Fiji
Solomon Islands
Vanuatu

Samoa
New Zealand

Today was the day we got our wheels. We hired a car for two weeks from Apia rentals at a cost of 88 tala a day. It is a Suzuki Sidekick. We have already found a few problems with it, but nothing that prevents us from using it. The radio doesn't work, but who needs a radio when you have the beautiful Samoan scenery to look at. The fan and air con has packed in; so what? Just wind down the windows and enjoy the clean air. The car leaks through the rear window; who cares? Its just great to be on holiday.

The first thing we had to do was drive out to Lolumoega to visit Lucy’s aunt. We stayed with her the last time we came to Samoa and would be spending a few days there this time. We took various gifts for them, material, coffee, tea and a financial contribution to help with any fa'alavelave. We spent a couple of hours there explaining what we were hoping to do and see in Samoa and catching up on family news.

We then headed back through Apia towards at stretch of road I though looked quite interesting on the map. This was a mistake. It transpired that we had found the worst road in Samoa. If you drive to Falefa and then take the road on the left that crosses the Falefa Falls you will find out what I mean. It starts off as just another rough track, but before long the small stones in the road turn to big ones, a steep cliff develops on one side, a ditch on the other and it narrows to exactly width of a bus. Needless to say in my effort to stay away from the cliff we ended up in the ditch. This posed a few problems for us because we had not passed any houses in about 25 minutes and from the map we could see that the first village was some way away. However the Sidekick is a 4x4, I worked out how which of the gear levers shifted it into four wheel drive (more on this later) and proceeded to slide further into the ditch, both passenger side wheels were in the ditch. Fortunately a Sidekick is not a particularly heavy vehicle and with a very cautious Lucy at the wheel, she did not want to end up going over the cliff on the other side of the road, I managed to bounce the vehicle along and out of the ditch. Unsuprisingly I excerised far more caution as I continued along the road. I could not say how far we had to drive before we came to the first village, but in total it took us about an hour and a quarter from where we had turned off the main road. There were two villages very close together, both set back about 20 meters from the beach in a small bay. We drove through the villages only to find that the road turned into a swampy track with no well defined route through. I'm sure that a 4x4 should have been able to navigate the track but one thing is certain; with my lack of experience, that 4x4 wouldn't be driven by me.

We reversed back down the track, turned around and started to head back towards the main road. Neither of us had expected the drive to take so long, and we hadn't packed anything to drink, so we asked some of the children where the shop was. They pointed to a brightly painted yellow building. I asked the shopkeeper if she sold Coke or Fanta, she shook her head. I elicited the same response when I asked about water and vailima. Things weren't looking promising, but she when over to a large chest freezer and pulled out a plastic bottle full of ice. From this she poured a couple of glasses of water. It's strange, but these villages are less than 40km from Apia but they represent the least well developed part of Samoa that we encountered.

On our journey out we had not seen another vehicle, but just as we were leaving the first village, the bus driver decided that it was the perfect time for heading back into Apia. The driver could see us coming, he knows that there is nowhere for us to pass him for at least 20 minutes and so he decides to head of infront of us, in what looked as if it could have been the first bus ever to arrive in Samoa. There was one passenger on the bus and several big branches of bananas were sliding around on the floor of the bus. We could see them because the buses rear door was open, and we were just waiting for them to land on the windscreen. Fortunately the driver was not totally without heart, and after about 10 minutes of following him, he found a corner where he could pull over and let us pass. The rest of the trip back to Apia was without incident.

We had arranged to meet Lucy's cousin Emma, at the Hotel in the evening and then go on to Crystals. Unfortunately she was unable to meet us and so Lucy and I headed off on our own. From the outside the nightclub looks pretty small, but it streches back and out someway, so we felt somewhat conspicuous when we walked through the doors shortly after 8 o'clock and found that we were the only people there. A few minutes later it was announced to us that the band would start playing shortly. Whether it was our arrival that precipitated the bands appearence on stage or if 8:15 is the time the nightclub starts we do not know. Last time we were in Samoa we made the mistake of going to the clubs too late. It is illegal for clubs to stay open past midnight, so this time we thought we wouldnt make the same mistake. I don't know what the best time to turn up at a Samoan nightclub is, but it wasnt until 10:10 that there were more than ten people on the dance floor. The band were competant but what most struck me was that they played a lot of Samoan songs, and didn't just provide a diet of regurgitated western music. If you ever find yourself in a Samoan nightclub there are just two things to rembember, if you are asked to dance, you will cause great offence if you refuse and if a fight breaks out do not get involved, even if you want to try and calm things down. The fights are always the result of someone having drunk too much and reasoning is futile.