Tonga - an island in the sun (and wind)

Wecome to Mark and Jocelyn in Tonga. One great thing here - it is warm!!. We have a lovely room in a nearly new hotel called "Little Italy" in Tonga since 1996. We wake up to a see the sea for miles. We have finally got to the rested stage and are relaxing with absolutely nothing to do but wander and eat.

We have enjoyed some lovely fish here - tuna, sword fish and snapper to name a few and cooked by a great chef. We are so happy to have found a good coffee place in Nuku'alofa. So we are set. We did an around the island tour and were so thankful we had a driver as a lot of the places are really hard to find. However we did see where Captain Cook and Abel Tasman landed. We obviously have some things in common. But that is where the similarity ends. One highlight was seeing kids being kids. We passed and took a photo of two girls on one bike (see above). They were so busy laughing and giggling at us taking the photo, they fell off the bike.

This is a third world country in so many respects. An untidy and dirty city greets you. What is obvious is the big gap between the haves and the have nots. Some fenced mansions exist between very average accomodation. Young people roam with little to do and others can be seen just hanging around at the beach or in front of their houses. Those that have work are lucky but wages are low. Most of the money to keep families afloat comes from relatives working overseas sending money home. A stark reminder of the way religions prey on the poor is seen in ostentacious churches and church complexes and schools that take large amounts of money from families. Religion plays a major part in lives and sunday is testament to this with no-one to be seen except at church.

Tonga is not set up as a tourist resort and as such we are finding it hard to have the same affinity for this place as other islands, as although the people are friendly, the place itself does not offer a lot of walking, Kayaking, biking etc opportunities. Bikes if you can get them are literally put together in front of you from bits lying around the yard and do not offer any satisfaction in riding. So we are just chilling really. Have read 2 books and so has Mark. We have unlimited wireless internet so have had fun with that.(obviously we have our computers with us).

Interesting things that we have seen include:

An incredible natural set of blowholes that go for miles along the South western coast. The set up an incredible display as the swells roll in and the water blow out through a myriad of holes in the rocks along the coast line. An impressive site. Then there were the bats - not just any bats - these are big and they hang upside down in trees. They are a delicacy here but are Tapu to all but the king. However this does not alway stop the locals having the odd feed apparently.

We went to Tonga's version of stone - henge. An interesting place where huge pieces of coral , 3 - 4 m high(above the ground that is) and 1m x 1m square stand in the middle of a field close to the coast. We do not really know the reason for their existence but the feat of getting them there is worth recognising.

Another wonder was this large underground cave only metres from the sea but which had a freshwater underground lake that locals would swim in. Stalagmites and stalegtites are a bit warn but subtle lighting allow for some great viewing of the unusual forms. We also saw the only coconut tree in Tonga with two branches.

Today we are going to an Island for lunch only 15 mins by boat and to lie on the beach- hopefully a good swimming beach. Apparently you can get good views of the coral reef from there. Will let you know in due course.