Apia road trip

We hired a car for our first five days in Samoa. It got us from the airport across the island to our resort, let us stock up at the local supermarket and made it easy to schedule a couple of day trips. Today we finished our final hire day by touring Apia’s popular sights.

Our road trip started with a slightly hair-raising ride via the Cross Island Road. One section consisted predominantly of potholes with the occasional patch of solid asphalt. Along the way, we stopped to admire the spectacular Papapapaitai Falls, the Baha’i House of Worship and the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum. 

The falls were spectacular. Several fragmented ribbons of white water drop more than 100 metres into a jungle-clad gully. Our arrival at the lookout was initially hampered by a swirling mist. It slowly lifted as we watched and waited revealing the falls in all their verdant glory.

We had the entire Baha’i temple to ourselves during our visit. The local custodian came across from the nearby visitors centre to give us a brief overview of the Baha’i faith and the temple’s key features before leaving us to explore it alone. The custodian asked if I'd visited a Baha'i House of Worship before. When I mentioned the Lotus temple in New Delhi, she told us she'd been lucky enough to attend its opening in 1986.

The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum was equally quiet. The tour staff were on their lunch break when we arrived. As a result, we were invited to take a self-guided tour through this magnificent colonial homestead. Once again we had the entire building to ourselves and could explore it at our own pace.  The house and grounds were impressive.  However, I couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable with the colonial undertones of exploitation that it clearly represents.

From the museum, we went into town for a swim at the rather ramshackle Palolo Deep Marine Reserve (lots of sharp coral shards underfoot!) followed by a leisurely lunch by the water's edge overlooking the exclusive Taumeasina Island Resort. After lunch, we had just enough time for a brief driving tour downtown. 

Our route included a brief stop at Samoa’s new National Parliament (currently under renovation and built in the style of a traditional tribal hut), the ornate Immaculate Conception Cathedral, and a drive-by of the infamous Downtown Clock Tower. Guidebooks claim the clock displays random time on one or more faces for no apparent reason other than dodgy maintenance.

Fono, the Parliament of Samoa, is not only a noteworthy sight with its contemporary-meets-traditional fale architecture but is also where some unique legislation has been made. For example, Samoa “skipped a day” when the country changed time zones in 2011. Previously, as happened in the Cook Islands, visitors crossed the dateline upon arriving in Samoa. Neighbouring America Samao, less than 80 km southeast of Upolo, still observes this time zone.

After returning our rental car to Blue Pacific Rentals, office staff arranged for a local taxi to take us back to the resort. The journey was an eye-opening lesson about living on “island time”. We wound down the windows, soaked in the sunshine, and watched the world glide by as our cab wound its way across the island at a speed rarely exceeding 25kph. A trip that typically takes 40 minutes ultimately took us more than an hour.