Fires, fishing and road repairs.

With some of our coldest days on record, the Eslers decided to have a fire in the back yard to roast marsh mellows but the main problem was there were no marsh mellows in Tonga... so Jodie did some goggeling and whipped a homemade batch for everyone to share. Yummo! Everyone reckoned they tasted just like the real thing.

The DA - Peter showing off his skills as a fire bug.

Jodie enjoying the Bush Telly and a quiet glass of wine.

Finally after 2 and a half years the road past our place is being replaced. China Aid is funding the program to put drainage in all across the city. With no notice though, a digger just turned up and started ripping the road up.

A couple of days later they had the drain all cemented in and were ready to lay the top blocks. No mucking around with these boys.

Next we lost our beloved Mango tree from the middle of the road. Now where will the Tongan's park to eat their BBQ packs at lunch?

Dyl was in need of another hair cut so we headed to our favourite little hairdresser, Sheina. She only speaks Chinese and very little Tongan so we just sit down and ask for Kosi Ulu and she decides the rest. This single room also doubles up as her house.

After two delays the fishing comp for July finally went ahead. Lyndon took out Dyl and his mate Stefan for the arvo. This greedy little fella took a lure nearly the same size as him. Dyl was all smiles as this was the first fish of the day.

Double trouble pulling in the lines on the back of the boat inside Fafa reef. Due to bad weather we hung inside the main reef.

Stefan picked up this good size wolf herring.

Eva was chief cook for the BBQ and she did a ripper of a job.

From all the boats in the comp BLAH BLAH was the only one to catch anything and as it was an open comp the boys cleaned up. Stefan was stoked as he won best Jr best overall and BLAH BLAH cleans up again. Not every comp in Tonga ends up with monster catches - some days at the office are very hard.

Sam's Confirmation

Stephen and Dee invited us to attend Sam's confirmation, wow two churches in as many weeks. It was a special gathering at the church as the Bishop attended and fired a few questions at Sam to test his spiritual knowledge.  We spread out across the church to capture all the excitement for them on camera.

Just another outing in our Tongan outfits. Dyl was going more relaxed.

Sam was called up front and centre then the big man fired some questions at him which he did well to answer.

Stephen do his reading. Might I add this is also his first time in a Tavala and Tupanu.

Dee did her reading and the congregation quite enjoyed the Irish accent. Plenty of chuckles.

Sam is now confirmed a warrior of God.

Big Jack took the honors of standing behind him as his sponsor in the church.

Family shot with the Bishop.

Very rare for Sam's mates back home to actually have the Bishop do your confirmation one on one. 

Some things will never change. Just hanging with the boys outside church.

The Tae Kwon Do crew all together at Church.

After Church we had a late lunch at Steve's. While chatting we discovered that they hadn't seen much of what Tonga has to offer so we decided to take them on a Tiki tour of their own back yard before they depart our shores.

After seeing the Tongan land bridge we went to one of the lookouts in the hope of spotting some whales for Dee.

Jodie decided to take them on her version of an off road tour. "Follow me, it's great you'll love it!"

Steve not looking so keen about doing physical activities on his Sunday.

But once we were down it was smiles all round.

The boys decided to dig a hole and bury poor Dyl in it.

1800QUIT - Quirky's Un Interesting Tours.

On our next lookout the whales decided to put on a show and every time we attempted to depart they would start jumping again. Gotta love Tonga this time of year!!!

Tongan Block Party

Part of the Heilala festival is the block party which is were they block off the main street in town and have a big party with all types of entertainment. 

Before we headed out we took the kids to one of our newest Italian restaurants for pizza dinner, as they did not want to have the traditional BBQ hot dogs that would be on offer at every street corner durning the night.

From the restaurant we walked into town as we knew from last year that she gets pretty packed. As we arrived the street parade was coming through with bands doing their thing. 

They were followed by the Miss Heilala contestants.

The Japanese community put on a few displays but we liked the traditional drums the best.

Jodie and the kids enjoying some more live entertainment. Most of the families come down early then as the night goes on the younger teenagers come out.

Chinese stalls sold everything that glowed and both Em and Dyl needed their cut of the action.

Some stalls were simply groups of people playing music, others had food stalls or displays.

BBQ chicken anybody?

As the night went on the crowds gathered and the music seemed to get louder, definately time for us to head home - oy we must be getting old.

Doggies all round.

 With good weather on our side we decided to do a little trawling for some fresh fish as the fridge was running low. Dave had his Dad Graeme over from Oz and Ben was yet to catch a decent fish since arriving some twelve months ago. So out we headed and did an entire lap of the Northern reef system. Dave did most of the driving while Lyndon did the deck work and clean up. 

First big hit and Graeme was up but after about 10-15min his arms were dead and this one was going deep. Eventually we lost it to the reef.

Like every good farmer he was back into it a few minutes later.

After an upgrade to Lyndon's Black Magic gimble including back brace, there was no stopping him.

Eventually Ben was also all smiles as he landed his first decent Doggy on board.

After landing 6 of our 7 fish the real monsters turned up.

They even put on a show that Graeme will never forget.

No trip to the outer reef is complete without a return drive by of our beloved Malinoa.

Once home it was time to divide up the bounty.

Pebbles (Karens pig) Departure Story

Not that we wanted to see Pebbles depart the compound but after an entertaining twelve months and 120+kgs of puwaka cruising the backyard, Karen and Mal decided it was time for her to move on to greener pastures. This is always easier in theory especially when she weighs in at 120+kgs because she wasn't as keen to depart. Sal had the first go and after a few attempts to get her in the back of his truck he ended up leaving empty handed.

Sal tried it all, coaxing, food bribery and even brute (Fahu) force but she was just way to fit for the boys. Mo then decided that it would be too hard to keep her in his breeding pens so he took a pass. 

Next was Timoti who was the original owner. His theory was simple load her up with some Vodka then tie her up. " I do it with all my big pigs!" he said confidently.

Mal found out that a drunk Pebbles weighs a lot and can't walk straight either.

Finally after 2/3 of a 1ltr bottle she went down and Em got in close enough to say goodbye to her.

Mal and Timoti tied her up but then all of a sudden she realised what they were up to and jumped up, snapped the ropes and staggered off to sleep it off else where in the yard. Pebbles 2, Sal 0 and now Timoti 0.

The next morning with pig cart attached Timoti returned to collect one hung over Pebbles. Mal did the bribery this time.

Pebbles was a little flighty possibly more seedy but the hunger was growing.

Then all of a sudden she was in without any fuss and Timoti was out the gate with his new baby.