Small island nation of Niue and the Kingdom of Tonga

Tuesday, February 1 – Alofi, Niue
Niue is the largest uplifted coral island in the world, with towering heights over 200 feet high (higher than Delaware!) and the world’s smallest self-governing state. There are 76 miles of paved roads.

We arrived early – by 7:00 and we on the first tender to this 36 mile round beautiful island in the middle of a vast stretch of the Pacific. Niue means “behold the coconut palms”. There are approx. 1500 Niueans on the island. Scarce resources made cooperation essential to survival so disputes between clan-based units united them under an elected monarch. They send an official representative to the UN and there are 20 elected representatives and a Speaker in the Niue assembly. Elections are held every third year. Their currency is the New Zealand dollar and they speak English and Niuean.

With another couple, we rented an older car from one of the only two rental agencies ($40 for the day) and headed north to explore the many caves and coral beaches.
Peniamina’s Grave – who brought Christianity to the island
Avaiki chasm – where the first canoe landed; beautiful swimming hole in a cave
Limu pools – one of the most beautiful swimming and snorkeling areas for fish; caves
Matapa chasm – an easy walk from the main road to the freshwater stream where royalty used to swim
Anapala chasm – an incredible drive on a one-lane road to an incredibly beautiful beach

There were several markers where you could trek to the beach over mossy covered stones. We were on wet, slimy stones and it had rained. I fell. But not badly. But it made my white pants look a right mess! At the next stops, when it looked iffy, I opted to not continue to the bottom. There is only a small hospital and I was not interested in interrupting the trip because of a silly miss-step. Many homes were destroyed and were abandoned. The island had been hit by a cyclone in 2004 and the homes still remain empty. It must have been devastating to them at the time – no where to go and to know it was headed toward you. The joy and perils of living in the South Pacific. Do you know the noni fruit? They had a large farm where the fruits are exported to New Zealand for export again to Japan.

And as we were parking at one location, one of the smaller tour vans backed in to our car. I had opted to walk down this steep hill and since the car’s horn did not work, they did not hear Gene and the others hollering for the car to stop. No real damage to the car and there was so much exterior damage, it was not noticeable (I did tell you it was an older car!) - just a real fright to all of us.

Was supposed to be a free WIFI island but the access was so slow, I had to give up. We left the island at 1:30 and there was so much there we could have stayed longer. Nice shops, the people were friendly and the weather was superb. The beaches had a lot of coral so you really needed good beach shoes to explore.

Sunday is a day of rest and worship and visitors are asked to be considerate of the locals. After church, many people play golf, sightsee or swim. Boating and fishing are not allowed.

After a beautiful sailaway, we enjoyed a special dinner in the Pinnacle Grill tonight with friends from our days on the Queen Victoria. The Pinnacle provides superior service, outstanding menu options, high quality meats and fish in a club setting – very nice! Did aundry and Jack Mayberry, comedian, was the entertainer tonight.

“Life is a ticket to the greatest show in Earth.” - Martin H. Fischer

Wednesday, February 2 – day lost!
Crossing the international dateline: The date line is the imaginary line on the Earth that separates two consecutive calendar days. That is the date in the Eastern hemisphere to the left of the line, which is always one day ahead of the date in the Western hemisphere. It has been recognized as a matter of convenience and has no force in international law. Without the date line, travelers going westward would discover that when they returned home, one day more than they thought had passed. Likewise, a person traveling eastward would find that one fewer day had elapsed than they had recorded. It can be located anywhere in the world and it is fortunate that the area is covered mainly by empty ocean. The position of the line has changed; in 1995, the island country of Kiribati moved a large segment of it to the east, so that the entire nation would be on the same side of the date line.

Thursday, February 3 – Nuku’alofa, Kingdom of Tonga
After going to bed on Tuesday, Feb 1, we woke up to Thursday, February 3 – still a strange concept to me! We are now 18 hours AHEAD of Delaware time.

It is a beautiful sail-in to Tonga as you pass many small islands with palm trees and lovely beaches and reefs. We docked about 9:00 and took the free shuttle to town with some friends. Went to Sunshine Car rentals and went off exploring AFTER we found out 1) you receive a car with almost no gas, 2) you put as much as you need in the car paying with the Tongan Pa’angan dollar (of which we had ZERO) and 3) they do not accept credit cards at the gas stations. So that took some time and she also told us she hoped we would not get stopped by the police as our license was no good. As this is a society that says YES for everything, none of this was discussed until we had already signed the papers for the car rental.

The speed limit is 40 km per hour – a mere 24 miles an hour so even on a small island, it takes time to get around!!

We passed a tent with the locals wearing their black dress (long skirts for both sexes) and a ta’ovala ( a mat wrapped around the waist and tied with rope – for both females and males). It was a funeral, which has enormous cultural significance. Death is a matter-of-fact acceptance and there is a highly ritualized grieving process. Some women cut off all their hair and the men grow beards.

The family is the central unit in the Tongan life. Each family member plays a role, with older persons commanding the most respect. Everything is communal, from food to sleeping arrangements, although brothers and sisters always sleep under separate roofs. Chores are distributed according to gender: men tend the ‘umu (underground oven), grow and harvest food, collect and husk coconuts and perform all manual labour. The women clean, wash clothes, prepare and cook food, and take on the lion’s share of child-minding responsibilities. Land passed down from a father to his eldest son. Religion closely follows the family in importance and almost all Tongans are churchgoers. They are very conservative people, in their dress and language.

The Royal Palace stands by the sea, an ornate white frame home completed in 1867. Drove to 1) Houma to the blow holes where water spouts over 45 feet in the air
2) Captain’s Cook landing place in ‘Alaki
3) Saw the flying foxes (bats)
4) Ha’amonga Trilithon – the Stonehenge of the South Pacific which was erected in 1200AD. There are two upright coral stones about 15 feet high and a horizontal connecting stone about 18 feet long.
5) terraced tombs in Lapaha built in 1200AD – they are formed by quadrilateral mounds surrounded by huge blocks of coral rock up to 12 feet high
6) had a wonderful swim at Keleji Beach in an incredible lagoon with blow holes surrounding the lagoon

After returning the car, we went to the Talamahu market and brought some black coral necklaces and earrings and mother of pearl jewelry. There were both handicrafts and fresh fruits and vegetables in an open-air setting. The internet café was S l o w so that did not work for us. We were the last to board the free shuttle back to the ship and the last to board the ship! And we were not late; guess the others finished their business in town before we did.

A story: Tin Can Mail. In 1882, William Travers arranged with the Tongan postal officials to use 40 pound biscuit tins or kerosene cans as a form of waterproof mail containers. Mail could then be transported from the island to passing steamers and vice versa, thus the term tin can mail. In 1931, one of the swimming postmen was attacked by a shark and the government said that mail must be carried between the islands and ships by canoe. This method of mail delivery was continued until 1983!!! when the first mail arrived by plane.

Friday, February 4, 2011 - at sea
Beautifully calm seas and there were just gentle rolls of waves. Exercise class, watched the DVD from Astronaut Charlie Duke, attended his lecture on the Apollo 16 launch and then enjoyed a nice lunch with he and his wife. They disembark in Auckland and speak frequently to raise funds for church projects. I am interested in his thoughts on passenger space travel as I have passed the tests to promote and sell this type of travel so I hope we can maintain contact. Work on our cocktail party for tomorrow night, formal night with a nice meal, opera singers and work….