TONGATAPU
October 1st: After a 3hr flight from NZ we landed into Nuka'Alofa the capital of Tongatapu Island. Tongatapu would by the main island in the Tonga group which is about 171 islands in all, there are 4 island groups from south to north you have Tongatapu, Ha'apai, Vava'u and Niuas! We had organised our accomadation to collect us at the airport when the flight landed at 2.00am and there to meet us was John& Anna the owners of Moana guest house also along for the ride was there daughters friend Lo'lo who always goes to the airport to meet new guests coming in! They were very chatty on the ride to the G/H and seemed friendly, once we reached the G/H we hit the sack straight away. We had a double room with shared bathroom for about 14euros, we also had use of the kitchen the room was a bit run down but comfy.
Got up at 11.00am and headed to town its a 15min walk in from the G/H. We went to a cafe called friends for breakie this is is were all the Pelangi(white people) eat out it is expensive but the breakie is reasonable. Called to the local open market and got a selection of veg then went to the super market for the rest. When we got back to the G/H it had just started to rain so we read our books on the veranda for 2 hrs till it stopped. The temp was around 25 degrees today. We took a walk along the water front past the royal palace then down towards the wharf, its a quaint old town that has not seen to much concrete used in the buildings, its mainly wooden bunglows painted bright colours once you get of the main street. Tonga does not have alot of money and its main source of income is money sent back from family working overseas, there is quite a bit of unemployment here but life goes on. The locals are all friendly and always smiling, the royal family seem to be falling out of favour with the people at the moment its 50/50 but if things carry on as they are you might see the makings of a peoples party getting some power in the coming years as it stands the people have no say in any of the countries politics and some of the decisions made by the king in the past have left the people and the country out of pocket and thats saying nothing about the royal siblings who seem to be getting involved in the larger local businesses to line there own pockets with little regard how it affects the locals, but saying that the people have free medical care and free primary schooling. Anyway back to the town we went for a coffee in Coco's it was a coffee bean that is grown on the island and was very good we had a little brusetta to eat. That night we cooked some dinner and after we settled into a cup of tea and a chat with the family.

2nd: On Sunday almost everything is closed the people here are very religious and frequent church goers the family tried to get us pagans to go but we gave it a miss instead we took a boat out to Pangaimotu island this is about 3kms offshore north of Nuka'alofa its quite small you could walk around it in 20mins. There's a nice sandy beach with and old wreck sticking out of the sea nearby thats ok for snorkling you also have a bar and restuarant to keep the belly happy you can stay on the island as they have a few "Fale" (this is the name for the thatched little bungalows you can stay in on most of the pacific islands although Fale can be anything from thatch lean-to or a timber bunaglow and anything in between!) We got the boat at 11.00am to the island and the sun was beating down in all its glory, the beach was'nt to busy so we found a spot and settled in for the day, we had a good day out and before we got the boat back at 5.30pm we had some fish and chips in the restuarant that were very tasty. That evening back in the G/H the electricity was out so we prepared our dinner by candle light candle but when we were about to eat it came back on. We were knackered from the sun and the mossies had found Clare again so we had an early night.
3rd: After breakie we walked to town fo get some groceries and then back to the G/H as we had arranged to go on an island tour with John. Just as we started out it started to rain, this was a pity as we wanted to visit some caves but you cant in the rain due to flooding! We stopped of were Cpt. Cook first stepped on Tongatapu (the rain had stopped at this stage) then onto Ha'amonga a' Maui Trilithon a Stonehenge type erection made up of three huge lime stones that must weight 40 ton each and these were shipped fron Polynesia around 2000yrs ago which is no easy feat! Markings were found on the top of the bridging stone that aligned with the winter and summer solstices, off to a Fruit bat colony that based on old folklore the fruit bat were given as a gift to a Tongan warrior when Tongan rule ended in the Samoan islands the bat is only found in this one area on the island and its the home village of this warrior! (Tonga conquered Samoa and many other islands to expand there empire at one time). We went to the "Mapu'a'a vaca blowholes on the west shore these are pretty cool as the waves roll in against the coral shore-line you get these geysers of sea water shooting into the air upto 15ft high and when the waves are coming in at an angle to the shore you can see the geysers shoot up right up along the shore line as far as the eye can see, these blowholes are formed by holes that are channelled over many years by the sea up through the coral rocks and are quite common in the pacific islands! On to Ha'atafu beach this is were surfers come to catch the big waves that break over the coral reef offshore quit a few competitions are held here and this year its the Oceanic juniors competition. Through out the tour John gave us all the local history, economics, plant medicine and lifestyles of the Tongan people. That night we went out for dinner to a Pizzaria we shared a pizza, salad and chips washed done with a few galsses of wine.
4th: Up early today as we had a few things to do before we got the 12.00am ferry to the Ha'apai island group. These islands are about 200kms north of Tongatapu and supposed to be very quite and have not been commercialised in any way. So we collected some groceries in town as there is a limited supply in Lifuka which is the main island in the Ha'apai group we had lunch in friends and then John picked us up and dropped us to the wharf. The tickets cost us 37T$ each(15euro) and the trip takes around 12hrs its a pretty slow journey and we did'nt leave till 1.30pm due to loading the cargo, the ship was abit of a rust bucket but has been traveling this route for the last 30yrs without incident! The sea conditions were'nt bad but the slowness was painful! One of the crew threw out a lure at one stage and caught a 10kg bluefin Tuna which was hung up and slices cut off and passed around to anyone who wanted some. We eventually arrived at Pangai the capital of Lifuka at 11.30pm there were 3 other "Pelangi" on board 2 belgium girls and a german guy the girls were being collected and going out to Uoleva island and the german guy had booked accomadation in Fifitas in Pangai so we tagged along with him to see if Fifitas had a bed for us it was only a 2min walk and we got a bed for the night!
5th: Got up at 9.00am and had some breakie then had a wonder around the village its beautiful here with little happening except for the blue waters of the pacific breaking over the reefs offshore, bannana and coconut trees everywhere and pigs have the right to roam where ever they want so you have sows walking around followed by a dozen piglets all over the place! Back at the G/H we got some laundry done we had decided to go out to Uoleva for a few days this is an island south of Lifuka you can cross to it at low tide over the sand bar buts its best to get a boat out. There are 2 places to stay out there and we decided on Captain cooks we gave them ring an arranged to be collect tomorrow at 10.00am. We took our books to the beach and read for the rest of the day when we got back to the G/H Fifita had new room for us it was lovely and was ensuite and had a lounge area with traditional tapas on the wall. Tapa is an art form that consists of the bark of the Mulberry tree being formed in to a rough paper texture and black,red and brown ink made from the roots of the mangrove tree are used to creat designs on it. In the old days a woman with lots of Tapas was concidered wealty. Today it is expensive to buy realative to Tongan money but widely used to decorate the houses. That night in bed at 11.09pm we experienced an e"Earthquake" that was 6.1 on the richter scale Clare got a bit of a scare as it was her first time feeling one! There are a few shakes every year here.
6th: Sonni the owner of Cpt. Cooks collected us at 10.00am and off we went in boat (24ft fiberglass with a 25hp outboard and had a home made cabin) to Uoleva its a 10km trip from pangai to the resort. When we got they we were amazed it was like paradise the resort was made up of 4 "Fales" made out of timber and you had running water in the loo and shower but nowhere else and no electricity you had oil lamps for light and gas to cook on. We were greated by Maria who works for Sonni and the 4 dogs the 2 Belgium girls were there Monique and Catherine and they had the best fale but ours was lovely also it consisted of a room with a double bed, night tabe and a small veranda outside it was really quaint. The beach was great here as the water was always deep were as in most islands in the pacifics when the tide goes out you have very little depth to swim in if any at all! We had a cup of tea with Sonni&Maria who showed us were everything was in the kitchen which we had full use of. First things first so straight into the water for a swim and it was so clear and the colour of the water was typical of the pictures you see in all the brochures afterwards we went for a walk through the forest to the other side of the island and down to the south tip were you have some excellent snorkling before heading back to the fale. The island is around 6kms from north to south and 800 meters across the only people on it are those in the 2 resorts so some days you might not see anybody else on the beach which is pretty cool! When we got back Sonni had some fresh coconuts for us to drink that were delicious. That night Sonni,Maria and Monique went out fishing in the boat so after dinner Clare,catherine and myself lit a bonfire on the beach and watched the sun go down and to top it of i had brought a bottle of rum with me which we had with some coke "Life is so good sometimes" The fishermen got back at 10.30 and had caught a few fish but not a great amount.
7th: After breakie we went to the south tip to go snorkling the coral and fish life was excellent and when you went out to the drop off at the outer reef you could see some nice tuna, groper,wrasse and trevelle it was all hard coral here and you had loads of the usual fish here along with some sea horses and huge conches Catherine saw a reef shark and monique saw a leapord shark which are both harmless! The weather was so good today not a cloud in the sky and the sun was beating down at around 30 degrees. You can see the island volcano of Tofua which is 80kms away to the west it is still active and smoke can be seen coming from it, this is were the crew of the "Bounty" mutineered and set captain Bligh adrift in and longboat, he eventually ended up in indonesia 7000kms away! That evening we were in the kitchen having tea when we heard one of the dogs screeching in pain on the beach when went down their were a group of american peace corps walking away Maria had been on the beach and said that the dogs from cooks had come on to the beach as the americans passed and there had a dog with them so the older dogs started to fight and the americans laid into the dogs kicking them, the pups from cooks are only 4 months old and one guy gave it such a beating he broke his front leg the pups are the most pleasant pups you could meet when we arrived they ran to us and gave us a lick hardly a reason the beat it! These guys had drink with them so this might have been an influence but not an excuse they stopped only when one of the girls from the group made them. All the time they ignored Marias plea's to stop. There are no vets out here so the pup will just have to learn to live with the pain and the broken leg. We met the guy the next day and asked what the hell he had been thinking he said first he did'nt do anything then he said the pup attacked him we asked him to take alook at what he had done to the pup but he refused and when he was asked to apologise to the Maria&Sonni he could'nt be bothered, you would think this guys being out here to help the local people would have more respect and cop on! Clare sent an email of to the head office about there conduct it will be interesting to see if she gets a reply.
An OZ couple had arrived that day just for 1 night so after dinner we all had a good natter in the kitchen and Sonni produced a bottle of some kind of whiskey.
8th: In the morning i took a spin to the village for groceries with Sonni as he was taking the OZ couple back when i got back we went to the end of the island to snorkel and soak up the rays the weather seesm to be getting hotter. I caught a 2 1/2lb white snapper so my skills might be getting better! That night in the kitchen we all had a bit of each others dinners and later i brought the rum out for a tiple!
9th: Spent the day at the end of the island its so cool here it was possible to climb some of the smaller coconut trees and have fresh coconut juice when ever you wanted you also had the older coconuts on the ground that you could open up to get the coconut flesh that was pretty tasty. Being Sunday most locals cook an "Umo" this is were the food is cooked in the ground, Sonni prepared the food Fish, chicken, Pork and kasava(like potatoe) he then lit a fire and put large stones in it so they would heat up all the food was wrapped in Talo leaves and laid out on the stones these were then cover in more leaves and soil was heaped over the lot and the food was left to cook. When it was ready it was so tasty Maria had made some homemade lemonade to wash it all down. Later that night we went onto the beach and lit a bonfire and had a few rum and cokes!
10th: Up early today and went whale watching you can watch the whales from the beach but we headed out Sonni's boat and got quite close to them at one stage we were 10 feet from a mother and her young calf so i hopped in the water with my snorkling gear, the sight i saw is one of the best i probably will ever see they took no notice of me and just swam slowly past. When we got back to the beach we went to the usual spot and snorkled for the evening. The heat was unbearable and seems to be getting hotter.
11th: At our usual spot for the day.
12th: Went to our spot but it was so hot i had to build a shelter out of wood and coconut leaves it turned out pretty well and we hid from the sun for the day we snorkled to cool of! That night we decided to let Sonni cook dinner for us as the food is lovely we had a feast of sausages, fried chicken, fresh fish and Kava all washed down with home made lemonade.
13th: Due to a death in Sonni's family we had to travel to Pangai early then we had planned our ferry was not till 10pm and we were going to stay on the island for most of the day but as Sonni was needed on the mainland we had to travel in too. we dumped our bags at Fifitas and took a walk in the village we had the use of the kitchen in Fifitas so we had our meals there. later that evening a couple of Japanese people who were here to open a school that they had funded had been given a huge bag of lobster and crab and asked us to join them for a feast what a treat and very nice of them! Boarded the ferry and on the way back to Nuka'alofa.
14th: Woke up at 8.00am and looked out the window only to see a whale come completely out of the water 50 feet from the boat! Arrived in Nuka'alofu at 11.30am we went to friends for lunch and then back to Moanas we got a huge room that had ensuite and its own kitchen. Anna said she would give us a good rate on one of there bungalows in Deep Resort on Eua island if we were to go out. The island is a 2 1/2 hr ferry ride to get to and is on the east side of Tongatapu. it was a bit more then we normally spend but we decided to go on the 12.30pm ferry tomorrow. That night we had some spigettii bolenese for dinner.
15th: After brekkie we went to town for groceries and a cup of coffee in Coco's. Anna dropped us to the ferry which was packed we had to sit at the bow when we got out the harbour it was getting rough and the waves were getting bigger one of the locals said to put our bags in the pilot house as they might get wet and i no sonner had then in then a huge wave broke over the bow soaking about 15 of us! We were picked up by John and Moana at the wharf the resort was not far and we got a lovely bungalow thats on an ok beach you dont come to Eau for the beaches you come for the natural beauty of the island it is a coral island that was pushed up over time, it is the 3rd largest island in the Tonga group and has some amazing rock formations. When for a swim and read our books for the rest of the evening.
16th: Brekkie was with the room and after we went on a tour of the island with John,Moana,lolo and there cousin we first went to the "Rats Cave" you drop into this cave and after a short distance you come out on a ledgethats on a cliff face you are about 900meters from the ground, the scene from here was excellent looking out over the eastern side of the island on the Tonga trench next up was a dip in the 'Hafu Pool" before going to see this huge old banyan tree that grows out of valley, you can climb down to were a small stream flows around the roots that ends up in the Hafu pool. After this we drove south to the "Rock Gardens" this is a area were you have cliffs with a sheer drop to the ocean far below and leading up to the edge of the cliff you have lovely grassed area with all these coral rocks of all sizes sticking up, roaming around this area are about 15 horses. We walked further on along the cliff edge where you come to a huge arch that has been shaped by the sea on our way back we ate some wild Papaya and Guava fruit! When we got back we had some lunch that had been cooked in the Umu.
17th: We were up early to get the 5.30am ferry back to Nuka'Alofa when we got back to Moanas we went back to bed. Later in town we caught up with some emails and the blog before we met the 2 belgium girls for coffee and a natter!
18th: Tonight we head to Somoa so we did a few things around town and then got dropped to the airport to catch the 10.00pm flight. Our stay here was amazing and i dont think we will beat Uoleva for its beauty and isolation the locals have all been very nice and i hope if ever get to come back the place has not got to commercalised.