Life Off The Grid In The South Pacific

When I did my New Zealand travels last year I discovered a seat sale on Air New Zealand and decided to take advantage of it and flew into Tonga for six days. I've always dreamed of travelling to the South Pacific and it was the perfect opportunity. It ended up being just me and my daughter Nikki doing the trip because her boyfriend Jono couldn't get the time off work. Talk about the ultimate mother daughter get away adventure!

It ended up being an incredible experience because we spent most of that time on beautiful Uoleva Island in a traditional beach fale. There is no power on the island and the only water comes from rainwater. The solar barely powers a small fluorescent lightbulb and you are totally off the grid there.

We were there when the big earthquake hit the Christchurch area in New Zealand and had no idea whatsoever it even happened. Being there is literally like being stranded on a deserted island, there are three small resorts there including ours and you'd have to walk for miles to find them. It feels like there's no one else in the world there and you have your own private island. Such a contrast to your standard issue commercial resort that's loaded with tourists.

We stayed at Taiana's Resort and absolutely loved it there! Here's our beach fale... definitely unlike anything I've ever experienced. It has a bed covered in mosquito net and that's pretty much it. You can hear the waves from the sea and I don't think I've ever felt so relaxed. You literally don't have a care in the world other than deciding if you want to go for a swim or chill in a hammock.

We brought over our own food and water that was pretty basic fare. Tonga is not a gourmet type of destination so we had fresh fruit, ramen noodles, some fresh vegetables we brought from the other island and a bunch of Doritos. Not exactly our normal choice of food but it was all good. Nikki managed to create some pretty epic feasts in the main kitchen of the resort.

The owners of the resort Kalafi and Taiana have a couple of dogs that were awesome characters. They are a mother and puppy both named puppy and while they were really working dogs for the resort they became our constant companions. We never fed them as we didn't want to disrespect their relationship with their owners but you would have thought they were our dogs by their faithful companionship. They were so sweet to have about and it was great to come out from snorkelling and still see them there waiting for us.

The coconuts were absolutely out of this world and you'd literally walk over to the tree, pick one and Taiana would crack it open and you'd enjoy. Lets put it this way, coconut water hasn't tasted the same since our time on Uoleva Island!

Our last night on the island was the supermoon and Kalafi hosted a beach fire to send us off. It was without a question the most spectacular and memorable full moon I've ever seen.

The showers were just a brief walk away from our fale and if you were trekking over there midday you better wear flip flops. That sand could get so hot! While the showers weren't fancy at all they more than did the job and after spending hours swimming and snorkelling it was so good to rinse off all that glorious salt water!

The time went by so fast at the Island it felt like we were leaving when we just got there. It was absolutely magical. And mama puppy stayed at the beach watching us depart like the lovely faithful companion she was throughout our stay. If you get the chance to visit Tonga by all means take it and consider a stay at Taiana's resort.