Paradise International Hotel Ltd Neiafu

... are under sail: The Vava'u islands are beautiful, lots of small islands surrounded by white sandy beaches, coral reefs and covered in palm trees, as the following photos hopefully show: The water is turquoise blue, crystal clear and a lovely temperature for swimming. We visited the Swallow caves to marvel at the natural features and to swim down into their depths to see shoals of thousands of fish ...

... with a sign above it but otherwise no different to the rest of the ward) where my clinical skills were unexpectedly tested! An australina guy had come in with severe cellulitis of his right leg after refusing treatment and using "tongan medicine".....and was shocked and now needing catherterising! He was in a pretty bad way and i just assumed Dr saie was doing it until he stood back waiting for one of us to do it......and there it was, Day ...

... for the next 3 weeks - Island Explorer!! Island Explorer Guesthouse is owned by Paul and Brenda, a Canadian couple that moved here about 1 1/2 years ago. They live above the apartment they rent out with their puppy called "Bear" - who is now our little play mate and super cute (although he's going through the chewing stage at the moment which means you have to watch your fingers and toes because he believes these ...

... spoken to or at least drank with half of the people on the plane. (Including kiwi fisherboy and patsy kensit - no sexual tension evident). It felt like being on The Truman Show. Now we are waiting in Nuku'Alofa for a transfer back to the airport and 20 minute flight to Eu'A "The ecotourist island of the Kingdom of Tonga" (anyone spot a contradiction in that?). Photos to come when I get an internet connection that doesn't operate on Tongan IP

... whale, the skipper, Veni manoeuvered us ahead of the whale and in we went, snorkeling with the beast, obviously he enjoyed this because he didn't eat any of us, but soon with a flick of his tail he was off. We boarded the boat and were off to find another whale. We eventually swam with 8 different whales including a mother ...

... with non-english speaking hostess, Paia, rusty bath and no hot water, pictures of tongan royal family a really wierd place. Took a stroll around Neiafu which lasted 3 minutes, they have 3 bars, 3 ATMs and 1 internet cafe (here I am). Ended up sinking a large number of ikale's in Tonga Bobs, watching the sunset (not in a romantic way) and ...

... water in very choppy swell 3 metres, got in with 3 whales, looking directly under me 2 came up from deep below, I thought S#@%, I hope they can see me, so big and so graceful. They turned away as I paddled to one side, they are so aware of where we are in the water as long as we stay in their visual field. The large tail did one flick as it went by me, so glad they had turned a bit daunting. Then we went to calmer waters, and saw a rather large one, think ...

... than we imagined, out for 3 hours on these rough tracks, quite quite quite rough. Still buzzing when we got back. The out to a traditional feast and dancing by the local children. Just lovely. You tucked small demoniation notes into their costumes for their education. (Early strip show) no I don't mean that, it was lovely and they were very enthusiastic. The youngest was 4 up to 15 years ...

... selv om det var Authors Choice i LonelyPlanet, litt skuffet over det der altsaa.. Andre dagen tok vi oss en rundtur paa hele oya, med ei dame og sonnen hennes paa 11aar. Hadde taxisjaafor hele dagen som tok oss dit vi ville, men var i grunn ikke saa mye nytt aa see. Det meste hadde vi sett det samme av paa Samoa f eks. Men en kul ting, var at vi ble tatt med inn i en hule, alle gikk med hvert sitt stearinlys og helt innerst var det et slags basseng med veldig kaldt ...

For now, just a quick word... Every Friday night in Vava'u, anyone who is eager can enter their boat in the weekly race held in the Port of Refuge. If you are without sail, you can hop aboard a boat that is entered and help crew, or just be the onbard cheer squad. It's a great way to start the night...with awards and drinks after.