Hi All, We are busy busy still building here as usual here at Fanifo Lofa – Kitesurf Tonga. We have had an amazing time in the last six weeks building and kitesurfing. We have a new accommodation fale up and looking beautiful! And now we are building another two concurrently! At present it is taking us about four weeks to build a fale…we hope to keep this efficiency up till Christmas so that we should only have one fale left to build come the New Year. It is all looking on track for Fanifo Lofa to be opening in April 2015 for guests. We have already started taking bookings for 2015 which is just fantastic!
Fale 1 is finished and we are thinking of naming it ‘Teniti’ which means Tent in Tongan. The reason for this is Fale 1 is in exactly the same spot where Glen and I spent 4 months in a tent when we first arrived. It is a beautiful location and we thought the name was very fitting. The view is unhindered and will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Fale 2 & 3 are well on there way to being complete also. To get the new fale’s underway we needed some more cement & aggregate delivered. The boys managed to haul 4 tonnes all in a day and a half !! Wow…three boat loads each day. Watching three Tongans carry 40kg bags of cement time and time again up our little beach to the quad trailer was exhausting lol. Thank goodness for the quad bike…as we are building further away from the beach entrance now and if we didnt have it all the cement would have been carried alot further. We also finally got our decorative Bamboo delivered, that has been in a friends front yard for a year! Okay so we decided to try and build two fales at a time to see if it is quicker/easier. For some reason it is making us work faster doing two at a time. Glen and Boti are working like crazy people trying to beat the record…of what i do not know…They have just started the roof rafters on Fale 2. I am currently working on the cyclone proofing for both fales and in the off days ie no steel work to be done then i am cleaning the bamboo. So yes still building here at kitesurf tonga!
We hired another Tongan worker for a few weeks to help us clear the roots for Fale 4 & 5, he was amazing at land clearing. Oh boy…the man could fell a coconut tree by digging out the roots! He felled a few coconut trees whilst he was here. We will possibly get him back again when it is time to build the pathway to the point and across the other side. He said it would take him a week when he first arrived here…I didnt believe him…I was wrong…he is so fast!
Julien came back for a visit during from Melbourne with his partner and we had them over for Glen’s favourite pizza night! Great night had by all and the pizzas were as usual delicious! Glen has been doing this on Saturday nights for about six weeks or so. He has discovered a talent for pizza making!
James & Suzie came to visit us for a week to check out our new home and to have a relaxing holiday. James got busy in the kitchen treating us with Glens favourite…croissants! I have learnt how to make them…but they will never be as delicious as James’. He also cooked for us a few times making a beautiful Mousaka/Lasagne. Oh my…I have re-created this since he left but i must say…not the same at all. Oh well….it still tasted amazing none the less. The wind was on the light side whilst they were here but they managed to get a few good kitesurfing sessions in. We also took a day trip to Luagnahu and did some snorkelling.
Meanwhile back at the ranch….the small engine had another gearbox malfunction and started making some odd noises. So we ordered a whole new gearbox this time….not just the parts…and it has arrived and we have now fixed the small engine.
Great news….we have a new boat! We had a boat made in Nukualofa to suit our up and coming needs. It has finally arrived and it is AMAZING! I feel like a princess riding in the new boat 🙂 hahahahaha We are in the process of creating a mooring for it to sit outside the reef. We currently have a few hundred kg of cement drying in boxes on the boat ready to go into the water. The day we put that in the water we may need some help….it is going to be hard yakka!
We have also had a couple of guests this last few weeks staying with us from America. They were here to film a canoe that was passing through the South Pacific. Although our fales are not furnished inside they were happy to make do with what was ready and we had a lovely time.
We have had a drought here …it did not rain for 9 weeks….all the vegetable plants have died basically….we started collecting water from a local church in Pangai to drink which was rather annoying to say the least…every Monday and Friday we collected about 60L. In the last few days it has rained cats and dogs though so the ground is getting soaked and we have collected about 600L. Thank goodness for that….now i am wondering if it will ever stop 🙂
Minnie me….my little chicken is not so little anymore. She has been joined by 7 other chickens about the same age. She does not play well with others. They are coming into the house and are just so needy! We have discovered they are scared of the broom. They are not scared of the cats. The cats sit and watch the chickens come and go. Oh well….
Oh and the plumbing parts for our shower and bathroom sink arrived ….and guess what? It still doesnt work..cold showers it is for the next wee while.
Typical day for Karen & Glen….
We wake around six am….to either the cat meowing….or the chickens clucking under the house. We get up and have a couple of coffees with the cats & the chickens. Minnie Me (my rescued chicken) flies over for a feed….we feed her and feed the other chickens. Chickens and cats are happy. Glen and Karen get changed into work clothes. Glen heads off to the work site….Karen remains to cook some muffins/cake/something to eat. Glen builds all day and the chickens hover around the fales…Karen helps build and makes sure we all eat. At around 5pm Karen is back in the kitchen preparing dinner with the chickens sitting at the door waiting to get fed. Glen arrives home to have a beer with the chickens…We eat…the cats eat…the chickens eat…we all go to bed….lol So you can see our day starts and ends with the chickens and the cats….hmmm.
On a more serious note…our life is just magical here at Fanifo Lofa. We wake up each morning and love what we are doing…we go to bed each night marveling at what we have achieved through the day. Who would have thought that a life so physically challenging could be so rewarding. We are making our dream come true little by little, day by day… ‘It is what it is’ here in Tonga and WE LOVE IT!
Oh and a side note….Glen and I are very very excited about the return of our beautiful French friend returning to us making sure we are Keeping it Simple 🙂
Till next time everyone xx Still building here at Kitesurf Tonga
