Post #88177 by shakatiki on Mon, Apr 26, 2004 10:54 AM

I will be heading to the South Pacific in June and was wondering if anyone out there in Tikiland has any hot tips about this mysterious group of islands. I will be taking my main squeeze Teresa and my 13 year old son Justin (who still doesen't know where he is going for his summer vacation). We will head to Kailua, Oahu to see my homies for a couple days. Then on to Fiji for a stopover and then to Tonga from there where we will stay for a week hosted by a guy named Mike who owns a large vanilla farm there. We'll get a few days in Fiji on the return. I would love to hear from anyone who has been to either Tonga or Fiji so I can get some ideas for tiki visits, or ???. I hear that Tonga is fairly well known for their carvers. I will actually have a chance to meet one of them named Leonardi, whom I purchased a large amount of tikis from recently for the shop. It will be interesting to travel to the same islands my Grandfather went to in the late 30's. He wrote about some incredible finds over there in his book "Polynesian Venture" (Truman Bailey/ Doubleday 1939). I'm sure it's changed quite a bit since then.... or has it??? Anyway I don't find much time to post, but try to check in as often as poss. Hope to get some feedback. Aloha nui loa...