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Samoa, Tuvalu & Nauru, island hopping the South Pacific. Completed #197 countries!
It's taken nearly 18 years but I was finally closing in on my goal to visit every country in the world. Of course that wasn't my intention when I started out my major travels on January 1, 1998. I had only been to 10 countries by then and had only visited 1 new country since 1988. Over the years I've gone on dozens of trips, solo, with travel buddies and with my wife/girlfriend (usually the same person :) ). I've joined up with other intrepid Flyertalkers, ironmanjt, DanielW, Tychian and FlyIgglesFly for some of the harder countries in Africa. After visiting West Africa with ironmanjt and DanielW in January and a family trip to Cuba in March, that left me with only three remaining countries to visit: Samoa, Tuvalu and Nauru.
Originally I planned a trip over 4th of July week. Last November, Qantas had a 50% off award sale to Australia. I booked a one-way DFW-SYD-LDH (Lord Howe Island) at end of June for only 28k QF points and crazy fuel surcharge. The Nauru flight schedules change constantly and weren't yet published for June, so I wasn't yet able to fully plan the trip. Flights to Tuvalu are also notoriously unpredictable as SUV-FUN is at the limit of the aircraft range, the flights only go a few times a week they can be cancelled due to weather. In March after visiting Cuba (still need to write that report..) I started playing around with the flight schedules again. I just couldn't make anything work out that was convenient. Also flight prices coming from Auckland/Sydney in July had started creeping up again, they were as low as $580 from Auckland to Houston at one point, but now were about $800. I decided to push my trip forward a month and go in late May. I was able to book an award ticket HNL-APW-NAN using my Qantas points. A friend of mine owed me 50k DL miles from an award I booked for him several years ago, I finally called in the favor and booked a return BNE-LAX-SAT. Unfortunately Austin wasn't available at the time (it did open up later as it turned out). Tuvalu flights never seem to be available on points so had to book an expensive return from Nadi, hoping that the flights would go out as scheduled. Nauru Airlines is the only airline that flies to Nauru. They run Brisbane-Nauru return flights several times a week, and a milk run Nadi-Nauru-Tarawa-Majuro-Kosrae-Chuuk-Pohnpei on Friday and return on Sunday. It's actually possible to book the Nauru airlines flights on Orbitz but playing around with the Nauru Airlines website I found it was several hundred $ cheaper to book on their website and pay in Fiji dollars vs USD or AUD. Looking at Samoa, it seemed a shame that I would miss visiting American Samoa as it was so close. There's actually a Hawaiian HNL-PPG that goes on Fridays but wasn't available on points. The other option is flying from Samoa (FGI-Fagali) airport to Pago Pago. Polynesian Airlines runs several flights daily. The trick is they are on opposite sides of the dateline.. booking a same-day return FGI-PPG-FGI is actually booked as a PPG-FGI-PPG, illogical as that must sound. I had contacted a tour company in Samoa to do a day tour of Samoa island and book my Pago Pago flights (They are bookable online but I didn't realize the trick to book a same-day return). The tour company said it was about $100 for a driver/car day tour around Upolo island and $215 (with their fee) return to American Samoa. Nauru supposedly requires a visa. It's possible to arrange the entry permit via email with the consulate in Brisbane. They need the flight booking info, hotel booking, copy of passport, etc. They send an entry letter permit a few days later. No money is required at the time as the visa can be paid on arrival. I'd heard varying reports if a visa was even required for under 3 days, but I figured having the entry letter would be helpful. So finally my flights and hotels were booked. I didn't really have any wiggle room in my schedule. Unfortunately I didn't have the vacation time to spare to add extra pad days in Fiji. If Tuvalu flights fell through then I still had the flight to Sydney in late June to visit Nauru. Flights: Code:
MAY19 AUS-SFO UA Yhttp://i.imgur.com/DwLvEPq.jpg Nauru entry permit |
May 19-20, 2016
Flight: Austin, TX (AUS) to San Francisco, CA (SFO); United Econ Flight: San Francisco, CA (SFO) to Honolulu, HI (HNL); United Econ Flight: Honolulu, HI (HNL) to Apia, Samoa (APW); Fiji Airways Econ It had been a crazy week, the power steering had gone out in my car over the previous weekend and the dealership wasn't able to look at the car right away, nor did they have a loaner car. All of the car rental places nearby were also sold out so I had to book a crazy expensive rental car at the airport, planning on just dropping the car when I flew out on Thursday. $400 for a Prius for 3 days is just insane. I couldn't find any codes that worked for midweek discounts unfortunately. Given the car was also due for service and a few other things, I'm probably going to have to mortgage a kidney to pay for the repairs. My flight didn't depart until this afternoon so I was at least able to get a morning's worth of work done. I was able to checkin for my United flight with no problems but when I tried to checkin for my Apia flight it said I was on standby! Not good and that freaked me out a bit. The trip wasn't getting off to a good start. When I left work, the toll road exit to the airport was closed and had to do a long detour to get back on the southbound lanes. Luckily it was smooth sailing from there. Dropped the car only to find huge lines at TSA, even for pre-Check. Supposedly they're in go slow mode to protest funding cuts. Grabbed a Mangia pizza for lunch and off to the United lounge for a bit before heading down to the gate for the San Francisco flight. The flight was uneventful 3 hrs, crossing over Lake Mead and Las Vegas. There was still considerable snow crossing the mountains. It had been awhile since I'd flown on United into SFO and the terminal looked much better than I remember. The lounge was pretty nice but packed. I was able to find a seat in the far corner but the wifi signal there was pretty weak. I looked ina few shops for sunscreen after I realized I'd only brought a near-empty bottle. I hoped I'd be able to find some in HNL at least. The flight to Honolulu was uneventful as well and I slept most of it. http://i.imgur.com/fVclSxw.jpg Takeoff from SFO http://i.imgur.com/0O0zHX6.jpg UA Snackbox On arrival in HNL it was quite a walk over to Lobby 4 for Fiji Airways checkin. It was still nearly 4 hrs before the flight but already there was a long line of passengers with what appeared to be 15 suitcases and boxes each. I wasn't looking forward to the wait until I noticed the business class line was also for 'web checkin' customers. They did have my name on the list but I nearly had a heart attack when they said the flight Apia to Nadi was full and so they weren't letting on standby passengers and that I could go on Tuesday instead... I said that wasn't acceptable, I had connecting flights and this was an award ticket. They said Oh, we thought you were non-rev! So turns out I did have a seat after all, but I did lose my original front-row selected seat and back in row 28. Well at least I had a seat for the flight! Whew. And I got to skip the crazy line. So things were starting to look better. No line going back through TSA as the Apia flight is the last evening flight. No lounge access though, the Priority Pass lounge in HNL has very limited hours and I didn't feel like hoofing it all the way back to United Club, which was closing soon anyway. I found a Starbucks to get my fix in for the next 12 days. The gate area wasn't too busy but due to there not being a sterile arrival they kicked us out for a few minutes when the inbound flight arrived. The flight boarded on time but then we stat on the tarmac for 30 minute delay. At last we tookoff about 2AM. http://i.imgur.com/1AOzMzK.jpg Got my FJ seat! http://i.imgur.com/sjQrUsL.jpg http://i.imgur.com/K7QKLqu.jpg Fiji Airways Y HNL-APW |
May 21, 2016
Hotel: Su Accommodation; Apia, Samoa I slept most of the flight to Apia and we crossed the dateline, losing a day. Arrived just as it was getting light. There was a Virgin Samoa flight about to depart and apparently they are building a new airline terminal. When deplaning, somehow I ended up at the end of the immigration line so it took some time. Meanwhile the guards had drug sniffing dogs patrolling the area. One of them seemed to take an interest in my jacket pocket, most likely as I had a Clif bar in there. At customs I got pulled aside for a full bag search as the dog liked me too much. I was one of the last ones out of customs but luckily the tour company was still there waiting for me. http://i.imgur.com/JMp7Ur0.jpg http://i.imgur.com/17A5tV0.jpg #195 Got some cash at the ATM and headed off with my driver, Sam. The APW airport is actually about a 40-minute drive from Apia itself. Not far distance-wise but it's narrow roads. Samoa has had some major changes in the past few years. In 2009 they switched driving on the right to driving on the left, mostly as right-hand drive cars were being imported from New Zealand. In 2011 they switched sides of the dateline, leaving American Samoa and Samoa on opposite sides, also to align with business days in New Zealand. Samoa is very Christian country and basically shuts down from noon on Saturday until Monday morning. We passed by lots of churches and a Mormon temple. http://i.imgur.com/9mjiszP.jpg Local buses http://i.imgur.com/isOcuJL.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Jj4vxHK.jpg Samoa seemed very clean. Many houses and buildings are open-air (fales), the temperature is pretty constant year round and most people live near the coast and sleep outside with breezes to keep cool. There were lots of colorful old-school buses on the road. There were a few roadside BBQ places that smelled really good. One had a sign listing 'moa' which I thought was extinct! More likely it's just Samoan for chicken. The weather was good, a little chilly even, with sun peeking through the clouds. It was raining offshore but fine on the island. We arrived into Apia itself about 8AM. Wandered around the center for a bit, stopping at the old government buildings and impressive blue and white Mulivai Cathedral with amazing wood ceiling. Was a bit hungry by this point so grabbed some sausage rolls and a pineapple pie at a grocery before heading out east. We passed by the new Sheraton Aggie Grey Bungalows, the original Aggie Grey hotel that was damaged in a cyclone several years ago. My driver said the hotel had already soft opened but I saw it wasn't accepting bookings on the SPG website until July 1st. http://i.imgur.com/AYLaIkL.jpg http://i.imgur.com/7y0LYoQ.jpg Apia church We talked a bit about culture in Samoa, most land is privately owned by each village and they don't pay property taxes (though you don't get government benefits either), government only owns about 15%. Expats have to live there 5 years to be able to own freehold land. Sam said everything grows here so if you go hungry it's your own fault. Fish in the ocean, mango, banana, breadfruit, taro, etc. He also pointed out the platforms all along the side of the road where locals put their trash to be collected.. they don't have bins and guess they don't want it sitting on the ground due to bugs. http://i.imgur.com/bSk9Jfy.jpg http://i.imgur.com/LjSMXTa.jpg Samoan Trashbin After awhile we headed south towards the center of the island, stopping at a viewpoint of the valley below. The interior is very sparsely populated. We got stuck behind a line of cars heading to the east coast. Stopped a few minutes to watch a rugby game and escape the traffic. We finally reached the east coast and stopped for grilled fish lunch and a swim on the beach. Very nice white sand with brightly colored fales/cabins. Quite a few Aussie and Kiwi tourists here. My driver mentioned the area had been hit badly by a tsunami in 2009, over 100 people were killed and you could still see the foundations of houses that were destroyed. http://i.imgur.com/q92i8GB.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ngtiTQQ.jpg http://i.imgur.com/RVogfVa.jpg http://i.imgur.com/9tkbvTQ.jpg Fales, open-air buildings Eventually we came to the To Sua trench. I had seen pictures of this place online and it looked very interesting. Basically a lava tube to the sea had collapsed, forming a natural swimming hole. Access is climbing 60' down a ladder, quite scary. There were several tourists swimming here. It was low tide but I still took the jump off the platform (only do with shoes/sandals!). The water was amazing warm and clear. Swam around a bit before climbing back up the ladder (easier this time). The Sopo'aga falls were nearby with an impressive view of the valley below. http://i.imgur.com/HOlp0vB.jpg To Sua trench We continued to the west, stopping at a resort on the beach. There was another resort next door which costs $700 a night! Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson stayed here when he visited Samoa. The driver asked if we should continue around the island or head back to Apia. It was after 1:30PM and I was pretty tired from the long day of travel, so decided to head back to town. Along the way we stopped at Papapapai-tai falls which were shrouded in mist which luckily started clearing. I also wanted to visit the Robert Louis Stevenson museum, but it had already closed for the day. But the back gate was still open so I was able to walk up to see the Valima house and extensive grounds. RLS is buried on a mountaintop nearby and it is possible to visit on weekdays. On the way to my hotel Sam said he could arrange a taxi to the Fagali airport for me in the morning. I could leave my bag with the taxi and Sam would pick me up on my return and take me to the Sheraton hotel. Seemed a decent deal and he seemed pretty trustworthy. http://i.imgur.com/gcSvm5E.jpg http://i.imgur.com/dsb4Clj.jpg Buying Taro http://i.imgur.com/guCdVhj.jpg Beach fales http://i.imgur.com/WJAjGm6.jpg Robert Louis Stevenson house http://i.imgur.com/YvYnnFG.png Checked into my hotel and the owner said he could have given me an island tour! I was pretty knackered and just took a nap for a few hours. The hotel was near the main market, down an alleyway but it was clean and comfortable. For dinner I went out to Bistro Tatau nearby and I ordered the lemoncello pepper swordfish. For dessert I ordered the banana parfait, which was a kicked up banana split and has to be one of the best desserts I've ever had. Bailey's ice cream, candied bananas, cracker-jack toffee peanuts and chocolate ganache. I'm expecting diabetes any day now. http://i.imgur.com/An88T5o.jpg Su Accommodation, $65/nt http://i.imgur.com/blJN3Jm.jpg http://i.imgur.com/6jaBJJF.jpg Bistro Tatau |
May 22, 2016
Flight: Apia, Samoa (FGI) to Pago Pago, American Samoa (PPG) Flight: Pago Pago, American Samoa (PPG) to Apia Samoa (APW) Hotel: Sheraton Aggie Grey's Resort; Samoa; $178 I had the morning free before my 11:30AM flight to American Samoa. I ran into a couple from Perth at breakfast and we ended up talking for awhile. I wanted to go out and see a bit more of the town. Most reports I'd heard made Apia seem pretty dumpy with dog pack problems, but the city seemed fine to me, and apparently they've rounded up most of the strays. Though I'd barely gotten past the market when the skies opened and started pouring. I headed back to the hotel and just sat around all morning. The taxi driver showed up on time (rain had stopped by now) and I mentioned I needed postcards. We did find one supermarket that was open that had some pretty worn-looking postcards. The FGI airport is east of town and has to be one of the smallest airports I've been to. It currently only has flights to Pago Pago. There was already a line of passengers waiting with huge boxes and took nearly 40 minutes to checkin. They weigh both your bags and the passengers. The inbound flight arrived but still no immigration officer. She turned up just in time before we had to board the flight. http://i.imgur.com/xuOkUVU.jpg http://i.imgur.com/fhreFd8.jpg http://i.imgur.com/wzn4X1S.jpg Fagalii Airport, Samoa The flight was in a tiny prop plane. Thanks to time travel, I arrived into Pago Pago over 23 hrs before I left. Despite being US territory there is no Global Entry, but no need as there was no line. It had been raining here as well but the skies looked like they were clearing. I soon realized I should have arranged the tour company to have someone meet me here as well, as I had to wait nearly 40 minutes (of my 4 hr visit) for a taxi. Hired one for $60 for a few hours to drive around. There's really only one main road on the island. Definitely differences from Samoa, driving is on the right and there are fast food restaurants and Ford dealerships. We passed by the only cinema on the island and the Starkist Tuna canning factory. They have the same old school buses here as in Samoa but the cab is Ford instead of Toyota. The main island of American Samoa is several million years newer than Samoa and the mountain valley cliffs were much steeper here. There is a National Park in the northern part of the island, but the visitors center was closed today (Saturday). I'd hoped to visit at least a bit of the park but with the late arrival and delay getting a taxi I didn't have the time. http://i.imgur.com/QikFLCw.jpg http://i.imgur.com/9KzzBq6.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Bxk3QjI.jpg http://i.imgur.com/T4VZSkp.jpg http://i.imgur.com/EZET8qG.jpg http://i.imgur.com/sAm8ECJ.jpg We drove to Tisas's Barefoot Bar on the east part of the island, passing the Starkist tuna canning factory. My driver said 'oh it's so far'. The bar was open but dead when I arrived. I'd hoped to have lunch there but the guy there said it would take 45 minutes or so, so just had a Valima beer and chatted a few minutes before it was already time to head back to the airport. Ended up stopping at Carls Jr (bah) for lunch along the way. Arrived back at the airport about 3:20 to find they'd cancelled my 4:45 flight and merged it with the 4:30 flight, so good thing I was back a bit early. I found some shops selling postcards. http://i.imgur.com/uqlPwal.jpg Starkist Factory http://i.imgur.com/aomf5KL.jpg http://i.imgur.com/7uJQtJS.jpg http://i.imgur.com/95Tw5L3.jpg Tisa's Barefoot Bar http://i.imgur.com/dQZIJXA.jpg Colorful bathroom, PPG airport http://i.imgur.com/2hlRFIM.jpg Duty Free Tuna Unlike the mainland, American Samoa has outbound immigration. They were a little amused I came over just for the day. The flight back was quick and arrived to find Sam was already waiting with my bags. We drove to the Sheraton and arrived just in time to catch the sunset. I'd lost my SPG Gold status this year so no upgrade or amenities.. and I ended up in the furthest block of rooms. The property seemed pretty nice with a golf course and swimming pool. Unfortunately didn't really get to enjoy the resort very much as my flight to Fiji left tomorrow morning. The room smelled a bit musty/damp but otherwise was clean and the aircon worked well. The Wifi was decent speed. http://i.imgur.com/C1tcx1O.jpg http://i.imgur.com/1uZXYtu.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ORLMXCo.jpg Flight back to Samoa For dinner I had a local ceviche with fish in coconut milk and palusami noodles, like a pesto. Very good. Quite a few tourists staying here, again mostly from Australia/NZ. The hotel holds fiafia (cultural shows) on Friday nights. http://i.imgur.com/aumv5Pr.jpg Sunset from Sheraton Resort, Samoa http://i.imgur.com/FlXtLZW.jpg http://i.imgur.com/lVGIyeS.jpg http://i.imgur.com/GRzXebu.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Aq0fSR2.jpg |
How long is the flight Honolulu to Apia?
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Hi:
I just read your report on Lesotho. How many hours did it take you to drive to the Lodge in Lesotho from Johannesburg? And then how many hours to Ladysmith. Thanks. Were you able to get an award to Lord Howe? I tried and it is very difficult. And the airfare is expensive. Thanks. |
Originally Posted by Bretteee
(Post 26713904)
How long is the flight Honolulu to Apia?
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Originally Posted by Bretteee
(Post 26713979)
Hi:
I just read your report on Lesotho. How many hours did it take you to drive to the Lodge in Lesotho from Johannesburg? And then how many hours to Ladysmith. Thanks. Were you able to get an award to Lord Howe? I tried and it is very difficult. And the airfare is expensive. Thanks. Answered in the other thread. It's about 5 hrs from JNB to Maliba, 4 hrs from there to Ladysmith. Yes I still have my DFW-SYD-LDH award booked for later this month, but will cancel it now. |
May 23, 2016
Flight: Apia, Samoa (APW) to Nadi, Fiji (NAN); Fiji Airways Econ ATR72-600 Flight: Nadi, Fiji (NAN) to Suva, Fiji (SUV); Fiji Airways Econ ATR72-600 Hotel: AirBnb Suva, $35 I was reviewing my Nauru entry permit when I realized they'd managed to get both my name AND passport number wrong. Odd as the invoice they sent me managed to get my name right. I sent off an email to the consulate requesting an amended permit. Hopefully they would get back to me by Friday. Breakfast at the hotel was OK, an omelette grill and french toast, baked beans, sausage, fruits, etc. At 9:30 I caught the hotel airport shuttle only to find out on arrival at the airport they charge WST20 ($7.50) for the shuttle, totally a ripoff as it's only 2.5 miles. I'd already spent my last Tala so had to give the driver a $10. http://i.imgur.com/7GvCdUa.jpg http://i.imgur.com/v7vsZxn.jpg Sheraton Aggie Grey's Resort, Samoa Checkin for the Nadi flight was easy and flightaware showed the outbound from Fiji was going to be early. I had gotten there a few hrs early so had a bit of a wait. There were no lounges that I saw in the APW airport. Hopefully there will be in the new terminal when it opens next year. Our flight actually left 30 minutes early for the uneventful 3-hr flight. I had been to Fiji two years ago on a family trip and had already been to Nadi. It looked like a gorgeous day on arrival and I noticed the Nauru Airlines plane was already here, a good sign. I now had a long 7-hr layover before my flight to Suva. I debated going into Denaru or Nadi town but was able to get on an earlier Suva flight so just hung around the airport for a few hours. Nadi airport is under renovation right now so lots of construction. The domestic flights are out of another small terminal building. I got out a chunk of FJD and changed it to AUD that I would need in Tuvalu and Nauru. I tried checking in online for tomorrow's flight to Funafuti but the website wouldn't let me as they don't allow online checkin for domestic flights. http://i.imgur.com/fajphk9.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ofSQXtm.jpg http://i.imgur.com/1sk9SST.jpg APW Airport http://i.imgur.com/aewIrPb.jpg http://i.imgur.com/HDi47TA.jpg Nadi airport. Nauru Airlines 737 already here http://i.imgur.com/3XIBAYO.jpg Airport curry The flight to Suva was only about 25 minutes and the airport is super small. I tried checking in for tomorrow's flight from here and this time was successful getting an online boarding pass. I had booked an AirBnb and had already let them know I was arriving early. Taxi wanted 30 FJD. I had the AirBnb sort of tagged on my GPS but still took a bit of looking to find the place. I arranged for the taxi to pick me up in the morning since he knew where to find the place. It was a second unit in a duplex, so had its own kitchen, though not that I needed it just for one night. No wifi or aircon either but there was a fan in the room (on a timer). So that was a bit annoying. Didn't get much sleep either as there were dogs barking all night long. http://i.imgur.com/MWSeGAE.jpg Suva flight |
Excellent start. Wow. 197. Sweet.
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May 24, 2016
Flight: Suva, Fiji (SUV) to Funafuti, Tuvalu (FUN); Fiji Airways Econ ATR72-600 Hotel: Vaiaku Lagi Hotel; Funafuti, Tuvalu It was actually a bit chilly in Suva this morning but the weather looked gorgeous clear. The taxi was a few minutes late due to traffic. Luckily outbound to the airport was clear, but traffic heading into the city was quite heavy. I'd already gotten my boarding pass the night before on email but hadn't been able to print it. Checked in at the desk around 7:15 and had my boarding pass to Tuvalu! Stage one done, now to see if the flight actually goes.. I went to the cafe for breakfast of pumpkin roti and Jason's chocolate cake.. only to hear a few minutes later that checkin was now closed for the Funafuti flight due to no fuel in Tuvalu (they had to carry return fuel)! They were asking for volunteers to go on the Thursday flight. I had my boarding pass already so wasn't likely to volunteer! I had seat 3F just behind 'business class' though looking back the plane looked almost full, so they must have only needed to boot a few passengers. Takeoff was on time for the 2h30m flight. Started talking with my seatmate who was heading to Tuvalu to do a marine survey and would be coming back on Thursday as well. I mentioned Tuvalu was my 2nd to last country and a guy across the aisle started talking with us. Peter was from Norway and had spent 6 weeks traveling through the South Pacific and had been to 125 countries so far. http://i.imgur.com/AepEtHx.jpg Jason's chocolate cake, Suva airport http://i.imgur.com/o1Wpf3X.jpg Fiji Airways SUV-FUN On arrival into Tuvalu unfortunately was on the wrong side of the plane to see the atoll but Peter took a pic for me. The terminal in Tuvalu is tiny. They didn't have arrival forms for us on the plane so we all had to stand out in the scorching sun filling out the 4 sections of arrival forms. Immigration formalities were super easy and I was soon stamped into country #196! http://i.imgur.com/InMps1j.jpg http://i.imgur.com/6k48fr5.jpg Arrival into Funafuti There was some construction going on at the airport with fences up blocking one of the exits. It was a super short walk though to the Vaiaku Lagi hotel. Originally I had booked the Wamusari Lodge via booking.com but had made email booking with the Vaiaku and cancelled my original booking. I had lunch of roast chicken at the hotel when Peter came by and said he'd been booked at the Wamusari as well but they were full! So he was able to get a room at Vaiaku last-minute, and half the price of the room I had. While we were sitting there chatting an Australian woman came by who had been on our flight and had overheard us talking about our travels. So we sat at the hotel talking for awhile, enjoying the breeze. http://i.imgur.com/29tClWO.jpg http://i.imgur.com/FFciDq7.jpg http://i.imgur.com/KcWoMY8.jpg Vaiaku Lagi Hotel Peter and I set off to see if we could rent some scooters to see the island. The hotel mentioned there might be some 5 or 6 houses down the road. On the way down there was a family sitting down for lunch and we asked them about the scooters, turns out it was the house next door but when we checked there they said theirs was broken. We went back to talk to Richard and he said he could get us some scooters, for cheaper than they would charge foreigners! He said 10AUD per day. A few minutes later he drives up on one, he said they only had one but he would check elsewhere. He also invites us to come to drink kava that evening. I hadn't ridden a scooter in years so Peter drove us down to the south end of the island, passing by the Government house. Tuvalu is an atoll, barely 100 feet wide in places with just enough room for the road and a house or two. As we reach the south end of the island, Richard and his wife pull up on scooters. So he'd followed us all the way south to find us! I had a bit of a practice drive to get the hang of things. We drove down the remaining dirt path to the southern end of the atoll. This must be the local boozing point as there were lots of cans of 'Red Horse' beer. From the south end it's quite shallow and possible to walk to the next motu, but the tide was coming in and the currents were quite swift. http://i.imgur.com/b4j4YMy.jpg http://i.imgur.com/tTKknKH.jpg http://i.imgur.com/JvKSNRs.jpg Tuvalu stamps We then drove the full length of the island up to the northern point. We passed by schoolkids on their way home, then past the port and up to the end of the road. The dump/landfill is located here and they were just about to close the gate (5PM) but the gatekeeper agreed to give us a few more minutes. The road from here was crushed coral then sand where we got the bikes stuck. We were looking for a place to swim, but really the best place I'd seen was right near the hotel. We got there to find a bunch of kinds leaping off the sandbags on the new land. They kept shouting 'take my picture!'. Had a swim for a bit, the water was a gorgeous milky blue. Richard was there swimming with his kids and said normally it is clear but there's still a lot of sediment in the water from the dredging. http://i.imgur.com/qOvJi0s.jpg http://i.imgur.com/vEzK7Q9.jpg http://i.imgur.com/t13J9TT.jpg http://i.imgur.com/oa1oLsC.jpg http://i.imgur.com/YZo2JqE.jpg http://i.imgur.com/bHzl93W.jpg http://i.imgur.com/eW0kHFz.jpg http://i.imgur.com/0ATAo5d.jpg http://i.imgur.com/R8GuGMG.jpg At the beach The hotel was having a party for some organization that evening, it looked like a great spread including a whole roast pig. But we were relegated to the upstairs conference room for dinner. There were a couple other guys there from the IMF. They were in Tuvalu for a few weeks for meetings. http://i.imgur.com/5JT0KuC.jpg After dinner we headed over to Richard's place just before 8pm. We were just in time as he was just finishing mixing up the kava in his backyard fale. Some of his friends were already there getting ready for a jam session. We had met the keyboard player earlier in the telecom office when we bought our wifi cards. Kava isn't grown locally, it is brought in from Fiji in powder form. We all started taking turns drinking from a coconut shell. I'd never had it before so didn't know what to expect. It was bitter/woody tasting and had to gulp down the first cup. I could feel my tongue going numb soon after. We kept passing around the bowl for hours and ended up refilling the kava bowl three times while his friends sang and played their instruments. My head was spinning and I really couldn't drink any more of the stuff and my stomach was feeling queasy. It's then that Richard said we could have quit drinking anytime! We staggered back to the hotel around midnight. http://i.imgur.com/orNWayl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/8D69V1d.jpg http://i.imgur.com/5TppLB6.jpg Drinking Kava |
Congratulations!
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May 25, 2016
Hotel: Vaiaku Lagi Hotel; Funafuti, Tuvalu Ow my head. Was definitely feeling woozy this morning after all the kava. When booking the hotel via email, I had arranged a boat trip for 200AUD out to the other side of the lagoon. Now I wasn't sure how I felt about that with a spinning head! Peter was joining me so that was good to split costs. Originally I thought we were going to the Conservation Area, but that has to be arranged through the town council, we were just going to some private islands right next to it. Breakfast at hotel was OK with egg+bacon. We decided to return the scooters this morning as we likely wouldn't need them all day. The gas 'station' was just up the street, we filled up our bikes but Peter's was in gear when he started his and the bike took off and flipped over, throttle racing. He got banged up a little, and the footrest/gearshift got slightly bent. Ironic as we were just across the street from Richard's place and about to return the bikes. Richard said no worries though and was able to get the peg bent back into shape, and didn't charge a thing. The boat arrived about 9AM, a metal fishing boat with no shade. The fisherman's wife also came along. I covered up pretty well and slathered on the sunscreen. It took nearly an hour to cross the 14km-wide lagoon to Tepuka island. The island was surrounded by gorgeous blue water and white 'rice' sand. Peter and I walked around the island, nearly 1.5kms. The outer side of the island had a lot of downed trees from recent storms so we had to thread our way through branches and wade through the water. When we reached the boat again there were fish grilling on the coals and the boat guy (can't remember name, sorry) opened up some fresh coconut to drink. We eagerly dug into the fish, peeling off the skin and scales and eating the hot flesh with our fingers. We had Red Snapper and some other local fish. The coconut water was very refreshing. They mentioned they had 6 kids! http://i.imgur.com/HohK6Ax.jpg http://i.imgur.com/osHVlAx.jpg http://i.imgur.com/E80stcm.jpg http://i.imgur.com/cT2smqP.jpg http://i.imgur.com/2preiHS.jpg http://i.imgur.com/jQDAzAd.jpg http://i.imgur.com/WfO4cLU.jpg Fresh lunch After lunch we swam for a bit before getting into the boat and heading across to another island. This had lots of coral surrounding it and it was low tide, so it took awhile to maneuver the boat to shore. There was another boat here with some fishermen walking on the reef. We hopped out and walked up the island. Lots of screaming seabirds here, so it must be a nesting site. Saw some empty coconuts with what looked like rocks on them until I realized the ground was crawling with hermit crabs. The crabs were feasting around the empty coconut. Even on this island there was plastic bottle trash, you can't get away from it. http://i.imgur.com/3b0H8Z3.jpg Hermit Crabs We headed back to Funafuti, this time the sea was a bit rougher and kept getting soaked by the spray. Was pretty exhausted by the time we got back so had a bit of a rest before going down to the post office and mail the postcards, then for a walk out on the runway. The runway is the largest open space in Tuvalu, and as flights only come a few times a week, most afternoons there are people out excercising and walking on the runway! It must have been too early yet as we were the only ones out there. A bit of ice cream sounded good so we wandered about trying to find a shop that had any. Eventually we find a shop near the 'university'. http://i.imgur.com/xT0U5XZ.jpg For dinner we headed to the Filamona hotel with the IMF guys. Several rounds of beer later we end up back at our hotel. |
Congratulations on hitting 197! That's an amazing achievement :)
Your account of drinking kava sounds like my efforts in Fiji many years ago. It's like drinking a muddy puddle that eventually makes your mouth go numb and your head a bit murky. Apparently the western parts of the Pacific (esp Vanuatu) have much stronger kava, ie ratio of inebriation to muddy water consumed is much higher. Looking forward to your impressions of Nauru - what a place to finish! Try not to wind up in one of the Australian government's infamous detention camps... |
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