Malo e lelei from the Kindgdom of Tonga! Before I get to far into this story I should comment on my NZ time for a moment longer. After leaving the South Island I headed to Auckland, rented a car and spent a night at my friend Vince's house. It was fun trying to drive stick on the left side of the road during rush hour traffic. The next day I headed down to Waitomo Caves and did a 5hr caving adventure. We repelled 37meters, did a zip line in the dark, jumped 8' down into a river, tubed down the river with our lights off and only by glow worm light, climbed up waterfalls, and much more. It was great. I then packed up and headed to Tonga.
The first day in Tonga I did an Island tour. The tough part about Tonga is that I arrived on a Saturday night and everything, I mean everything is closed on Sundays. To drive on a Sunday you have to have a special driver's license. The tree above was seen on our tour and is the world's only three headed palm tree. Don't know why it is interesting, but it was one of the few attractions that actually had a sign.
The blow holes were fun but didn't spend too much time there. Sometimes the waves would come in and the water would shoot up out of the holes up to 60' high. I found another spot later in my trip where I could stand over the blowhole and it would give me a refreshing blast of water.
Lots of spiders, but nothing that can really hurt you. In the top of the picture you can see the yellow part of the web. This is tough stuff and is next to impossible to break. Not much for deadly flora or fauna in Tonga.
I spent a few days on Eua, located about 2.5 hours by ferry from the main island. One day I biked down to this beach and spent 2.5 hours walking around, snorkeling, and relaxing and didn't see another person. Talk about having a private beach. The snorkeling was okay, but with the reef there are only a few spots that are deep enough to actually get into the water. Corals aren't great, but the fish are wonderful.
Also on Eua was a beautiful sea arch. After biking a ways down a back road (all roads are back roads) I walked through a herd of wild horses and found the sea arch. Again, nobody around and I had the place to my self.
I had to add this pic for those I worked with in Antarctica. This is a gas station on Eua and if you look close, you can see that the pumps are hurty gurties (manual pumps).
The ferries are interesting in Tonga. This one was so packed that people were sitting on top of the wheel house. It left at 5:30 in the morning by full moon. It was quite peaceful. finally after we were almost back to the main island we saw the sunrise. An interesting fact about the ferry is that it only runs 3 times a week.
One day Alex (Canada), Anna (Brazil) and I headed to the beach. After being dropped off, we walked down to the beach and realized that the waves crashing in were 6'+ tall. Too dangerous to swim. Our ride wasn't going to be back until 5 hours later and the beach was only 100 yards long. So, we met this nice Tongan family that knew of another beach and brought us there. After swimming for an hour or so they ended up giving us a ride back to Nukualofa. It was great meeting these great people.
Since nearly everything is closed on Sunday, a bunch of us decided to take a water taxi out to a small island resort on my last Sunday. The resort was great, but apparently the over night accommodations are closed due to a rat problem. Since it was a Sunday, the only people at the resort were Polongy (white people) lots of peace corps and Australian aide workers.
One day I rented a scooter (after getting my Tongan Diver's License) and did an Island tour with some new friends. With random pigs, chickens, dogs, kids, and cows, running out in the road, I always had to be paying attention. The only dodgy part was when two guard dogs from the princess's palace chased me down the road, and they meant business (sorry, no pictures of that).
On our Island tour we stopped off and did some swimming in a local cave. The water was cold, but it felt great on such a hot day. The inside of the cave was highly decorated (lots of limestone formations).
Kava night. Kava is a plant that is grown for 5-7 years, cut down, the root dug up, ground up, put into tea bags and a horrible drink is made. However if you drink enough of it, your mouth goes numb and you get very calm and sleepy. Culturally it is a big to do and can be found in all pacific cultures. I stopped after 15-20 cups and found it tough sleeping that night because I was always up going to the bathroom. There is no alcohol in Kava and although it is illegal in the states, initial studies have since been proven false and there are no long term side effects of the drink.
These are some of the great people I met who where also traveling in the Kingdom of Tonga.
I ran into a lot of "ice people" in Tonga (12) but Jen was the best. My last day in Tonga I spent hanging out with fellow Fuelie Jen and it turned out to be a great thing. While with Jen I went to an ATM to draw out enough money to pay the last of my accommodations in Tonga. However, the ATM ate my card and said that it had been reported "lost or stolen". The bank gave me my card back without any questions or ID and I quickly called my bank back home. Long story, but my card has been cut off and they could not re-activate it due to in being compromised back a few months ago. This little issue left me up a creek without a paddle. Jen however handed me a paddle when she loaned me $900usd to travel with. Without her it would have been a long vacation without any money. After all this happened, I got off the bus and blew out my flip flop. Yeah, it wasn't turning out to be my day.
The first day in Tonga I did an Island tour. The tough part about Tonga is that I arrived on a Saturday night and everything, I mean everything is closed on Sundays. To drive on a Sunday you have to have a special driver's license. The tree above was seen on our tour and is the world's only three headed palm tree. Don't know why it is interesting, but it was one of the few attractions that actually had a sign.
The blow holes were fun but didn't spend too much time there. Sometimes the waves would come in and the water would shoot up out of the holes up to 60' high. I found another spot later in my trip where I could stand over the blowhole and it would give me a refreshing blast of water.
Lots of spiders, but nothing that can really hurt you. In the top of the picture you can see the yellow part of the web. This is tough stuff and is next to impossible to break. Not much for deadly flora or fauna in Tonga.
I spent a few days on Eua, located about 2.5 hours by ferry from the main island. One day I biked down to this beach and spent 2.5 hours walking around, snorkeling, and relaxing and didn't see another person. Talk about having a private beach. The snorkeling was okay, but with the reef there are only a few spots that are deep enough to actually get into the water. Corals aren't great, but the fish are wonderful.
Also on Eua was a beautiful sea arch. After biking a ways down a back road (all roads are back roads) I walked through a herd of wild horses and found the sea arch. Again, nobody around and I had the place to my self.
I had to add this pic for those I worked with in Antarctica. This is a gas station on Eua and if you look close, you can see that the pumps are hurty gurties (manual pumps).
The ferries are interesting in Tonga. This one was so packed that people were sitting on top of the wheel house. It left at 5:30 in the morning by full moon. It was quite peaceful. finally after we were almost back to the main island we saw the sunrise. An interesting fact about the ferry is that it only runs 3 times a week.
One day Alex (Canada), Anna (Brazil) and I headed to the beach. After being dropped off, we walked down to the beach and realized that the waves crashing in were 6'+ tall. Too dangerous to swim. Our ride wasn't going to be back until 5 hours later and the beach was only 100 yards long. So, we met this nice Tongan family that knew of another beach and brought us there. After swimming for an hour or so they ended up giving us a ride back to Nukualofa. It was great meeting these great people.
Since nearly everything is closed on Sunday, a bunch of us decided to take a water taxi out to a small island resort on my last Sunday. The resort was great, but apparently the over night accommodations are closed due to a rat problem. Since it was a Sunday, the only people at the resort were Polongy (white people) lots of peace corps and Australian aide workers.
One day I rented a scooter (after getting my Tongan Diver's License) and did an Island tour with some new friends. With random pigs, chickens, dogs, kids, and cows, running out in the road, I always had to be paying attention. The only dodgy part was when two guard dogs from the princess's palace chased me down the road, and they meant business (sorry, no pictures of that).
On our Island tour we stopped off and did some swimming in a local cave. The water was cold, but it felt great on such a hot day. The inside of the cave was highly decorated (lots of limestone formations). Kava night. Kava is a plant that is grown for 5-7 years, cut down, the root dug up, ground up, put into tea bags and a horrible drink is made. However if you drink enough of it, your mouth goes numb and you get very calm and sleepy. Culturally it is a big to do and can be found in all pacific cultures. I stopped after 15-20 cups and found it tough sleeping that night because I was always up going to the bathroom. There is no alcohol in Kava and although it is illegal in the states, initial studies have since been proven false and there are no long term side effects of the drink.
These are some of the great people I met who where also traveling in the Kingdom of Tonga.
I ran into a lot of "ice people" in Tonga (12) but Jen was the best. My last day in Tonga I spent hanging out with fellow Fuelie Jen and it turned out to be a great thing. While with Jen I went to an ATM to draw out enough money to pay the last of my accommodations in Tonga. However, the ATM ate my card and said that it had been reported "lost or stolen". The bank gave me my card back without any questions or ID and I quickly called my bank back home. Long story, but my card has been cut off and they could not re-activate it due to in being compromised back a few months ago. This little issue left me up a creek without a paddle. Jen however handed me a paddle when she loaned me $900usd to travel with. Without her it would have been a long vacation without any money. After all this happened, I got off the bus and blew out my flip flop. Yeah, it wasn't turning out to be my day.Next it was off to Samoa. More pictures and stories to come.
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