Fiji, Tonga and........the end?

---

Well everyone, the boys apologize for the long wait between blogs, but between the south pacific islands internet connections and the south pacific islands themselves its been difficult for them to sit down and write. However, as they find themselves in Auckland yet again, it seems like a good time to let everyone know what Fiji and Tonga were all about.

After an extra night in NZ due to *%#$^& STA travel and a 'missed' flight the boys found themselves on the February 14 (Valentines Day anyone?) flight into Fiji. Waiting at the airport was the hostels driver ready to take them to the Beach House Resort on the Coral Coast where friends from the Kiwi Experience were already staying. For those interested, this was the site of the 2006 reality show Love Island, big time. Armed with all the duty free booze allowed by Fiji (the boys had reports that a bottle costs around 100 FJD) they checked into the hostel and proceeded to show everyone the magic of Canadian Club. The Beach House is located on a private area of beach between Suva and Nadi, complete with pool, bar, singing Welshmen, hammocks and everything else that comes to mind when you think tropical paradise. Every morning there was a free breakfast, and tea and scones at 4, with all sorts of activities in between. And the boys favorite part was that unlike Australia and New Zealand, the activities hovered around the 10 dollar mark. And the coconut jewelry making was free! Free! Dave and Jord managed to go for a sunset horseback ride (and would like to thank Hayley for coming along so as to decrease the brokeback mountainess of it all), went fishing with four Scottish girls (and didn't catch a thing), snorkelling, played more Scrabble then they ever had before, had raft building competitions (there you go Hoffmann), drank kava, and dressed up as women waaaay to often. What a place.

They group did manage to make it out of the resort for an afternoon or two, going to the nearest town, Sigatoka and the capital of Fiji, Suva. It reminded them both of South East Asia, although sadly the prices weren't quite the same. The boys did manage to find a frisbee however and were able to introduce the group to quite possibly Canada's greatest export, Beersbie. Dave and Jord agreed that playing Beersbie on the beach in Fiji with the sun going down was one of the highlights of the trip. Pretty sick, they know. It was sad to leave the Fiji group and the boys will not forget the antics of K3 for a long time, but they had a flight to Tonga to catch and were excited to see what the final stage of the trip would hold.

Ohhh the Kingdom of Tonga. What a magical place. The boys were tempted to write all sorts of crazy stories about Tonga since nobody really knows what it's like there, but essentially it is the same as Fiji, just on a much smaller scale. There are no stop lights in the country, the "Restricted: Defence Area" signs are hand painted and the King drives around in a Black Cab. Dave and Jord did managed to find a cheap place on the beach and spent a few days sitting around and reading books in the sun. Trust them, there isn't much else to do there. The only other person in the hotel was an ex-pot growing construction worker from Victoria on a three year holiday around the world, so at least there was some interesting coversations to be had. After a few days on the beach the boys moved to a hostel in Nuku' alofa, the capital city. There they went on a tour of the main island and saw such famous sites as the Two Headed Palm Tree of Tonga, the blowholes, a cave and the Trillithon, the first place in the world to welcome in the new day. Pictures will be added shortly. Anyways, they managed to catch their flight back to Auckland and check into the semi-luxury of the Sky City hotel, having hot showers and drinking tap water for the first time in weeks. One more sleep and they board the plane back home, can't wait to see you all there!

---