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Published: April 24th 2015
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Started the day with breakfast and some snorkelling out on the reef. It was pretty but there weren't as many fish as I've seen elsewhere. After I went back to Longbeach, checked out and got the 4 hour boat back to Nadi. I read my book the whole journey so it went quickly. When I got off it turned out they had lost my backpack on the journey back- taking it off at the wrong island- which wasn't ideal as I was flying to Tonga the following morning but I couldn't do anything about it so we arranged for them to fly it out to Tonga on the Saturday! When I got to my hostel a girl lent me stuff to shower which was nice the I had an early night ready to fly to Tonga!
I had to get up at 4.40 for my flight so a super early start! I went through the airport quickly- as I had no bag! I had tea and toast before boarding the smallest plane I've been on with about 60 seats! The flight was only a couple of hours so it went fast and the ride from the airport was easy! I checked
in at NOAs guest house - the staff were all so lovely and made me feel at home straight away! I went for a wander into town to get my bearings and found a tourist info. Cafe so made a vague plan for the time I was in Tonga! Then I bought a few bits to tide me over until my bag arrived! An old Finnish guy, Timo, had checked into my room while I was out and asked if I wanted to go fishing so we went for an hour or two. Then we went to a bar and got a beer before going back to the hostel where we had drinks with the owner and some of his friends which was fun!
Had a lazy morning the next day and ended up meeting the Prince of Tonga which was random. It turned out Timo designed jewellery and said he would make something for the Kings coronation so we went to meet the Crown Prince to present the idea to him. I went as Timo needed help using windows 8 haha then after we went for a drink with Andre (the guy who took us to meet the prince)
and his friends. It was fun. In the evening we went to a Tongan buffet and watched a traditional dance, it was fun.
The next morning I went with Andre and his family to watch the youth rugby team play. There were a few matches so it was a fun day and they played really well. in the evening I hung out with some people in the hostel and had a chilled night.
The next day was Sunday and EVERYTHING was shut... Except one bakery on the whole mainland bit. I decided to go and see the royal palace and then got a boat trip over to Pangaimotu Island. It was beautiful! There was a really cool shipwreck which I snorkelled around and lots of fish. Then I walked around the island which only took about 15mins at a slow pace! Then I found a good spot to sunbathe in for a few hours before having some lunch and listening to music until the boat came. When I was back on the main island I went to see the Royal tombs. Back at the hostel I watched films with Tim, a Tongan boy who lives at the hostel and Neil,
an Australian guy.
The next day was an early start and I was FINALLY reunited with my backpack!!! It was a short reunion though as I decided to go to 'Eua island, so packed a small bag and went with Neil to the boat. When we got there we checked into 'Hideaway resort' which was sweet before going on a walk to the national park. We walked until we found the 'Hafu pool' natural water springs. Then we explored a bit further but wanted to get back before dark so didn't go too far! We had dinner when we FT back and chatted with the lady about what we could do the next day as the island is very small!
Woke up and had a good breakfast before beginning out walk to Ha'aluma beach. It was quite a walk and after about an hour a Tongan guy stopped and gave us a lift down there which was nice! The beach was beautiful and had really cool rock pools. We chilled for a bit before trying to find the rock gardens but getting lost in the forest haha we headed back to the main road and a guy up a coconut
tree gave us directions... And a coconut! It was a long walk but when we got there it was worth it. There were hardly any signs except one saying the rock gardens, archway and cliffs were nearby! We wandered through a gate and found each one! The archway was amazing and so cool to see. Then we started the long walk back...our feet were hurting but fortunately another lovely Tongan gave us a lift near our hostel! We were shattered when we got back so ate dinner and had an early night!!
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