My first week in Samoa

Just over a week ago I arrived in Samoa. Blurry eyed at 6am on a Tuesday morning, I disembarked the Qantas flight from Brisbane in the dark. As I entered the airport and walked up to the immigration officer to present my passport and visa that had only been emailed to me hours earlier, I was filled with excitement. After a whirlwind four months of applying for the Australian Volunteers Program (Aus Vols), being interviewed and ultimately selected, getting through my medical clearances, receiving my final clearance, packing my house and saying good bye to family and friends – I was finally here!

After clearing immigration and customs I emerged to the outside, just as the first light was appearing in the sky. The Samoan Aus Vols program manager met me and another volunteer who is here just for four weeks and drove us into the capital city of Apia.

My first impression was of colour, a riot of bright colours. Like many other tropical countries, the flowers are bright and highlighted against the green of the foliage. The houses are painted in bright colours too. And everywhere I looked, there were reminders that Samoa was the host of the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, including a billboard that welcomed the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Our program manager explained that each village was given a different Commonwealth nation to welcome to Samoa and many of them have kept up the decorations. It looks like they are continuing a long party.

It’s only 30 kms from the airport to the centre of Apia but the drive takes 45-50 minutes. This is because the national speed limit is 35mph or 56kph. I learn that it’s 56kph because when the system changed from imperial to metric, they just literally converted the speed. Samoa also changed in 2009 from driving on the left (US style) to driving on the right (Australian/NZ style). This change involved a two day national holiday to minimise potential disruptions and the switch was smooth.

As we enter Apia, the capital (and only) city in Samoa, we stop at a supermarket for water and basic supplies. I have absolutely no idea what I need so I grab a slab of 1 litre bottles of water (the tap water here is unsafe to drink), some cereal and milk. I’m pleased to find my favourite coconut milk on the shelves along with some brands of other items that I recognise either from Australia or New Zealand.

I’m soon deposited at my hotel and learn this is to be my home for the next week until I can find a house and a car. The program manager drives me back into town to go to the bank to get some cash and to sort out a Samoan SIM card so I have data to let friends and family know that I have arrived safely. While we are there, she takes me into a store selling traditional dresses and I walk out having purchased my first Samoan dress. She tells me it will be perfect for my meeting with Australia’s High Commissioner that is scheduled for Friday.

But for now, I’m meant to rest for the day and meet up with the program team on Wednesday. I sleep a couple of hours and when I wake up I decide to walk to a supermarket that Google maps tells me is two kilometres away. Back home I regularly walk five kms in around 40-45 minutes so I figure this will be a good little walk and show me some of the area. What I didn’t account for is the heat and the fact that the route was pretty much all up hill. Rookie mistake! I made it but it took me almost an hour. By the time I arrived, I was the colour of beetroot and seriously wondered if I was going to have a heart attack. All I wanted to do was lay down on the tiled floor in the middle of the store, but willed myself to stay standing. I wandered the little shop until I found the cool room where they display the meat and fruit and vegetables. Never have I been so glad to enter a cool space! I took about 10 minutes to look at all the fruit and veg and to decide to buy one onion, some local ginger, some limes (that are the size of oranges back home!) and a small bunch of mint. The girls working behind the meat counter kept looking at me funnily. I don’t think they’d seen anyone spend so long in the cool room and then only choose such a few things! As I paid for my items out in the main area, I met a lovely woman who helped me ring a taxi to get back to my hotel (since I didn’t know the number for a local taxi). The taxi arrived and what a sight for my eyes it was. Driven by a guy in a purple, pink and white suit, the interior of the taxi was purple – including purple fake fur across the dashboard and a lot of sparkly beads hanging from the rearview mirror. I felt like I was being driven in a unicorn! The fare to get back to my hotel was $4WST – about $2.50 AUD or $1.50 USD. Crazy! I almost had a heart attack all for the sake of $2.50! As I said, rookie mistake.

When I returned to the hotel, I received a text from Andrew the other volunteer who had arrived with me in the morning. It was his birthday, and he invited me and the two other volunteers who are here to dinner at Paddles, one of the nicest restaurants in Samoa. We had a lovely evening. Andrew was here as a volunteer 10 years ago for 18 months setting up a hospital clinic for prosthetics.  He’s spent the last 10 years working in remote Australia, building prosthetic limbs for people in Aboriginal communities. And oddly enough, he and I know some of the same people through my work at my last job. It really is a small world. The other two volunteers who are here at the moment only arrived two weeks ago, Nick and Rachael. Nick is a visual artist who is working for the Ministry of Education on developing an arts curriculum for primary schools. Rachael is a lawyer by trade and is here working with the Ombudsman’s Office.

Day two began with a driving tour of Apia by the program managers. They delivered my safety briefing as we drove around, telling me where I can go and where I shouldn’t. And they took me to get my Samoan drivers license. We had a look at a couple of options for accommodation but didn’t find anything suitable. Nick and Rachael had secured their accommodation through a private real estate agent and had shared the details with me. When I got back to the hotel I rang the agent and they agreed to show me what they had available the next day.

Thursday morning bright and early I was picked up at the hotel by Fred the agent, who took me to three properties. They were of varying standards and prices. All are furnished so I don’t have to purchase furniture which is great. The last house we looked at was my favourite. Apia as a city mainly lies along the coastline with a big mountain up behind the city. The house is on that mountain so it’s much cooler than places in town as it receives cool ocean breezes. It has a large deck that faces the ocean view and is surrounded by beautiful tropical plants (and lots of lemongrass to keep the mozzies away). I had found my new home, now I just needed the program team to approve it from a security point of view.

That wasn’t able to happen until Monday, so Friday was dedicated to finding a car. The program managers told me that I only had two jobs for my first week or so – to find accommodation and to find a car.

But first on Friday, the four of us volunteers were invited to the High Commission to meet the High Commissioner and his Deputy. We were all in our traditional Samoan dress and looked great, if I say so myself. It was interesting to have a chat with the High Commissioner, hear a bit about Australia’s priorities in Samoa and to see how each of our assignments tie in with that. I will be working with SUNGO – the Samoan Umbrella for Non-Governmental Organisations and it’s clear that the NGO community is an important area for the Australian government to work with.

In case you don’t know, the High Commission is like an embassy but since Australia and Samoa are both members of the Commonwealth, it’s called a High Commission rather than an embassy.

After the meeting I visited the Ministry of Immigration to get my temporary resident’s visa put into my passport. Since it had arrived electronically only hours before I departed Australia, there wasn’t time to physically have it put in my passport and I had been advised to visit the Immigration office in my first week or so in order to receive it officially.

Then off to the used car yard. There is little in this world that I hate more than buying a car. Nothing about the process is easy for me and as much as my dad trained me for things to look for when buying a used car, I still feel nothing but panic that no matter what I buy will be ok and last the duration. I’m only here for 12 months and I really don’t want to spend much on a car. I would like to buy something that will hold it’s resell value so I can sell it next year and get at least most of my money back. I test drove three on Friday afternoon before becoming overwhelmed and just had to stop looking for the day.

I was feeling down after the car yards. Before I left the centre of town for the hotel I stopped in at Lucky Foodtown, a supermarket in the centre of the city. I was pleasantly surprised (or lucky) to find chicken in the meat section so I bought some as my dinner treat to cheer myself up from car hunting. The supermarkets are all very hit and miss here. What you find in one, may not be in any other. And what you find one day, may not be there when you go back. So already I’m finding that I need to buy something when I see it, not when I necessarily think I might eat it.

Weekends are interesting here. Stores are open from 9-12.30 for the most part on Saturday but then are shut for the afternoon and all day on Sunday. So if you need to get things done, Saturday morning is your time. I was back looking for cars early on Saturday, in a different area of the city. I rented a car for the weekend so I could get around efficiently and see as many as I could. After three hours of test driving and looking, still no luck. I was getting despondent so I decided to head out of town for the afternoon to the south coast and see if I could find a beach for the afternoon.

The most direct way to the South Coast from Apia is up over the mountain, following the Cross Island Road. The main roads here are named more for function than anything else: Beach Road (the address of the High Commission), Main East Coast Road, etc….

I took the Cross Island Beach Road up over the mountain which only takes 25-30 minutes. Even at 35mph/56kph. My plan (if I had any plan at all) was to stop at a resort, chill for a bit in a beach fale and then head home. Instead, I turned my car right and drove along Main South Coast road. The road meandered through traditional villages, all with brightly coloured houses and some stunning gardens.

After driving about 20 minutes, I was stopped at a police checkpoint. The female police officer who asked for my license looked shocked and amazed when I produced a full Samoan license and I proceeded to tell her why I was in Samoa, that I had only arrived on Tuesday, that I’m going to be here for 11 months, etc etc. Total verbal diarrhoea. I can’t help it when I’m stopped at a police checkpoint, I can’t keep my mouth shut. It’s happened time and time again and each time, the poor police officer looks like they really wish they hadn’t stopped me for a check.

I was waved through with my heart pounding even though I had done nothing wrong. So I kept driving west. I had planned to turn around and go back the way I had come, but I didn’t want to get stopped again and have them ask why I had turned around. Who knows what I would have said!

So I drove on until I saw a sign advertising beach fales. I turned in and ended up at this lovely little lagoon, with my own beach fale. Fales are raised platforms on the beach with a thatched roof. When you visit a beach in Samoa, you pay for the privilege. The money goes to the village who ‘owns’ and takes care of the beach. In this case at Lovine Beach Fales, I paid $20WST to have my own fale and to be able to swim in the lagoon. Some fales allow you to stay overnight and they make up the fale with a bed and roll down curtains. I’m looking forward to doing that soon!

I had a lovely swim and a bit of a relax before heading back to Apia by continuing around on Main South Coast road.

Driving here is different. Not just the fact that the national speed limit is 35mph/56kph. It’s that the roads go straight through villages so you really need to be aware all the time that small children, cows, pigs and the ever-present dogs could run out in front of you. There are people walking from village to village along the road as well as many roadside vendors of fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and/or coconuts. A local drink is Niu – a fresh, young coconut with the husk removed and a straw poked in one of the eyes. You drink the fresh young coconut water and then can scoop out some of the flesh. It’s not exactly sweet, it’s a bit more tangy but tasty.

Sunday was quite an adventure – one that almost deserves its own blog post. Sundays in Samoa are for church. There isn’t much open and everyone goes to church and spends time with family. I spent the morning on the phone with my brother in the US who is a car expert. I took him through every car I had looked at so far and he looked them up on the internet and gave me advice on buying them. His help was invaluable. One big issue is that cars here are all imported directly from Japan when the Japanese have finished using them. My brother says there is a law there that cars can only be 10 years old and then they must be disposed of. Well, they get ‘disposed of’ here in Samoa and other places in the Pacific. So everything that is listed for sale as ‘new’ here is actually at least 10 years old. And every single car I’ve looked at has a Japanese name that is nothing like its Australian name (or US name too). So I don’t know what I’m looking at. Is it a Mazda 2 or is it a Mazda Demio? Is it a Nissan Pulsar or a Nissan Sylphy? And on it goes. It was great to have my brother to talk to. As mentioned before, I hate buying a car and doing it on my own just sucks. But I love that he was able to give me the moral support I needed.

Then I headed off on the Main East Coast road in my rental. One of the few things that is open on a Sunday afternoon in Samoa is the To Sua Ocean Trench. Years ago, a couple bought a property on the south coast of Samoa that was wild bushland. They started to clear it to create a botanical garden and discovered that they owned one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been on this planet. The To Sua Ocean Trench is a lava tube that was formed and is still connected to the ocean. It’s 30m deep of crystal clear water and tropical fish. A huge wooden ladder transports you from an above ground dweller to sea level explorer. The vines and lianas hanging from the edge provide amazing ambiance. And the tropical fish that you see with the naked eye are incredible too. There are two ropes across the pool (To Sua means Giant Swimming Hole in Samoan) that one can hold onto if needed as the current can pull one way or the other depending on tides. Both sides of To Sua have caves, but only one is open to the ocean. It is recommended that people don’t swim through that cave unless they are an experienced diver with equipment. There are a number of rules that you need to follow that are posted at the top before heading down to the swimming hole. This is one of a few places in Samoa where they state that women can wear bikinis to swim but walking around or going to the change rooms or being in a fale requires women to be covered. This is pretty common I’m learning. Which is an issue for me, since I only wear bikinis and that’s all I brought. But to be respectful, I’m learning to swim with a t-shirt on. 😊

After the magical experience of swimming in To Sua, my $20WST ($11AUS/$7USD) also entitled me to my own beach fale where I napped and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. At one point, a brief tropical shower passed through for a few minutes and I was lovely and dry in my fale. My only visitor was a free-range chicken (I named him HeHe after the chicken in Moana) who kept jumping up into my fale and trying to eat my lunch!

To Sua closes at 5pm on Sundays and I was one of the last to leave. It’s definitely a magical place and I can’t believe how few people were there! I’ll be going back, many times over the next 11 months.

I drove back to Apia on the Cross Island Road and my experience couldn’t have been more different than coming down it a day earlier. On Sunday evening it was fogged in and raining. Which meant even driving 35mph/56kph was difficult. But I eventually made it through and back to my hotel in Apia.

On Monday, I took a taxi to the Australian Volunteers Program office to meet with the team and then they took me out to see the house I wanted to rent so they could check it for security. They were concerned because it is quite a way out of the city but were satisfied that there are security gates and all the houses on the road are owned by one family. The only other ‘outsider’ is a woman who works for UNESCO who lives by herself in one of the houses next door. So they gave me the tick of approval which meant that I could sign a lease on Tuesday.

And that’s the end of my first week in Samoa.

To sum it up, the people are lovely, the country is lovely and I’m sure to have an interesting year. And I’m also going to have to learn how to take things as they come. Just let things flow.

Bring on week 2.