Heilala Holiday Lodge Nuku'alofa

... the whales fin. All out of one trunk using superb skills. We chatted and bought a small statue for Paul (Byron's Dad). The whale would cost us 20,000 TOP which is about £700 for something that he says is 4 months work on and off. He only does these as special orders but his workshop is a 6ft x 4ft shed and we are sure that he sleeps there as well. Nice man.

Called in at Reef café and chatted to owners about their school project, They want to convert an old disused high school into a ...

... ceremony the event was opened to the public. The highlights of the morning to us were the Police Band who performed a hilarious musical marching performance – they had the whole audience in stitches, We were also impressed by the use of old washing machine innards with various cuts and holes which were used as very effective drums during much of the dancing and ...

... was being reflected in the sea….lovely and a nice end to the day………..

̷ 0;……well not quite an end to the day as when we arrived back the owners’ son had the Dubai Rugby 7’s on the TV. Hels went to bed and I stayed up for about an hour but had to go to bed before the semi-finals. Found out later that England lost to Samoa in the semis and that the All Blacks won….so not a bad decision to crash out.

... helped celebrate with cake and whisky (a bad idea as we had been assuaging our hike induced thirst vigourously with beers). Birthday Boy Fou had come over to 'Eua from Tongatapu to celebrate, but was disappointed by the number of girls available. I never finished reading Metamorphosis, however I can assure you that Gregor Samsa is alive and well with a huge family of gargantuan cockroaches living un 'Eua. Andy and I both had a resident 4 ...

... dancing, humouring children laughing at me etc etc. Through all of which, I've taken no photos, either of the scenery where the sky is so bright you can't see where it meets the sea, or of the americans as their alleged did-it-for-a-dare-moustaches are too hideous, or of the celebrations. So I'm going to work on that right now. And hopefully my boat will turn up in the next few days so I can see even more of this amazing place. Nofo a

... the water in the radiator, but that wasn't enough. Our driver had to refill the bottles from the mud puddles all around us. After a bit, our driver got back in and started driving forward and back, over and over and over and unbelievably he got truck out. We were off again, but not for long. Stuck again. We got out and the driver started backing up. We thought for sure that he had given up, but noooo, he just ...

Sataa, sataa ja sataa. Sadetta on nyt kestanyt kuulemma kymmenen paivaa. Me olemme olleet taalla nelja. Valilla ei sada, sitten tulee taas aivan kaatamalla. Toissapaivana oli pitkaan poutaista, eilen vetta tuli senkin edesta. Yolla herasin moneen otteeseen myrskytuuliin, ja olin varma, etta jokin majapaikkaa ymparoivista palmuista antaa periksi tuulille ja painovoimalle. Talla hetkella ilma nayttaa paljon ...

... them for a dinner of Tacos and we settled down to watch a DVD. The film had to be interrupted several times to kill over-friendly cockroaches, kicking them into touch with a trusty baseball bat! They dropped us back to Sela's after midnight. Monday, 26th November The sun was shining when we woke up which put an intant smile on our faces as we had decided to take a day trip over to a neighbouring island called Pangaimotu. We popped in to say hello to ...

... connected through Denver instead of the later direct flight, so I would have a buffer of about five hours between my arrival in L.A. and departure later in the evening. My flight arrived in Denver a little bit late because of weather (in Denver) and my connecting flight departed considerably later than scheduled (once again, due to weather in Denver). I ended up getting to LAX with about an hour to make my ...

... smell of the sulfur fumes hit me and made my head feel quite light. As I gazed into the volcano itself you could see all of the hot lava spitting and spurting out underneath me, it was really spectacular. The sheer size of the volcano rim itself was quite amazing and you would not expect it to be that big it was quite surprising.

Once we spent time walking around the active volcano we all hiked back to the camp where all of our tents were and started ...