Monday, January 30. 30 C, cloudy later.
It was a bright sunny morning as we pulled into Nuka Alofa, Tonga. Our colds had subsided enough for us to venture out. Jim wanted to see the Blow Holes again and also to see the Flying Foxes as they call the very large bats that hang in the trees during the day. A price was negotiated with a pleasant enough driver and off we went. Round the whole island!
The journey took three hours, stopping many, many places for photos and just to look. We were here several years ago and things started to look familiar. They have also improved things rather substantially in my opinion. The pier appears to be in better condition, possibly a new one.
The view from our balcony was spectacular, it looked like a Disneyland Fantasyland Scene. The brilliant sun helped the picture immensely.
It is hard for me to understand how this island nation, a Monarchy of about 100,000 people can maintain itself in such fine order. Apparently Tourism is the number one industry, they also export Taro, Tapioca and a few other items but it just doesn’t add up to me. New Zealand is one of their main supporters but even New Zealand has less than 4,000,000 people I believe.
There were an unbelievable amount of Churches strewn along our route today. The driver mentioned the number of religions on the island, 17 I think, all basically Christian of some sort. Churches and Cemeteries: there seems to be one or the other sprinkled all along the roads. It made me think that to fill their lives with something other than the heat and lack of anything to really look forward to, they fill that void with religion and a form of reverence for past family members.
There was a Tsunami that hit here relatively recently, the first in eons. Many people did not heed the Tsunami warning until sadly too late for some: now they apparently believe in them, our guide told us in his broken English.
We have two Sea Days and then we are in New Zealand, Auckland first, on Thursday, February 2.
Tonight Fellette and I are going to an Italian restaurant, the Canaletto, as guests of the travel agent who has some 250 clients on board, Jim and Gail are there another night.
A Good Day…
Welcome to The Kingdom of Tonga.
These dancers and the Police Band played for us in the morning. Not sure about Sailaway as I had sent the blog by then.
The blowholes, it stretches for a few kilometres down the beach, a very rough shoreline.
Captain Cook landed here some 246 years ago. He was quite the sailor!
This coral arch was erected here some 7000 years ago. Some feat indeed. Apparently it aligns somehow with the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn. [?]
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