Mother and daughter, Marlene Salisbury and Jackie Dawson, looked hot and bothered as they marched under the scorching sun along Beach road in Apia. 

The ladies had just spent all morning doing a walkabout of the township up to the market and visiting the information center at S.T.A. fale.

Taking a time out in the shade with Dear Tourist, the ladies recounted their day so far.

 “We just had a big walk up to the markets and we had a good look around and stopped by the information center to organize our tour guide for tomorrow,” said Jackie.

“We are planning on going around the whole island I think where all the main hotspots are like the waterfalls and the swimming holes.”

Marlene is celebrating her 78th birthday this month and thanks to her daughter, she was spending it somewhere tropical.

“My daughter shouts me a birthday present every year so this is it this year.”

She said apart from the heat, “it’s very nice and the people are lovely. The landscape is really beautiful from what I’ve seen so far. I think so long as you just want to chill out and not be on the go – you’ll enjoy Samoa.”

For Jackie, the trip was two-fold and treating her mother was also a treat for herself.

“It was a good choice because it’s close to N.Z. I’ve been to lots of other Pacific Islands, last year we were in Rarotonga and now we’re here.I guess I kind of bought tickets to Samoa for me too because my job will start to get busy towards the end of the year, so I thought it’s better to take a good week off now before that time hits.”