20/2/2026 recovery day sunset and cultural buffet and dancing

Phew the aircon is reasonably efficient when it's on, and cools everything down quite quickly. Its fighting a losing battle against the heat though, and also the two story building. Maybe the downstairs apartment might have been better after all!. Never mind there is always a cool shower. 

Breakfast coaxed me out of my bed with its delicious smells. There was a creamy pasta and fish dish this morning with scrambled eggs and onions. Homemade sweet bread, pastries and fruit, also some taro leaves which were really nice, lightly sauteed with garlic. Oh and the ever important coffee . 

I met the other guests today from downstairs. I missed them yesterday as I went out before they got up. They are Japanese and he had spent 6 years in London so spoke faultless English and had also mastered the English sarcasm and irony, oh how I love it. They were a really interesting couple and have given me so much information about Japan and encouraged me to visit. Saying it has four perfect seasons, and is so safe and everyone is respectful. They told me it's very easy to get around even on my own. If Morg decides he's heading out there I am definitely going to go and visit him! I ave already decided I will visit even if he decides he's not going! Especially as it's a safe place to go and easy to get around. Someone told me on one of the trips in Samoa if I can manage the islands I will be ok in most places. So that's a good thing right. The world is my lobster. They are off on a tour to the caves today and are heading back to Melbourne tomorrow morning.  

We ate our breakfast and Maria packed up the leftover breakfast into picnics for them to take with them. She offered me one but as I wasn't going out til tonight it didn't feel right, I was also stuffed from breakfast . 

They all left and I got down to getting yesterday's blog up to date, there was so much to get in but the time to get it done was a godsend and also it made me relax and not do anything. I slapped on the tens machine as well to try and ease out the aches. 

As I sat next to the fan and tapped away I was talking to Me’me. Her family is at home in Fiji, her husband, three children, mother, and twin brother. The wages she gets paid by Maria are more than enough to support her whole family but she hasn't seen them in person for over 2 years. Every morning and night she face times the children, something she finds very hard. She told me that the children are her younger sisters' children and she took them from her which is allowed in Fiji, and in a lot of the pacific Islands, particularly if there are issues with their care. Her sister met a new man who didn't like the children, and treated them and her badly, which is why Me’me took them. Her sister was in full agreement and the whole family is now bringing the children up. Meme sends home the money to support them all and she was able to bring the family with her if she wished but the extended family unit is a tight knit unit and the school they are in in Fiji is better than the ones here. It's a huge sacrifice that she's making. After an hour she came and asked me if i had any laundry that i needed doing, so i quickly agreed to that because it will save me doing it when i get back to Auckland. Also it will save me $20 as the Aarangi motel is pricey on the laundry front as I’ve already discovered. The few things I'm wearing will be ok washed by hand, and the t-shirt may not even make it home. It's minging from the mosquito repellent and so badly discoloured to be unwearable. Although, I may keep it ready for the next islands because rather than ruin other t shirts there. Yup, keeping it! My £1 bargain beach shirt from Primark definitely won’t make it back from Tonga it’s an embarrassment to wear , it’s completely discoloured from pool chlorine, sea water and insect repellent. Despite being washed several times it’s disgusting colour and looks awful. I do have some standards you know. Also the accidental washing with the sarong and the subsequent colour run didn’t do it any favours either!

Maria very kindly offered to share their lunch with me, but as I was eating out at the cultural show I knew I would struggle to finish if I ate at lunch time too. The day was relaxing and just what I needed although my aches havent subsided much.. How rude.

I had a message from Hamala saying he'd be picking me up at 1815 hours, the buffet dinner and show was confirmed at Oholei Beach and I was really looking forward to it.  

He has picked up a hire car to take me around the island and it works out much better than him paying for a taxi and a driver to take us, even if it is family.  Car hire is £25 a day and air conditioned! I had thought about hiring one myself but then the driving , pigs crossing the road, millions of dogs just lying in the middle of the road. And given my problems concentrating it didn't feel like the best idea really! 

He turned up on time in a little white Nissan and we drove out to the blow holes for the sunset which was really pretty, unfortunately a very heavy rain storm we’d had earlier meant it was pretty overcast and cloudy. There were some breaks in the cloud and it enough to put on a bit of a show for me. 

The blow holes were more impressive tonight so I’m glad we went back there.  It was deserted and the waves crashing over the rocks combined with the setting sun was quite soothing. As always the deeper and to me, more impressive colours come with the after burn but unfortunately we couldn’t stop to see that due to the buffet and show booking. However we waited until the sun sunk and then loaded into the car to go to the show, my mind elsewhere and I guess by now you all know where it was and what I was thinking, even with an evening of entertainment ahead of me the thoughts remain the same.

The Blow holes are on the South West of the Island and the Oholei Beach resort where the buffet and show was is on the South East side and it took about half hour to drive there. On the way there, and about 5 minutes from the turn off to the Oholei resort there was a Police roadblock set up outside the police station, which is next door to the fire station. We were stopped and Hamala was asked to present his licence, which he did not have with him. He had his identification card which seemed to be enough. The female officer was speaking to him in Tongan, but I heard the word “Palagi” several times which I know is used in Tonga, Fiji Samoa and New zealand for  white people. I discovered that Friday nights are the nights for road blocks and that any violation can be obliterated by a “donation” to the police fund. However, because I was in the car with Hamala he didn't have to pay the “donation” and he said it was because it would look bad on the police force. The female officer was more than polite and friendly to me, but I'm pretty sure it's because I'm a tourist. I didn't think it prudent to ask her for a photo… although i’d love to have sat and had a conversation with her. 

With Hamala visibly relieved at getting away without paying into the police fund we went the the last 5 minutes and turned off the main road and drove down the narrow lane to the resort.  

Before the tsunami, Oholei resort’s buffet and cultural performance was held in a huge cave, but it was all  destroyed. They have since rebuilt the business, but obviously it could no longer be on the beach. Looking at some old photos it looked amazing, and it was one of two resorts that did it on the Island. The following photos are from Google showing the resort pre tsunami.

They are currently in the process of building accommodation alongside the resort, which will enable them to capitalise massively on the whale season. There is a deep channel that runs along the front of their plot that the whales favour, the only downside is that the currents and waves are unpredictable and there have been several drownings on that side of the island as there are no rescue boats servicing it at all so much so the area isn't ever fished because of the dangers. A Tongan fishing boat has been missing all week, and the fishermen were presumed dead. Amazingly the boat was located just off the coast of Fiji by New Zealand Spotter planes. Tonga has a deal with them and Australia and they fly over Tongan waters to protect them from being fished by foreign boats. Just recently there were 5 massive trawlers flying Tongan flags when they were boarded they were Vietnamese and Chinese fishermen. Thieving barstewards. Their boats were seized and the crew arrested. Anyway I digress, apologies, but you know how my brain jumps around the place!.    

Tonight we arrived at Oholei and there were only a few cars in the car park which Hamala said was really unusual, and when we got in we found out why, they had a large booking for 150 people and they cancelled at the last minute. Every table was laid up in readiness for the large party,  the food had been prepared for that number of people, and a huge number of staff laid on for the evening and sadly there were only 30 of us. Like most resort businesses on the Island it's family run, typically with the whole family involved, right from the grandparents down to the youngest grand child. Despite there being so few of us, the greeting we received on our arrival was warm and personal. Hamala as a local guide will always take his tours there and as such he gets his food for free. He has known the family since he was a young boy from visiting his family, they all grew up together and you can see the genuine affection they hold for each other. There were two men at the entrance and they were two of the daughters' husbands and went out of their way to make me feel welcome. They wrote down our names when we arrived and wanted to know where I was from. Hamala made the fundamental error of saying England, I think my look must have spoken volumes, because he quickly amended it to Wales,  explaining to the lady on the door it was a big insult as a Tongan being called Samoan. The Island rivalry between those two islands is vicious and very much alive, they actually hate each other. 

We were shown to our table near the front of the room, and bought a plate of cassava crisps and peanuts and a drink. Cassava crisps might be my new favourite snack, really tasty, crispy,  chunky and crunchy, and homemade. In my personal opinion and Si’s, they could have done with a ton of salt but, even without the salt they were still very good. It's a shame cassava needs warm weather to grow, or I'd be planting some at home! Before the buffet was served, grandma, who had been sitting at the side of the stage in a chair,  and her youngest son got up and said a prayer, he said it in English, and her in Tongan.

Once that was finished and then we were directed to the buffet table at the back of the room. There was so much food on offer, taro root which I actually like. It's a kind of floury sweet potato, lots of salad, smoked fish, raw fish in coconut milk, octopus, clams  chicken, lamb wrapped in taro leaf. I obviously declined that, and a whole pig which had been cooked on a spit outside. There were also plates of fresh fruit, pineapple, watermelon and caramelized breadfruit. I was expecting to go back up to put that on my plate after I finished the savory stuff but it all went on together. When in Rome and all that. 

As we ate, we were sung to by the youngest daughter who had a fabulous voice and a vocal range that would give The Gaga a run for her money.. There was a young girl sitting at one of the tables at the front of the room with her partner who was introduced to us all as Miss Tonga. I'm not entirely sure she was but whoever she was, she was  celebrating her birthday. Her boyfriend had surprised her and popped the question tonight as well. It was nice in some respects to be part of the celebration of them starting their journey together, but it made me cry, because my own precious journey was so short. I truly hope they grow old together and are as happy as Si and I.  She obliged the other guests by posing for photos with them, there was a table of Fijian men who were particularly enamoured with her, i think they had fully bought into the whole Miss Tonga thing  and she couldn’t get away from them.Her partner had to rescue her in the end. They were absolutely shitfaced as well and could barely stand up, possibly  assisted by 5 bottles of wine they’d had in the hour we’d been there. By the time we left they had inhaled 9 bottles which was pretty good going and the one man was fast asleep. 

The food was seriously good, particularly the roast pig. Fun fact about pigs, most families keep one or two for eating. Tongans are allowed to keep a gun to protect themselves and their properties from the pigs. If a pig comes onto your property and if they  damage the property you are allowed to shoot them and ultimately eat them. However if you shoot them and they aren't on  your property you can be arrested. When the pigs are shot the men butcher them themselves, there are no slaughter houses or butchers and then they are eaten. It's the same with any animal that is kept for feeding the family, all slaughtered at home and butchered.

While we were eating our food, the show began. Our lovely hostess apologized for the small number of performers on stage but explained that most of their young people had left the Island and gone off to Australia and New Zealand to pick fruit. They can make more money in a 6 month stint for their families in doing so than they can ever make in Tonga. The performers tonight were three girls and two boys, and the  dances were beautiful. I've added a link, to get me finally getting a grip on the whole link thing that explains the different dances far more  comprehensively than I could. https://www.tongatourism.travel/discover/people-and-culture/tongan-dance

The two boys performed a warrior type dance that was incredibly energetic, and our hostess told us that because of the Fijiians in the house and in honour of Miss Fiji winning Miss Pacific, she'd changed the program to reflect that. 

There was a final dance and it was the solo dance traditionally performed by Noble's daughter. There isn't a tribal system in Tonga like Samoa and Fiji, as it's a kingdom, so there are nobles instead. https://nobilitytitles.net/nobility-of-tonga/ we were told that the noble's daughter is covered in oil which signifies her purity, but to my warped mind it is also very helpful for sticking the money to in our modern days!

As soon as the entertainment was over we got on our way, Hamala said goodbye to his friend and we walked to the exit. As we went through both the husbands who were on the door, made a point of thanking me for coming, and using my name as they did so, which felt really nice. Again, they're in the tourism industry, maybe  had there been 150 people there they wouldn't have done so, but the fact they go out of their way to express their gratitude made me all warm and fuzzy.

I was more tired than a tired thing, and very grateful for the cooler night air and the wide open windows.  I'd also remembered  to cover myself in mosquito repellent before going out as I do not want a dose of dengue fever thanks very much. Or even a bloody mozzie bite! As we drove past the police and fire station, the roadblock was still in place, but no one was manning it so we drove through. As we did we saw the police officers all sitting around the table drinking Kava. Kava does not grow naturally on Tongatapu but grows beautifully on Eua, a short ferry trip away.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CA%BBEua

When I got back to the hotel the young lad who lives in was waiting for me so he could lock the gate behind me. The young Chinese girl who had hired the car from Maria, the owner, for the duration of her trip, had got back shortly before me. She'd been to Katea retreat for their buffet and dance show, but she was really disappointed as there  was no dancing, just the buffet. I did feel smug and very lucky to have seen the dancing, no matter that it was on a smaller scale. So that was today, the time is whizzing by really fast. I was glad to get into the airconditioned room and have a long cool shower before kissing my precious photo of Si goodnight and positioning myself under the aircon unit. 

Much love

Mrs Leonard

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