Oso’s time in Tonga has been terrific. Even with only visiting two of the four island groups in the country, we found plenty to keep us occupied for our six weeks in the country.
But it feels like it’s time to move on, and the next stop on our long journey across the Pacific is New Zealand. About 1200nm to the southwest of Tonga, the trip leaves the (mostly) comfortable trade winds of the tropics, across the variable winds to the south, and then back into the westerlies of the higher latitudes.
We’re excited for the trip, but we’ll miss the friendliness of many Tongan kids, eager to practice English, saying both hello and goodbye as we walk past on the street. We’ll miss the pigs (and the small piglets), chickens, cows, and horses roaming the roads both outside and in town. We’ll miss long walks along empty sandy beaches. And we’ll definitely miss the whales cavorting in the deep blue waves around the islands.
