Tonga, Tonga, Tonga!

Four days in Tonga behind us, 4 still to go... It is rain season at the moment, but we've had plenty of sunshine and hot humid air (except for the first two days with tropical rain pouring down non-stop!)... Tonga tapu (the biggest island in Tonga) is really small and quite undeveloped...Nothing much to do here, but soak up the sun, check out the blow holes and some random caves... Drinking kava ["calming and relaxing" drink made of a root] and eating kei kei [balls of sweet fried dough] is also something to do! :) The big coral reefs are way out from the island, so you need to take a boat to see them... Small cool corals and some colorful sea life can be explored by snorkelling near some of the beaches.

Pangaimotu, 10 minute drive by boat, is a really nice getaway from the main island and really worth a visit. That island has been one of the highlights of our trip to Tonga, even though there's not really much to see [except local fishermen, nice beaches and an old ship wreck...]

The ferries are really unreliable here! We wanted to go to Ha 'apai Island, north of Tonga tapu (with the ferry 12 hours) where there's great snorkelling and diving possibilities, but that did not work out for us unfortunately! There are flights of course, but they are quite expensive. Today we wanted to go to Eua, a small island south east of Tonga tapu, but the ferry for some reason did dont go today... [See what I mean with unreliable ferries?!] We are giving Eua island a new chance tomorrow... Hopefully the ferry will run then... And hopefully we will get back in time to catch the plane back to Auckland... You never know where you might end up in Tonga...!