Samoan Goldfish Pond

Last Sunday we decided to go and see if we could find the inland Lake Lonoto'o which is meant to be full of goldfish. The Government has stopped the locals taking the fish out of the lake for pets so according to the Lonely Planet this lake is meant to be brimming.

Anyway, once before we partly drove down the road to the so called "carpark" and found it to be very rocky and bumpy. So on Sunday we loaded the mountain bikes on the back of the car, figuring this would be the best way to tackle this road. After navigating rocks and fending of snarling and snapping dogs we got to the so called "carpark" which was little more than a boggy, muddy puddle complete with 1 white horse tied to a tree! Adam, in his wisdom, kept on riding and so managed to get through the mud puddle in 1 piece. I on the other hand stopped to contemplate the best plan of attack then found it very difficult to get up and running again so fell off twice, you guessed it, into the muddy puddle! After this I packed the riding in and decided to push.

Before long we decided riding was not going to be an option any more as you will see by the photos I have put up on Flickr. We therefore chained the bikes up to a tree and headed off on foot.

This has to be known as a "Samoan Bush Walk" which, luckily for us, someone had actually cleared with a slasher recently otherwise we would have had no idea where the path was. We read in the Lonely Planet that many trampers have got lost walking around in circles trying to find the lake! So we pushed on through the overgrowth, over rocks and tree roots, through yet more slippery mud, up and down 2 hills all the while picking what I thought were little inch worm caterpillars off us - but we have since found out they were mini LEECHES!!!!!!! No harm done though thankfully.

After 1 1/2 hours of walking we were starting to feel a bit knackered and were just thinking about turning around when we reached the top of a hill, with dilapidated communications tower, and thought we could see through the bushes rippling. Not being too sure whether our eyes were playing tricks on us we had to go on just that little bit further to find out and lucky we did as we had finally made it to the lake!!

What a peaceful spot. The lake was covered in misty clouds when we arrived which fast cleared and the sun shone down. We were pretty hungry by this stage so first job was to eat a bit of lunch then it was time to go in for a swim and see all the fish we had heard about. We had our masks and snorkels with us and also the underwater camera. Not that they were much use! The lake is actually a crater lake and is full of quite murky browny/green water. I spotted a fish or 2 at the edge on my way in but could not see 1 foot in front of me to see any more. There was a nibbling sensation on our toes which Adam reakons were shrimps. Personally I didn't stay in long enough to really find out!!

Great excursion though. We didn't hang around too long as wanted to make a good start back before the end of the day and the sun setting. On the way back however we did manage to gather some Teuila for the vase that had been slashed down and also one growing roots so that is now planted at home. It was interesting trying to get these back on our bikes as the photos will show.

And that was last weekends adventure. I think that might be the one and only visit I ever pay to that lake!!