Today is our “spare” day in case weather or other factors prevented us from achieving our whale-swim or dives. Since everything had gone so well, we rented a scooter today to go sightseeing around the Vava’u. Due to its odd octopus-like shape, we thought we could go to a few different arms of the island.
For a start, the scooter was expensive (TOP50) and rickety. The battery wasn’t working, so they mounted a car-sized battery on the footboard. It had a tendency to jump off on the bumpy roads.
First we went to the south-western arm. The scenery was pretty with lots of coconut, taro and banana plants. We then backtracked to Neiafu to go slightly east to the Tongan Beach Resort. The cafe/bar which came highly recommended by friends who had lived in Tonga.
But things didn’t go smoothly. We suffered a puncture after overshooting the resort due to lack of signage. We parked the scooter at someone’s house and attempted to walk to the resort. Fortunately we met a taxi driver who told us we were heading in the wrong direction and he gave us a ride (paid) to the resort.
The puncture didn’t really interrupt our day apart from the little walk and taxi ride. We had lunch at the resort’s cafe then enjoyed the sand and sea here. The Tongan Beach Resort has 12 chalets it seems; very nice compared to some faceless mega-resort.
We rang our guesthouse from the resort and the owner Tai organised the scooter-man to come repair our puncture at the house where we had left it. We were able to make our way back into Neiafu mid-afternoon.
In the evening, we went to the theatre. Yes, in Vava’u! But it was a 12-seat venue with nearly no ventilation called the Baby Grand Theatre. It wasn’t the reenactment of the Black Hole of Calcutta but instead it was a one-man show called Augustine’s Circus. It was a one-man flea circus by a very talented English man. I did see three fleas at the beginning but for the remainder of the show, it was his slight-of-hand (and his big persona) that drove everything else; from imaginary fleas cycling, jumping into water, on the trapeze etc!
-
- Church in Vava’u.
-
- Beautiful sheltered waters of Vava’u make it a good stop for boats.
-
- Scooter with battery where the feet should go.
-
- Scenery in out-of-town Vava’u.
-
- At the Tongan Beach Resort where we waited for our scooter puncture to be fixed.
-
- At the Tongan Beach Resort where we waited for our scooter puncture to be fixed.
