Tonga Holiday, part 4

Our last full day on 'Eua, and we decided to see some more of the sights the island had to offer. The lovely people at the Hideaway also ran 4x4 tours of the island, so the four of us opted to spend the day with Sifa again. The weather was beautiful again, although the seas were getting stormy and we learned that the ferry we had taken a couple of days before had been cancelled for the rest of the week. Luckily we'd booked the plane back to Tongatapu the next day.

We crammed into the 4x4 and first took another group up to the start of the Fangatave trek, before heading to our first sightseeing spot.

A view of the beach below the cliffs, our first viewpoint.

An example of a traditional house - this is now a school house.

Next we took a drive into the rainforest, and a walk up a river to a spring.

On the way we saw some Red Shining Parrots - unique to 'Eua. Unfortunately couldn't take any decent photos, but at least I can say I've seen a bird my dad hasn't yet seen!

Then we headed to see a sight I found absolutely amazing - a giant Banyan (strangling fig) tree. This particular tree is named Big Ovava, and you can see why!

Big Ovava is so big I couldn't take a photo of the whole of it in one go!

This tree is actually growing out of a giant sink hole, and we climbed down into it. It reminded me of the tree in Avatar, I could just imagine blue aliens swinging around in the roots and branches...

View taken from further down in the sink hole.

Another nearby sink hole, photo taken from the top.

And looking up from the bottom!

We made it down into the sink hole to the bottom of the tree - the roots are massive.

Sifa and one of the women in our group decided to climb back up through the roots and branches! I wasn't quite that brave!

After that little adventure we headed deeper into the rainforest - the vegetation along the track we drove was about as high as the car bonnet! Sifa took us to a cave called the Rat Cave - a name which didn't really encourage us to explore further...

Sifa headed into the small cave, I took a little more convincing...

But eventually I made it inside - it was more of a tunnel which opened onto a cliff ledge.

View of the rainforest coastline from the cliff.

Next we came to a man-made viewpoint, another lovely view of the national park coastline.

I managed to snap a photo of a white tail tropic bird (Tavake) - a pair of them were playing on the winds.

Another drive, and a short trek to a local waterfall, the Smoking Cave, unfortunately not much water in it at present.

A student fell to his death here not long ago, whilst walking in the bush at night. It would have been a pretty difficult retrieval, as the sink hole is deep and hard to access.

We then headed to Lakufanga - the Rock Gardens, where we had our picnic lunch and a little rest.

The cliffs at the Rock gardens.

There is a local legend about this place, where a starving family threw themselves to their deaths when they ran out of food and have been reincarnated as sea turtles. If you throw the fa fruit from the cliffs the turtles will come and eat them. You can read more about the legend here.

A natural archway - Li'anga Huo A Maui.

Legend tells that the archway was created by Maui's mother. Maui's mother had woken up Maui to do some hoeing on the island, and Maui, feeling quite angry about being woken up started hoeing and caused an earthquake. His mother stopped him as he was damaging the island and snatched the hoe from his hand, throwing it to the south of the island where it became embedded in the cliff face. Maui later pulled it out, creating the archway.

Our last stop after visiting the archway was a lovely empty beach. We had time to take a leisurely swim in the deep rock pools, and sunbathe afterwards.

It was another great day on 'Eua. I absolutely adored this island, if I came back to Tonga I think I would head straight here. Although we didn't have time to visit the other groups of islands that make up Tonga, I think we made a great choice in coming to 'Eua.

Tonga Holiday, part 3

After a couple of days on the main island of Tongatapu, we went to spend a couple of days on another island, Eua. Eua is a 2.5hr ferry ride from Tongatapu (or an 8 minute flight!) The island mostly appeals to people who want a more outdoorsy trip or just a quiet break. In the right season it is great for whale watching - unfortunately not when we went. There are, however, plenty of other things to do, such as walks, diving, and caving.

The ferry trip over was absolutely horrific. My friend spent the entire time outside at the railings and most of the Tongans were seasick too. Luckily I don't get seasick, though even I wasn't feeling too flash.

We had booked to stay at a place called the Hideaway and they came to pick us up from the ferry terminal. From the moment I got there I knew I'd love it - it has a great atmosphere and the staff are very friendly and helpful.

The main building - the wooden side is the dining/relaxing area and is great to chill out in during the evening.

We chose to stay in a 'fale' - a thatched hut. We stayed in the far one pictured. They are basic but cute! All that was missing was a hammock!

The dining area as viewed from the whale watching deck down by the ocean.

A lovely quiet beach just a short stroll from the Hideaway.

The next day we opted to do the Fangatave Beach Trek, a full-ish day trek down to a secluded beach through caves and forest. We were joined by a couple of other guests, and guided by Sifa, who did a great job. We were driven to the start of the track, which I think was in the northern part of the island (?) but I can't quite be sure. Riding on benches in the back of the Ute we drove past the King's residence (which was really a small holiday house) and through a couple of pretty villages. The people of Eua do seem to take a lot of pride in their gardens, most well landscaped with the lawns trimmed and green.

A short walk through a field took us to the cliff's edge.

Sifa heading towards the cliffs.

The gorgeous view from the cliff edge.

Fangatave Beach - our destination far below!

We then headed through some gently sloping forest - some trees had very impressive root systems.

Then came the hard part - climbing down the cliff face!

After the climbing, we walked through a series of caves.

Stunning stalactites and stalagmites.

Then it was time for a break, and Sifa climbed a coconut tree to bring us fresh snacks!

Yummy fresh coconuts straight off the tree - tasted much better than my first coconut drink!

Then it was time to head through some more caves...

Some were a tight squeeze!

And some involved a leap of faith! Why did I always end up as the first to do it??

Eventually we made to this beautiful secluded beach!

We spent a few hours at the beach, had our picnic lunch, went for a warm luxurious swim, sunbathed and fell asleep on the beach! We were the only ones there! I can't imagine this beach ever gets many visitors, which just made it paradise.

We took a different route back up the cliffs, which didn't involve crawling through caves, but did involve a longer climb to reach the forest path.

I climbed up first, which meant I could photograph the rest of the group following me up.

Eventually we made it back to the top! It was a tough but rewarding walk and a very memorable day. I thoroughly recommend the walk. And it's always good to make a few new friends!

Sifa, don't jump!

Tonga Holiday, part 2

After our very busy tour the previous day, it was time for a little relaxation. There are a couple of islands just offshore in the lagoon of Nuku'alofa which are great for a beach day. We headed out to Pangaimotu, about 10 minutes by ferryboat. There were only two other people on the boat with us, and the island itself felt almost deserted! The resort consists of the pier, a restaurant/bar and a few fales (beach huts for sleeping guests).

We went for a walk along the beach and found a sunny spot to sunbathe and swim. It was a lovely relaxing way to spend the day. We also had a couple of canine visitors, including this very cute puppy!

The tide was coming in during the afternoon so we started to lose our beach spot. After our picnic lunch, we headed to the pier-side bar and chilled out on the deck.

We also went for a swim off the pier near this half sunken boat.

Eventually after a long day of sunbathing and swimming, it was time to catch the last boat back to Nuku'alofa. We had a great, relaxing day, although we managed to get some nasty areas of sunburn where we'd missed the suncream...

Tonga Holiday, part 1

On the 5th February my friend R and I flew out to Tonga for a holiday, a last hurrah as she was leaving New Zealand and heading back home. We got in at about 2am, found a shuttle bus to take us to our pre booked guest house, and then waited... and waited... until somebody woke up to check us in! Although I'd confirmed a couple of days ago, it seemed that they still didn't know we were coming!

On Saturday, after some sleep, we headed out to explore the capital of Tonga, Nuku'alofa. We checked out the market and wandered down to the lagoon, as well as sorting out an island tour for Sunday. Sundays are observed as rest days in Tonga, and not much is open or running, but a couple of places still run tours. The reason why everything closes on Sunday is because Tonga is a fairly Christian country. The majority are Mormons, but there are a few other faiths as well. There are churches on practically every street!

On Sunday we joined a minibus tour run by Tony of Tony's Tours. He's an expat who has lived in Tonga for many years, but he offers a somewhat British perspective on life in the Kingdom. He's quite funny, and not at all politically correct, but well worth spending the day with!

Saw a lot of coconut trees!

Apparently this is the only two-pronged coconut tree in the world!

Lovely beach, had a paddle in the warm Pacific Ocean (makes a big difference from St Clair Beach!)

The Blowholes - a pretty magnificent sight. there are holes in the rocks and when the tide rushes in, the water spurts through the holes, hence the blowhole effect.

After spending some time clambering around the rocks by the blowholes, we went for lunch at a quiet resort, and R and I got to sample our first coconut drink!

It's a bit of an acquired taste, but quite refreshing.

We also visited Hina Cave, a large cave on the beach where they often do traditional shows. Unfortunately we were in Tongatapu on the wrong days to go to this one, but we did see a different one on our last night.

Hina Cave has a bit of natural light from these holes in the ceiling.

This is a 'land bridge' - that's the sea underneath it! If I recall correctly there is a Maui legend about this area, but I can't quite remember the details any more...

Our last sight of the trip was 'Stonehenge' - unfortunately not really as impressive as the real one in England, as there is only one monument! At least you can go right up to it though, unlike it's namesake. This one is probably also some sort of calendar too. It was probably built about 1200AD.

That's about all for our Tongatapu tour, I took tonnes of photos but these are the highlights. It was a very enjoyable but quite tiring day, particularly getting used to the sudden change in temperature from our rather dismal NZ summer!