Resort at Billy's Place Ha'apai

... s flygareita. Kivasti se kuitenkin lenteli ja Haapain saariryhmittymälle laskeuduttiin kasin jälkeen. Dave oli meitä vastassa, toinen puoli Uusi-Seelantilaisesta pariskunnasta, jotka omistaa Matanofua Lodgen, mistä oltiin varattu fale 7 yöksi. Se olikin muuten silleen et Fidjillä bungaloweja kutsutaan bureiksi ja Tongalla faleiksi, ihan vaan tarkennuksen vuoksi jos ketään kiinnostaa... www.matanofua.com sijaitsee Foan saarella Haapain saariryhmittym ...

... 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 ...

... the resort w*s empty *nd re*lly be*utiful so we st*yed....*nd even with cloud *nd r*in we m*n*ged to get burnt!!! Doh ! We got b*ck *round te* time *nd w*tched sunset whilst h*ving dinner *t M*ngoes, *nother nice rest*ur*nt on the w*terfront! We h*d the best p*nc*ke dessert ever, with fresh p*p*y* *nd ice cre*m...just wh*t you need for * h*ngover h* h* h*!

... in Neiafu for a few days. They seem pretty cool and have a crazy story...basically they moved her a few months back having visited Va'vau a few years earlier and decided to up and leave their barge in Bath to come and live in teepees on one of the island with their friend Bien. They're looking at starting a backpacker campsite on the island but everything happens at tongan's pace out here which we are getting the impresion is pretty ...

... been and was just absolutely incredible to see. We flew over the Port of Refuge and to a little clearing on the north side of the island which had a single building to the side of it - this was the airport, and again I nearly died - now I really know what palpitations feel like!! Ha!! However, the landing was actually great. We were greeted by a lovely Tongan man, Peile who transferred us from the airport to ...

... couple of hours of high anticipation passed before one of the lines started running. It was a marlin and it was on my watch (by 30 seconds). Frantic activity to get the other lines in and there I was, in "the chair", harnessed to a rod and line at the other end of which - some 400m away was the biggest fish I had ever seen. In my mind I was Robert Shaw. 20 minutes of strenuous reeling him in and there he was at the side of the boat ~ 2m bill ...

... 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 ...

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.

... br>
The trail down to the volcano was marked with piles of rocks acting as guides to show us the best way down to the volcano, other travelers and locals have been putting them there for a long time and acted well as a guide. The walk was pretty amazing providing us with different views of the island itself and of the volcano and as we were approached the volcano we went into a deep valley to hike up the volcano itself. Once we reached the top of the volcano the ...