Tonga: Hidden Paradise

I spent the past week in the wonderful island chain of Tonga, specifically on the main island of Tongatapu (meaning sacred south). I left friday from Dunedin on a bus to Christchurch, where we hung out in the town square till we caught another bus to the airport where we spent the night. We got out towels and sleeping bags curled up next to each other and hunkered down for the night. We woke up in the morning to a bustling airport and made our way to the terminal for our flight.

After flying from Christchurch to Auckland, and then on to Tonga, we arrived after dinner in the main island Saturday evening. We were picked up by our resort owner who was also the cook, grounds keeper, receptionist and driver. He and his wife ran the quaint island resort which was very lovely. Arriving in darkness we woke up not realizing the beauty that lay outside. We spent the next few days (slash the entire week) doing nothing but reading and relaxing and napping on the beach. Nights were spent drinking and playing cards. I had no desire to do anything but lie on the beach and loose myself in the island time. It was about 80 degrees with a constant breeze that left you neither hot nor cold all the time. After 2 months of sleeping fully clothed in my sleeping bag in Dunedin, it was amazing to sleep only in underwear for once.

We had a few small adventures seeing some of the attractions on the island but for the most part, it was spent simply relaxing. The nation of tonga is only comprised of about 100,000 people and is not a very touristy place. It is rather impoverished, but everyone seems quite content and happy. They are happy that it is not overrun with tourists but still heavily rely on the few tourists it does get and the aid money it recieves from overseas.

After going taking a ferry to the small island of Tongamatu we took the 10 minute walk around the island, had lunch and lounged for the day. We returned home in time to go to a cultural dinner and show that included tongan buffet and fire dancing. A full cultural treat. We headed to the airport at around 12midnight to wait for our 3 am flight. When we landed in Auckland we learned that there had been a Earthquake in Christchurch (our next destination) and after a stressed out few hours of trying to figure out flights 5 of us got direct flights to Dunedin that day, while me and my friend Brittney had to fly to Queenstown where we would take a bus the rest of the way (another 3-4 hours bus ride). We arrived at around 10pm saturday night, our vacation complete!