TONGA


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Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is a Polynesian sovereign state comprising 176 islands scattered over 270,000 sq mi of the southern Pacific Ocean. Fifty-two of these islands are inhabited with its 103,000 people. It is surrounded by Fiji to the northwest, Samoa to the northeast and New Zealand to the southwest. It is located 3200 miles southwest of Hawaii and 1200 miles northeast of New Zealand.

 

Tonga became known as the Friendly Islands because of the congenial reception accorded to Captain James Cook on his first visit there in 1773.

 

The Island of ‘Eua

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Tide Pools
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ʻEua is a hilly island, that sits approximately 10 miles to the East of the main island of Tonga. It covers 33 sq miles and has approximately 5000 inhabitants living in 15 villages. The island is made of pushed up coral and is surrounded by a coral reef that is close to sea level. This creates tide pools that are great for swimming and gathering sea food. Pigs and chickens run wild on the island and it wasn’t uncommon to wake in the night to a large pig standing in the door way of your bungalow.

 

Getting to ‘Eua can be achieved by ferry, which was once daily and took approximately 3-4 hours depending on the ocean. There is also a daily flight that takes 7 minutes and boasts to be the shortest flight in the world.

 

Shooting locations:
  1. The Home Village
  2. The West Village
  3. The East Village
  4. Lakufa’anga Sea Cliffs
  5. Rock Gardens
  6. Maui’s Archway
  7. Ha’aluma Beach
  8. The Banyon tree
  9. Pangaimotu Island


 

View When the Man Went South in a larger map