Hotel Nuku'alofa

... but only 40 are inhabited and they also receive a lot of assistance from New Zealand and Australia. The bus we went on was slightly better than that in Apia, it was upholstered and did have windows but the air conditioning didn't work very well and there wasn't a lot of room. The guide was very nice but we had to ask her questions - we had been told that tourism is quite new to them and they were still ...

... an Australian company. For the last couple of years he has been the Tongan rugby union Manager, traveling the world but not paid 1 cent. He "borrowed" a couple of blank cheques from his wife to pay for our 2 days of madness. We woke up to almost cyclone winds and very rough seas, but since Tafua had paid $800 for the boat we were going. It was an amazing twin hull cat and we had it all to ourselves. It was terrible ...

... Pigs in graveyards (which are everywhere and garishly decorated), pigs in the sea, in peoples' gardens, on the road, at the docks. Frikkin' brilliant. I saw my first flying fox yesterday morning too woohoooo. Yesterday and today I'm getting a bit of cultural variation thanks to the americans and their enormous training ship The Golden Bear being in the harbour for a few days. Wayne and Zach were strolling along my non-surf beach and then ...

... Eua. Tons of vegetables and other staples were being loaded right alongside all the luggage. They also managed to store 1 forklift and 2 cars down below. Once all the goods were on board it was time to climb aboard. Several people were waving last minute tearful fairwells to their families. (Made us kind of wonder if sometimes people didn't come back!) Many of the Tongans slept on the luggage, in the aisleways and any other ...

DAY 33 (Nuku Alofa) As we approached this beautiful island, it was still cloudy and extremely humid. Mary spotted some Turtles swimming alongside the ship as we docked. As we disembarked for our organised trip we were welcomed by a brass band playing. A line of very old small buses were waiting for the passengers. We boarded tour C1 bus 4 which was pretty worn out to say the least. Anyway, unlike the buses in Pago Pago these buses did have windows ...

... vihdoin kirjoittamaan paperille raapustamani blogitekstit nettiin, (Yritin sita jo aiemmin paivalla, mutta nettiyhteys katkesi koko saarella puoleksi paivaksi) kaikki digikuvat tuli varmuuskopioitua ja Satu sai hotellissa lahes ilmaiseksi ranskalaisen manikyyrin varpaankynsiin. Nyt siis jannittamaan, paastaanko huomenna Fijille, ja mista syysta meidan keskiviikon haisukellus peruuntuu :) -Tommi

... right down to the front where one of his friends, Koufou, was renovating an old guest house. He promised to meet us back at the house once we'd had enough time to take in the spectacular views. As the tide came in and out, it pushed jets of water up through the rockface shooting approximately 20 meters up into the air, acting like a mexican wave all the way down the coastline as far as the eye could see. Koufou brought a chair and some baby oil outside ...

Flew in to Nikolofo. Had to spend the night there before flying up to Vava'u. Nikolofo is a HOLE. Not helped by the fact that the locals rioted and burned down a nuber of buildings, 6 months ago. Didn't see anything else it was dark and flew out at 5am. Except of course the room I stayed in which is probably the worst I have ever seen. Finally arrived in Vava'u. Very pretty place ...

Tänään oli vuorossa aution saaren valloitus osa 2 ja tulos edelleen sama, liian kova virtaus. Sen verran tuli kuitenkin aalloilla keikuttua, että melkein tulin jo merisairaaksi ·että ei minusta mitään Kapteeni Cookia kyllä tule :-) Täytynee ottaa järeämpää kalustoa alle, ellei virtaukset lähipäivinä helpota. Mitäs muuta? Uimista, nukkumista, kelluskelua, chillailua ...

... was the 10th of August and my 23rd birthday myself and some of the other volunteers and a number of other Phalanges (which means white man) played cricket against the Tongan National Cricket team. I am a good all round sports man but cricket has never been my cup of tea and I have never really played it properly I had always been into more active sports such as rugby and football. We were a bit of misfits playing cricket as only a few of us ...