Malo e lelei,

Hello from Tonga!! We're now basically in paradise...honestly picture utopia and what do you see? Palm trees - tick, golden beaches - tick, Turquoise water - tick, blue skies - tick, sunshine - tick....etc etc etc!

We did have a few days left in New Zealand before coming here, but they were pretty non-eventful. Worth mentioning is that we went up to the viewing platform in the southern hemisphere's tallest building - Auckland Sky Tower. We were 220m up! There were good views...but the cafe was rubbish!

We have been looking forward to getting to Tonga for the last few weeks really, not wanting to wish away our time in New Zealand, as we loved it there. However, need I mention the first paragragh again??? No? Good!

We flew in yesterday afternoon and we had exceptional views of the whole island of Tongatapu from the plane before landing. It's very green! and conoconut trees aplenty.

The airport was probably the smallest airport that we've been to and there was a balcony full of people waving to the plane as we deplaned and made our way across the tarmac to the terminal building. Not something we'd expect in say...Heathrow!

So anyway, it soon became obvious that half the planeload were headed to the same accommodation as us, the very nice Heilala Holiday Lodge. We arrived late, too late for the kitchen and so were chauffered into town, Tonga style. That is to say, about 12 people packed into a small minivan complete with emergency seating (a garden chair)!

The cuisine on offer in Tonga's capital on a Saturday night was not quite as plentiful as you might expect. In fact, it wasn't what we would have expected from anywhere in Tonga really....Southern Fried Chicken & Chips for all!

This morning after a slightly more exotic breakfast of tropical fruits, we were offered a small list of activities that would not be disrupted by the ALL DAY church experience that 99% of Tongans enjoy every Sunday.

We decided a leisurely boat trip to the offshore island of Atata sounded like the best option for us. The island was sadly pretty packed, there were nine other tourists there...bummer eh?! We had to share this beautiful island with all those people, I mean, we almost saw them as we wandered along the golden sands, paddling in the crystal clear waters.

We continued our eats on what we imagine is far more traditional in Tonga than Chicken and Chips by indulging in a buffet lunch with all sorts of tropical island concoctions, including Cooper's new favourite veg - Taro! It's a purple potato that tastes just like...a potato!

This afternoon, we were packed like sardines (given the large number of us) into a boat to go off and do a spot of snorkelling. We hated this as I'm sure you can imagine. Perhaps sarcasm doesn't come over too well, so I'll be honest, we really loved getting back into the sea and swimming around looking at fishies!

It's been some time since we've been in a reasonable position to go swimming and although the water seemed a tad chilly on entry, it soon warmed up in the tropical sun and so did we!

Back on the mainland...although it can't be much bigger than Atata, we were ready for yet another feed (ever wonder why Samoans/Tongans are so heavy set??) and we've just enjoyed a very pleasant dinner back at the lodge.

Anyway...as you can tell, not much to report from our first 24 hours in Tonga, but hopefully more to come.

In summary: We like it here!

Speak soon, love to all

Nick and Katie

xxx