Its Just under a 3 hour flight from Auckland to Tonga... Karl had originally found a special offer flight back in july and i booked the same flight dates as him. Brad booked to stay a couple of days longer... and Paul who used to work with all of us in Christchurch was coming out for the first week of the trip. Looking at the map Tonga is probably one of the furthest places you could possibly travel to from Ireland, it sits right on the international dateline and is pretty much in the middle of no where surrounded by the pacific ocean.
Anyway we used to work with with a Tongan guy called Solo in christchurch too and when he heard we were all going he arranged for his brother to pick us up at the airport and bring us to a guesthouse which was really nice. So we all piled into a minivan at the airport and off we went on the scenic route to the guesthouse. roads in Tonga arent exactly any good.. pot holes everywhere and in fairness they drive quite slow too.
Aquila who had collected us at the airport brought us out on the town .. well to the Yacht club where you need a member to sign you in.. Thing is Tonga is very religious and nothing opens on a sunday other than churches and its a strict no booze day .. so the bars are supposed to stop serving etc by 11.30 on saturday night...lol.. Anyway we ended up geting a bit of a lock in, in the yacht club which was sweet before going back to the Guesthouse... Probably should mention the temp is about 30 degrees..sweet
Everything in Tonga operates on Tonga time..or island time...which we all got well into..my phone had no signal for the 10 days so i left it off and i had no watch with me and wasnt near a computer or the internet the whole time.. so it was totally stress free and away from everything. Not a great many tourists go to Tonga and you really stand out being a Pallangi.. (White person)... the people in Tonga have to be the most sincere and friendliest i have come across.. everyone comes up to shake hands and talk to you and say hello and all are so curious as to why we would come to Tonga. Alot of the capital Nuku'alofa had been burned down and destroyed in riots a few months back.. people rebelling against the government and king which have to much power over the people.
Sunday it being a very religious day we went to the local church for the traditional Tongan Mass which was really interesting.. First time i had been to church in a wee while too....
Our guesthouse owner brought us out to The good Samaritan resort and beach and then onto the famous blow holes where were spectacular. the sea crashes against the cliffs sending the waves 20 metres high into the air. He also brought us to see a canadian friend of his who had lived there 35 years... and i swear this guy could be the unabomber and the topic of conversation was UFO'S the US Government and life on the moon.. strange but all good.... (tad eccentric).. The guesthouse owners had already given us a beautiful Tongan lunch and then brought us to a chinese restaurant for dinner which was good.. and pretty much the only place open on a sunday.
After breakfast on monday me karl and paul took a good walk around and hit the billfish bar for the day.. we had already lost Brad who seemed content to have his own holiday and just turned up every now and then.
There are well over a 100 islands that make up Tonga and some are pretty hard to get too if not impossible...so you just go with the flow of the Tongans of when the boat leaves or there is enough people there to go. Tuesday we went out to Fa Fa island resort which was stunning, you can walk around the whole island in about 20 minutes and we were able to do a load of swimming and snorkling out there and after another nite out on the town.
The seafood in Tonga is fantastic and had the Lobster dinner in the Seaview restaurant which was absolutly gorgeous...
Wednesday we were to go to Eau island but the ferry was cancelled for a few days due to rough sea's... lol... no worries so we jumped on another ferry going to pangiamoto which was nice.. its another small island and has a crazy ship wreck right on the beach with its bow jutting out of the water..After that we hit Shooters for drinks and met a load of locals who kept buying us drinks all night. The bouncer Chardie who was huge brought us to the yacht members club for more drinks before we eventually had to go home.
On the thurday Aquila brought us all around Tongatapu island to see some historical sights and also arranged for his friends to show us how an Umu was prepared made and cooked.. and of course eat it.. we sat in his friends garden enjoying the sun and off they went pulling down coconuts, papaya and bananas from the trees in the garden for us to eat and drink. It was absolutley fantastic and the food was unreal.
Friday was pauls last day so we went out to the surfing resort of Ha Atafu for the day lapping up the sun and swimming there which was lovely. It was out then for another few beers before seeing Paul off for his early morning flight.Unfortunatly Karl lost his camera that night falling out of his pocket in a taxi which was a pain.
Saturday me and karl went on a mission to try and find the camera and hit the markets for some shopping and presents.. (not that i bought any presents)...lol..Saturday nite there was a huge mormon festival on in the rugby stadium... they were celebrating the opening of a new church.. anyway it was really cool.. there were thousands of people there watching and about a thousand performers on the pitch doing all kinds of traditional dancing and A legendary Haka.
It was back out to Pangiomoto on sunday for a last relaxing day snorkling and swimming.. You could get a drink there too and it was dinner as usual that night at the chinese and just as well we had remembered to buy a couple of bottles of coke to go down with Jim Beam.. Far too early awake to go to airport monday morning.. and seen as we were on Tonga time we got there a bit over an hour before the flight which was fine until bloddy immigration.. they told me i needed to have a flight out of NZ booked as i had only come in on a one way ticket.. so off they went calling other immigration officers and pissed off with my passport.. boarding was in another 5 mins at this stage and me and karl are still stood by check in.. Eventually was allowed on... and then i get to poxy Auckland where again im taken away by another immigration officer for a special chat.. At this stage its geting ridiculous with me and airports.. and all the time Karl is just pissing himself laughing at me..i wouldnt mind the git had half a forest of endangered timber species in his luggage and he sails through....lol
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Nuku'alofa Hotels
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