Tongatapu (Nuku Alofa), Sunday 15th March 2009
The tour company had trouble finding my accommodation which has no identifying sign so instead of a 10.00am tour of the island it became a 1.00pm tour. In the mean time I read magazines sitting in the long veranda area and the owner kindly offered me a delicious curried chicken lunch. There was no point in being angry about the lateness of the tour. The blow holes were interesting and the other sites were historically significant but not that amazing in the present day (Cook’s landing point and a few graves). My small torch was hopelessly dim in the second cave. I chatted with a retired traveller in the café for a while before walking back just before dark stopping at the same restaurant as yesterday with a large lively table of Australians and playing children. There is an opportunity for more kava tonight. This drink is a slightly pungent emulsion tasting like dirty water, giving a sensation of clear-thinking and calmness, similar to alcohol consumption. The owner is having difficulty deciding whether to go to his son’s graduation (the first in the family) because of the expensive airfare to Fiji. The ceiling fan is creaking.