Has anyone ever been to Samoa or Tasmania?

[LChoy]

Hi CP braintrust,

We booked our trip for the year using our Aeroplan points.
Among the places we are visiting this December is Samoa and Tasmania (as well as Sydney, Melbourne, and parts of New Zealand)

For Samoa, we'll be there for 2 days, and we figure it would be mainly spent lying on the beach and getting over the jet lag. We're looking at staying in a Fales (beach hut accommodations that sit right on the beach)

For our Australian leg of our adventure, we were planning on visiting Tasmania.

We haven't done any research on that part of it yet, but looking for advice on the minimal amount of time we should spend in Tasmania, accommodations recommendations, points of interests, food...etc

Any advice will be welcome

Thanks CP

[surferguy]

Samoa is awesome! Expect rustic if you go with the Fales on the beach style but there are some nice resorts in and around Apia and one out by the airport. I just cant remember the name right now. Lots of options, just do not expect it to be anything like Hawaii in form of amenities. I highly recommend this country - its a great place.

[valo403]

I spent a weekend in Tasmania and it is awesome. I only did Hobart and the area around it, but I heard great things about the rest of the island as well. A few of the highlights I recall:

- Port Arthur: A pretty crazy place for a few reasons. It's an old convict settlement on a harbor and is both gorgeous and very interesting historically. Unfortunately it's also the sight of the largest mass murder in post-colonial Australian history, 35 people were killed, and 23 wounded, while visiting the site in 1996. There's a memorial setup at the site of the cafe where it occurred. It's a pretty powerful place to visit.

- Cascade Brewery: In Hobart, old school brewery tour with a pretty solid amount of tasting in a really picturesque estate style brewery. The gardens and surrounding grounds were nice to stroll through on a sunny afternoon.

- We went with a small local tour company to head out to Port Arthur which took us to a number of great sights around the region, there are some amazing ocean lookouts and some beautiful inland areas, if you're into the outdoors it's a great place to spend a couple of days exploring.

- Did a couple of boat tours from Hobart, they were nice and gave you a great view of the city and up the river but weren't mind blowing.

- The city itself was nice, pretty slow paced but full of pretty solid bar and restaurant options.

- One thing to be aware of its that it's not exactly warm down there, even in the middle of the summer it can get quite cold, particularly near the shore. After all, the next piece of land is Antarctica.

- Also, the airport is great. They just throw the bags on a cart behind a tractor and pull them into the terminal/shed.

[troutman]

Hobart is about 42 degrees south Latitude, which is comparable to somewhere around the Oregon/California border (42 north). South, but not that far South. I was surprised when I was in Tierra Del Fuego, how far it really was from the south pole (54 south).

I'm sure valo is right about Tasmania being chilly, as Patagonia was often cold and windy too.

[sevenarms]

In Tasmania, Wineglass Bay is a great hike/camp.

[surferguy]

Samoa hotel name that I forgot is Aggie greys. On the high end for sure but that was the name.

Samoa fun fact - friend of mine from calgary helps start the bus shelter business in Samoa.

[killer_carlson]

I love Hobart almost as mucha s i do Calgary. Ive been there four or five times and have stayed there for months.

I will find a computer i can type on better than this Ipad, and i have a fair bit to say.

[LChoy]

Just a quick update.
We're now 9 days away from our trip to Samoa, New Zealand, and Australia.

In Samoa, we're staying 2 nights at the Taufua Beach Fales (http://www.samoabeachfales.com/). Looking forward to staying in one of the open beach Fales (beach huts). While there, we'll get over jet lag by relaxing on the beach, check out the Sua Ocean Trench (http://www.samoa.travel/sightseeing/...a-ocean-trench) and participate in their traditional Sunday lunch feast.

Later on in Tasmania, we have 3 nights at the Fountainside Hotel.
We'll check out the sight and sounds of Salamanca Market, take a day trip to Port Arthur, and another day touring the Cadbury Factory and Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary.

Also special shout out to Aeroplan, they upgraded us to Air Canada Executive class (Pods!) from Sydney to Toronto (with layover in Vancouver) on the way back

Thanks for the advice everyone in this thread and through pm. I'll give CP an update on our trip when we come back.

[Displaced Flames fan]

My Father In Law spent nearly two years in Hobart opening a mill for Canfor. They absolutely adore Tasmania and saw as much of the island as they could get to.

I wonder if Killer Carlson is still looking for that computer!

[undercoverbrother]

I am jealous. Samoa is on my list of places I want to visit. Samoa is my favourite rugby nation to watch.

[killer_carlson]

I did it by PM, but can copy it out in the thread if you like.