Whangraei Falls - NZ

Last Tongan sunset....the perfect sendoff!

Our van and home for the next month!

Ana hula caves in Tonga.

Everything is closed on Sunday....everything. This is one of the main streets in the capital after church.

Our first ferry ride...note the wave over the bow.

Giant 800 years old Ovava (banyan) tree, Eua, Tonga.

Present opening on Christmas Day.

Preparation of local Sunday 'umu' feast.

Riding bikes to the south end of Eua.

Our bungalows on Eua.

Some pics from the last month...in no particular order, sorry.

Helping make coconut cream from coconuts....harder than buying it in a can.

Our charger for our IPOD broke so we just went to the local Tongan mac store.

Our bungalow over the water on Savaii', Samoa (the one with the dirty clothes).

Samoan Christmas tree!

Flea market in Tonga.

Canada- pig in a blanket, Tonga- pig in a sack....literally.

We have more accessible Internet here so we thought we would post one more message before we fly to NZ. 
This morning we had another highly anticipated ferry ride. We arrived an hour early at 430 am and we were told the boat was full...great! There were still lots of people waiting around the boat so we just decided to wait with them and about 15 minutes after we were denied they told us we could go on...? It illegal to ride on the roof of the boat, but the sitting area gets hot and muggy and smells of diesel fuel...among other smells. Words really do not describe the sensory overload. Luckily, once the boat is out of the wharf people go on the roof regardless of the law and we followed suit. We had learned from our first ride to sit near the back and we actually stayed dry for the entire ride. Getting off the boat was mayhem. There is one lady sitting at the door of the boat who collects all the money and gives out change and there were over 200 ppl on the boat. A few people bypass the chaos and just go over the railings with whatever cargo they are carrying. One guy put his sack of cargo down while he climbed over and the sack started moving. 
Q- "what the hell is in that sack?"
Riley- " I don't know but it's breathing."
Turns out it was a pig. Poor little guy. After that we paid attention and saw several other "moving sacks"....I guess it makes sense, how else would you transport your pig around?

We've had a few bumps in the road so far, but such is the nature of a holiday in Tonga. The occasional frustration and discomfort has been easily outweighed by special moments!

Info we learned about Tonga:
- Tonga is comprised of 170 islands, 36 are inhabited
- public affection is taboo
- clothes are worn swimming (jeans, runners etc), not bathing suits
- dogs are stray animals, not pets...and sometimes food!???
- you don't need alarm clocks here because roosters will wake you up WELL before dawn
- pigs live free range along the sides of roads, they look like communal property, but come meal time (coconuts), they know which trough to run to
- hot water is rare, but who needs it in a country where the temp doesn't drop below 25 degrees
- EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday (actually it's illegal to do basically anything but rest)
- spiders, geckos, ants and cockroaches come complimentary with the room
- "Ota ika"- raw tuna in coconut cream is delicious
- these people can SING!
- phone # are 6 digits
- leave your watch at home because everything runs on Tongan time

So long from Tonga, the friendly islands!

Q & Rye

Take that bike off any sweet jumps?

Today is our second last day here in Tonga. Tomorrow morning we catch the only ferry off of the island which leaves at the ungodly hour of 5 am (and we have to be there at 4!). Our last 5 days on Eua have gone by pretty quickly but we have also kept a little busier here.
On Christmas day we had a few presents with us to open so we had breakfast and decided to hike the 5 km to the east side of the island. There were a couple of lookout platforms that were built on the top of the cliffs so they provided a spectacular view out over the Pacific. We had lunch and opened our presents before hiking back down to the guesthouse..this Christmas will go down in history as the first Christmas we actually did physical activity and didn't eat ourselves into a coma.
Skype hasn't been working since we got here fortunately our families were able to call the guesthouse on Christmas day. It was Boxing Day for us but it was really nice to hear from everyone!
Yesterday we rented a couple of bikes and rode to the south side of the island. We were told it was around a 10 km ride one way but there was a nice beach to cool off once you got there. The bikes we rented were a little...well used to say the least. Riley had a mountain bike that you would buy at Canadian tire except the shocks in the front were rusted stiff, the brakes were ripped off and it was turned in to a single speed. My bike was a vintage WWII bike from Holland (or at least in looked and rode like one). We started the ride later in the morning and before long the temperature was probably close to 30 (and felt like 45). The ride was a little longer than we thought but mostly because we had to walk up every hill. We made it to the south end of the island and checked out a huge archway along the ocean and had lunch along the sea cliffs. Riley, with her hawkeyes spotted a turtle from probably a half mile away just floating around in the waves...our first turtle of the trip.ther was some wild horses which inhabit the area but it must have been too hot for them because they weren't out running about in the meadow.. too bad.
The ride back went a little quicker and we realized the ride there was so hard because it was slightly uphill. We were going to stop at the beach for a swim but decided not to as it would have required us to ride down another 500 m or so downhill to the water....and inturn 500 m uphill after words. The ride back was long and HOT, probably the most uncomfortably hot we have been yet. We made it back to the guesthouse and later figured out it was closer to 26km to the south side and back! We cooled off with a cold shower and laid around until dinner. After dinner we played crib and watched the sun set over the ocean.
Today we are just going to rest our bodies (mainly our very sore bums) and get ready for our early early morning and death defying roller coaster ride...I mean ferry ride.

We hope everyone had a wonderful, festive and relaxing Christmas!
Talk to you from the land of the Maori.

Log ride at Calaway Park + 2 hrs - seat belts = Tonga Ferry

Well, we made it Safely to Eua, barely, but we did. The ferry ride was basically like riding a roller coaster, that also rolls side to side, without a seat belt. Our education from Deadliest Catch served us well. It gave us comfort knowing that it's next to impossible to sink a boat. Q and I chose to sit on top to get the fresh air and see our surroundings. It wasn't until we took a huge wave over the bow and got drenched that we realized why most people sit inside. Silly foreigners! Haha. A few times it felt like we were going to roll, but the locals assured us this trip was normal. We continued to take spray in the face throughout the journey because it was next to impossible for us to walk with the motion of the sea. We couldn't help but laugh when some of the locals would just climb over the railing to get to the main level without concern for falling overboard.

Our resort now is a little more rustic, but the island itself has lots to do. Unfortunatly we are about a month behind the humpback whales which you can apparently watch breaching from the beach :(
Sunday we will go to church again and watch how they build and use an underground oven, we will be doing some hiking and maybe even some horseback riding on the beach.

It's so strange that it's Christmas eve (we are 22hrs ahead). It's just not Christmas without family, friends and snow. It will just pass us by without notice. I think it will be harder for our family at home. Skype hasnt been cooperating with us so hopefully in the next couple days it works. We will be thinking of all of you even more these next couple days as we aren't there to share in the holiday season. Merry Christmas everyone. We love and miss you!

Oh baby do you know what that's worth? Oh Heaven is a place on Earth!

Since Monday we have been staying at Liku'alofa Beach resort, also known as the beach of love. Once again it is paradise. Our accomodation this time consist of solid walled huts with a peaked roof about 100 ft from the ocean. We have a hammock out front and an ensuite bathroom, a fridge and kettle. All this for $55/night. The food here has been mediocre, but along with our ichiban noodles and salad we've been sustaining ourselves with, we recently discovered bread fruit chips. They are basically like cactus cut potatoes without the spice. Delicious.

Things have been very quiet at this resort as well. Up until yesterday we were the only ones staying here. We are officially grandmasters at yahtzee according to our itouch, and we've each read about 5 books. Despite the boredom, if you will, there isn't a day that passes that I don't have a moment where I think "does life get better than this".

Last night our resort put on a traditional feast and dance so we took advantage. Laura, if you read this, as a matter of fact they do dance to Kei$ha here and they have rhythm that I could only dream of. They put my moves to shame, not that it takes much. Haha.
So far last night was the best night on record. After the band played they had karaoke and we sang the night away with one other group of ladies. It was a blast. At one point we played a game where we each picked a song for the other group to sing. We chose "my name is" by Eminem... So cruel of us. And it was not enjoyable to listen to either. For us they picked "on bended knee" by boys 2 men. It was impressive how well my memories of music from junior high stuck with me.

Tomorrow we are catching a ferry to another island called Eua. It's a 2 he boat ride and we will be spending 5 days there.

It's all fun and games until someone gets hit with a flaming baton

It's day 18 of relaxation and we are almost maxed out. Haha. We decided to stay in the main city in Tonga for a few days and each day we have one thing on the agenda and the rest of the day is spent reading, napping, playing yahtzee and eating. Tough life.
Our second day in Tonga we rented a car and toured the island. We saw more blow holes as well has a huge cave. There were huge stalagtites and they have lights to illuminate everything. Super cool. There were lots of bats and one of the highlights is a large pool of water you can swim in. I will readily admit that I was too creeped out to go in the water. Q on the other hand also did not go swimming, however, he won't admit it was creepy. He just wasn't feeling it... Right.
That night we went to a traditional Tongan feast and dance. The food was served on pieces of bark from a banana tree and most of the food is cooked underground. The dancing was similar to the Samoan fia fia. The men were very energetic and powerful and the woman are much more graceful. At the end three men did a fire dance. It was all well and good until one of the dancers lost his baton of flames into the crowd as he was spinning it, not once but 3 times. Haha. Luckily no one was hit. It always landed just shy of the first row, where all of the kids were sitting.
Saturday we went to the flea market. It's basically a gigantic garage sale. So fun. We bought a few books for about $1 and a few pairs of earrings as all 3 pairs of mine went missing from our room. Hmm.
Today the only thing on the agenda was church. Can you believe we've been gone 3 weeks and we've attended church twice. The service isn't in English, but the singing is amazing. I basically have goose bumps for an hour it's so beautiful. Anyways, I better get going. Given that everything is closed on Sundays I'm fInding the Internet to be very addicting which I also feel guilty about bc that should be part of the appEal of traveling. Oops. Will probably post again soon given my new habit. Miss everyone. Bye

We flew out of Samoa this morning on air new Zealand which by the way is a fabulous airline, and arrived in Tonga tomorrow morning. Yes, we travelled through time. Sound confusing? Since we crossed the international date line we are now a day ahead.

Tonga is quite a small island. There isn't much here for accommodations, but right now we are staying at clean guest house in the capital city. I say city, but the population isn't very big.
Today we walked into town and went to the market. I think that's one of my favorite things about both Samoa and tonga. There are hundreds of vendors selling inexpensive, fresh fruit. We have been indulging in pineapple, watermelons and mangos all for less than $0.50.

One thing I'm having difficulty adjusting to is the bathroom and bedroom wildlife. I have had some run-INS with geckos (man they are fast), giant spiders, ants and most recently a cockroach. I think it's most startling bc you're in a closed area with them. Ants in the bed is also not fun. Last night we had ordered some pizza and we left it in our room for 15 minutes. When we went to eat it it was swarming with little ants. Some how Q was able to jus t lblow them offand eat a few pieces still.

Tomorrow the plan is to rent a car and drive around the island. It looks like we may have Internet for a few days so hopefully we won't have to write another novel like our last post.

2 weeks in Samoa

Approx. 2 weeks have gone by and Rye and I are leaving for Tonga tomorrow morning at 8 am. The time here has gone by fast even though life here is anything but fast.

We arrived in Apia. Samoa on Dec. 3 and decided to rent a car to get our bearings on Upoli (one of Samoa’s two large islands) and figure out where we wanted to stay. We ended up renting a Hyundai Getz, which is very similar to a Ford Focus…except the Getz ran a little rougher than the average Focus. We think that the fuel filters were more than a little plugged because we would step on the gas and the car would jerk forward and then stop and then jerk again and continue doing this until reaching the optimal speed on 45 km/hr.

We made our way into the capital of Apia. Along the way we went through several villages; most of the villages are located along the ocean. All of the villages made up of fales, which are thatch roofs on stilts and are open to the elements.

We found the place that we were going to stay and decided to hit the main market in town…BTW – I forgot the guidebook for Samoa and Tonga on the plane…The market was pretty busy and we were on the only westerners there so we got a lot of attention.

We spent the next couple of days checking out the sites around Apia. We went snorkeling at this marine reserve. Not that either of use have done a lot of snorkeling but this was by far the coolest we’ve done. We swam out about 100 m off-shore and then all of a sudden you reach this huge drop and the bottom goes from around 2 m to over 30 m. The drop is lined with coral reef and thousands of fish…quite the site.

We also went to the “sliding rocks”, which were three natural waterslides along this river high up in the jungle. There is a picture of me sliding down the first drop…or waterslide. The rocks were polished enough that it didn’t hurt too bad except some of the pools were a little shallow.

After the couple of days in Apia we caught a ride out to the east coast for six days of rest and relaxation. We stayed at Litia Sini’s Beach resort which has just re-opened after being totally wiped out after the 2009 tsunami. We got there and there were only five other people staying there so it was quite peaceful. The beach fales that we stayed in were only 20’ from the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. The water was swimming pool warm and the classic teal blue that you imagine when you think of the South Pacific. After only two days we were the only two people staying there and we were absolutely spoiled. We spent the next five days taking lots of naps, taking turns reading books aloud to each other and eating. The rest was enough to heal Riley, who some of you know got sick with strep throat three days before we flew out.

On our way back to Apia we stopped at this ocean trench, which was a huge sink hole that was connected to the ocean. You had to climb down this 60’ ladder to get to the water below but once you were down you were surrounded by eden every which way you looked.

We caught the ferry over to the other island of Savaii. We sailed economy class and again were the only westerners on board. The ferry was quite a ride as they pack it full of people, cars/trucks and whatever else will fit on it and take it 1.5 hrs over to the next island.

We stayed four nights at a place called Lucia’s Lagoon Chalets and had a hut that was over top of the water. This hut was very similar to the local homes that I mentioned above where they have a thatch roof and are open to the elements, except ours had thatch walls that could be tied up or down. It seemed a little sketchy at first, but being able to see all the fish and watch the sunrise from bed …it was worth it.

We rented another car here to tour the island…I should mention that the local transport consists of old buses with wood seats, tons of decals and music cranked as loud as the speakers would go. They only cost 50 cents but are pretty unreliable but when they do come they are pretty full. People often sit on each others laps. We road the buses to and from the ferry but figured a rental car might be better to tour the island.

We made the circumnavigation of the island and stopped at an area with a bunch of blowholes. It’s an area of shoreline made of volcanic rock so it’s quite porous. When the waves come in their force causes pressure to build up and water shoots up through the holes like a geyser.

The northern part of island was another popular tourist destination, although at this time of year it was fairly abandoned so we decided to stay put at Lucia’s.

(this is Riley writing now)

I just need to mention that Samoans are the nicest people. Whether it’s giving travel advice, helping us with our packs or giving up their seat or knee on a bus, they have been more than accommodating. It’s definitely island living. There are pigs and chickens roaming the streets and the power often only works at night time and not on Sundays and family here is priority. It has been wonderful to experience their culture.

Love Q & R

Internet access has been pretty slim.  Here are a few photos for your viewing pleasure. We will write more of an update on Tuesday when we have access to high speed…stay tuned J

Day 1

We have arrived safely ... At the Edmonton airport. It still does not seem real. I think it may take a lack of snow and temperatures warmer than 25 degrees for reality to actually set in. After numerous emotional goodbyes, I'm looking forward to this long awaited adventure. We look forward to updates from all of you. Keep us in the loop.

For those of you who can never remember our destinations, as I barely can myself, here it is:

Samoa 2 weeks
Tonga 2 weeks
New Zealand 1 month
Thailand 2 weeks
Cambodia 2 weeks
Vietnam 3 weeks
Laos 2 weeks
Jordan 2 weeks
Morocco 1 month
Tanzania 2 weeks

Chat soon!

The Beginning