Goodbye Tonga

I found this beautiful shell on the beach outside my fale this morning. I couldn't bring it home with me, but at least I could photograph it.

Left Atata Island by boat at 8.30 this morning. A quick stop at the market in Nuku'alofa when we got to the mainland and then on to the airport where we arrived at 10.00 for an 11.15 flight - none of that 2 hours before an International flight nonsense in Tonga!

Auckland airport had some surprises in store. My bag was mistakenly taken by someone else which added a bit of drama to the trip - they had it right through customs before they realised it wasn't theirs! The airline brought it back to me, so it then had a second trip through customs, whilst the other person's bag just kept going round on the carousel. I guess they will have to wait for it to be processed and sent on to them because they couldn't come back through customs to get it!

Then we had a wee hassle putting bags on the flight to Nelson as the airline had not correctly labelled them in Tonga. Sorted in the end - and all up these surprises filled in the time between our flights just nicely! A three hour stop-over became just a rushed cup of tea and onto the next plane.

Grocery stop in Nelson, then drove on to Murchison. Got here at 9 o'clock. Now I get to unpack my bags and see what I brought home.

Work tomorrow...