13th August

We Arrived in tonga in the dark this evening due to there being pretty much no wind for the past couple of days which has been a bit frustrating. As we have now crossed the date line it is the 13th August when yesterday was the 11th....so the 12th August does not exist for us this year!!

14th August

It's Charlie's birthday! caroline and lynsey arranged a lovely breakfast for charlie when she got up this morning with eggs benedict wine and a pot of tea with a bubble blowing reception from paul! arn gave lynsey and caroline a bunch of balloons to throw into her room through the door and hatches to wake her up...but she was already awake so we did it anyway! 

we took a Look around the town for most of the day and met a baby pig called angel - she was sooooo cute and very cuddly. we also met a fat pig called charlie! their owner had rescued angel as she was being mistreated and had had her ears cut/burnt off by the previous owner, the poor little thing. 

we went out for dinner for charlies birthday for an all you can eat BBQ which was delicious! caroline and lynsey arranged for a cake and happy birthday to be sung to charlie in the restaurant after our meal to make it special for her!

We had been recommended to go to a ?club? Called Moteli this evening to see a ladyboy dance show! It was hilarious and really good fun...some of them were blatantly just men with a skirt on but others almost looked the part. we met some really nice people. Charlie said she has enjoyed her day and its been the most random birthday she's ever had! 

15th August

This morning we Laid in and most of us woke up with hangovers after last nights shenanigans!. The food Shop was a bit of a mission with us not at our best. We felt better this afternoon so went and Snorkelled in a creepy cave we had read about in the lonely planet. There were bats sleeping above us on the roof of the cave. Where the sunlight touched the water it was clear to see but very dark in places. As we entered the cave there was writing/graffiti all up the walls, some of which has apparently been there since the 1800s.

16th August

Sailed to a lagoon where the pass was pretty much as wide as the boat...pretty nerve wracking! But Paul kept his cool and we made it in. When we arrived, all the other boats left so we had the whole lagoon to ourselves and spent the rest of the swimming, snorkelling and wake boarding! Decent day! 

In the evening we had a yummy BBQ on the beach listening to Ben Howard - very chilled! Until Paul decided to chase a crab with a stick which then ran to its death into the fire we were using for the BBQ! 

Poor thing! Paul felt awful as he didn't mean for it to go in the fire! 

17th August

This morning we took more advantage of having the lagoon to ourselves.  Lynsey and Caroline cleaned the hulls then we sailed back to town. We met up with some guys we met the other night in the brand watched the New Zealand v Australia football or was it rugby?? Can't remember!

18th August

We went to church this morning but left after half an hour as we had no idea what was happening! The service was in tongan so we couldnt follow it. the singing was amazing but we had to get out of there as it was so flippin hot and a child kept wacking paul round the head with a fan! also we were very hungover and the heat wasnt helping! god please forgive us! As everything shuts down on a Sunday we spent the rest of the day just sorting bits on the Internet. 

19th August

Whale watching and swimming was awesome!!!! They were really animated in the water pounding their fins and tails and breaching! We got to see a heat run which is when there are seceral males chasibg one female and the strongest one wins the girl! 

we got in the water when one of the males was rejected and needed a rest. he would chill out in the water about 10 metres down then surface every 20 minutes for air. it was amazing to see, they are huuuge its like being in the water with a jumbo jet! 

20th August

Today we got the boat ready for the passage to Fiji!