Word: tongatapu
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Dates: during 2005-2005
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...sparkling winter morning at Ha'atafu Beach on the northwestern tip of Tongatapu, the Kingdom of Tonga's main island, Sokoi Liava'a crouches on the shore and eyes the building swell with visible excitement. The forecasts that have been buzzing about the beach were right. After a week of flat or messy seas, clean 2-m waves are rolling in. The tall 25-year-old took up surfing eight months ago. He's unemployed now - a friend chips in that this is because Liava'a kept taking sick days to catch waves. Liava'a laughs this off, but without...
...with a love affair. In 1977, a 21-year-old chef from Sydney, Steve Burling, embarked on a holiday with some mates. Their plan was to surf Indonesia's best spots, then check out the less popular destinations of Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. But Burling's holiday ended on Tongatapu, where on his first day he met a local beauty called Sesika. Burling had never had a girlfriend before; never been in love. Sesika knocked him sideways. "It was her femininity," he says. "And she was slamming attractive." She followed him back to Sydney, where they were married within...
...long afterward, a tantalizing opportunity emerged on Tongatapu. It turned out that Sesika's family had a piece of vacant land adjoining the secluded Ha'atafu Beach, some 20 km from Nuku'alofa, the capital. The Burlings thought about opening a restaurant there, then became excited about the idea of a resort. Burling considered his choices: stay in Sydney, he recalls, and be another "brick in the wall," or take a risk in Tonga. For a free spirit like Burling, it was a no-brainer. "I figured that if we ended up back in Sydney with the arse...
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