Vava'u

Greetings from Vava’u! We have now officially met all of Dad‘s siblings. When we arrived at the wharf in Neiafu we were greeted by our Aunt Vasa and her husband Sateki. She looks a lot like Siosi and Grandma Osi mixed together.
The boat ride was actually pretty enjoyable. The deck was closed in and air conditioned with air plane like seats and a big flat screen TV. Granted, they blasted a Michael Jackson concert for the first 2 and half hours, but other than that it was okay. It was a bigger ship too, so it wasn’t as rough as our boat ride to ’Eua. None of us got sick, but hours later in the motel we all still felt like we were rocking back and forth on the ship. We left Nuku’alofa at 8pm Monday night and arrived in Neiafu at 3pm Tuesday. We made one stop at the Ha’apai group of islands around 7 in the morning.
Our first stop was at the Twin View Motel in Neiafu. Vava’u is so different from Tongatapu. It’s really beautiful and a bit more like home, full of hills and cliffs. There’s a lot of smaller, rockier islands with caves. The Twin View sits right on top of a hill. From it we had a great view of the ocean and many small islands surrounding us. Driving up to the motel was a much different experience from driving in Tongatapu. It was practically all up hill with little restaurants and houses sitting on the side of the hills. It’s really very beautiful. After a few hours at the Twin View we realized it had a bee infestation! So, we moved to The Balcony, which is a really great hotel right in the middle of town here. They have a bar and restaurant connected to our little porch. We had a great first day here looking at shops and walking all over town.
Tomorrow we are moving to another (cheaper) hotel that I can’t remember the name of. It’s really very nice though and located right on the water. Hopefully we will stay there until we leave.
Everyone is very happy here in Vava’u, although we miss our dear family in Tongatapu. Wish they could be here to share this with us.
Exactly two weeks today until we arrive back in the states.
Lots of love to everyone at home.

-Maria