FINAL STOP - TONGA

We had a couple of stops in Tonga. Vava'u was Ok but the weather was terrible when we reached Nuku'Alofa and we decided to stay onboard the ship.

We walked into town in Vava'u, the heat was too much for me so we stopped in to a local travel agency to ask where the nearest place was to go for a swim. He must have seen us coming. We paid $45 Australian to be taken to a 'resort'.The taxi driver picked us up 90 mins later dropped us back in town and then wanted to be paid AGAIN after hubby specifically asked him if the $45 was for a return trip. We were so grumpy and tired because of the heat (well I was) we just paid him and went back to the ship. I wouldn't visit Tonga again, I wasn't impressed. I suppose the impression you get from any country depends on the places you visit and the people you meet and I'm sure only having a few hours to explore didn't help either.








I had a lot of fun on the trip home, two days at sea with nothing to do but eat, sleep, drink, read and do crosswords. Woohoo!

The weather into Auckland was terrible, 30 knot winds apparently. Luckily, I drank so much wine the night before...I slept through the bad weather and woke just in time for breakfast. Only time I was up for breakfast during the whole trip.

I would definitely go on another cruise but not this one. The ship was much better than the previous one we travelled on but the destinations weren't as good.

I've always wanted to do an Alaskan cruise...better start saving up!



Cheers!
KB
xxxx