a waiter who hugged us all good bye when we had our last dinner there on Sunday night, he was a total sweetheart who seemed to really like my mum and who's last words were "goodbye palangi."
Like most holidays I go on, I kept thinking about how much my kids would love it there- the heat, the water, the wild surrounds make a pretty perfect kids' playground and there was so much to do that we never got round to that I can't wait to find the time and money to go back with the fambam in tow.
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On a sadder (much, much sadder) note, my step dad John has gone into hospice for the final time to be made comfortable as he finally succumbs to his horrible degenerative lung condition. I have been up to see him twice and the last time he was unable to really speak as he has decided to go off his antibiotics, which are basically prolonging his life.
The amazing team at hospice are keeping him comfortable and relaxed and he is able to sleep most of the day. It's really too hard to talk about or accept and in this situation there is nothing to love, there's only a terrible sense of grief.
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