New Zealander Heather Macfarland was in Lalomanu in 2009 but she left a few days before the tsunami hit, she is back now to see how people are moving on with their lives 14 years after the natural disaster.

Lalomanu holds a special place in Mrs Macfarland's heart as this was where her daughter was married and this was where all family members had gathered which made bonds even stronger.

In an interview with Samoa Observer, Mrs. Macfarland, 70, said she was heartbroken to have heard about the tsunami not long after she left Samoa.

She was spotted by this newspaper taking a morning walk in Lalomanu with her friend, Gaylia Powell. 

"We've come for a good long week from New Zealand where it is very cold at the moment so we have come mostly for the wonderful warm weather and the lovely warm swimming for a different lovely holiday," she said.

"

I was here 15 years ago just before the tsunami so I was curious to see the difference between then and now. It was a huge thing on the south coast.

"Our daughter came and got married here 14 years ago and so where they got married was demolished after the tsunami so we would love to go and see what it looks like now.

"It's been hard for Samoa I can tell, the corals are quite damaged which is quite sad, it's been a long recovery we can see that and they are not really quite there yet.

"But we have enjoyed the local food, fruits, fish, and the friendly people and we love it here.

"Very upset because I knew it had hit the South Coast and I visualised it and I knew where our wedding had been (Seabreeze) was quite demolished by the tsunami and we had such a good time there.

"Must have been very difficult but we are really impressed with everybody's gardens and there's been a lot of astonishing work so we have noticed how tidy and beautiful the gardens are.

"We did plan our tsunami routes once we got there, we thought we would work out where we would go if there is another one."

Mrs. Macfarland is staying with her friend and husband at the Litia Sini Beach Fales.

She also expressed her concerns on the wrecked coral reefs in Lalomanu.

"I'm also sad, I do know how wrecked the corals are and that is going to take a 100 years to recover and that is bad and I hope climate change is not too much of a problem for Samoa," she said.

For Mrs. Powell, this is her first time in the islands and is enjoying her time with her friend.

"This is my first time and to keep my friend company this morning we thought we would do some walking. We are crazy because we like to keep fit and keep walking although we were hoping we could do some cycling," she said.

She recommends that everybody should have more bicycles available and tracks in the bush as tourists have become more active.

Mrs. Macfarland also offered tips that could improve Samoa's tourism for its road to recovery.

"We need more information like bus timetable because we always want to go on the bus and so our friend hired a car but we did not really know what to do in Apia and we missed out going to the cultural show because we didn't know where it was," she said.

"We went to the Samoa Tourism Authority, they were polite but the other problem was we did not know what to ask for. If we had known we would have watched.

"There are lot of tours that you pay for and that is probably well advertised but just more brochures with information of when things open and when it is on and not.

"We did not know that you only pay $3 tala for a taxi if you go anywhere in town. We thought we cannot get to Robert Louis Stevenson by walking and we think taxis are expensive at home but here isn't.

"Anyway, everywhere should be bicycles we could have biked around. Our driver from Apia told us so much about Samoa and it was wonderful.

"The village and community is safe and we will definitely come back."