Travelling with all Five Senses

Most normal, Australian families would jet off at the first sign of winter to a tropical part of the world with flights cheap enough to get there, yet enough class in the resort to know you're safe from food poisoning.

But my parents? They do things differently. Before I visited Tonga, I poured over their old photos and journals from their time in Tonga a year before I was born.

So this is the story of the first time I drank a completely fresh coconut.

But first, the lead up:

We boarded a plane from Nuku'alofa to Vava'u, which looked very much like it would fall out of the sky. When it didn't, and we arrived safely, we happily put it down to new experiences and went to collect our luggage, guided along the runway by men wearing colourful Hawaiian shirts and sandals, and waving paddles to guide the plane.

We climbed aboard our floating home for a week and set sail to explore the scores of tiny islands dotted around the coastline. There is so much I could say about that week. We feasted on Tongan delicacies and danced with locals. Whales put on marvellous shows for us which were unparalelled by anything you've ever witnessed at an aquarium. We caught Tuna, snorkelled above coral which glinted every colour of the rainbow and collected sand dollar shells from the ocean floor until the sun set. We swam through caves where you could see the sandy ocean floor seventy metres away, surrounded constantly by hundreds of tropical fish. The sailing conditions were perfect. We were in paradise.

On one of our last days, we sailed out to an island on the very edge of the sailing area. It was surrounded by coral reefs and sand so bright you needed sunglasses to look at it, even at night. On the island was one restaurant connected to a tiny bed and breakfast.

We arrived for lunch and began by ordering drinking coconuts, which we were told that we would have to wait a few minutes for.

"He has to go and climb a tree to get them," we were told.

We didn’t care about the wait, but this we had to see! To watch someone climb a coconut tree is incredible. The skill and agility involved in insane. But to then drink the coconut which someone has just climbed a tree and picked somehow makes it taste even better than just buying one from the supermarket.

So there you have it; my fresh coconut experience!

As for lunch, well, being the only people in a restaurant with a view of complete paradise can't be criticised at all.