You could argue that being a vegetable for four days on a remote island like Vava’u is enough island time for one holiday. Well we thought otherwise and stayed a couple more days at the Blue Banana Beach House at Ha’atufa on Tongatapu’s west coast – far away from the hectic city bustle of downtown Nuku’Alofa 😉
This time we brought plenty of coconuts for our stay after being tricked on Vava’u where we were promised “fresh coconuts at the resort” … they forgot to mention that it would be ONE coconut per person for the entire stay. Since neither of us felt like climbing a coconut tree ourselves we bought a whole banana leaf basket at the market for 10 Pa’anga which is roughly A$6 or 4 EUR. Both the driver and our host were smiling at us when we arrived with 2 backpacks and a basket full of coconuts, but hey at least we got enough nuts 🙂
Our self contained ‘Maui’ garden vale was fairly basic, but Nutella toast brekki with coffee, fresh coconut and fruit overlooking a tropical beach is something we could really get used to!
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During this stay we were slightly more active and went snorkelling a couple of times.
We managed to use the only rainy day for a bike tour to the Mapu a Vaea blowholes and the tsunami rocks. Two ‘tourist attractions’ that could have been way more interesting with a little effort. Like having an actual path to the tsunami rocks or some explanation how these gigantic rocks were swept inland for several hundred metres to rest in the middle of a coconut field. After doing some online research I discovered just how impressive these rocks actually are: National Geographic – Ancient Tsunami Carried Giant Boulders to Tonga
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On the trip to the airport we even spotted the famous two headed coconut tree (Remember! This is one of the top tourist attractions in Tonga) and got a brief intro of how to climb a coconut tree. Watching one of the locals do it really didn’t look too difficult at all!
Gone walkabout 