http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , Tonga en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:57:20 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:57:20 BST Well we have arrived at our final destination in the Pacific. We are in Tonga and it is absolutly amazing. We will have about 6 days here and then we head off for NZ our final detination. The pictures included are of the society islands. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/Vava--u/blog-278767.html Maolo e Lei leizoals ze hier in Tonga zouden zeggenOndertussen breng ik mijn laatste dagen door in 'The kingdom of Tonga' dat zomaar eventjes bestaat uit 171 eilandjes waarvan ik er zelf drie bezocht heb.Nogmaal om de verwarring tegen te gaan ik ben NIET meer in NIEUWZEELAND en ook NIET in AUSTRALIE Tonga is een land op zich in de pacific dichtbij Frans Polynesie Fiji NieuwCaledoni http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/Tongatapu/blog-260774.html We've all heard about whalewatching from boats or shore and a few companies are now offering the possibility of actually swimming and snorkeling with whales in the wild. Is this a good thingSome whalewatching operators in the Kingdom of Tonga South Pacific islands advertise the possibility of swimming and snorkeling with humpback whales during the cetacean's annual migration from July to Octob http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/Vava--u/blog-230415.html Photos from our Tonga trip in June 2007. Travelled with family members for Marco's daughter's wedding in Eua. A great place for a family trip lots of adventure in the rainforest with 4wds and not overrun with tourists.Recommended places to stay on Eua Hideaway resort and on Tongatapu Heilala Holiday Lodge. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/--Eua/blog-227520.html Tonga unique among Pacific nations never completely lost its indigenous governance. The archipelagos of The Friendly Islands were united into a Polynesian kingdom in 1845. Tonga became a constitutional monarchy in 1875 and a British protectorate in 1900 it withdrew from the protectorate and joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1970. Tonga remains the only monarchy in the Pacific. Tonga has http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/Vava--u/blog-220052.html En we waren gebleven bij de vlucht naar Tongahellip was een goeie vlucht hoewel we niemand kunnen aanraden met Air New Zealand te vliegenhellip nix ten nadele van de stewards aan boord maar er zijn er gewoon te weinig om een goede service te verlenen. Zo kreeg Jacq haar maaltijd redelijk vroeg vegetarische maaltijd worden altijd als 1e geserveerd en moest ik ruim anderhalf uur wachten.. le http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/Vava--u/blog-209687.html Take time out from the world in TongaIf you want a place to relax on a nice tropical beach want to avoid hordes of tourists and like the basics of life then Tonga is definitely for you. It is a true pacific tropical paradise but what makes it really special is its people. The Tonga people have been able to maintain a laid back life style that is thankfully largely devoid of western life style http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-208444.html Hi folks I promised a part 2 to my blog about Tonga and finally here it is. Let me give you a couple of Tonga facts. Tonga is an absolute monarchy and the royal family rules all out here as well as owning all the country's power and telecoms companies. The country is the only one in this part of the world that was never colonised. The kingdom of Tonga is actually made up of several islands sp http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-199016.html Hello bloggos. Sorry I havenrsquot posted for a while but I am a very busy man these days. I have no idea how I am going to manage to hold down a job when the trip is over although I am gaining good experience in my new role as a Kiwi ldquohouse husbandrdquo as appointed by my brotherrsquos housemates. It looks from the news reports as though I am missing a ripper of a summer over in Engl http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-185236.html It's now Monday evening I arrived in Tonga on Thursday 310507 and have so far settled in well. It is a lot poorer here than I imagined and there's so many stray dogs aroundI'm staying at Winnie's guest house Winnie is about 80 and bakes cakes during the day then falls asleep in front in the TV in the evening. The TV is a luxury item in Tonga and I've been watching some random films like Ja http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-166181.html Tonga is wel het meest obscure landje dat we tot dusver deze reis bezoeken. Het valt van de meeste kaarten af Fiji past er soms nog net op en als het er al oppast is het puntje op de kaart dat de hoofdstad aangeeft al groter dan het grootste eiland dus je ziet alleen een naam in de middle of nowhere. Toeristen zijn er nauwelijks te vinden en daar zijn ook wel wat redenen voor dit ondanks alle http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-158923.html Well......picture a pacific island and you imagine turqouise waters lapping golden shores dotted with palm trees and beach huts....Yeah yeah I wish Credit where credit is due our accommodation was rather lovely called Heilala Holiday Resort and our hosts very helful good cooks and very smiley Our stay however was a little too long to be pleasant and the weather a little too wet to allow en http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-150737.html Uoleva Uoleva is a small and inhabited island in the north of Haapai islands. It has some beautiful beaches filled with beautiful shells. On the island there are some beach huts for rent at Daiana's. She also cooks for you because there is not much else on this island. in front of Daiana's there is a clam protected area. Clams are being caught by fisherman and sold to chinese restaurants so the http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-149117.html Pangai de hoodstad van de Harsquoapai groep is een dorp van 3.000 inwoners heeft welgeteld 6 winkeltjes 4 guesthouses en 1 restaurant. en 4 toeristen. Haapai eilanden groep heeft 62 eilandjes waarvan 45 onbewoond. We lunchen in het restaurant waar we zeer waarschijnlijk de komende 5 dagen gaan eten. De eigenaar nieuw zeelander gaf aan dat hij samen met de overige toeristen op het eiland http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-149090.html Tonga Tongatapu 7 jaar geleden hoorde ik voor het eerst over Tonga tijdens een sketsch van Muiswinkel waarin hij Boudewijn Buch naspeelt in zijn legendarische Pacific eiland documantaire. lsquoHello are you the lsquoBundscoachrsquo of Tonga what will be the results of tonights soccer match... ik denk tweeenoel . Deze sketch is toendertijd bij nutricia meerder malen gedraaid en v http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-149089.html Vandaag eindelijk Glenn de baas en instructeur geeft een Go op The Arch ... volgens velen de duik der duiken in Tonga... Het is een combinatie van een grot duik met veel stroming. De grot tunnel zelf is erg uitdagend op 25 meter diepte ga je door 20 meter lange tunnel zonder lichtinval en de tunnel zelf is maar 1 meter hoog. Wanneer je de tunnel uitkomt kom je in een soort van kerk idee met o http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-149084.html Tonga Ha'apai Dive 5 AkateunbspAustralasia raquonbspTonga By FemkeWillemtravelsApril 13th 2007FemkeWillem Akateu we really liked the shark dive the other day so we decided to do another dive up there. This time we did not see a whole pack of sharks but we saw some reef sharks and white tipped coming close to us. The sharks were also younger smaller than yesterday. This time we were a b http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-149083.html Tonga Ha'apai Dive 4 Bennies PlacenbspAustralasia raquonbspTonga By FemkeWillemtravelsApril 12th 2007FemkeWillemBennies placeBennies place was mooi vanwege de goede visibility en veel vissen.zie foto's. Daarnaast voor het eerst de 60 minuten gehaald bij een echter duikmax depth 20 meter Time 60 minuten http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-149080.html Tonga Ha'apai Dive 3 AkateunbspAustralasia raquonbspTonga By FemkeWillemtravelsApril 11th 2007FemkeWillem AKATEU shark city Akateu is the dive site for sharks especially grey reef sharks and white tipped sharks. Ocasionally tiger sharks which you rather not visit and leopard sharks. After 15 minutes diving the reef wall we saw one white tipped reef shark a little shorter than 2 mete http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-149079.html Tonga Ha'apai Dive 2 Haano TunnelnbspAustralasia raquonbspTonga By FemkeWillemtravelsApril 11th 2007FemkeWillemVandaag gedoken bij Ha'anno tunnels een cave dive. allemaal spleten en grotten doorOok weer een aantal clams en nudibranches gezien. En weer veeel koraal. erg mooi. Max depth 24 mt. Bottom time 52 min. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-149078.html Tonga Ha' apai Dive 1nbspAustralasia raquonbspTonga By FemkeWillemtravelsApril 11th 2007FemkeWillem Today we should have the first two boat dives with Happy Ha'apai Divers.. On our way to the first dive site the boat got flatted so turn straight back again..No boat dive today... Glenn the owner of the divecentre has to repair the boat which take the whole day.. Instead of a boat dive we http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-148808.html Tonga Ha'apai SnorklingnbspAustralasia raquonbspTonga By FemkeWillemtravelsApril 11th 2007FemkeWillem De eerste dag op Ha'apai hebben we fietsjes gehuurd en zijn we naar het noorden van het eiland gefietst waar het rif het mooist zou zijn. Na 40 minuten fietsen 12 km net als utrecht s' berg. heimwee.... NOT komen we aan op een verlaten maar prachtig stukje wit zandstrand met prachti http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-147009.html It's a while ago but because TONGA was such an amazing place to be i would still like to put my trip in a blog. The year 2005 i was fortunate enough to spend in new zealand where after a lot of hard work i had collected enough money to treat myself to a pacific holiday.I choose Tonga because it was the least touristy one the only kingdom in the pacific and well air new zealand had a good of http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-98276.html Tuesday 19 Sept The day of the King of Tongarsquos Funeral. We got a lift into town and saw saw the procession of 100s of people including the King being carrired on a big temple structure by a 100 people. It was very impressive with thousands of people watching. Once the King had arrived at the tombs it was to far away to see anything and I ended up entertaining some local people with carto http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-91438.html Saturday 16th Sept Went diving today it rained as we left it stopped shortly after but the water stayed choppy all day. We had to kit ourselves up which wasnrsquot good in the choppy weather. The first dive was through split rock a big 20 ft rock split in half one person wide. There wasnrsquot much to see as you swim through the rock but before we went through you can see lots of fish http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-91435.html Wednesday Spent all day on a flat bottomed boat with 12 people including all the same people as yesterday whale watching. We saw 5 adult humpbacks and a mother and calf. Swimming with them was amazing. I canrsquot say much more just look at the pictures video they don't convey how amazing they were.We ended the day going to Mariners cave where the entrance is underwater and you have t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-90322.html On Thursday and Friday I went up to the village school to help out. I had gone up on Monday to offer my services. It was called Tonga Side School and was attached to a Tongan speaking Primary school but the side school taught everything in English. I helped in class 3 7 and 8 year olds. They had wooden benches and desks and blackboards along the front wall. They follow the New Zealand syll http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-90320.html So the flight up to Va varsquou had a grand total of 18 seats in it. We got up at 4am to get it so I slept all the way and missed out on some great scenery. We stayed in Adventure backpackers which was really nice with a big shared kitchen still with Hot water and powerful showers and has a large balcony looking over the harbor lots of big boats.That evening we went to the Mermaid bar and ev http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-90318.html I arrived in Tonga and got picked up and taken to Heilala Lodge luxury compared to my last week. My own room a fan and a share bathroom with flushing toilet and HOT water The next morning I had breakfast toast and fresh fruit and got talking to a couple from Brighton Nancy and Stuart in their early 30s but didnrsquot look it. I said I was going up to Va varsquou which is either a 2 http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Tonga/blog-90074.html