House Gecko Eggs

According to Google, House Geckos lay 1-2 eggs in a cluster and then leave them. They need to be kept at a temperature of 88 degrees fahrenheit which is about 31 degrees celcius and need to be humid.

We have been cleaning out the outside laundry since the cyclone and found these eggs. 4 were in a puddle so not sure they will have survived but the other 3 were just on a plastic bin lid. Its not as if we need more geckos but Im watching over these now to see if any hatch. Only a potential 60-120 days to wait! Im letting the climate with regard to temperature and humidity take care of itself, after all we are in Samoa!

Outside of the Bubble....

Well last Saturday we volunteered for the Red Cross to see what we could do to help the tsunami victims. We dutifully packed our back pack with "survival" stuff such as first aid, gloves, non-perishable food, water, jandalls (we were actually wearing the closed in shoes), hand wipes and sanitizer, the camera, phone and ..... well you name it and we probably had it in there!! On the way we picked up our friend from netball Molia who wanted to come help too. We were all very keen to get stuck in and help out with something.

In the morning though I received a call from the USP Campus Director asking if I could go and take a picture of "the vision" that had appeared on the John Williams building while we were in Fiji and which was apparently growing stronger after the tsunami. The Vision was of Mother Mary and 8 Disciples. Luckily Molia was there to show me where to look! We got a couple of good pictures of what Adam refers to as the stain from the guttering! You can be the judge. It is however giving a lot of people a lot of hope that it is a sign.

Next stop was the Red Cross at Motootua next to the main public hospital in Apia. After registering a ute pulled up which we were told was our ride so we jumped in after loading clothes, food, water etc on the back.

The drive around the coast took a while. I was feeling a bit apprehensive about what we would find at the other end. It was however nice to get out of Apia and to see that not all of the beautiful coastline of Samoa has been damaged. In fact there is still a lot of beautiful places left untouched. This began to lift the spirits in the heart.

When we got near to the Aleipata area it wasn't until we came down the hill that we saw the destruction. Houses gone, everything brown and dry and dead. It was easy to see where the wave had washed in to. Surprisingly the palm trees around the coast were still standing. They are tough little b*ggers!! Made a mental note if ever caught in a tsunami to hang on to one of them!! We pulled in at the hospital on the Aleipata side and lept out of the truck to help.

A lot of standing around happened next. I approached a palagi guy and asked him what we were meant to do. We managed to register again and help with sorting some stuff into piles for families and then realised all the vehicles were gone and we were still standing there so a bit more standing around happened.

Sadly they brought in a body while we were there. The police pulled up with a faded blue canvas stretcher on the back of the ute and a white body bag. After lumbering the body off the back of the truck and putting in under a makeshift shelter the poor men were retching along the fence line. There were flies all over the white bag and I really felt for them and what they were having to deal with and see.

When the vehicles returned we managed to get on the next delivery run out to a family who were sitting under a tarpaulin propped up with sticks looking at the concrete slab which was all that was left of their home. We delivered some pillows, mats, water, food, kitchen utensils and household items to them. They were very grateful but it was very sobering to see what they were having to cope with.

After our delivery run Adam and I decided we were not being of much help so took at walk to the Taufua area. Along the way we saw first hand the destruction. There were many diggers out moving great piles of rubble and rubbish from the beach. The road had already been cleared of rocks. There was a bit of a stench in the air like the mangrove swamp due to the rotting fish and sea life that had been thrown onland. We sat at Taufua and picked out where our fales had been when we had stayed and remembered the dining hall and the benches that used to be on the beach that were now smashed to smitherines. The NZ Herald photographer and reporter came to talk to us for a while but they were more interested in people who had been staying there during the tsunami.

All in all getting to go last Saturday helped a lot with our healing. Even though there was massive destruction of certain areas of the south coast there was still hope and a positive feeling that all would be OK. Nicola and Fraser went past in their car so picked us up and gave us a lift back to Apia via Cross Island Road which gave us a chance to check out Sea Breeze and the now non existent restaurant where we have had a few nice meals.

The past week has continued to be sad but not as much so as the week of the tsunami when so many horror stories had us all scared. We attened the funeral for our friend the firefighter, Peter Letiu. This was an experience in itself as after waiting 1/2 hour to get into the funeral home following a previous funeral we were then all asked to leave and wait outside as another funeral had to happen first! This is the first time we have ever been kicked out of a funeral! Sadly though the funeral homes are under pressure and many services are happening back to back and in Samoan time so it's a matter of taking your place in the queue. The service itself was very good though and we rounded the day off with a few drinks and much laugher as we remembered the things Peter used to do. We also put up photos to remind us of the happy times with the "Happy Juice" that he so liked to partake in.

Since this there has also been the state funeral this week where all 143 of the tsunami victims were acknowledged. We didn't go to this. Felt it best to let those who had lost family members etc the opportunity. We watched it on the TV and saw people we knew in tears. I have since heard it was a very sad occassion. 10 or so bodies were part of the state funeral and have been buried together in a place where a memorial to all victims will be placed. I plan to go visit that when it is ready.

We have also had another tsunami warning following the earthquake in Vanuatu. This turned out to be a non-event but certainly caused a large amount of panic in Samoa. The roads out of Apia town were jam packed with cars going nowhere and there was much distress from people trying to get themselves and their family up the hill. The phone lines blocked up so I couldn't get through to see if Adam was evacuating OK and just had to hope and pray he was on his way to USP. Very frightning times. We have a few plans laid out now for emergencies and where we will meet up etc.

Well this has been a bit of a long post. I hope you are still reading! This weekend is White Sunday here in Samoa so a long weekend for us. Unlike last year we will not be heading away but staying put at home. This year is a very difficult year for people to celebrate children especially in the wake of so many who lost their lives last week. There is still grieving to be done but I would like to hope we are moving on now while being ever vigilant of Nature!

10km "fun" Run

After spending the last 3 nights working at the South Pacific Netball Champs (serving the VIP section) Adam and I were pretty tired so headed home and ended up missing the end of netball party for all the volunteers that went to 5.00am this morning!

Lucky we did though as we were up at 5.30am and heading for the 10km fun run. I decided to enter just to support Adam even though I have never run this far in my life before. It was nice and cool and calm at 6.30am when the race began. The initial crowd took off at great speed so I found my own plodding pace and settled in. My aim was to at least run 5km and maybe have a 5km warm down as I walked back!

We headed out around the North Eastern side of the island. It was very nice running beside the sea and watching the sun rise. The thing with running in Samoa is that you have to go at stupid o'clock in the morning otherwise it's far too hot. The other thing is that you have to be ready to shout encouragement to those already returning back past you, wave to passers by hanging out of bus windows and say "Malo" (or Hi) to people standing on the side of the road watching as many pairs of palagi legs run past along with a few Samoan ones!

I reached the halfway point and was feeling OK. Nearly did not put my foot over the line so was nearly disqualified but with a bit of a sideways hop got there and had my number ticked off. As I was feeling alright and as it was a bit of a gentle downwards slope I continued to run.

The NZ High Commissioner, Caroline Bilkey went past me at the half way mark and was soon followed by Helen who also works for the NZ High Commission. These two ladies are part of the relay team that Adam is running in later in August half way around Upolu. Good to see they are all out training.

I made it as far at the 7km mark before I decided the legs were getting a bit heavy and to have a walk. It was a nice refreshing power walk in the shade. When I reached the corner where Adam reakoned it was 2km to go I decided to start to run again and see if I could run home. At the Moataa School sign away I went. I was surprised at how comfortable I was feeling and soon reached Apia Park where we play netball and knew I could make it home from there.

My time in the end was 1 hour and 8 minutes. Caroline came in at 1:01 and Helen must have been about 1:05. Adam was 57.5 so in the end after thinking I was miles and at least 1/2 hour behind everyone else my time wasn't too bad.

Feel stoked to have made it 10km only problem now is that I have raised the benchmark! After going home and having a quick shower and some breakfast I headed back out to netball and umpiring training. Now I'm working - what a day!

Gardening

After Christmas I managed to import back into Samoa (having been waved through the security check at the airport) 6 packets of seeds which I have been growing. We now have tomatoes, broccoli, thyme, basil, lettuce and celery. Adam has dutifully built me a raised garden and while I'm at work today he is dutifully shovelling sh*t (whoops I mean dirt!) through a sievve (to weed out the rocks, rubbish and bits of plastic pipe) into the garden. Very exciting. We had to have a load of dirt delivered as around the property it is very rocky and hard. Apparently the truck pulled up, they brough the biggest truck they could find for our little 1m3 of dirt so had to do a 3 point turn to get in the gate. The clowns then had fun backing around the house and dumped the dirt as close as possible without bowling over the clothes line! These guys are about to help out on one of Adam's bridge projects so now he is seriously wondering how the project is going to go!! Photos on flickr soon of our progress - once my email is back up and running. We had a power cut and it's still down.

Samoa Touch

WHOO HOO
My women's touch rugby team just won the tournament we have been playing in recently! Just goes to show that having a palagi on your team is not all bad - even if she does miss vital touches at times. I think I redeemed myself though with an intercept and a run half the length of the field then an offload to a team mate plus a run at the try line from the wing and a flick back into a team mate on the inside (pity that got called a touch pass as she was in). I am really enjoying this game and am learning heaps off our coach George. They are about to divide us up into the girls trialling for the team for the Mini Games in the Cook Islands in September and the rest of us. The Business House competition starts on the 13th April (hey that's Easter I'm not sure they realise this - bet it will get postponed for a week!) I hope someone is keen to have my little white legs play on their team. This game is certainly good for the fitness anyway...

The "Big" Island of Savaii

Today (Thursday 26th March) I went to Savaii on a mission to deliver 10 boxes of children’s books to a needy school. After having got up at 5.30am I was eventually picked up by the USP van and a couple of other colleagues who were coming to Savaii with me. They were late! But the drama unfolded. Someone left behind the tickets to get the van onto the ferry across to the “Big” island of Savaii. A mercy dash had to be made back to campus where they apparently proceeded to break into the administrator’s office using, in lieu of the keys, a kitchen knife! I’m glad I wasn’t an accomplice to that!

We drove out near the airport where the ferry goes from and pulled the van up at quarantine where we were meant to get the wheels washed to ensure no African Snails (a big pest) were imported into Savaii. We promptly got waved through, no washing took place, so, so much for quarantine regulations! What a hard job that guy has.

The 2 story ferry as an old but purposeful boat. All cars were parked underneath and passengers had to make their way upstairs to the seating area. We got going right on the dot of 8.00am (Palagi timing - impressive!) with the sun shining and the sea looking like glass (well almost). After pulling out of the shallow waters of Upolu we passed Manono Island and Apolima Island before cruising past the Tafua Peninsula and into the port of Salelologa, Savaii. Even though the water was glassy the boat had a distinctive sway about it so I spent the 1 ½ hour journey standing outside by the rail with the wind in my face.

Upon arriving at Salelologa we jumped back in the van and headed for the Public Library where I met the Librarian who shares her time between public and USP library services. Along the way we stopped at a bakery for some fresh loaves of bread, tinned spaghetti and spam and the essentials for a nice cup of tea. I was introduced to the USP Centre Office which is the main enrolments and support office for any USP students from Savaii. Ruby (my colleague who arranged and made this whole trip happen) has worked very hard to set up the Centre with furniture and computers of which one is connected to dial up internet. Don’t groan - it actually works better than my satellite broadband connection back on the main campus!!

After morning tea, where they tried to tell me I had to eat everything on the table in front of me (Samoan custom!), we headed off to the Sasa’ai Primary School with our 10 boxes of books to help them start up their school library. I met the principal and was delighted to see the children willing and eager to help carry the boxes of books upstairs to their library room. Upon entering the ‘library’ I noticed it was not much more than a small room with 2 shelving units, 1 of which was empty. There were piles of books on the floor but these were donated adult titles and not very appropriate for a primary school. I was pleased the books we were bringing were going to make a difference, help to start up a new school library and were suited to the ages of the children in the school.

Thankfully no one had given prior warning of our visit. I say thankfully as Samoan tradition also dictates that when gifts are received, you give something in return. This can be food or other presents. I would have been extremely embarrassed to have had an official ceremony and been presented with anything. I had to assure the principal not to feel bad that she didn’t know I was coming but to allow me to make the gift this time!

The children were great. Dressed in their bright orange shirts and cobat blue dresses and shorts they looked very smart. When invited to, they pounced on the books and promptly started to read them aloud. After the formalities, I had to make a speech (so I just told them where the books came from) the children sang their thank you (faafetai) song which had me grinning from ear to ear.

All in all it was a brilliant day. Savaii seemed fresher, newer and cleaner than Upolu. We drove by the newly opened food and craft market which looked very swish and I was shown where the new town centre is meant to be built, one day soon when someone has the money and the inkling to do it! The trip home on the boat was a bit rougher than in the morning but survived that OK propped up again by the railing with the wind in my face. I spotted some flying fish. I’m serious. I was not hallucinating! They would pop up out of the water and fly just above the surface for a fair distance before diving back under. I also thought I had spotted a turtle and proceeded to announce this to the strangers in the near vicinity, while frantically reaching for my camera, only to find it was just a bit of seaweed or something. I wondered why it kept its head up for so long.

So looking forward to taking Mum and Dad back to Savaii with more time to explore in 2 weeks time when they are over on holiday - providing Air New Zealand do not mess up our plans with their current scheduled strike action.

PS books were also donated to St Mary’s College and Solosolo Study Centre in Upolu. There were not enough to go round. I need more!

Sa'Moana Resort

We have just returned from a lovely relaxing long weekend at Sa'Moana resort on the southern coast of Upolu http://www.samoanaresort.com/ Yes very sorry to rub it in!! It was a great weekend and one of the best spots we have found in Samoa yet.

Firstly we were staying in "Frangipani 2" a fale with inbuilt toilet and fridge (for the Jack and Coke) and an outdoor shower surrounded by tropical garden and succlulents growing over the rocks. All quite private I can assure you and it's quite nice to have a shower outside when it's so hot. Saves that "steamy" feeling ;-)

We divided our time between lazing in the lounger chairs or swinging in the "air chair" hammock reading, snorkelling, swimming, practicing some rugby passing or eating and drinking!

The snorkelling was fabulous. Even compared to Lalomanu this place was pretty good. We saw some excellent fish and coral that we hadn't seen before. This was also a great spot for "Nemo's" as there were many anemonies around. There was a bit of a swell and a few waves washing over the reef at times which made staying still for photos difficult but still managed to get some good ones.

The pool also has to be mentioned. I've always wanted to swim in one of those pools where the water cascades over the edge and you look out to sea - and this weekend I got to! The pool was full of sea water and the view out to sea was magical. Aqua blue water .... You get the picture! I was fast not wanting to leave this place.

In addition to relaxing, Sa'Moana also has activities you can do to keep yourself amused. I saved up hiring the jet ski until next time and also you can go out fishing if you want to. Sunday's you can observe the preparation of the Umu and then eat it for dinner and the other good thing is they have local rates for those of us who live here!!

It was difficult to drag ourselves away and head home back over Cross Island Road. In comparison to the weather at the beach, which was brilliantly fine and sunny, we found it to be pouring down with rain at the top of the hill and torrents running down each side of the road. No matter though as by the time we reached Apia it was sunny again.

It was McDonalds 13th Birthday so as a treat (don't make a habit of going to the golden arches) we had a Happy Meal and gifted the toy to a passing Samoan child.

And when we drove down our street home we found that the house next door had burnt down in our absence!!!!! This was in the paper but with no clue as to what caused it but we missed 4-5 fire engines who turned up to put the fire out.

Samoan Quilt

Adam has reminded me that I have not yet told you about my quilting experiences?! Now that my first ever quilt has been delivered as a Christmas present I can tell you all about it.

I was very surprised to find, when I visited the local Bookshop - Wesleys, that they had a book on beginner quilts for sale at a very reasonable cheap price so I snapped that up and decided to make a Samoan quilt for Olivia (a new addition to the world!)

My first experience was of trying to buy small quantities of Samoan fabric. I went to CCK where I had found they sold fabric and proceeded to mind my own business trying to match and blend colours. Several times I had to beat off the sales assistants who kept trying to take my rolls of fabric to the counter before I had finished getting the colour scheme right! I then tried to explain what I was doing with so many fabrics but I'm not sure they got the picture. They had never heard of a quilt and I think decided I was nuts to only want 20" off each roll of fabric so that I could cut it up and sew it back together again! Once my main colours had been selected the next problem was explaining that I needed a backing colour to match. Another 6 options later and I finally had the fabric ready to go so I let them carry my rolls to the counter.....

There was a pregnant girl at the counter who proceeded to lift the heavy rolls of fabric herself (I was the customer so was not allowed to assist) and measure my miniscule amounts required. Between our language difficulties and my conversions between cm and inches we got there! I eventually had my fabric and my piece of paper with quantities and costs written on it so I could take it to the till to pay.

Anyway having heard about my endeavours my friend here decided that she too would like to make her first quilt along side me. So began many Friday nights after work of cutting, sewing, chatting and drinking! Adam very kindly kept us supplied with nice dinners and otherwise kept out of the way of fabric strewn all around the lounge!

Of course there were a number of mishaps, quite a lot of unpicking of mistakes (Adam became a dab hand at this) and many lessons to be learnt (mainly - read the instructions first!!) but we got there and with the help of batting kindly brought over by Latika and Hedley we both got our first quilts made and were very pleased with the final results. I will be uploading photos of our progress to Flickr soon (I just need to get them off the computer at home).

Now I'm on to project number 2 which is so far going smoothly particularly due to the rotary cutter I bought when I was at home during Christmas. What a breeze it is doing all the cutting and ending up with straight lines! More info on this project later....

Valentines Fever

It's Friday the 13th today and tomorrow is Valentines Day. Oh boy the place has gone mad! Even more so than at Christmas. There is a race being held by the radio station tomorrow morning but I couldn't convince Adam to enter with me. Apparently you have to run around and collect things from different places. Sounds a bit like orienteering. In true Samoan fashion though if you don't fancy running around yourself you can bring one of your kids with you to do the leg work!

As for me well I'll be saying "Happy Valentines Dear - Bye"!! as I head off to Touch Rugby trials - well to find out what it's all about and if I'm good enough that is (they are very serious about Touch in this country).

I have however booked us a nice dinner for tomorrow night at Roko's restaurant. They were advertising a special Valentines Dinner with chocolate cheesecake and STRAWBERRIES and icecream (sorry can't tell you what the main is I'm only going for the dessert!) so I was sold.

Can't imagine there will be any roses (anyway according to the ad on the TV these are boring!) and the chocolate melts (same ad on TV also says fattening) so I'm not expecting anything but you never know I may be pleasantly surprised!! Hope you guys have a great one.

Samoan Ava Ceremony

Talofa all

I have just attended my first Ava ceremony in the Samoan Fale here on Alafua campus. The ceremony was to welcome the new Vice Chancellor for USP and our new Dean to the campus. We were once the Faculty of Islands and Oceans but have now been moved to the Faculty of Business and Economics hence the reason for a new Dean. We are hoping for great things out of these 2 for next year!

I have put some photos on Flickr for you to see. I am wearing my traditional Puletasi today just for the ceremony and I'm glad I did as everyone else was also dressed traditionally. When I arrived I was ushered to sit with the other female senior staff on woven mats on the floor. Shoes had to be removed and legs had to be covered. I am not used to sitting like this any more so my feet went numb!

The guests of honour were given leis and shown in. The orators then spoke (in Samoan so I cant' tell you what they said). Then the mixing of the Ava took place. The "Taupo" for the ceremony was none other than Gwendonlyn the current Miss Samoa. She looked lovely dressed in her fine woven outfit with elaborate head gear. A lot of mixing of the Ava (with stringy stuff from a coconut I think) goes on but the best part is when she squeezes out the stringy stuff and throws it over her shoulder without looking! It is up to the person behind to catch it and shake it out.

Once the Ava was mixed it was served up to the guests in a 1/2 coconut shell with lots of shouting and "Manuia's" (cheers) going on.

The new VC himself spoke and thanked everyone for the warm welcome to campus. It sounds like he has good plans to take USP forward in the future so I look forward to a meeting with him tomorrow to find out all about it.

Mango Mania

Talofa all

Last night when we finished work the girls were heading down to the mango tree to see what they could pick so I decided to go along. The air was full of the smell of rotting sweet flesh and of course the ripe mangos were not at the bottom of the tree. People passed and had a good laugh at the sight of the library staff trying to throw things to make the mangos fall down. Luckily we were rescued by a hunky male who decided to climb the tree and pick the mangos for us. Next problem was trying to catch them as they fell ................. not so good at cricktet me!! Yummy though. Wish the mango season went all year round.

Samoan Santa?

Where is Santa and the Christmas spirit in Samoa?

Things have been mighty quiet around here. There is no maddness, no diary full of Christmas party bookings/clashes, no decorations and hardly any ads on the TV from the shops.

Has Samoa gone to sleep or is Christmas coming in Samoan time?

Luckily Adam has agreed to me putting up my tree now as it is a month until Christmas and only 3 weeks til we fly home. I am having to create my own Christmas spirit. Luckily for all of you I have done some Christmas shopping so you will get presents!! I am also planning a Christmas dinner with a couple of friends who will be in Australia at Christmas time so will do something before we all head in separate directions.

Oh and we are off to Manono Island again this weekend with the netball club for our end of season "do". We are all staying the night in the fales. I wonder how much sleep will be got on Saturday night......................

Library Update

Well it's taken 6 months but I can finally log into the library electronic databases - yay!! This is such a relief. At least now when Distance students come in needing information I may have half a chance of helping them. 1 step closer the the goal of electrifying this library by the end of 2009!! Of course the internet connection still works like a slow wet week but I am learning the art of patience. "As long as it works - eventually" - is now my motto!

Next exciting thing on the horizon is that I have received a 500GB database of Agricultural journal information from the USA. This is a subscription which is updated annually. We now have access to Agricultural journals dating back to 1993. This can be networked and made available within Alafua, Samoa but not to the other islands as yet. It will be great to have our own local database that is not relying on the internet connection for access. Very helpful for the staff and students when researching.

Have also been very busy here with writing Annual Reports and Action Plans for 2009. I am glad of the experience I got at UCOL with these and with aligning the library objectives with the overall objectives of USP. As I had a "list" of many things I wanted to tackle next year this task was reletively easy. It is also a chance to make the mother ship aware of things that need working on in Samoa and where we may need assistance with funding etc. Things not achieved can carry forward to 2010 etc. How organised!!

Today is the last day of the Exam period. Many students heading home last weekend and the next batch will depart this weekend which will make it very quiet around here. Just a few post graduate students left finishing off their research. We are therefore starting to tackle the major weeding project and getting rid of composting journals from the 1960's onwards!! That should be fun. We will have lots of free shelf space after this and I hope to create a journal display area and make our Reference Collection more prominent. We are awaiting a whole lot of nice new Reference books (encyclopedias, dictionaries etc) from a special fund held in Fiji. Yippee. Hard copy encyclopedias are still very helpful here as battling with the online versions is tiresome.

I am also keenly awaiting the arrival of Matua II 041 the ship that is bringing 40 boxes of Children's books and Adult fiction to Samoa from the lovely libraries that donated these in New Zealand. This should arrive Sunday and the books will be available for collection next week. I will then have the lovely task of opening up the boxes to see what is in there - just like Christmas! Dividing up the books to the needy schools is going to be difficult so I will have to enlist the help of the Ministry of Education and the Public Librarian (as long as the books don't all end up in her collection!!)

Last but not least we are also now at the end of the Schools Library Assistant course. I had a full day of revision with the students last week so that took some preparation. Not wanting to bore them half to death I tried very hard to souce some videos on Customer Service in Libraries and also on Covering and Mending books. Much better to show them something than to blah blah blah at them. After much perseverence with my internet connection and many failed attempts to download I finally managed to get 2 Goofus and Gallant in the Library videos off YouTube and burn them to DVD to show in the class room. I know this may be no mean feat to you but to me it was a minor miracle to achieve this!! The revision day went well and the students did not snore too loudly so I think it was successful. This Friday is graduation day. Adam is also invited along (which he thinks is appropriate as he assisted me in planning and testing my class sessions). I have been given fabric and have had my first Puletasi sewn so will be wearing that to graduation. Photos to follow shortly .........

Building Bridges

I was reminded the other day that I haven’t posted anything about my work here in Apia. There are some people that think I have been unemployed over here enjoying a tropical holiday while Angela is slaving away at USP!

I have actually been working most of the time we have been here. I had sent my CV to some of the civil engineering consultants before we departed for Samoa, and one of them (Kramer Group) contacted me about a week before we flew out. One of their engineers had just left and they needed someone to fill that gap on a bridge project that they were working on. So, once we got to Apia I went to see them to find out more. I ended up agreeing to work for them on a part-time casual basis (20 hours/week) for the duration of the bridge project, which is due for completion in September 2009. The project involves the replacement of 2 road bridges in Apia and the upgrading of approach roads and intersections.

So, I didn’t get the 2 months of lying on the beach that was recommended to me by Stu and Stu from GHD in Palmerston North. It did however take about a month to get my work visa sorted out, during which time I didn’t work. That was good for us as it allowed me to do a lot of the running around while we were settling in here. I also wasn’t allowed to start work on the bridge project until I become a member of the Institute of Professional Engineers, Samoa (IPES). The team at Kramer managed to get all the paper work sorted out, so now I have a 3 year work permit and have my IPES CPEng membership. I am now officially a Kramer employee, you can see me on their website.

Initially I was supposed to help coordinate some of the activities during the design period and then look after the construction supervision phase. Before anyone panics – I was not going to be involved in any of the structural design of the bridges, so they should be safe to drive over!! We figured that 20 hours/week should cover my role. Once I got started the role grew and has been mainly 35 -40 hours a week. During the design phase I was required to do various things that I hadn’t done before, but no one else was able to tackle them, so I had a go. This included Road Safety Audits, Economic Analyses, Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plans, Project Risk Analyses, Environmental Assessment Reports. I even had to design, then participate in, some traffic counts. The roading engineers back at GHD would probably be shocked that I was doing these things that I am not qualified or experienced in, but I enjoyed it. Fortunately most of the Transit New Zealand / LTSA manuals are available online and I was able to download these to help point me in the right direction.

There have been a few other challenges during the design phase – our bridge designer was based in Brisbane and our road designer was in the Papua New Guinea, so coordinating all the information was difficult. We also struggled to get any of the information that you might need when designing a bridge, e.g. we need some geotechnical investigations done, but I found that there is only one geotechnical engineer in Samoa, and he passed away about the time our project started. His business is still operating, but without him there the services that they can provide are very limited.

Working here has good so far, a bit more relaxed than home. I don’t wear a shirt and tie to work, and I turn up in shorts and jandals most days. There have been a few times when I have been to site and felt that jandals might not be appropriate, so I put my boat shoes on instead - no over zealous OSH inspectors here!

Anyway, we have now delivered all the bridge designs and associated documentation so things for me have quietened down a bit. We aim to start construction towards the end of the rainy season, late March or April 2009.

In the meantime I am doing some work for Kramer’s Solomon Islands office and have helped out with stormwater designs for some other projects that Kramer are doing in Apia. I have also been approached by another local consultant to help out with s project to develop water supplies to some of the villages. That is due to start soon and I am supposed to provide technical assistance 2 days per week over the next few months. There is plenty of other work out there, so I don’t think I will be sitting around at the beach as much as I would like too.

Vavau

As it was a long weekend last weekend we decided to go away for a few nights of R&R. Picking another spot out the Lonely Planet guide we decided on a place called Vavau on the south coast of Upolo. The guide promised tranquil beaches and top class fale accommodation with a good restaurant supplying a range of meals. Sounded great.

Upon first arrival our impressions were that the place was really nice. Beautiful gardens and big secluded fales. The fale however had seen better days! Although this was more upmarket than other places we had stayed, the fales had walls, a kitchen and a bathroom, we found that the place was dirty, with holes in the mozzie nets (and hence a room full of mosquitos), a cockroach on the floor and a resident rat! Not much to my liking I must admit. It was raining on the Friday night when we arrived also so I was hoping for some sunny weather so we wouldn’t have to spend too much time inside.

Adam inspected in the kitchen cupboards and wasn’t too impressed therefore I did not bother to follow in his footsteps. There was an electric jug and a fridge (the fridge turned out to be the best part of the room for keeping the Jack cold!!) but no mugs or tea bags so no chance of any tea. I’m not sure when the last time was that the bathroom got cleaned and the funny smell in the pillows turned out to be mould!

We headed for dinner soon after we arrived and were served a piece of steak with rice and a slice of pumpkin. Skirvy coming as no greens in sight! The meal was also cooked by what looked like a 12 year old boy. Granted he did do a good job though. We did however find out when we paid the bill that this gourmet meal cost us $32.50 each – about double what it should have been!!

The next day, Saturday, I discovered I’d left some very important medical supplies behind in Apia so we had no choice but to drive home to get them (nothing like an after hours pharmacy in Vavau!) Only an hour each way luckily! While back in Apia we (aka I) decided it would be a good idea to soak up some of the sights and sounds of the White Sunday markets!! Adam told me he had been tricked!! We did have a great time though looking in the flea market and in the special markets set up selling all the white gear you could need for the weekend celebrations. Everyone was well stocked and we managed some good bargains.

After a bit of lunch and the retrieval of the necessary supplies we headed back to Vavau again. In our absence 2 large samoan busses had arrived full of – USP students!!!! My peace was shattered! They were all very friendly though waving out and saying “Hello Ma’am”. I am getting used to answering to this. It was also Fiji Day during this weekend so the Fijian students had decided on a day out in Vavau with their families.

Adam and I took to the water for a bit of snorkelling. Everywhere we go it’s slightly different. At Vavau the underwater world was pretty interesting with loads of coral peaks and troughs in lots of different colours. The fish were generally the same but you always spot something you haven’t seen before. After an afternoon in the water we figured we had earnt a Jack on our deck watching the sun set and decided to head up the road to a posh resort for dinner in their restaurant .....

Dinner was very nice until drama number 3 happened!! Somewhere along the line the key to our fale dropped out of Adams pocket. We could not find it anywhere in the car, on the ground in the sand or back at the restaurant. Don’t think the old samoan guy (who didn’t speak any English) was too impressed with us when we mimed having lost the key and not being able to get into our room!! All manner of suggestions followed, how about removing some mesh so we could reach in and unlock the door or taking the pins out of the hinges? Easier said than done however when all you have for tools is a kitchen knife and a spade!!! In the end the spade and lots of jiggling got the door open which I was very pleased about.

The next morning guess what Adam found on the beach????????????

Sunday we finished up with some more snorkelling in a small bay protected by a couple of offshore islands. At low tide there was still a deep channel that we could swim in. Tried our luck at going around a rocky point but got “beached” on a platform of coral when the water got a bit shallow. Adam wondered why I wasn’t moving and my legs and arms were up out of the water!! Lots of slimy sea slugs round there anyway so I didn’t want to be touching them!!

Also managed to get out for a bit of kayaking. We picked 5.00pm when the tide was high and off we set. Some of the waves rolling in drove us home though, not til we had had to surf some! The inflatable kayak held up well and the view from the boat looking at the fish and coral below is always fantastic.

And that’s about it for this times adventures. Speak to you again very soon.

On Holiday - Virgin Cove

First, we must apologise for taking so long to share our holiday stories. While we were enjoying ourselves at the beach we were not updating the blog, and now that we are back to the 'real world' we seem to be to busy with boring things like work.

Anyway, as Angela is the one with the real job I thought I will have a go at the next stage of our holiday.

So, after spending 2 relaxing days at Lalomanu we pack up and headed west along the south coast heading for Virgin Cove. First stop was To Sua Ocean trench. (The place is called 'To Sua', which translates as 'big hole' from Samoan - originally I wasn't sure if the name was just Sua Ocean Trench, with the sign pointing the way to Sua Ocean Trench, but my Samoan friends have told me otherwise). This is where there are 2 large holes in the the ground, one of which is connected to the sea forming a saltwater swimming hole. As you can see from the photos it is a long way down (maybe 15m?) We had heard that a rather precarious rope ladder was the only way in and out, but we were pleased to see that there is a much more sturdy ladder now. Hedley does not have a head for heights, so he watched as we climbed the 26(? - Hedley was counting!) steps down to the water. It was a neat experience to be swimming so far down below ground level. We can confirm that the hole is connected to the sea - the water was salty and we could feel the surges as the waves washed in and out at the shore. We did not attempt to swim through the tunnel out to the ocean!



The site also has some nice gardens and access to the beach, and there are signs pointing to a blow-hole. We followed the signs and think we found the elusive blow-hole, but there wasn't much to get excited about while we were there.

After our salt water swim the plan was to head off to one of our favourite swimming holes - the Togitogiga Falls - for a refreshing freshwater swim. Unfortunately this is dry season and what we have only ever seen as a fast flowing river was completely dry, so no swimming!!

We carried on around the coast and found our way to the Virgin Cove Resort. After the fun we had trying to check in a Lalomanu it was a relief to see that we were expected and our fales were ready for us. The resort is on another lovely white sand beach, but this time we found that the fales are in more of a forest setting, and further apart that the wall to wall style at Lalomanu. We were all really impressed with the setting, facilities and service - the only disappointment: NO HAPPY HOUR!! We had a bit of time for some exploring and snorkelling before another delicious meal.

Our fales were great - nice and big with woven panels for walls that you can lift up during the day to let the breeze through. No blue tarpaulins here! But we did find that we had a few unexpected visitors at night - hermit crabs! The hermit crabs live on land and come out at night. Some of them get quite big and we could hear them walking across our floor and up our walls during the night! Fortunately the mosquito nets seem to be crab proof too!

Somewhere along the way we decided that a pre-breakfast snorkelling session was a good idea, so we were all up and in the water first thing in the morning. Actually, it was the best time for the tide and the wind usually picks up later in the day so in the morning the water is the calmest. We managed to get to breakfast just in time then decided to attend the mornings activities of 'making fire with two stick' and 'roasting Samoan peanut'. Tupu showed us how to make fire, then used the fire to roast the Samoan peanuts. Angela and Hedley tried very hard to make fire using the same sticks, and after a lot of effort they claimed that they had made some smoke but we didn't have to call the fire brigade! After we ate our Samoan peanuts Tupu showed us the trees that the peanuts grow on and the tree that the fire sticks come from.

Angela was keen to learn how to weave a basket out of coconut leaves, so we arranged a lesson with Tupu after lunch. First he picked a few leaves and then he started making a basket. Once he was underway he handed it over to Angela and she carried on. It looked like she got the hang of it quite quickly, but there were a few tricky bits. By the time we were finished we ended up with 2 baskets, a hat and had a demonstration of how to make a plate from coconut leaves and how to make a fan. We still have the hat and baskets at home, and have even used the baskets to do our shopping at the market!

The next day was our last at Virgin Cove, so there was time for another pre-breakfast snorkel before we packed up and headed back to Apia.

On Holiday - Robert Louis Stevenson House and Museum

Well what a start to the holiday. A Faafa show and then a netball party? Thought it was about time to take our guests away for a few days for some rest and relaxation.

Monday morning (in the car and driving by 9.00am please Angela - and yes I made it!!) we headed off first stopping at the Robert Louis Stevenson house/museum. Lovely gardens and well manicured lawns. The weather was a bit cloudy and drizzly but that did not dampen our spirits - we were now on holiday. We paid our money and joined the tour of the house which was due to start in 10 minutes - that would be a Samoan 10 minutes which meant about 20!! Never mind it gave us time to look in the gift shop at the rather expensive souvenirs for sale.

The house was apparently damaged in a hurricane some years ago so had been completely rebuilt and refurnished. They had done an excellent job by following photos that were available of how the rooms used to look. We started off in the Tapa room with the lion (yes a real one) rug on the floor. Then it was upstairs to the bedrooms. Robert Louis Stevenson slept separately from his wife due to suffering from TB for most of his life. His bed was in his study which was also set up with a massive writing desk and many old editions of his books (which the librarian enjoyed looking through!) Fanny's room was lovely of course but the best bedroom in the house went to the mother who apparently complained so much about the heat downstairs that she was given the best room in the house upstairs with sea and garden views and plenty of space to spread out.

I was facinated with the old sewing machine they had set up there and there were also some great photos and drawings on the walls that really gave an idea of what it used to be like.

Coming back downstairs through the impressive dining room we saw a huge dining table and also a large safe which Robert apparently used to lock his jewels, money and whisky in. Wise man!!

Outside was a tiny tiny house which was the kitchen and I found it strange that large meals would be cooked in such a small space. Unfortunately it was not set up like the rest of the house so we couldn't see what that used to be like.

I'd recommend a visit here very interesting. If the weather had have been better then we may also have climbed the hill up the back of the house to Robert Louis Stevenson's grave site but we left that for another time. Robert lived in Samoa for the last 4 years of his life and died in the house.

Frangipani Update

Hello All

Well Adam and I are both feeling a lot better now although Adam is still suffering from the Dengue side effects a bit. He gets pretty tired but is definitely on the mend which is great. I played netball yesterday and WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes I know. That was like a minor miracle really especially as we had only 6 players on the court! Means we get up off the bottom of the table though and with a bit more luck we will beat one of the other teams too before the end of the season (in 2 weeks time) so will end up about 4th overall.

Anyway I wanted to give you an update on my frangipani. I have uploaded a couple of photos for you. My bare sticks that are stuck in yogurt pots and are sitting on the kitchen bench have begun to sprout much to Adam's amazement!!! He did not believe that bits of stick would grow. Anway I have been talking nicely to the sticks and now we have results!! When they get a bit bigger I will transplant them to pots outside on our verandah. I have managed to score a maroon colour, pink with orange centre, another pink from the tree at work and the traditional white with yellow centre. Can't wait for them to start flowering. I'm eyeing up a yellow one but so far haven't plucked up the courage to go raiding bits of stick from in someones front yard - will have to wait til the dead of night!!

Oh yes and just to finish off with I've put up a picture of a bloody big spider that went running into the bathroom from our bedroom (hate to think what happens when I'm asleep) the other night and freaked me out!! (Photo for Virginia!!)

The Dengue and the "Treasure"

The "Treasure" as my mother calls him has come down with Dengue Fever. I'm blaming it on the site visit he had to make for work which was near the pongy drain obviously full of Dengue mosquitos. Mind you if jandalls weren't the footwear for site visits here then maybe his ankles wouldn't have gotten bitten?!

He has been suffering. Firstly it was the splitting headache and not being able to think straight that drove him home from work. Then the other aching began. Backache, neckache, leg ache, ankle ache, wrist ache and oh yes eye ball ache!! He spent 3 complete days and nights on 4 hourly panadol which was the only way to get through. We have not been to the doctor as the threat of having to have a blood test to confirm that it is Dengue was a bit too much but we have had plenty of good advice from others who have had it and the symptoms are classic.

In the last couple of days he has been feeling a bit better though. The rash is breaking out now all over which is apparently the end of the cycle. He can drop off to sleep just like that and is mighty annoyed that he can't get to the end of the Star Wars movie in 1 go and also has to read the same page of his book a number of times before it sinks in. Apparently the fatigue and tiredness will go on for a few more weeks but I'm very happy that the worst seems to be over. The "Treasure" describes his experience as being like a bad flu without the coughing or runny nose.

Luckily it wasn't the hemorrhaging variety which can kill you. Phew.

Netball Update

A quick update for all of you that are eagerly following the progress of our netball teams.

Saturday 9th
After the excitement of the previous weeks televised shield match Angela’s team then went on to play one of the lowest ranked teams in their league. Through a combination of injuries and other factors they were struggling to round up 7 players to start the match. They eventually got 7 on court, but things didn’t go their way. They managed to injure another shooter – the forth in 4 weeks – and eventually lost 20-22. I don’t need to explain how disappointed Angela and the rest of the team were in the result, and now they are officially bottom of their grade. Later that day the shield match was the clash between the 2 top teams – the holders SMOGA and the challengers SCOPA. SCOPA were too strong and took the shield quite easily. That result means that Angela’s game next week against SCOPA will also be another shield match, and another appearance on TV. I don’t think they were very excited by this news!

Meanwhile, the men’s team had to take on the unbeaten Marist team. This was our big match and everyone was fired up for it. It was a tough, hard fought match, but we won 41-37. This called for a celebration and we ended up having a few beers while we re-lived our glory, and the girls dissected their result. Angela and I ended up leaving fairly early (8.00ish) because we were heading away for the long weekend, but apparently the rest of them were still going at 1.00am!!

Saturday 16th
The Men’s team was first up and confident after last weeks win. We were playing NUS, currently bottom of the league and winless. I think that most of the boys had spent half the night watching Olympics and the All Blacks beating South Africa, because with 5 minutes to start there were only 5 of us there! We managed to get 7 players by start time, but we weren’t very settled. Fortunately NUS are fairly weak and we easily won 39-23. That was the last game in the first round, and we ended up tied at the top of the table. There were 3 teams (Us, Marist and SCOPA) with 4 wins and 1 loss. The top team after the first round is awarded the shield, and as with the girls league the shield is on the line each time that team plays for the rest of the season. Unfortunately on the count back system they use (number of goals scored) we were third, with the shield being awarded to SCOPA – the only team to beat us. Now we go into a second round of games, so somewhere along the line we should get the chance to challenge for the shield.

Next up it was time for Angela’s team to face the TV cameras again as they challenged SCOPA for the shield. They certainly weren’t full of confidence as they went into the game. They all played hard, and for the first time this season got through the game without injuring their shooter, but ended up going down 64-15.
As this marked the end of the first round and the halfway point of the season it was decided that a BBQ, curry and a few beers were in order. Even if some of the on-court results haven’t been that great, off-court we certainly are a great club. All three teams turned up and were still partying when us old farts decided to call it a night at around 11.30.

This afternoon Angela has been watching the game on TV trying to see what they can work on because next week they have to play SCOPA again! She is becoming a TV star!