Tonga, The Kingdom Of
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
In summary, Tonga is a tiny country of many islands somewhere in the sunny pacific ocean, not that far from Fiji. Its people are friendly and welcoming, the King is the biggest in the world (see the guiness book of records), the scenery is great, the wildlife is amazing, and it's one of the few countries in the world that you won't find a MacDonalds restaurant, this I think is a fantastic place to visit.
Tonga doesn't get many tourists, if you go you are special, you don't have touristy shops, you don't have people begging and trying to sell you things.
This entry is under constuction, I want to put a whole load of useful info in here and in the future submit it for review!
Where is Tonga?
You'll find Tonga as a group of over 100 hundred islands in the pacific ocean just to the east of Fiji and right next to the International Date Line. In fact it's one of the first places to see the new day and the new millenium. The time here is 12 hours ahead of GMT (london time).
How Do I Get There?
Best way is by plane, you can fly into Tonga Intenational Airport on the island of Tongatapu with Air New Zealand or the Royal Tongan Airlines. Flights mostly go via Hawaii and New Zealand. When I say international airport, it's more like one big bit of concrete, big enough for one jumbo at a time, and a Large Shed of an airport. Nothing advanced here! But it doesn't need to be!
What about Money
The currency is the Tongan Pa'anga, typically written as T$.
You get about T$2.5 to the english pound, similiar to the Australian Dollar.
What are the people like?
Big and friendly, they like their king, they share everything, no-one is really rich or poor and no-one is homeless.
What can I see and do?
Humpback whales, amazing coral reefs, rainforest, wild parrots, paradise islands with beaches and palm trees, lots of churhces.
