CherryPopper

It was my last day in Samoa as I was to fly out late that night so i wanted to try and make the last day special. I thought it was going to be hard to beat the night on the island as it really was a great way to forget about the real world and relax. But as we headed back into the real world, well as close to the real world you can get in Samoa, Roneil said he knew the perfect way to end the week in Samoa with a swim in a waterfall. Not just any waterfall but the Samoa equivalent of "wet & wild water park".

We picked up Renu on the way and headed out to Sliding Rocks for a swim in a waterfall in the middle of a rain forest. After walking down a very steep path we ended up looking at a number of smallish waterfalls with a few of the local kids having a ball sliding down these falls into the pools of water, it really was like what you would see at a local pool but in the middle of a rain forest.

The green moss is what made the rocks so slippery and made it possible to slide down the rocks as you would a normal waterslide. The water was so refreshingly cold and clear i was just blown away at how picture perfect this place really is. After watching the kids to see where you were meant to slide they soon noticed i had no idea where to go so were yelling for me to follow them. The kids soon got me in the right spot for the first of the slides. The first one was only a small slide of around 2m into a whirling pool of water. That was easy but then they showed me the next part which was a 6m slide with a huge bump half way down that would get your airborne before you hit the water, I asked the kids if it hurts your ass but they just laughed at me and slid down. I figured if they can do it so can I, so pushed off down the waterfall only to get a lot more air than the little lighter kids did and almost went head first into the water!!! When i finally came up for air the kids were laughing at me & told me to lean forward next time, now they tell me...

Then came the climb back up to the top of the waterfalls... it was a 8m rock face we had to climb up. Now I'm all for a bit of rock climbing but I'm in bare feet and my feet are silky soft (just the way the ladies love them ), so i'm in a little bit of pain scaling this rock face to which the kids are again laughing at me!!!

I went down the falls a few more times before i joined Roneil & Renu in the top pool under the first waterfall where they were getting a nice massage from the waterfall. They were leaning up against the rocks and letting the water gently fall onto their backs. It was at this point where i just stood there with the cool fresh water falling on me and looked around at the rain forest thinking.... wow this place truly is amazing & so untouched.

I can see Samoa in the next 5 years slowly starting to chase the tourist dollar more & more so it will become very westernised & commercial, which will be sad in some ways. It will slowly lose its untouched places and become crowed with loud annoying Americans, like all the other good tourist destinations around the world.

But for now it really is a touch of paradise and I enjoyed every minute of it, if you can go visit Samoa while its still is a slice of heaven.

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