Great Times with Great Friends...

We were so excited - Hils and Doug were coming, 

after not seeing them since leaving home over 4 years ago, 

you can imagine the catch up was going to be "BIG"...

After arriving here in Vava'u, we found the provisioning for Meat, Chicken and  Cheese appalling, so I put a SOS call in to Hils and Doug and said - "Please bring meat",

so along with the obligatory Jaffas, Pineapple lumps and Yoghurt sachets,

they brought beautiful NZ Sirloin and Lamb Racks

It didn't take long to Hils for find a comfy spot

and our first dinner together, Hils and Doug already looked relaxed...

We had so much fun together, and in no particular order of the holiday the following photos show lots of food, wine, fun, snorkelling, diving (the only photo that didn't come out was the whales!).

Swallows Cave the light was beautiful

Francesco and Felicia joined us for many get togethers with lots of laughs and wonderful times...

and the most fantastic homemade pasta

Hils having some lessons with Francesco...

Francesco and Felicia...

and the nights that started with this

tended to end up like this...

(and yes that is Hils pole dancing hahaha)

sometimes Francesco would make special coffees and Doug would enjoy a cuban Cigar

in between all this partying we also did lots of other things

Scuba Experienced...

Doug and Hils

Doug

After Snorkelling and Hils enjoying the sun while sailing

Phil and Fay from Jigsaw kindly offered for us to join them in the 4 July race

What fun!  Jigsaw was all dressed up with her flags before the race and it was great seeing most of the boats behind us

We had a "dress up" dinner to celebrate a very early birthday for the girls enjoying some very special wine that Doug and Hils had brought over from New Zealand...

we had Smoked Crayfish and Smoked Tuna as an entree...

followed by NZ Lamb racks, Lyonnaise Potatoes, Ginger Carrots - with this gorgeous bottle of red!

At a village we went to at Hunga Haven, we met a lovely local lady who was weaving a mat in preparation for a wedding - this mat was 15 feet long and 7 ft wide

On our last evening together we went to 'Utule My Tongan Home"

Tupou invites you to her home, where you experience Tongan feast and cultural performance

it was really a great evening...

with Molly from Yollata invited to join the girls dancing

It was a wonderful two weeks, with wonderful times.  

Hopefully this sunset will be one of many we will all experience together in the future...

Thank You Hils and Doug for joining us...