We head back from Savai’i to Opolu and Aggie Greys. After the 3 hour journey we have a dip in the pool before visiting the two markets in Apia. It is very warm despite the shade of the canopy over the market stalls. The girls choose Samoan dresses from the market which will be worn at the Samoan cultural dinner that we are attending that evening.

The food is fantastic and the singing and hake-like dancing very entertaining.

The next day we watched Wales defeat Japan at the convenient time of  08.00 before driving south to the beautiful beach at Lalomanu where the kids play in the sea, collect crabs and scream when wild pigs appears from the palm trees.

We had lunch at Maninoa at a restaurant overlooking the sea and then headed back to the Aggie Greys. The day finished up with a swim at the hotel pool and a pizza and a game of cards at a dusty restaurant/shack in the centre of town which looks out towards the harbour and has become a regular haunt for us.

On Friday we watch the France v Ireland game (conveniently at 08.00 again). Before heading to the Robert Louis Stevenson museum (in his former house) for a guided tour.

RLS moved to Samoa at the age of 39 in the hope of curing his TB. He wrote Treasure Island, Kidnapped and Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hyde while living on the island. Popular history suggests that he was revered by the local population as he played an important role in helping the various island chiefs in their dealings with their colonial masters. He died 5 years after arriving of a stroke and is buried on the mountain which overlooks the house.

We then headed to a soap factory run by a Samoan / Swiss family and ended up back in Apia for lunch. In the afternoon we lounged around the pool and in the evening we headed to Apia Yacht club for some food which we ate on an open air deck inches from the sea under a starry night sky.

On Saturday we set the alarm for 03.00 to watch the first half of the Samoa v England game before catching he bus to the airport for our flight home. As it was still dark and as many Samoan ‘houses’ do not have sides to them we were able to see whether people were watching the match as the TV screens were clearly identifiable in the blackness of the night. Cari stopped counting when she’d spotted 100 houses with TVs on after about a mile. It seems that all of Samoa is up watching the game – quite a strange sight !! Our flight took-off at 07.00 and crossed the international dateline sometime around 09.00 and so lost the rest of Saturday.

I could live in Samoa, what a great place. And there is something to be said for holidaying in a passionate rugby country when the Rugby World Cup is on and also for taking a holiday when matches are in a time zone with a 12 hour difference. Getting up hyper-early to watch World Cup rugby followed by rest / recovery at a pool is a good combination.

We all agree, that this has been an incredible break !!