Tonga Day 3 (Tongatapu)

Wow, what an amazing day. It began with our tour thanks to our Tongan tour guide Peter courtesy of Toni's Guesthouse. We spent over five hours covering the islands amazing history and beautiful scenery. We went to the west coast first to watch the blow holes shoot high into the air from the waves crashing into the rocky coastline. We then visited various beaches for brief moments here and there. Absolutely spectacular! A real nice treat came soon after as we ate lunch on a hostel-based cliff watching the waves and numerous blow holes of the shoreline.

The best came soon thereafter as we spent at least an hour to an hour and a half in probably the coolest place I had ever experienced - the underwater fresh-water cave on the east coast of the island. With stalactites and mites covering the ceiling and floor, this cave was as beautiful as I'd ever seen - including Waitomo. The end of the cave however was the key feature - amazingly refreshing, clear fresh water pool perfect for jumping, swimming, climbing and diving. We even found under water tunnels allowing us to swim from one section to the next - truly one of the greatest places and experiences of my life.

After, we quickly visited the Trilithon - though they're not sure exactly what it was originally made for - these forty ton pieces of stone created the 'Gateway to the King's Palace'. That pretty much concluded our tour as Peter dropped us off for a little golf action. Nine holes, rental clubs, fairway-type grass for putting greens - oh ya - we played golf in Tonga haha. I've definitely played better in my lifetime but the weather, the company and the golfing atmosphere as a whole is hard to beat.

That pretty much finished our day but the night had just begun. Because nothings open on Sundays and we had to part ways with Simon the next day, we figured we go out for a little birthday celebration. Tongatapu only has two bars - we chose the Billfish. This was an absolute blast - so much fun. Everyone seemed to come out, party, dance and enjoy themselves the whole time. We even managed to befriend three awesomely friendly Tongan women who we danced with most of the night. After the Billfish closed the night wouldn't be complete with a little Karaoke so we did that for a bit haha. They gave us all a free ride home and again just backs up who great meeting people can be when travelling!