Talofa lava from the Grey tribe

Sorry we haven’t been updating much lately. Firstly I was sick and then Latia, both down with Dengue Fever, it just amazes me how such a small insect can cause so much pain!! It put us out of action for about a week we were both recovering when our neighbours Jan and Clive arrived for a week away from the wind and rain you have been experiencing. So it was on with the tour guide hat and showing them the sights of Samoa. Emile will hopefully get some pictures on today. Did try last week but it didn’t work for some reason. We have a boarder staying a couple of nights a week. Emile’s cousin’s daughter Mazi (16yrs) who attends Robert Lois Stevenson’s High School up the road has been staying. Otherwise she had to leave the village at 5.30am in the morning to get to school on time and she has exams coming up soon. So she enjoys a sleep in at our place a couple of days a week. The girls are enjoying having some new company and she brought with her a proper bed, so all the girls have turns sleeping on it when she is away! We had our first night out without children thanks to a built in babysitter, let’s hope we get a few more!! It is now countdown till Leilani’s birthday on the 30th August when we will be in Savaii so she can swim with the turtles, provided they are not too big!! We are also looking forward to the Perham-Roselli family arriving over in time to celebrate the birthday as well. Here’s hoping the weather is starting to improve in New Zealand or we might be tempted to stay in the Heat of the Tropics!! Just joking, we are looking forward to coming home even if it is going to be cold!


One of the many falls we visited
The Market experience

Arrival...Yes Jan and Clive were in Samoa
Walking the streets of Apia
"How much?" Asks Clive

The bus experience not to be forgotten
Lunch all together!!

Jan and Clive have arrived!!

Jan and Clive arrived Thursday morning and ince then we have been busy busy busy and having a great time. We're all in town now, arrived by bus! An experience on it's own!!:-) We did half the island yesterday east side of upolu was great. I have picks to put up later on.......just checking emails! Monday is a public holiday and we will most likely do the otherhalf of Upolu then.

Thank you to the snail mail people have sent!! It's great!!

Gotta shoot the breeze and cvatch up with everyone else!.......Pics coming prob tuesday our time.

Malo soifua Emile

By Talia

Jane's Beach Fales
The lava flow
Striking a pose at Jane's beach fales

By Talia
We went to Savai’i and we first went to see the Lava flow. We saw the buried Church and a Lava Cave. When we went to stay at Jane’s fales, we had breakfast. We got hot water and sugar and a juice.

Don't forget to check out Maleina's and Leilani's Blog,.......They have been updated!!!!!

The Blow holes in Savai'i

Yeh we have arrived at the Blowholes
Watching Daddy throw a coconut into the hole....

There it goes!!!!
I am king!!....... But wait there is more nd as you would have read in Elizabeths piece....The Freak wave that the kids running to the car screaming............ It was awesome and the biggest wave, blow or what ever happened when we were out there and it'ss all captured on film!!......So I'll leave it there!!

Now there wont be much of a story here and Maleina will finish it off in her blog........she's writting away as I type at home school so be expecting in the next few days!!

1 more term to go and wer'e back in the holidays!

emile

Elizabeths Piece

the fallen tree across road
Togitogiga falls
Bathing beauties!!

The Brothers
Janes Beach Fales
Lava flow into Church
Look left of Maleina''s head and enlarge and you will see the Pe'a Pe'a bird.
Yep....only a 3 metre swell +

We have just had a fantastic couple of days on Savaii, being real tourist again!! We saw and experienced heaps, some things I’m sure even Talia and Latia won’t forget, like seeing a flying fox (fruit bat) in broad daylight just above the car. An awesome sight, when they are becoming rare and usually only seen in the evenings or early morning. Also went into a lava tube cave, where Emile captured on camera the peapea (swiftlet bird) which is about the size of a large moth and moves extremely fast, we could hardly see them when inside the cave. The lava flow around the island also provides plenty of interesting sights. The blowholes have created mixed reaction from the girls as you may well see in the photo line up! Maleina and Emile got caught in a freak wave…. I”ll leave the rest for Maleina to write in her story. Then you may even be lucky enough to get Emile’s account of the amazing blowholes. I was fortunate enough to capture what will be my most favourite photo of Samoa I think, ‘the brothers’ on their horse’. We stopped and gave them $1tala each for the photo and the smiles got even wider, plus showed them the photo on the camera. It was a “Mastercard moment: Priceless.” Staying in the beach fales right on the beach are certainly an experience in themselves and epitomise the Samoan lifestyle unfortunately the weather wasn’t that kind to us, but the girls still managed to get into the water swimming and snorkelling at every opportunity. We even got treated to a ‘rollercoaster ride’ on the way home on the ferry, a swell and roll that must have measured 3m + and the Samoans’ just slept. Thankfully no one was sick and returned safely to Lotopa, only after passing a fallen tree on the main highway that had closed the road but the traffic just drove up on the garden of the adjacent houses, while the locals attacked the tree with axes and machetes. No chainsaws here!! We are now planning our next trip back to Savaii for Leilani’s birthday at the end of August. We would just like to congratulate ‘the Nelson cyclists’ on their effort as obviously in some parts of Savaii you had your work cut out for you getting up those hills!! Hope you are coping being back in cold Nelson!! Last photo of Togitogiga falls which we went to today, very impressive due to all the rain they have been having on the other side of the island. We also tried to get to Black Sand beach but flooded so will have to try again some other time.

We are off to Savai 2morrow

Yes tomorrow morning we leave for Savai’i for a couple of days and a night. Yes our backyard mechanic car is getting repaired?? So we have had to rent one. We are looking forward to going because that’s where everyone seems to go and there are by far more things to do and explore. I’m hoping to see the ancient star mounds that are around different points of the island and the Pulelei mound, the largest rock construction in Polynesia. …..As for the others…..Turtles, beaches and beach fales, what else would ya come to Sava’I for? Yes there is also the rain forestry canopy walk way. Pics coming soon when we get back!!!

Check out Leilanis page.

I have a story....Leilani

Palolo Deep Marine Reserve
We had a school outing to the reserve today, it was amazing! Just like swimming in the Nemo film, we decided we just about saw all the fish except for Nemo perhaps he is still lost after all!!! My favourite were the florescent blue and green ones that looked like they glowed in the water and this white, blue, black and orange one that had racing stripes down the side with black and blue stripes between its big googly eyes! The coral and sea weed was pretty interesting as well, shame we don’t have an underwater camera, but you will just have to imagine these wonderful creatures. Think the locals would think nothing of eating them! Yes just as well Emile wasn’t feeling 100% or we might have been having a fisherman’s basket for dinner? The girls are keen to return and venture out to the hole next time, but it is about 500m of shore.

Never too far from Home!

Had a great time on Saturday morning catching up with some friends from Stoke. Carolyn and Patrick White with the team of excited bikers, preparing bikes for a trip around Savaii. Thanks to Carolyn home schoolling has become a whole lot more interesting with some software for Maleina and Leilani to work on. The girls all came home on Saturday morning and got stuck into the books and the computer programme, that says something, “School on Saturday!” We hope the team have an excellent holiday. The weather has been kind so far and Samoa won the rugby on Saturday afternoon so the blocks should have had a good time!

some of Emile's Favs...from over 2000+ Pics

Frangapani's
Perfect
Gateway to Samoa....just don't hit the coconut trees!!
The Teiula Flower......(The Ginger weed here)
Samoan Orchard

Ideal
The odd flower that bloomed to white from red we found was a weed :-).....well grows well!
Downpour outside front of house
Favorite Hibiscus
Moon rise over Apia harbour

Malo!