My Bloggable Day

Flying solo on Manono

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Bec

The first time I found myself flying solo overseas was in Barcelona. That first afternoon I found myself overwhelmed and lonely, but by that night I found that travelling solo was pretty much the best thing ever. Since then I’ve enjoyed France, Italy and NYC by myself (well, with the friends I made along the way). When I had the odd museum visit, walk in a park or train ride totally alone, I really enjoyed it. Taking time, taking everything in, doing as I pleased.

When I was in Samoa I had a day to fill when Sarah and Nick were at work, so I decided to head to a tiny island called Manono. Unlike the main land, Manono is free of cars and dogs, a tranquil paradise in paradise.

Before heading off to where the boat leaves for the island I grabbed vital fuel at a cafe:

Delicious homemade crumpets. I then wound along the coastline through villages, stopping every so often to take in the ridiculous views:

How is this even real?!

After stopping for endless photo opportunities I eventually got to where the boat leaves, a smiley man wandered over as if he had been expecting me for weeks. We got on the boat and headed for Manono (which deceptively, doesn’t look that far away in the photo below) with a young boy and his multiple bags of bread.

About 40 minutes later we were approaching the island and the young boy, who had barely uttered a word to me leant in conspiratorially and said “welcome to paradise”.

I had read in the Lonely Planet guide that visitors to Monono took ‘an obligatory walk’ around the perimeter of the island. I quickly learnt what that meant when my plans to set up on a beach with a book were kiboshed by a local who insisted I take the walk. “How long will it take?” I asked. “An hour… Maybe two, it depends how fast you walk…”. So off I set down the winding, well-worn path.

The path opened up around the bend at the first village and I was presented with this.

A beautiful little beach and not a single soul in sight. After the noise of the boat engine the silence was a welcome relief. I set my camera up in a tree and snapped a photo of myself in the crystal clear water (travelling solo also made me a pro at using the self timer function).

Every so often the path would divert inland for a bit, but then I’d see snippets of the blue ocean again.

I eventually saw another human being. This cheeky little guy darted onto the path in front of me before disappearing down a secret short-cut and reappearing again later, giggling. This game went on for a while before he found something better to do, or was called for lunch.

I was surprised by how underpopulated Samoa is, only 200,000 people all together. I was also surprised by just how many churches there were. It was so quiet, the silence was only broken a couple of times by pop music ringing out from tinny radio speakers.

Eventually I made it back to the beginning, rather thirsty and a bit sunburnt. My old friend was amazed by how quick I’d been, I honestly had no idea how long I’d been gone for.

I went for a dip right next to where the boat was docked to cool off before lunch. It was such a relief to get into the water.

Interesting ‘Samoan’ cuisine… After lunch I asked a local if I could pay to use the next village’s beach, the first one I happened upon during my walk. Five tala ($2.50) later I had a slice of paradise all to myself.

I read until it got too hot and then swam until I got too wrinkled.

Before long it was time to head back to the boat. I was sad to leave the tiny beach I had called my own for a couple of hours, so naturally I took a thousand photos.

I sipped on a coconut as I watched Monono get smaller and smaller.

I reached the mainland and was politely asked by one of the locals for a lift back to Apia, so I obliged and heard his life story, mostly about shipping, as we drove along (Mum and Dad pretend you didn’t read that). I regretted my decision to pick up a hitch hiker only for a moment when Backstreets Back came on the radio and I couldn’t sing along loudly.

We got back to the city and he thanked me and told me to dine with his family next time I was on Manono. I met up with Sarah and Nick and went home to prep for a big night on the town.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Beach, Monono, Samoa, Samoa Travel Blog, Travel | Leave a comment

Home, Apia

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Bec

If you head up the hill on the Cross Island Road in Apia you will pass a red house. German architecture. Set back from the road, it’s easy to miss. But you’ll want to make sure you don’t.

The red house is called Home. At Home is exactly how you feel when you pull up a bar-stool and flick through the magazines…

… as you wait for your coffee to arrive.

Sarah, Nick, their visiting friend Sean and I ate breakfast at Home twice.

It was quirky and cool, like one of the a lane way or backstreet gems in Melbourne. And the food was delicious. On the first visit I had the French toast with bacon and maple syrup. I’ve been firmly pro bacon and maple syrup for as long as I can remember, so don’t try to tell me it’s not ok (side note: I also purchased a bottle of Canadian maple syrup for $13 on the weekend, sting! Golden or fake maple syrup aren’t an option).

When I was little my Dad used to call French toast ‘eggy bread’, can you think of anything that sounds less appetizing?!

It was amazing.

The second time we went we sat outside. Sarah and Nick colour-coordinated their outfits for the occasion.

We had fruit smoothies with a hint of mint, or basil? Or both? (so refreshing)

I went savoury this time. The sweet/savoury decision at breakfast time is one of the hardest I’m continuously confronted with #firstworldproblems. I had the Berlin breakfast:

Check out the yolk lava cascading down the the potato mountain:

Improved only with lashings of Tobasco.

On the way out Nick may have grabbed a slice of almond cake that we finished before we got to the car… We are each others’ food enablers.

Be sure to visit Home the next time you happen to be in Apia. Horace will take excellent care of you (and doesn’t judge those who order breakfast dessert).

Posted in Food, Travel | 3 Comments

Sick.

Posted on October 11, 2013 by Bec

My body has decided to punish me for daring to go on holidays. Since getting back to Aus a week ago I’ve been struck down with a fun array of maladies ranging from the T-Rex of stomach bugs known as ‘Samoa Stomach’ (that began while I was still overseas) to a chest infection to an ear infection that led to a perforated ear drum?!

I’ve only managed two days at work this week (oh the guilt) and I’ve been stuck in bed surrounded by a sea of dirty tissues. I’ve also spent about $200 in doctors appointments and antibiotics.

So what have I been up to? Well, in between coughing-up extraterrestrial life, weighing myself (ok that sounds weird, but it’s rather fun to watch your weight temporarily plummet as foreign bacteria takes hold of your digestive system) and watching in horror as my ear bleeds, here are a few things:

Watching Orange is the new Black which absolutely lives up to all the hype floating around the interwebs. I actually cried during the pilot as sweet, wide-eyed, artesian soap maker Piper surrenders herself. The tears were probably in large part due to the sleep deprived, pseudoephedrine haze I was under at the time, but still.
Traipsing around the blogosphere, I’ve had ample time to catch up on some of my favourite blogs and have discovered some hilarious newbies like The Other Juliette (excellent use of GIFs, note to self: use more GIFs) and I wore Yoga Pants to Work. I love blogs. Do you have a blog? Put a link in the comments please!
And finally, I managed to avoid watching The Fast and the Furious Six. That’s right, there have been SIX Fast and Furious movies. My darling housemate borrowed DVDs from the DVD store (video shop?) and that’s one of the ones that made it to our house. I’m all about crappy movies but I generally rule out anything after a sequel (except for Toy Story). To be fair she also got Mean Girls so I’m not complaining!

Well, I’m off to get another lemonade icy pole. Fingers crossed my hearing in my right ear restores itself quick smart. What’s going on with you?

Posted in Misc | Tagged Sick | 2 Comments

Around Apia

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Bec

My sister Sarah and her partner Nick live in a breezy suburb in the hills in Apia, Samoa. From their balcony you can see all the way to the harbour, which actually is quite close.

Their garden is full of colourful flowers, lush greenery and is home to the World’s Smallest and Most Adorable Pineapple.

Here I am, in the hammock, which days later collapsed as I was sitting in it, causing me to land with my entire body weight on my left butt cheek. Horrifying.

Sarah, Nick and their housemates said it happened recently and that the rope needed replacing. Sure. I think it had more to do with visits to the next two eateries:

Izzy’s Burgers

Honestly, the local food in Samoa wasn’t particularly exciting or in some cases, edible. Taro and miscellanous meat don’t really do it for me. But the burgers at Izzy’s were damn fine. Even if the onion rings did repeat on you a little. I ate there on two occasions.

The Texan Burger:

I can’t remember what this one was called but it was coconut crusted fish and it was delicious (and lighter than the Texan):

Home

Where to start? Home (cafe) was ridiculously good and so appropriately named because I could have been in Melbourne the two times we ate there. It was so awesome, in fact, that I wish to dedicate an entire blog post to it, so I won’t say much here. But here’s a sneak peek of the French toast with bacon and maple syrup.

I die. After all that eating (and with plenty more to come) it might be appropriate to move around a bit. Which brings me to the next point:

CultureX

CultureX is a Polynesian dance aerobics class not unlike Zumba. It’s done at the gym just like Body Combat or Attack. My sister has raved about CultureX for months so I knew I would have to try it out. It was sooo much fun. Ladies wear a traditional Samoan lavalava over their gym gear. You shake your hips, booty, errything (or just jiggle in that awkward white girl way) for just over an hour and end up looking like this:

This photo doesn’t adequately capture the sweat. We were dripping. You think you sweat a lot in Bikram Yoga? HA! Try doing high intensity aerobics in a tropical country in a non air-conditioned room, then talk to me. The instructors are so enthusiastic, as are the CultureX goers, who high five between each set or song. It’s not like here where gym instructors try to rouse a ‘yeah’ from the class are are met with blank sweaty stares. I’ve never given so many high-fives in my life. Which was perilous because high fiving with mutally sweaty hands results in a sweat explosion. And sweat stings the eyeballs.

I’m trying to think of a good segway into the next topic but I can’t soooo….

The bus station

I kind of regret not having taken a bus anywhere in Samoa because:

Look how awesome they are! And yes, that yellow bus says ‘Bon Jovi’ on the front. Perhaps Guns’n’Roses is more your style?

Or just flames?

The buses blast pop music from their tinny speakers as they trundle along at walking pace. Pop or reggae-ised versions of non reggae songs, including Celine Dion. It’s awesome. Apparently there is kind of a system as to who sits where, and the locals helpfully point Palagis (white people) to the right seat. There are no doors or windows and people just stack on top of each other when it gets busy.

Right next to the bus station is the:

Fish Market

I met Sarah and Nick on their lunch breaks one day and we went for fish and chips.

We joined the end of a long line, a testament to how good the food is, which moved quickly as piping hot fresh battered fish and chips were dished up to the crowd.

Washed down with a heavy old fashioned bottle of coke (no diet or zero here).

Right near both the fish market and the bus station is the flea market, which is good for all kinds of touristy souvenirs.

I also went to two of the most popular tourist destinations in Apia; Robert Louis Stevenson’s house and Palolo Deep Marine Reserve (great snorkelling!). Both are definitely worth a visit.

Posted in Food, Travel | Tagged Apia, Food, Samoa, Samoa Travel Blog, Things to do, Travel | 8 Comments

Car trouble and the Crater Man

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Bec

I am now back home and blogging retrospectively about my holiday, whilst sick. What can I say? I’m a sucker for pain.

On our second and last full day in Savai’i, Samoa, we woke up and hit the beach immediately. Conditions were kind of perfect.

Ha! ‘kind of perfect’!

We decided to head up nearby Mount Matavanu to check out an old volcanic crater with our new friends Francesco from Italy and Mauro and Rodrigo from Argentina. We piled into Lisa-left-hand-drive-Lopez (aka The Car) and headed up a bumpy road towards the crater though scenery straight out of Jurassic Park.

Except for the cows.

Eventually we arrived at the house of the world famous Crater Man, the keeper of the crater. He had a third nipple and a limp my sister (with absolutely no medical experience) guessed was gout when pressed to come up with a diagnosis.

We ‘signed in’ paid our 20 tala each and enjoyed a cup of Koko Samoa, which is like a delicious coffee/hot chocolate hybrid.

We bade farewell to the Crater Man and his family and continued on our rocky way up the mountain. Lisa was spluttering from exhaustion and clearly not coping with carrying 5 adults and luggage up a fairly hideous road with the air-con on full bore. Our journey eventually (and dramatically) came to a halt when steam poured out from the bonnet and water gushed out from underneath the engine.

Trying not to think of cracked radiators and blown head gaskets we pushed Lisa to the side of the road and walked the rest of the way up the mountain. Here is where I will recommend wearing sturdy walking shoes because walking almost three kilometres up a rocky path left me with sore feet and legs for days.

We eventually arrive at this sign, the first indication that the Crater Man has quite a penchant for early 2000s text speak:

‘Cr8ta’. Instead of ‘crater’. Far more efficient, clearly.

The sign pointed to a much steeper, muddier path covered with thick heavy tree roots. Thankfully it was also much shorter than the road we’d walked up because I was already more sweaty than I’d ever been in my entire life.

Eventually, we reached the top of the path and the edge of the crater.

Apparently Mount Matavanu (now dormamt, obviously) was active from 1905 to 1911 spewing lava down the steep hills. It’s hard to convey how deep and huge the crater is in photos, because it’s covered in trees and bushes. Just trust me, it was impressive. And nice and cool.

‘Fang Q’ = thank you?! I don’t even know…

Eventually we moseyed on back down the muddy path:

And back down the road to sick Lisa. Thankfully Rodrigo was skilled in the automobile department and rolled Lisa back down to the Crater Man, who was or is a mechanic of sorts.

Before long there were at least three heads under the bonnet and two kids under the car.

Apparently it was the air conditioning hose that had caused the problem, so the Crater Man rigged up a replacement and told us to get it checked out when we were back in Apia. We said our goodbyes and a many thank yous and rolled down the rest of the mountain and back onto the road.

By that time it was 4:30pm and we were all starving and thirsty and needed lunch. So we headed for Leilinas Pizza for a celebratory ‘we made it back from the Crater’ meal.

We got a final team photo with Lisa:

Said goodbye to our new friends and took off towards our accommodation near the wharf as the sun set.

The next morning we got up before the sun to catch the ferry back to the ‘big smoke’.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Samoa, Samoa Travel Blog, Savaii, Travel | Leave a comment

Savai’i continued

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Bec

We wound around the coast of Savai’i in Sarah and Nick’s car, Lisa (Lisa left-hand drive Lopez). Around every corner was an amazing new vista- craggy cliffs, pristine water, a thousand palms, I kept yelling ‘STOP!’ so I could take photos. Thankfully the sleepy traffic meant there was never anyone on the road and we could stop as we pleased.

We got to Falealupo Canopy Walk, paid our $10 (Australian) or so and a local guide took us to a scary looking metal spiral staircase. I have a mild fear of heights and was pretty darn petrified. At the top of the stairs was this:

Those are ladders, joined together and covered with planks of wood. It felt pretty sturdy, but with the wind up there it was bloody scary. On the other side was the most impressive tree house I’d ever seen. Tiny stairs wrapped around the tree trunk until they reached a platform. The view was of the tops of other trees. It was calm and breezy and definitely worth the climb.

I was pretty happy when we reached the bottom. Sarah tried her hand at Tarzan-ing and failed.

Around the corner from the canopy walk was Moso’s Footprint which we had been told was included in the canopy ticket. As soon as we stopped the car a young woman told us we would have to pay 10 tala (about $5) for parking, a slightly ludicrous idea seeing as there was ample space and not another car in sight. So we said we would move the car and she just shook her head and said ’10 tala’.

It was clear we weren’t getting out without paying, so we begrudgingly went over to look at the footprint. It was pretty underwhelming, just a metre long indent in the rock that looked somewhat like a footprint. The woman pointed to the big toe and said “that’s the big toe”. Apparently the other footprint is in Fiji. Haha it was so lame I didn’t even take a photo. Pretty hilarious.

We drove on, stopping to look at deserted beaches.

It is customary to pay the local village to use their beach, which they clean and clear coconuts from the trees so they don’t fall and conk you on the head. At one beach different people would came up to us and try to get us to pay more than once, which was amusing.

We found an empty fale and set up our modest picnic for lunch.

Taro chips are probably my favourite Samoan food. They are like regular potato chips, but made with the root vegetable, taro, which when cooked other ways is pretty average. I have a huge bag to take home with me.

How great are the buses?! Most of the cars and buses have hilarious and nonsensical writing on them.

We got back to our accommodation and hit the beach. That night we had plenty of Vailimas (the local beer) with some backpackers from Argentina and Italy.

Are you booking your holiday to Samoa yet?

Posted in Travel | Leave a comment

Savai’i

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Bec

The ferry arrived in Savai’i and we drove along the coast to a village called Manase. Naturally I took about 500 photos of palm trees as we drove along the coast.

We drove through countless villages, saw many churches, adorable pigs and farm animals and waved at just about everyone we saw.

Eventually we got to Tanu Beach Fales in Manase and enjoyed a welcome coconut.

Then we were shown to our Fale, which was right on the water’s edge.

Below is a really awkward photo of me, I was in the middle of applying sunscreen to my back so it looks like I only have one arm. But it’s a good photo of the fale. A fale (meaning ‘house’) is a structure with wooden posts and no walls. It allows natural air flow and wooden blinds on the sides made from coconut leaves can be lowered if it rains. Inside the fale are two mattresses and mosquito nets, and a light. It’s simple living at its best.

We spent the afternoon on the beach before hitting the bar for some cocktails.

That night we had dinner at Tanu’s. The breakfasts and dinners are all communal and are included in the price of accommodation (about $35 Australian a night). It was a mixture of interesting Western and Samoan foods. Exhausted, I fell into the fale to sleep.

The next morning we emerged from our fale, had a swim and then breakfast:

That thing at the front was kind of like a deep fried samosa with ham and creamy stuff inside. It wasn’t too bad. Just as breakfast was wrapping up it poured with rain. But 10 minutes later it looked like this:

So we set off to explore the island.

On the way we again passed many crusty churches:

And adorable piglets!!

Plenty more to come but I have to run before my internet runs out! Sorry about the uninspiring words. I’m not feeling very ‘wordy’.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Samoa, Samoa Travel Blog, Travel | 11 Comments

Arriving in Samoa

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Bec

Greetings! Just a couple of quick snaps. I arrived in Samoa on Saturday night. My sister picked me up and we headed back to a resort belonging to a friend of her’s and my brother in law’s (grammar?!). There was a big group of their expat friends there drinking and playing pool and generally having a good time. We joined in before hitting the hay. We woke early the next morning to have a quick swim in the infinity pool:

Sarah and I then drove back to their amazing house in Apia for a quick breakfast of fruit:

And peanut butter on toast:

We then packed our bags and took the car on the ferry to the other, bigger but less populated, island of Savai’i.

Savai’i was absolute heaven. White sand, crystal clear water and a thousand palm trees. Photos to come!

Posted in Misc, Travel | Tagged Samoa, South Pacific, Travel | Leave a comment

Oh fudge!

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Bec

Remember how people used to say ‘fudge’ instead of a much stronger f-word alternative? Well that’s kind of what I was thinking after I created this somewhat lacklustre ‘fudge’. I went wrong thinking I could mix two average chocolates and get a rich chocolately flavour. I thought the white would make a lovely swirly effect, but it just dulled down the flavour. It reminds me of when the Swiss people at a language school I went to in Munich turned their noses up at a couple of well intentioned Tim Tams due to their pale brown colour.

Anyway, seeing as I have a history of blogging disasters I thought I would press on and post a how to recipe in reverse. All that is in the recipe is about 400g of chocolate (some obviously gets lost in the preparation), a tin of condensed milk and 30g of butter. I also threw in some chopped walnuts for luck.

Melt it all in a pot on the stove.

Pour the gooey goodness into a lined tray and then put it in the fridge to set for a couple of hours.

When set, chop it into bite size pieces and marvel at what a disappointing dessert you’ve made.

Three cheers for mediocrity! Seriously, just use better quality chocolate.

Posted in Food | Tagged Food, Fudge, Recipe | 4 Comments

25 things I know at 25

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Bec

Now that I’m 25 (and judging from the photo above, feeling pretty smug about it), I feel like I’m ~~almost~~ at the age where I can start dishing out unsolicited advice to pretty much everyone. Because who doesn’t love a know-it-all? No one!

1. Honesty is always the best policy Always. Obviously lying is bad, but not saying anything at all can land you in just as much trouble.
2. Everyone procrastinates Just try to spend less time on Buzzfeed.
3. Natural is best I spent many years trying to be simultaneously blonde and as tanned as an extra from Jersey Shore, whilst wearing acrylic nails. While I’m certainly not a poster girl for going completely au natural, I’ve learnt that being as natural as possible is more beautiful and far easier in the long run.
4. Harem pants are never a good idea
5. Sarcasm is toxic to all relationships Once you hear yourself saying to a friend “Don’t you just love our new look lounge room? I call it ‘Jimmy-hasn’t-cleaned-up-in-the-two-weeks-since-his-chess-club-hosted-a-Game-of-Thrones-marathon-despite-my-constant-reminders-and-threats-to-hide-the-remote-control” it’s all over. Over.
6. Work out, but don’t talk about it on facebook No one cares. Really.
7. Disasters make the best stories I hated the time I was on a date with a guy who managed to be both racist and homophobic in the same breath, but boy it’s hilarious now. as is the fact I had to run away from him at the gym just the other day…
8. Travel is important If you’ve never slept on the floor of a foreign train station because you traipsed to the far outskirts of Budapest for a rave party that never existed and missed the last train back, you haven’t lived.
9. Say what you want If you want to go out for lunch say “I want to go out for lunch” rather than secretly hoping your boyfriend or girlfriend will suggest it, before getting hideously pissed off when they don’t. People aren’t mind readers.
10. It’s OK to say no
11. Kebabs are an inevitable part of life Embrace them. Especially after 2am.
12. Boredom only happens to boring people Or to interesting people on long haul flights.
13. FOMO (fear of missing out) happens That night you chose to stay in rather than going out, you know the one that turned out to be The Best Night Ever and finished with everyone reenacting the opening sequence to Friends by jumping into a fountain and singing I’ll Be There For You? It’s happened to everyone. Don’t dwell.
14. Breaking other people’s hearts is just as bad as having yours broken Also, do the breaking up as soon as you’ve checked out of the relationship.
15. Just order the damn pancakes And don’t turn into one of those women who will only order dessert if her friend does. Boring.
16. Don’t ever hold grudges They are toxic and won’t make you happy.
17. You will lose the most expensive sunglasses you’ve ever purchased The pair you got randomly at a roadhouse in Norseman on the other hand, will live on forever.
18. Always smile with your teeth pursed lip smiles look dumb (see above photo)
19.You don’t need that new dress, pair of shoes, cake pop maker Especially not the cake pop maker. Appliances that only do one thing are the devils work.
20. We control our own emotions It is unacceptable to consistently make others miserable with your moods. Grow up.
21. Burning the candle at both ends will make you sick just like your Mum said it would. But do it anyway, it’s often worth it.
22. You should just buy the boring things you need Like petrol, shampoo, and insurance. It’s more annoying when you run out/aren’t covered.
23. Don’t rely on anyone else for money
24. Do what makes you happy!
25. Be careful who you take advice from 😉

Obviously, I don’t always follow my own advice. But if I did, it would look much like this list. Got any to add? Learnt any massive lessons lately?

Posted in Misc | Tagged Advice | 4 Comments