It was a blissfully comfy night in our enormous bed. Such a treat as the bar next to the marina has incredibly loud music and raucous customers every night except Sunday, as God obviously would not approve in this very God fearing country. Poor Rowan was up at 5am with work calls. By 6:30 am we were in the car on the way to the ferry. Me driving while Rowan was on another call. We passed lots of kids all off to school in their smart uniforms, with the boys wearing their traditional skirts. Love the local busses all with great names and colourfully painted.
The journey back to the main land was much bouncier with us going straight into the wind and waves. We really rocked about, we were sitting on the top level outside and had to hang on a couple of times – I hoped all the cars were ok. As a result the journey took 20 minutes longer. Rowan had more calls the other side, so I drove. I dropped Rowan off at the marina to go and do some provision shopping before we had to return the car at midday.
Queen Maggie
Humble Soul – name on the bonnet
Coming into Upolu, the main island
The clouds lift off the mountains
The afternoon was spent with officialdom. We had to go to one end of town to immigration, with more form filling and a stamp in our passports, then back across town to Customs to get release documents where we met our scary lady again. She was actually very friendly, jovially making us fill out further forms. We wonder what an earth they do with all this paper work, i suppose at least it keeps a few people employed. Then she announced she couldn’t clear us as we did not have a payment receipt from the marina. Luckily Rowan had arranged to pay Sharon, the manager at 5pm. The customs lady phoned Sharon and she agreed to release us. What a palaver!
Back at PolePole we prepared for our departure tomorrow. We had arranged to go out for a curry meal with Monty and Marina. We invited Paul and Liz to join us and headed to the Curry House which was up the hill near Where Marina and Monty live. There are quite a few Indians here, they came over as indentured labourers, so we thought there may be some tasty Indian food. We had a great meal ordering endless dishes which we all shared. It was sad to be saying goodbye to Monty and Marina, their tips and advice on what to see were spot on, and we certainly felt we got to see a glimpse of their life here which was such fun. It has been a really great visit to the island and has been extra special experience with the insider knowledge of Marina and Monty.
Saying farewell to Monty and Marina
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