Tragedy struck last night when we were sleeping. Nee woke up feeling really ill and spent most of the night on the toilet with really bad abdominal pains. It didn't seem to improve by about 8am so we had to cancel our plans for going on the sailing trip. The other couple who were going to join us were disappointed, but we are hoping we can go tomorrow.

Nee has almost had a full recovery today - breakfast, some gastro pills and gastrolyte, and a fair whack of sleep helped immensely. I reckon she'll be up all night cause she's had so much sleep.

This arvo when Nee was feeling a bit better, we went down to the beach and had a bit of a swim. Ellianah is just loving the beach now. We place her in the sand where the water flows around her, and just loves it. As soon as her bum hits the sand she reaches for the biggest piece of coral near her, one in each hand. Usually it goes straight in the mouth, but we figure it can't do her too much harm.

While Nee was looking after Elli I decided to have a go at snorkelling. Today was one of the first times we really had a chance to go snorkelling oddly enough. Yesterday one of the other guys here went out and go stung by a jellyfish within 10 metres of the beach. So I was pretty scared when I started my snorkel.

I had only just jumped into the water and saw a tiny fish swim by. Mistaking it for a jellyfish I shit my pants and nearly jumped out straight away. Luckily my nerves calmed and I could move forward, but not without looking frantically either side of me for the next 5 minutes.

Once I got out further I forgot about the jellyfishies and concentrated on the coral, the small tropical fishies, the multi-coloured starfishes and the huge sea-cucumbers. I also spotted a decent sized hermit crab on the sea floor. It was pretty cool to see everything, however I don't think anything could possibly beat what I've seen in Australia up at the Great Barrier Reef.

I swam for ages, finally reaching another island about 500 metres away. There wasn't anywhere for me to get out and have a rest so I just turned around and swam back, against the current. By that time I was getting quite tired and the wind had picked up a bit, making a pretty difficult return swim. Nee had the Tongan guys on the island looking for me through binoculars cause she couldn't see me anymore. She was worried that I was in serious trouble.

I swam right near a massive toadfish which was about a foot wide. It freaked me out so I wanted to get back to shore as fast as possible. It started to rain a bit and the weather was turning, so the waves were getting bigger and stronger. It was harder to stay on track, and whenever I looked up towards the beach I was facing in the wrong direction!! Aarrgghh!! Since I was being rocked about so much, a fair amount of water was coming down into the snorkel, into my mouth. Every 10 seconds or so I would have to hold my breath for a second and blow really hard so all the water would fly out the top. I think I must have swallowed about half a litre of salt water in the process.

When I arrived back onshore, Nee greeted me with the video camera and some remarks like "I'm never letting you do that again!". The Tongan guy commented to me that I was pretty fit coming back across the current. I was buggered.

</END OF SAGA>

I still had more to write about the mainland of Vava'u, so I will continue where I left off. As I don't write anything down in a paper diary first (like Nee and Ed), this website is my only active record of what I've been doing. Sorry if it's too much to read, but I figured since Ed doesn't write anything interesting on his blog, I might as well fill that hole.

This time of year is the low season for Tonga, which means we have hardly seen any tourists. This is a great thing for us, as we weren't organised enough to book our accommodation or activities before we arrived. However this means we keep seeing the same people wherever we go. A couple from the UK (who are living in Sydney) are over here and were the only other non-locals at the same restaurant as us for the first two nights. Now we see them everyday as they are staying at the same resort as us. To give you an idea of how deserted it is, there are more staff than guests on this island.

The other good thing is price, many things are cheaper in the low season. The only downside is that things like traditional feasts and sailing trips is by demand only, and there is hardly any demand.

Last Saturday while we were still on the mainland of Vava'u, we took a taxi up the northern point, which has this incredible view of the water and deserted beaches and steep cliffs on both sides. I can't find any pics on the net to show you, but you'll definitely see our pics when we arrive home.

On the way back I mentioned to the cab driver that Nee was half-Tongan and her Dad was born in Mataika (a small village between the lookout and the main town). To our surprise he decided to stop and ask a family if there were any relatives left. More to our surprise we found the last living Tongia family in Tonga. You can read more about it on Nee's blog entry about this. Truly weird!

On Sunday afternoon I decided to hire a bike from the backpackers we were staying at. The bikes looked so old and crappy, and they were expensive to hire ($8 for half day), but I was bored as nothing is open on a Sunday in Tonga and Nee and Ellianah were down for the count (sleeping). Off I went and started to explore Vava' at a bicycle pace. Although it was still pretty steamy hot, I had a good ride out to a village called Makave, about 3 or 4 kms out of town.

The houses in the "country" in Tonga are very very basic. Most of them have their doors and windows permanently open (because of the heat) and many are just a single room, so you can see straight through them. People sleep on mats on the floor, and most of the people I saw as I rode through were sleeping inside or outside. Which makes sense, as Sunday is a day of rest and religion.

As I arrived into Makave, the chain on the bike started playing up, and eventually it fell off. I realise now that a part must have come loose and fallen off, as I couldn't figure out how the hell to get the chain back on. I stopped on the side of the road near a church to hear the singing that was going on. A few Tongan women stopped by to help me, but they couldn't figure it out either. I decided to walk back to town as it wasn't that far.

On the way home I had nearly drank all of my 1.5L bottle of water, and was starting to get peckish. I found a coconut on the side of the road and decided to go all "Survivor". It was still in a hard husk, so I used my superhuman strength and also sourced the power of the bitumen. After throwing it at the bitumen a few times it split open and the milk sprayed everywhere. I managed to get a bit of coconut out and eat it, satisfying my hunger. I couldn't get too much more out of it, so I found another one nearby and took it home.

I opened the new one up by using a cement step at the backpackers, was a bit easier than the first. I also managed to completely de-husk it so it looked like something you would buy at the supermarket. Then I cracked it open and it split in two symmetrical pieces (like in the travel videos). I then used a western utility called a butter knife and scraped out every piece of coconut. It was delicious, and even more so knowing that I opened it myself.

On Monday we arrived at Mala Island Resort, which is about a 15 minute drive and a small boat ride from the centre of town. It is quite small (could easily walk around it in about 20 minutes) and the only thing on the island is the resort. It is quite modern (only 6 years old), however they had a bit of trouble starting it up and only re-opened it in the last 6 months at reasonable prices. We are paying T$200 each night which includes our accommodation and all meals. This is equalivalent to about AUD$120 a night which is a freaking bargain considering we almost have the whole island and beach to ourselves. It's insanely beautiful and everything is decked out in traditional Tongan-style bamboo, wood carvings and tapa cloth. Plus we get free internet :)

Apart from Nee getting sick this morning it has been wicked staying here. The food is tops and while Nee was sleeping today I played a game of Monopoly with two other guests. I have to admit, I kicked ass!!!

Tomorrow we will wake up early and walk to the other side of the island to watch the sunrise. We just need to get our hands on an alarm clock. Once that is sorted hopefully we will spend the day on a sailboat. I am trying to convince Nee to leave Ellianah with one of the staff on Mala Island so we can just relax and enjoy some time to ourselves. We'll see how that goes.

Burgers for dinner tonight, and Nee is coming now so I gotta get off the computer. Take care, and see you all next week! (We fly home to Brisbane on Monday)