Sabbatical down under: 2014

It was a spontaneous move, like many things in my life, so when this one came up, I jumped at the chance, and before I knew it I had booked plane tickets and reservations at some surf resort on Tonga for a week of the kids' July school holidays. Seemed like a good idea to explore the S. Pacific a bit while in the part of the world. And that was back in Jan! Without knowing ANYTHING about Tonga, that is was a kingdom or the resort really (was recommended by good friends with kids who had been, enough for me!). Nearly forgot about this whole thing until soon it was end of June and I was getting emails from Moana, host of the resort, reminding me to bring bug spray and sun hats. There is much talk amongst those I see here about Rarotonga, Fiji, Tahiti, and little about Tonga. There are many Tongans living in NZ (and San Fran, Hawaii and somewhere in the midwestern US), but did not know many who have vacationed there. It was going to be an adventure no doubt. Biggest decision as whether to bring surf boards for boys. It is a reef break there ( not what we are used to here) cost of extra baggage, etc so in the end we brought only wet suits, togs and my paddle board. It was a sketchy drive to Auckland where we caught our plane out early on a Sat AM, still had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, it was dark, rainy and very windy with all 5 of us and the paddle board in the van, but once settled in the airport hotel, I was confident it would all be good. How bad could it be really?

So we left NZ in shit weather and landed on a cloudless morning in the tropical Kingdom of Tonga! Sunglasses out, shorts on, and we were set. Picked up by the Ha'atafu Surf Resort van, along with 5 other families, all with kids, who had been on our flight, and off we went. Ended up on a bit of an island tour so we could exchange some money, buy alcohol and snacks for those in need. This took us through the only major town on the island of Tongatapu, and eventually we made it to the resort on the far northern tip of this island.

Turns out Tonga is a series of many archipelagos, the one we were on being the largest and the home to the royal family. Tonga was never a colony though became a protectorate of England at some point. It is a Christian country, everyone belongs to one of many churches (large LDS presence making us feel at home-similar to SPokane!) and Sundays are holy days. All shops and services are closed, it is a day of rest and for church, and no running is allowed through the villages.

The people are amazingly kind, happy, seemingly content and generous. I was surprised how economically depressed the communities appeared. I learned most Tongans are very self sufficient, growing most everything they need, living in small villages where people help each other out and rely on each other. And I was forever aware of the risk a cyclone holds for these fragile, flat islands, thriving with coconut palms and taro plants. Reminded me of Hawaii many decades ago perhaps.

It is amazing that a small island like this exists as a kingdom. The royals here are a cit corrupt it sounds, but well respected none the less. Here was a Sat market in town when we were there just after arriving.

Once we arrived at the resort we were taken to our falls (rooms) or thatched roof cabins. The scene here was very low key. No ensuite toilets or showers so rooms were just beds and a small table. comfortable enough for us, bathrooms were lovely with hot showers and fresh flowers daily. There is room for only around 35 to stay at this place, so it has a very homey feel. Very kid friendly. Breakfast and dinner were included with each day and we could get lunch there as well. The food was incredible! Tropical fruit salads each morning along with anything you could imagine. Dinner always had salads, breads, and fresh tuna caught that morning prepared in some new and different way. We did not go hungry that is for sure.

Here is our fale, a bit more rustic than others which had cinderblock walls.

And this is the beach the resort sat on, and this is sunset Day #1. Soon as I saw this I knew all was indeed good.

Looking north up the beach. We could snorkel in the lagoon directly in front of the resort and though the coral was not that vibrant, the fish were amazing. Snorkeling was indeed a family favorite. About 100-150m out was the reef, and waves broke there. Where the swell was up, some of the guests did some surfing, but overall I don't think we were sorry not to have any boards.

The paddle board proved to be a hit and we all took turns up and down the shore as well as into the waves a bit. Below is Noah out for a spin.

When not in or around the water, table tennis took up lots of our energy. Many tournaments and challenges happened, can't recall today who the grand champ was, but lots of good hours with many good laughs. The building behind the boys here is the main dining area where we all ate together family style.

Another glorious end to our day!

the resort did have these kayaks to use though it was asked they not be taken into the waves to ride. so my boys only took them into the small waves… :-(

Here is the gang of some of the kids along with me walking to the dairy down in the village newer by for some lollies. It was my way to get them away from the TV, but we got to be good friends after this outing. Esp good for Maggie who now had many young girls to play with.

Above is one of the larger fales closest to the shore with its own patio.
And below is looking out through the paths of the resort towards another fale.
To call it a resort seems almost like a misnomer as this seems to bring to mind the Mauni Lani on the Bg Island or some Four Seasons thing with 100's of others. No this is very small, very laid back, very simple in many ways, and ideal for what we were looking for! Not to mention incredibly reasonably priced!

Maggie playing cards

the kids snorkeling, may have to look close to see them in the foreground. One can appreciate the lagoon and then surf breaking over reef in this photo.

Captain Jack!

There he is again doing what he was asked not to do. hmmm.

A very nice house in the village. Many had dogs and pigs rummaging around. It was always a highlight to see the piglets!!

Here is only a fraction of this morning's catch of yellow fin tuna. We ate it with lemon and capers if I recall. SO good!

This is Eddie, another guest, playing with the kitten! Every resort with kids should have some baby animals. This kitten could not have gotten more love!

This building is where we ordered bfast and lunch. Lovely women worked all day long prepping meals and then serving, always with smiles and often dancing to some great tunes!

Here is Noah with Hadasa, or Dasa as we called her, the daughter of the resort owners.

One day we rented a car to explore the island in more detail. First stop was the flying fox sanctuary down the road in a nearby village. One forgets how big they can be. pretty neat to see. I saw a few out on morning walks drinking nectar from flowers up in the trees.

Typical scene from the road driving toward town. Lots of coconut palms!

Just down the coast from the resort is a stretch of coastline famous for its blowholes, openings in the rocky shore where the water shoots up and through when the sea water surges through. It was awesome to see and feel the spray!! Like explosions along the shoreline.

Back on the road, passing through another village. the flags mean they have just passed some inspection of sorts. below is one of many cemeteries, all very colorful and graves are above ground so people know where to find them. Funerals are a very public event, colorful, and a celebration of the person's life. It was neat to see all of these graves with quilts and mementoes to the one who has passed.

A quick lunch in town, and then off to the caves.

So having done lots of caving in my years both at NOLS, then Abq Academy not to mention my own travels in Kentucky and NM, I was not at all sure what to expect. We were told we could even swim in these caves, but again not sure what we would find. AS it turned out it blew us away. We met Nico in the empty car lot who rented us some torches and then led us into the cave. Turned out he had lived in California for years until he was deported for robbing 3 banks! He led us down a cemented path past all sorts of AMAZING formations. Huge towers of deposits in large halls. There were pools in some and we eventually came to an end and told we could swim in the pool below. SWIM in a cave! No way! This would never happen in the US. way more protection of the resources. But swim we did, the boys jumping off higher places and then we could swim around in the poorly lit area climbing on various towers and such. I felt bad knowing such activity was not so good for these features, but seemed few in the grand scheme made their way here and man, was it cool!

Here is the beach right outside of the cave

Local island resident

and some mighty taro!

Some of the nice touches around the resort. lush tropical plants and feline friends

Inside of our fale. Turned out to have many mosquitos and they love my kids. I was not too bothered. No roaches though we had heard stories of large ones.

Kids usually ate a bit earlier than us big kids, here is their setting

Small visitor to my bed on afternoon

Here is the scene just prior to the only real incident that occurred. Boys take out paddle board and kayak to go play in small waves. I'm photographing and thinking this is great. All of a sudden Jack is knocked out of kayak by bigger waves and Noah, caught in a rip, is taken out into the reef break and into the VERY big waves. I drop the camera and am now watching a scene unfold. Same time, all another adults on beach, including the resort owner, have gotten out of their chairs and are also looking, watching the boys as they manage out in these very big swells. Jack manages to keep his paddle, though broke one blade, and connect back with kayak. Once back on top, he paddles back into the lagoon. One safe. Noah in the meantime is riding the waves mostly, falls off a few times as the swells pass, manages to stand up and get paddling again through them, but I fear he is being pulled out farther by the rip. After what seemed like an eternity, he paddles up the swells, and is able to ride a wave in laying on the board which lands him back in the lagoon. These were by far the biggest swells we had seen all week and in many weeks according to the locals. Suffice to say, the kayak program was closed rest of this day, and boys stuck to table tennis for entertainment. Hate those kind of adrenalin rushes!!