Trip to Tonga day 7

We went on a bike ride in the morning and rode

around some different villages and then down to

the blow holes.

Here you can see the water coming through the

blow holes all the way down the coast

This is when the water is calm

You can see it starting to come through the

holes below

Then it just shoots out. It is hard to tell

from these pictures, but it is so beautiful to see.

The sign appears to be pretty new

The women all walk around with umbrellas

to block themselves from the sun

The health care center

We gave these kids some skittles. Notice the kid

holding the CD's. These are his toys. He was

rolling them down the street. They run over

and say "bye, bye, I love you" They do not beg

or ask for anything. I am sure it is because

Tonga doesn't have any tourists.

The village church

A farm

Below is what it looks like all over. It reminds

me of "Where the wild things are"

Notice the Mathematical Instruments, and yes,

we bought it for Simon

This is the only store near my parents that you

can walk into. It is the big store. All the rest

are concrete buildings that have just a couple of

shelves and you point to what you want.

No, she is not pushing anyone in the wheelchair

it is her walker

Someone selling bananas

They just had them hanging out front

Then my dad took us to the "land bridge"

You can see where the water is coming

underneath.

This is just above the land bridge

We then drove down to another beach. Below

is a typical cemetery.

They decorate the graves with old beer bottles

and sea shells

This grave is more elaborate

This was a beautiful beach.

We gathered a ton of sea shells. A lot still

had crabs living in them.

There were a lot of trees like this in this area

This car was in someone's yard. It had plants

growing out of it.

Kids playing some ping pong

This area is always flooded

We saw a lot of old boats like this, just sitting

out in the water.

Tongan flag

At the pier playing ball

Selling some fruit

What is Kentucky?

How was your week?

GROVEPORT, Ohio - An 80-year-old Ohio man is recovering from a week in which he was beaten during a home invasion and then shot while trying to learn about guns.
Ralph Needs said he wouldn't want anyone else to experience what he's been through. He was tied up and pistol-whipped when at least three intruders broke into his Columbus area home on Sept. 20. Needs' nose was broken and his pickup truck, a computer and credit cards were taken.
Four days later, Needs was shot in the hand during a self-defense lesson. A 9 mm pistol went off as one of his sons was loading it. Groveport police said it was an accident, so there will be no charges. No one has been arrested in the assault, but one person was charged in connection with the stolen computer, now recovered.

Trip to Tonga day 6

We aren't quite sure why they decided to cover

up the t on the word Paint. This is the side of

the hardware store.

This is a drive by view of the hospital. This is

the only hospital in Tonga. If people get really

sick on other islands they have to travel to this

hospital. It looks like it has been abandoned for

the past 30 years. We did a tour of the hospital

a couple days after this, which I will post later.

You can enlarge this photo above to read about

the site below. It is what they compare to Stone hedge.

No one is sure how they moved this large stone

or what it was used for.

This part of town had a ton of pigs wandering around.

Trip to Tonga day 5

About a week before we left on our trip we

decided that we needed to spend a night away

on a secluded island. There are a million little

islands that make up Tonga and Europeans will

open up resorts on the islands. We found one

that is on an island about a 20 minute boat

ride from my parents island. We flew back late

from Vava'u and in the morning we caught our boat

to the island Fafa. It is a tiny island that only has

the resort on it.

The food being transported to Fafa

Notice the guy behind Dave, he is steering the

boat with his feet.

Here you can see the little islands out in the distance.

Fafa as we approach

This is the backyard looking onto our Fale.

They made the fale very authentic. They were

beautiful. Everything was woven very traditionally.

They brought us yummy fruit drinks to our place

when we arrived.

This is our bathroom. Outside is the shower.

close up of the shower.

This is a guest room/Reading room

Looking out to the beach from our place

These birds were all over. They are from New Zealand.

I thought they were really neat. They also had parrots and

other exotic birds. At night it was a different story. It was so

loud we barely slept.

Relaxing on the hammock. We slept or read most

of the day.

Entrance to our Fale

This pathway leads you on to the

"bush walk"

This is the table where we ate all of our meals.

Saying goodbye to Fafa. Probably the most

relaxing and beautiful place I have or will ever

go to.