Tonga Part 2: Vava'u

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Well this post has taken much longer than expected to get up here. I'll keep the text short and leave you to the photos.

Vava'u was the treat of the trip. I got to bike through jungle trails, swim with humpback whales, go diving and lounge around on the beach.

This island is off the tourist track and I really enjoyed it.

I've enrolled in a gym boot camp as part of a marketing stunt for my office.... it's breaking my balls. Up at 5:30 to crawl around on my stomach through muddy fields and pack around a pack filled with 20 pounds of sand. It's tough going to work and trying to focus after such an excercise routine.... I could really use some sleep. I write this just after midnight... as my sleeping patter is now really out of wack due to excersice routine. I'll be glad four weeks from now when it's over. I'll take my hour and a half routine after work any day of the week.

PS: there are 5 tabs of photos... don't miss the other 4 tabs... there is some good stuff there.

my best. d

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Photos

We arrive in Vava'u
The "International Airport" that's not.

Moon Rise on our first night
We went snorkeling at our accommodation’s reef, settled in for dinner and then went our for the moonrise. Literally just seconds for the moon to be fully visible and heavy in the sky.

Marcos proving that he can ride a scooter in the jungle.
We rented scooters and decided that rather than sticking to the roads we test the limits of the scooters.

Marcos taking his scooter through the tall grass
We made these scooters go where humans shouldn't even be hiking.

We hiked up to one of the highest hills in the area.
The grouping of buildings to the left is the main village of vava'u and where all the activity is. The body of water is known as Port of Refuge. The yachts are american, kiwi, Oz and an assortment of nationalities that come to live the "time does not exist" lifestyle.

Main street vava'u
The new king was to come through town in a parade and school kids had been forced to come out and sit on the street waiting to wave to him. PS not a very popular guy. I thought of Tijuana when I walked these dusty streets.

School girls Waiting for the king
note their excitement

We're still all waiting for the king.
In true island style the king was late for his parade by more than an hour and half.

The king of Tonga
we were just 50 feet away from this joker... no security and the people weren't that excited to see him.

The Aquarium Cafe
We spent a number of lunches and dinners at this cafe owned and operated by californians. This was one of the two hang outs for boaties to wet their wistle or should I saw drowned it and tell their stories. I wrote my time sensative postcard from here.

Tongan Beer Vs the Real Stuff
They can't even lable the bottle correctly.

We took the scooters up to the high side of the island
This side of the island had spectacular cliffs that at their highest were more than 1500 feet tall. The dense jungle that we were motoring through gave way to these drops, without any warning... ie don't drive or walk out here at night, it's a quick way down.

These kids scared us off the mountain.
Out in the middle of no where we had three kids appear out of the jungle from the path that we'd come from. They were checking us out and brandishing a 12 inch hunting knife, the youngest one kept eyeing us up and wispering to the oldest kid in the group (16 or 17 years old). We decided to take the less risky route out and make a quick escape on the bike and not hold the hill. It was a no win situation even if we did win the fight. Once we vacated the hill they took our position and shouted in triumph. To be honest in all my travels aside from the freaky night in the hostel with the crazy guy this was the first time I felt my life was possibly in peril.

Lost in the jungle
We'd gotten to the point where we had to leave a trail of coconut branches for fear that we'd have to find our way out.

Permanently closed restroom.
We discovered an isolated white sand beach that at one time had a dance club but it was washed away in a hurricane. This was all that was left.

Comments

[Olga Hazen]

Sure glad your taking out time to enjoy life.
Sure enjoy your blog.Can't travel any more so you do it for us.

[lanuola]

sure vavau is a alsome place to visit and take the holidays to got their

[Arthur Rozynski]

Tongan beer
Looking for my collection Tongan beer labels and beer coasters. Have you any for sale or exchange? Greetings Arthur

[moala fifita]

miss my work
can't wait to come back there

[Kuli]

His name
Alamoti Tautakitaki of Hunga Vava'u. He was one of my teachers at Tonga College in the early 1980s. Very good man. He is heavy involved in community projects for the outer islands in the Kingdom.