On 2 July 2023 I drove a total of 62km around the western side of Tongatapu Island compared with 117km around the eastern side. The West is Best !!! It had better roads, nicer villages (cleaner and more decorated with flowers and manicured lawns) and better attractions. It also had beaches !!! The best one was Ha'atafu Beach where there was once a resort before the tsunami took it away. There were two more resorts to the south of the one at Ha'atafu which were also levelled – you see the tsunami came in from the west so most of the damage was there.
The morning was a bit unsettled but the rest of the day was terrific – plenty of sun and the wind disappeared. Lucky for me that I visited the Mapu'a Vaea (Pupuapuhi) Blowholes first thing when the wind and swells were HUGE causing crashing waves to emit plumes of water many metres into the air. What is scary about these blowholes is that you think the ocean splash is going to cover and engulf you but the slabs of basalt cause it to stop short – literally just in front of you. When I first started filing the crashing waves and spray I instinctively ducked thinking I would be hit buy the waves !!! This was clearly my favourite attraction of my entire stay and more awesome when the weather is rough (especially windy).
These are other attractions I visited in the West: Tsunami Rock, Kolovai Beach (Likualofa Resort), Ha'atafu Beach, Abel Tasman's Landing Site, 3-Headed Coconut (Inland). Tsunami Rock is amazing. It is a huge 10m high rock, estimated to weigh 1,600 metric tons that scientists reckon was ripped off the reef and flung 200m by a massive 35m high tsunami that hit the island between 1,000 and 3,000 years ago as a result of a massive volcanic eruption similar to but hundreds of times more powerful than the one that occurred in January 2022. I was also surprised to see that Abel Tasman visited here in 1628 after his discovery of Tasmania. The 3-Headed coconut tree is a funny contribution to tourism but it is actually the only one on the island and very rare. Let’s hope no one cuts it down !!!
I really enjoyed the West and was so thankful to see it under sunny, near perfect conditions. That afternoon I had time enough to visit the annual church conference in town where I took the pictures of immaculately dressed locals that you saw in the “Cultural Intermission” post.
The only disappointment of my trip to Tonga was missing out on the Humpback Whale Swim that was planned for 3 July 2023, my last day in Tonga. Even though 2 July 2023 was a perfect day a storm came in that night and I got a message the following morning that the sea’s were way too rough so the trip was cancelled. I spent that day walking 16km along the north coast and around the farmland surrounding Nukualofa. As I walked I noticed that there are corner stores on literally most corners and EVERY corner store I saw is run by the Chinese – as a matter of fact the locals do not call them “Corner Stores” or “Convenience Shops” but in fact “China Stores” !!! So funny. I spent the rest of the afternoon of my last day on this post and the previous one before my last dinner and an extra early night’s sleep given the 0230 rise to go to the airport.
My flight to Nadi FIJI left on time at 0540 on 4 July 2023 with subsequent connection to Sydney landing at 1145. I have no idea why Fiji Air likes to run flights to and from Tonga in the middle of the night !!! How on earth is family-based tourism supposed to increase in Tonga if children have to wake up at 11pm and 3am to travel to/from Tonga !!! So silly !!!
This is the final post of THONGNEWY 2023 !!! I hope you have enjoyed the images of this fast-paced but very scenic adventure. The film will not be released until late next year given that BALKANOPOULOS 2022 and KOKOLINE 2023 still need to be made and shown first and second in the order they were visited.
I salute the people of Niue and Tonga who love their respective islands and would not live anywhere else for all the tea in China !!!
Long live Niue and Tonga – this is John “Thongnewy” Golfin signing off Houston…
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