Daily Archive

Theme Songs of the Day:

90-Mile Water Wall – The National

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Anyone who thinks that roosters only crow at dawn has obviously never stayed on a farm and has definitely never been to Tonga.

I awoke every 20 minutes from about 3:30am onwards, as my feathered friend hoarsely announced even the possibility of the sun rising within the following few hours.  As I grew accustomed to the cock-a-doodle doing and was drifting back to sleep, I heard the beautiful sounds of church bells.  Tonga is an extremely religious country and over 98% of the population attends religious service.  It was still dark but the sound was pleasant….at least the first twenty rings or so.  As the bells continued – 25…35…50… I started to wonder if this was some kind of warning system – was something wrong? …would someone come get me in my lone room in the upstairs of my out-of-the-way guesthouse?

I decided that at the first yell I would evacuate – to where, I’m not exactly sure.

Well as it turned out – the bells topped out at about 60 rings and only moments later I heard the beautiful sounds of a church choir.  All was well.  I didn’t get back to sleep but I was happy to know that nothing too exciting was going to happen on my first full day on the island of Tongatapu…little did I realize the poignancy this dose of foreshadowing would hold.

My ten days in the Kingdom of Tonga were amazing.  I have never been anywhere quite like this little south Pacific gem.  Although its four main island groups are some of the least visited in the region (everyone goes to Fiji), this is a county that retains its natural beauty and culture.  The people are so friendly!

One of the highlights of my trip was watching fire dancers leap around while I enjoyed a feast of traditional local foods (including the delicacy of roast pig cooked in an umu, an underground oven).

All of this took place in a huge cave on the beach.  As I sat there watching the beautiful dancers and eating my roast tapioca and fresh fish soaked in coconut milk, I wondered if I really needed to continue on to Australia…could I eke out another few months in this paradise? Would it be so bad to spend maybe another few weeks going to the market for fresh vegetables and reading my days away?

Then I remembered that damned rooster.  A couple of weeks was probably enough.

After a few days of exploring on my own via bike and foot, I was honoured to get a personalized tour of the entire island by new, local friends.  It’s not hard to see all the sites (albeit briefly) in one or two days.  Tongatapu, the main island (meaning: Sacred South) has an area of around 260km² and is home to over 70% of the population (approx: 73,000).

To put this into perspective for all you folks living in BC – Togatapu is not even double to size of Saltspring Island.

My tour was fantastic and I was given an abundance of information from my exuberant tour guide Julie and her personable fiancé, Aki.  At one point we stopped at Julie’s aunt’s house and picked up an array of roast vegetables and meat.  The four of us (Milo the driver, provided bread and corned-beef) parked at the beach and enjoyed our Tongan picnic before I went for a swim in the surf.  You don’t get this on every tour, but I was lucky to meet such fun and friendly people. My trip wouldn’t have been the same without them.

The next day I made my way, via ferry, to a small island 2.5hours off the southeast coast.  Eua was meant to have exceptional hiking and caving.  It was going to be an adventure, I was sure of it.  And I wasn’t wrong.