Tafuna's in Tonga!!!

Here it is at last!!! Everyone keeps asking us, "How was Tonga?!!". This should sum it up. Actually, nothing could really sum it up. Tonga is a totally different world to anything that i could have imagined. It's something that you have to experience to understand. Their way of thinking and way of life, their values and ideas are so different to what I'm used to. There's the cultural side of it, the economic side of it, the geographic side of it, there are so many sides of it! But at the end of the day, they're just so happy. Never ever have I seen people who are just so happy and content with life. It was refreshing. We had such a great time there.

But here it is....Lots of pictures, little witting.

- First time on a plane for Malachi, and lots of it all at once. He did well, slept alot, entertained people for the rest.

Yes, we squeezed him into the bassinet. Luckily he slept with his but in the air or he wouldn't have fit.

- First impressions of Tonga - SO FLAT, fields of coconut trees everywhere, every little village (20 houses or so) has a chapel (which means lots of Mormons), and a little dairy (corner shop), and not a whole lot else. My dear little friend Chrysanne would describe it as the simple life.

All the little shops had bars on them like a prison to stop all the little kids from stealing stuff, so you cant actually go inside, you just point at what you want.

- It was so good for Tui to be with his family again and for Malachi to finally meet them all. I finally met Tui's youngest brother, Siope, who couldn't make it to the wedding. He was a sweetheart, much like what I imagine Tui was like when he was younger. And of course we met the rest of the family....all 13 of them.....

Helping grandma to clean.


These are some of the 13 other members of the family that I'm not so keen on.


- Lots of cool places to visit
This is the house that Tui grew up in. His aunty lives in it now, but it was cool for him to go back and remember the good old days.


After not being able to go to the temple for 7 months due to ours being closed, we got to go and do a session in the Tongan temple. It was my first time doing a session in Tongan, and the first time for Tui to go back after the temple was rebuilt.


These rocks are apparently where some old Tongan king supposedly lived. The sun rises directly in the middle of them. Pretty cool.


This is where Captain cook first landed in Tonga


Wellington curry, in Tonga - how ironic!


The King's Palace.


Beautiful beaches

Tui's brother drove us through some serious bush to this place, it's like the edge of the island. Very windy, really pretty.



The Tongan Prison was one of my favourite places. I had to take pictures or no one would believe me. The prisoners are basicly free to come and go as they please (most stay put coz they know they'd get it worse back at home), the prison wall is a 3 ft hedge. They spend their time farming and selling off their produce, and waving to people as they drive by. So I of course had to buy some criminal vegies and take a few pictures.


- We had another (that would be #3) birthday party for Malachi with the Village kids.


We had such a great time in Tonga, it wasn't long enough. Just enough to give us a taste of what we have to look forward to in a few years.