Vava'u - fifty islands and just 15,000 people

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RealTonga had rescheduled our flight to Va'vau four times, so we set off for our noon departure with low expectations. It was immediately clear our fears were well founded. RealTonga’s only plane, was running late. Our flight was now scheduled to take off at six p.m. Probably.

Over the next ten hours, we watched the plane arrive and leave four times, flying to and from various Tongan islands. Eventually, 7½ hours late, our turn came. In the dark, we flew to Vava'u, as far East as we will get on this trip.

Vava'u is a small irregular island. The north has high cliffs and small sandy coves but the rest of the island is a maze, fingers of land winding between deep-water bays and lagoons. Beyond the main island, more than 50 smaller island are scattered. Wherever one looks, the view is of turquoise waters and deep green, heavily forested coasts. Brown boobys and long-tailed tropicbirds drift over the water before suddenly diving for fish, and there are fish aplenty In these gin-clear waters.

In a small boat we take in some of the outlying islands. Lunch is on the captain’s own island, just three acres rising to six metres above the sea. He relies on solar and wind for power and rain for water. Truly off-grid, a dot in the Pacific.

We rent a car – no paperwork, no licence check, no credit card. There is little traffic but one must dodge many pigs, dogs, children and horses. We head for the botanical gardens, established by the, now retired, Minister for Agriculture, the gardens are a testament to his lifetime’s work. Hanileti shows us around, he knows every plant well; he grew most them from seed! And there are hundreds of plants from all over the world, especially the South Pacific and South East Asia.

He proudly shows us many varieties of coconut – who knew there were varieties of coconut? And similarly for pineapples, mangos, gingers and hibiscus ... And then there are his vanilla plants. While a government Minister, Hanileti became the world expert on how to grow vanilla as a crop, he literally “wrote the book”. Over the years he has advised many, including the Mel Gibson family who wanted to grow organic vanilla on Mel's Fijian island. “They paid well” he laughs. We feel privileged to have a few of hours of his time, feeling his passion for his piece of Eden.

The season is drawing to a close in Vava'u. For our last two nights we have the nine bedroom guest house to ourselves. Our own veranda, our own chef ... The yachts, too, are leaving. From more than one hundred in the safe anchorage when we arrived, less than half remain. Cyclone season is approaching and the anchorage is not safe enough.

Our trip, too, is drawing to a close. Tomorrow we hope to fly to Fiji and, a couple of days later, on to Singapore. It's been a fantastic trip, the contrast between the tribal highlands of Papua and the laidback island of Vava'u is huge – but the South Pacific is a big place.

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