6 reasons you NEED to put Tonga on your Bucket List
The year long international travel ban is officially over!!!! and its back to spending all the $$ and all the leave on plane tickets and ticking countries/places off the bucket list. First up, Tonga!!
(Not that Tonga was on my list before-but its definitely on my go-back-to list now that I've been)
Mikey wanted to stay home working while I needed to take a much needed holiday and use up some of my mountain of annual leave. I have a few trips planned for 2019 and compared to the next few, this is one that Mike was keen to sit out of. So, instead I went with a uni friend, Liz =)
Tonga is a Pacific Island nation located 2,000km north-east of New Zealand. It's less than a 3 hour flight from Auckland, but feels like an entirely different world.
Its a small Polynesian Kingdom made up of around 170 pacific islands. We only visited the main island, Tongatapu, but there are other places to explore (usually by boat as internal flights are hellah pricey). The island is characterized by white sand beaches, coral reefs, tropical rainforest and an abundance of coconut and banana trees.
Tonga is the only island nation to have never been sovereign by another nation so it has its own King, Palace and Royal family and history, which is pretty amazing.
1.Island Time To unwind and chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiill
Ok, you can't "chill" because its like 21-26 degrees C all year round. But man, you can't help but feel relaxed within about 2 hours of landing in Tonga. It's actually impossible to feel stressed and flustered in Tonga. There's no rush, no real expectations, no decisions to make (except which cocktail it's going to be, and which book to read next). I mean, check out this view for the read-swim-eat-drink repeat formula for the perfect holiday.
While in Tonga I managed to finish 5 books, and read half of 2 other books. That's more reading that I think I've done the last 3 years put together. Working a stressful and high level of paper-work job just kind of does that to you I guess. But it was so good to reset. To be honest, I've never been much of reader ever since I needed to wear glasses to spend long periods of time looking at words without getting a headache or loosing interest (so, like since I was 11). But I adored reading as a little-one and this holiday really re-ignited the love of escaping in to a story. Plus, I set a goodreads goal of reading 10 books in 2019, and so I'm over halfway there! (it is also one of my 19 for 2019)
Everyone in Tonga is super friendly and very laid back. Even going to the markets or in to tourist shops there was no pressure to purchase, which was a welcome change from other markets I've been to while travelling. We could just peruse at our leisure and purchase what we want (so good for my wallet cause I get all jumpy and buy all the things)
2. Interesting Natural Attractions + History
On the very last day we were in Tonga we decided to tour a tour of the whole (main) island during that awkward time between check out and our evening flight the whole tour was 4 hours. I’m so glad we did it on the last day because 1. I had been so looking forward to it, 2. It gave us something to do on the last day and 3. Once we did it, I kinda felt like we had seen al there was to see of the island, and if we had done it earlier I’m pretty sure I would have felt bored and claustrophobic with that “nothing left to do” vibe.
here are the attractions stops:
•Anahulu Cave
ok, y’all, this is legit the most perfect beach I’ve ever seen in my life. I mean, check it.
Anahulu cave is a limestone cave which had this really amazing cathedral feel with the beautiful stalagmites and stalactites. At the heart of the cave is an underground fresh water swimming pool!! So amazing, but unfortunately we didn’t have our togs to swim. There was a similar one of these in Vanuatu where Mikey and I went on honeymoon, but this Tongan cave was much more accessible and larger (with more cave to explore and space to swim).
•Three headed coconut tree
This. Is. Crazy. There’s no other tree with even two heads on the whole island, maybe the whole world. No one knows why there are three heads. And people are totally allowed to climb it and eat the coconuts.
The coconut tree has often been referred to as the “Tree of Life” throughout the Pacific Islands. And you can see why, since it sustains communities and helps them survive. The leaves, the bark, the husk and the flesh all have a functional use. Food, shelter, warmth and arts + crafts (I brought back some coconut bowls and I Looooove them!)
Tonga has coconut trees errywhere. The song “I cooked an eel, I hurried it’s guts-our popped a tree now you’ve got coconuts!” Will be on realest in your head until you leave. They’re beautiful though, so worth it.
•Captain Cook Landing + Abel Tasman Landing
I can’t remember the stories about these. Somehow Captain Cook became bffs with the king, gave the locals some nails, but managed to figure out they were planning on eating him so high-tailed outta here.
Abel Tasman maybe brought missionaries and now the whole country is Christian. The details are fuzzy.
•Tonga Stone Henge
i don’t really understand, but somehow the shadows formed when the sun rises and sets, tells you when it’s the dry season and the rainy season and when to harvest your crops?? Ancient technology is so amazing.
•Tsunami Rock
One story explains this crazy rock as having been washed ashore by a tsunami tens of thousands of years ago. (It’s actually the biggest “displaced boulder” in the world-although I think boulder minimises the enormity of this thing)
I, personally, am going to stick to believing the local story. The one where Maui (yes, the guy from Moana, and many a pacific island creation story) got so angry at being woken up early in the Morning by his dads (Tangaroa, god of the sea) rooster crowing that he threw a rock at it to shut it up. As the tour guide laughed-that must have been one big, loud chicken!!! (Any why squash is under a rock when you could have feed the whole village for forever)
•Blow holes
Amazing. That’s all I have to say. I could have stayed here for hours watching the waves crash into the cliffs and spray up through the blowholes.
•also on the tour was the kings tombs (but we took no photos as it felt like a very sacred space, you’ll have to visit to see!) and fishing pigs!!
Yes, fishing pigs!!! We didnt get to see them as it was high tide, but the local pigs (at low tide) go out and “fish” in the lagoon for their dinner! Legend has it that the pork tastes saltier than their global counterparts. I wouldn’t know though, because the only pork that was on offer was cut straight off the bone and once I saw Peppers cooked head on the table I totally lost my appetite for roast pork. 🐷
3. The Local Beer + Cocktails + all the seafood
No words needed. Just pics.
5. Sun, Sand and Surf
need i say more?? So many amazing fishes to see whole snorkeling. Just, make sure you ALWAYS put on heaps of sunscreen. I got sooo badly burnt I considered going to the hospital, and I felt miserable and couldn’t lie down without searing pain for a few days (and then all the peeling!). I think I’ll have my Tongan-Tog tan line until I’m 80.
6. Swim with Whales + other experiences
I guess the highest praise you can give a place is that you would 100 percent come back again (which I can’t say for paris, so I’m a bit picky).
Even though we had a great time and I got exactly what I wanted out the trip (books, beach and booze to unwind and destress) I definitely want to head back some time to do the following:
-swim with humpback whales sometime between July and November
-do a kayak tour and island hop by paddle
-do a spot of sailing
-check out some of the smaller islands to do more snorkeling in the coral reefs
The details:
Where we stayed:
The scenic Hotel (2 nights when we arrived and 2 nights before we had to catch our plane)
- highly recommend getting a massage here.
- great meal options
- great pool
- aircon!!!
Liku’alofa Beach Resort for 4 nights
- really good food at the restaurant (but order before you’re hungry because you wait up to an hour and half)
- amazing cultural feast and show
- great Private beach and salt water pool
- epic sunsets (being on the west coast)
- I would recommend this place if you are on a budget and don’t mind 1.being super hot at night with only a fan (no aircon) and 2. you are happy to just chill and are able to entertain yourself. Their website advertised bikes and other gear to hire + free rides to town and the airport and free wifi. The wifi was 75mb and was a hassle to access just that, they didn’t deliver on any free rides so we caught a taxi or the bus instead and, I don’t know if it was just the slow season but there wasn’t any gear to hire or info given about this
Have you any Tongan beer labels from your trip? I’m the collector of pacific islands beer labels and looking for Tongan to my collection. Cheers Arthur
Hi Arthur, no I don’t sorry!! Did not know that was a thing that people collect. I took photos of the beer bottles, just because I thought they were interesting. Would definitely recommend a trip to Tonga and their local beer.