sauniatu

in the early days of the church in samoa, the members faced a lot of persecution and were driven out of many villages, ridiculed for their beliefs. it became so bad, that the church eventually purchased land in the crater made by a long extinct volcano, where the saints assembled in a safe haven they called "sauniatu". the name translated means "prepare to go forth" and that is what the saints did, they prepared. the road into the village is only just under 6.5km from the main road, but is an awfully slow drive... you could probably walk almost as fast... it's twisty and terribly uneven, making it very difficult to get into.

when elder david o. mckay visited the village in 1921 he pronounced an apostolic blessing on the village, proclaiming that the faith of the saints in sauniatu would lead to their crops being fruitful, that they would have an abundance of food and that peace would abide in their hearts and homes. this promise has certainly been kept... with the village having a good, large crop year after year and even the church owned farm now offering education to others among the islands about how best to grow their crops.

the church members in the area have such a love for david o. mckay, that a fale was erected in his honour, with a carved bust of his likeness placed in the centre.

the amazing ceiling... all handtied with rope to  hold the fale together.

the plaque reads: the house of david o. mckay, dedicated on july 13, 1968 - built by willing hands and loving hearts.

there are so many wonderful stories about the village (including one about the carving pictured above...), which you can read here on the church website. it is an amazing place, truly dedicated to the building of the gospel on the earth. a church school was also established in sauniatu and still runs to this day, educating the local children.

there is also an amazing waterfall where you are able to swim, after descending the steep staircase into the grotto. the water is cool and clear, bubbling along fresh and clean as anything. dad held joseph for us and the rest of us went in... it was just amazing! i even swam over to the waterfall and let it wash over me... i truly feel so blessed to be experiencing this little bit of paradise with the people i love the most.

everything just feels so real here. days are bright and warm, the water is perfect for swimming, the food is fresh and delicious and the people are so kind. it amazes me that doug was born in such a beautiful place and that we finally have been given a perfect opportunity to get to know it.

what a beautiful view! tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the capital, in it's own little place.

enjoying the water with the family 

what a wonderful day. sauniatu is truly a place of refuge for the saints and i am so glad we made the drive up that awful road. it was worth every single bump!

flea market

today was our market day. i have always loved markets and was so thrilled to head off to the flea markets to have a look around. it was a muggy day, and under the tin roof it was sooooo hot. i can't even imagine how the vendors can spend their entire day in there. they must be used to it though... 

what a gorgeous place to look around though... there was a rainbow of colour, with all the hundreds of lavalavas, dresses and shirts hanging from the hooks at the top of each stall... there were carved drums, necklaces, other jewellery and animals made from wood and coconut. there were fans and bags, made from the dried out coconut palm leaves... and lots of local food for sale.

i bought a few fans and a few other little things for friends - and doug was stoked to get his hands on a tribal print t-shirt. joseph and maddie also were spoiled by their grandmothers who both were with us, oli bought maddie a cute little tribal dress with a coconut tie and joseph a teeny t-shirt and my mum bought maddie the cutest little straw bag. it looks like licorice alsorts and she is obsessed. carries it everywhere and keep telling everyone proudly that "nanna bought it to me!" and looking for things to put in it. but the buy of the day was definitely a little carved drum for joseph... it will be going on display in his room so stay tuned... i'll post pictures soon enough.

what a wonderful place to visit... we are loving buying things here, as the exchange rate of the australian dollar compared to the samoan tala is so good, that we can half the price of everything... the woven bags i bought were only $10au each!! and the little drum? $12.50! winner! there are so many lovely things to be had, let's just hope we can fit it all in when it's time to go home. :)

my honest apologies to whoever owns these pictures... i forgot my camera the day we went to the markets and i have taken these from google images

lupesina treesort

last stop for the day was the lupesina (white dove) treesort. nope, i did not spell that wrong, it is a resort, in a tree. long story short, an american couple retired to samoa and bought last on which they planned to build a house and relax. the land had a giant banyan tree on it which was hollow inside (if you go read up on banyan trees - they pretty much strangle the tree they grow on and take over, leaving it to die and rot away inside) and the gentleman had a brainwave that he was going to build a treehouse! not a house in the branches like we all know from our childhood, an actual house. in a tree. inside the tree. and it is incredible. it has running water, power, you name it, it's got it. it has a shower inside the trunk of the tree. it's even built an impressive 13 metres above the ground - so as to take advantage of the amazing view, straight across the rainforrest to the ocean. there's also another smaller treehouse 11 metres up called the stargazer, which has a glass ceiling in the bedroom! unfortunately when we popped in, it was a muggy day and there was fog everywhere around so my pictures don't show the view. i must confess i kind of like them though, they were like a real life fairytale and reminded me of "the magic faraway tree" by enid blyton. we could only look from the verandah as there were guests in the treehouses, but it was still impressive. 

please please please go and look at their website here and check out their pictures. they are amazing and make me so sad that we couldn't stay there (or even have a look inside). we actually planned to stay there a night but with both the children were so clingy and so sad all the time that i wasn't brave enough to leave them. not that joseph could have been left anyway, he was coming everywhere we went whether we liked it or night. he likes the milk far too much, but next time, for sure!!

we spoke with the owners for quite some time and they told us how well they are doing now, they are starting to even have celebrities come to stay and have had to arrange a guard post at the entry road as the resort is becoming so famous that people are starting to drive up to the houses and try to go in, or take pictures while they have guests there!

the stargazer ♥

the road into the property was barely drive-able but the treesort has attracted so much publicity and tourism for the islands that the samoan government has even built them a road into their place and they are going to be featured prominently in all future tourism campaigns. what an awesome place! exactly like a real life fairytale.

soletoga resort

a very late lunch after our trip to to sua, we stopped at a resort called soletoga (which apparently translated to english means "no tongans"... random) right on the ocean (there isn't much that isn't right on the ocean here haha) very modern with an island feel to the main building. it looked as though it would be a lovely place to stay too! the staff were very attentive and the food was delicious.

the view from our table... what a hard life.

joseph was wide awake and loving the cuddles from everyone, while madeline was so exhausted that she slept the entire way through lunch. poor love, her sleep is all out of whack still, she's in a strange place, new things, new people, so much to see... i have to keep reminding myself that she is only 3 years old and the attitude and temper are mostly due to the above - and the fact that it's just so hot! we've come from it being still fairly cold... straight into heat and humidity.

we had a lovely lunch and then a little stroll. doug made a few cracks about us staying here next time we come back... who knows, there is always the chance of winning the lottery, although how one would win without purchasing a ticket is beyond me.

maddie eventually joined us back in the real world and was thrilled to see that someone had ordered her some chips. what a good day it is when your children are easily pleased. 

next stop - lupesina...

to sua trenches

we then drove on, with the rain stopping and starting... to the to sua trenches. oh my word. i could not in a million years describe how amazing and perfect this place was. as you can see from the photo above, the largest trench is around 50m in from the ocean, and a tunnel only visible at low tide runs from the trench through to the ocean. you are able to (although it is strongly suggested that you do not!) swim through at low tide and some locals do so... but it's definitely not something i would be keen on.

doug and i left madeline with her grandmothers and decided to go down for a swim and i am so glad we did! the water was the perfect temperature. so blue and so clear, lapping gently back and forwards with the swell of the ocean nearby. 

the trench is 30m deep, accessible only by this steep ladder, after coming down a short and also steep staircase. it's certainly an effort, but one that is well rewarded. the trenches were created by a flow of lava beneath the earths surface thousands of years ago. when the lava stopped, the holes remained, and the shallow cover of land eventually caved in and created this amazing phenomenon.  

it truly is a place where time does not seem to matter, nor even exist as you simply float and dream away. the pull of the current can be quite strong, so a rope has been placed across the water, allowing visitors to rest as they float and as you sit on the rope or hold on to it, you can feel the water lapping and pulling you back and forth.

i think doug would have quite gladly spent the rest of his holiday here, and i have to agree - floating on my back gazing up at the greenery growing away on the sides and feeling the rain drop away on my face... it was paradise. easy to forget that the world outside even existed... until you remember your two children in the car... sigh. out we get. 

there was even a gorgeous memorial facing out to the never ending ocean that surrounds the islands. if only i could read samoan, i would have been happy to tell you who or what it was for. looked nice though!

and there was these gorgeous little fales all around the to sua enclosure... for visitors to rest, leave their belongings, enjoy their lunch...

doug enjoying his last few minutes in the water.

to sua was incredible. an absolute must-see if you to samoa. you'd be crazy to miss it. what an amazing place.

sopoaga waterfall & botanical gardens

next stop - sopoaga botanical gardens, complete with this incredible waterfall! which of course just happens to be across the valley from someones backyard!!! ridiculous. can you even imagine owning land with this kind of view? but these people do! this country is amazing. i could have stood and watched it for hours.

samoa at it's finest, 3 small fales, built just metres from a cliff, no fence, no safety rail, nothing - and it's in a publicly open garden. an accident waiting to happen much? can you imagine this sort of thing in australia? it's such a pity they aren't habitable, they would be amazing to stay the night in.

land in samoa is not purchased by people, it is owned by villages - and families continue to live together on their land year after year, generation after generation. this land has been beautifully cultivated by the owners to be displayed to tourists - with a small botanical garden. there is a 5 samoan tala admittance fee, and it is well worth it, even if you were just coming to watch the waterfall! 

neatly labelled wooden markers are placed throughout the garden showing the samoan and english names of all the native trees in the garden, as well as some other smaller huts containing some samoan traditional items. it's such a sweet place and was really interesting to spend some time in.

this is the nonu tree. the nonu is a plant of healing to the samoan people, with the juice being sold in a tonic, which when used each day can improve ones health and wellbeing. mum had some of the juice (which can actually be purchased in australia - just not western australia) and i tried a little, it tastes absolutely terrible! thankfully there is a powdered version also available - which has flavouring added, because everyone that spoke to us about it, swore it works wonders. might have to look into that - it's available here if you're keen to try it

in this hut, there was a bunch of log drums... doug thought all his christmases had come at once and got busy tapping out a tune with maddie. we may have to look into a way to get one across to australia for him. it would be a super cool present. there was also an umu hut... where the fire to cook the food is all burnt coconut shall pieces. nothing is wasted from the coconut - such a useful fruit.

there was even this adorable display of teuila in the bathroom - the teuila festival has just finished here in samoa and they are flowering everywhere. it is the national flower and people just love it. as do i. it's red ginger flower and just looks so bright and tropical.

the lady who was in charge at the gardens was so sweet, she rushed over to the car to meet us - as it had been raining - with umbrellas and then sat and chatted with doug's mum in samoan as we looked around. the garden is clearly well cared for and enjoyed.

doug with his precious drums. i am so glad mum and dad know all these places, they have made our holiday amazing with all there is to see and do.

i'd just like to leave you with this amazing photo of growing pineapples. i am clearly australian and purchase pineapple from the supermarket, whether fresh or tinned - but they grow on a bush. of course they do, and clearly i should have know that, but i had never actually thought about it. mind blown.

taelefaga (fagaloa bay lookout)

we set out nice and early today for a full day of sight seeing. the weather looked pretty dismal but we thought we'd give it a go anyway... at least it wasn't hot as long as it was raining! we started out driving around the island... and soon came to a point where we had to turn to continue our drive.

we passed this waterfall and i jumped out of the car to snap a few shots of it, when all of a sudden a bloke comes riding up on a bicycle demanding that we pay him 5 tala to look at his waterfall. um what? dad had been to this particular one before and knew there was only a fee if you went down into the base down a little staircase - but he obviously saw white people and decided to give it a try. dad told him he had seen it before and handed him 5 tala for me, to which he said "but you have a car full of people, what about them!" dad said, "they aren't looking" and walked away to the car. what a legend.

after paying 5 tala i thought i had better get my money's worth... and snapped away while the man gave me the evil eye. it was a pretty decent waterfall, but certainly not worth paying to take pics of. i guess they have to make money somehow though! it is their land...

we drove up and up and up, through twisty roads that got skinnier, with the cliff edges closer. i am glad i wasn't driving, because i didn't like it at all. no guard rails, no fencing... just a nice drop. mind you, the scenery was incredible. beautiful lush green rainforest going on all aound us, with clouds touching the top of every peak we could see.

dad stopped at the highest point, where there was an old power station on the peak. we climbed some stairs to get up higher and higher and the view was incredible! the lookout itself (which honestly consists of somewhere you can pull over in the grass and a large rock you can climb onto) is called taelefaga according to our handy little map, which looks over fagaloa bay. 

check it out. can you even imagine what this was like in real life? i love to take photos, i just wish that you could take shots with your eyes, to match exactly what you see. maybe one day...

i love these shots of doug too... looking out over his country. the place he is finally getting to call home.

we even let madeline have a turn on the rock with daddy and she loved it! what a lovely place to be with our family.