'Eua Senior Missionary Adventure

President Makai suggested the senior couples make a day trip to ‘Eua, where he grew up. We jumped at this offer with private escorts (President Mau, one of his counselors, and ‘Eua governor) to show us this beautiful island. We had not been here in our nearly 2 years, and we did not want to leave Tonga without visiting ‘Eua.

It had been raining hard all week. Our friends kept asking what will we do if it rains? My reply was “faith”. It was a cloudy morning, and when we got off the ferry the rains were heavy. As we organized ourselves in cars, the rains lessened, then stopped. It did not rain the rest of the day ... although it was MUDDY.

First stop was The Cliffs. We were high above the ocean with views down the rocks and far out to sea. Here, wild horses roamed. 

And on our way back from our little hike, I went one way, others went another way. They scared the horses who ran along the road right past me. How exciting!

The sign for our little hike read “turn left here and follow the faint trail up the hill about 400 meters to a BIG SURPRISE! With that, of course we followed the trail … under trees, over fallen trees, through mud to the surprise – a large land bridge with view of the ocean through the arch.

 

This natural archway was created by an ancient God of all Polynesia. His name is Maui. He was standing in the centre of ‘Eua with his spear submerged in the ground. He then threw his spear which landed at this location on the SE of ‘Eua. He pulled it out and created the Natural Archway.

Clockwise starting at bottom left: Evans Thomson, Palmer, Murdoch

 

Hafa Pool

 

Next we visited Hafa pool which is one of many natural water springs all over ‘Eua, the only island in the whole of Tonga with many spring waters naturally flowing out of the ground. It warmed our hearts to see mountains, streams, and waterfalls – something we all miss from Canada and the U.S.

We drove to the smoking cave, ‘Ana ‘Ahu, which is a sink hole with a waterfall falling into it. This is more evidence of ‘Eua’s natural underground water. We walked down a steep staircase to get to the falls. If you look closely into the sink hole and the water that falls into the sink hole, a moist mist rises into the air. Bright sun lights the mist which resembles smoke. This is where the name smoking cave comes from.

There is another story of the waterfall. Two brothers from New Zealand were doing a school project. They were hiking around ‘Eua. It got dark. The boys decided to cut through the middle of the island to shorten their trek. As it was dark, it was hard to see. One of the brothers fell and slid down, down, down into the sink hole. The other brother ran for help. The Army had to come to recover the body. After this, a trail was made to the waterfall.

We stop at the beach for a little rest before boarding the ferry home.

We had so much fun, and it never rained on us! That night the rains began again. 

I feel my Savior’s love in all the world around me.