14 November 2011

Still moored up in Nuku'alofa, we got up early for a round the island tour with Heartbeat. After a night of hearing the high-pitched zzzzz of a mozzie and trying to catch it (unsuccessfully!) I was a wee bit tired this morning, but we were in for a day of treats. First we headed to Captain Cook's landing place. If only he had known that the Tongan's were planning to kill him, he may never have named this group of islands "the friendly islands" which has stuck to this day. Then we saw the 'stonehenge' of Tonga which was built in 1200AD, using three large rocks bought in by canoe from Fiji.
Then, a spot of swimming in freshwater underground caves, followed by visiting the blowholes of Tonga - an amazing natural phenomenon in the reefs, where the incoming surf blows up through holes in the rocks like geysers. After a visit to see the bats, we were back in town checking the infamous 'weather window' for getting to NZ. After thinking this Thursday might be a good day to go, it seems now that it will be more like Monday 21st November to make the best of the pressure systems around. So, we'll be using this week to scrub the bottom of the boat, provision, fill with water and generally pack everything away again ready for our sail.