Tuesday, Jan. 29. Tonga

A rather slow start to our day in Tongatapu, The Kingdom of Tonga as instead of docking at the pier we had to tender in because of swells. This change in plans meant the tenders had to be lowered, the gangway and platform put out, all resulting in a delay of over an hour.

According to legend the powerful Polynesian god Maui tossed a fishing hook into the sea off Samoa and pulled up the islands of Tonga. He stepped on some of them to flatten them and make them suitable for gardening. Our famous friend Captain Cook visited Tonga on his second Pacific journey and named them the Friendly Islands.

Tonga is ruled by a king and royalty is venerated as the royal family is believed to have descended from the union of a beautiful girl and God.

In native Tongan, Tongatapu means sacred garden. Family life and religion are very important in Tonga. Attire is modest, all the school children wear uniforms even male college students who wear what looked like a wrap woven of grass around the waist, extending to their knees. Many of the adults we saw were dressed in black.
Because of the strictness of the island, everyone going ashore was told to dress in long pants with shoulders and midriffs covered. The word didn’t get out to everyone and a passenger was standing by the entrance to the gangway telling everyone in shorts they had to go change. Alan dutifully (and reluctantly) went back to the cabin and changed into long pants. While he was gone I asked a cruise staff member if men could wear shorts. He said as long as they weren’t short shorts and they weren’t going into any of the churches it was okay. Alan went back and changed back into shorts. Smart choice as it was extremely hot and humid and there was no problem with short pants. In fact our tour guide/driver had on just below the knee pants.

Arriving ashore in Nuku”Alofa, the capital and typical south pacific small city of market place, a few stores, buses and taxis, we hired a car and driver for a couple of hours . First stop was at a fence to see the Queen’s palace a gingerbread house presently under renovation. We then traveled on to see the flying foxes, bats indigenous to the island and considered sacred. The bats were hanging from papa trees along the side of the road. Occasionally one would fly from one branch to another. The ones we saw flying were about the size of a robin and made quite a squeaky racket. According to the literature some have wingspans of up to 3 feet. Why they are called flying foxes we have no idea.

Christianity is the official religion with there being 7 denominations on the island. The Methodists form the largest group with plenty of Mormons also. Each village has at least 3 churches and our guide estimated that there were over 30 churches on the small island.

Each village has at least one cemetery. The graves are mounded up and decorated with silk flowers and quilts. There are quilts made of fabric, plastic and some were even beautiful crocheted bedspreads. People are buried so the sun will rise over the body and travel toward the feet. The quilts are a sign of respect with some being left up until they are in tatters and some hung only on special occasions.
The quilt in the foreground (above) is plastic with a tapestry of Christ on it. The one in the background is made out of cotton fabric. The quilt below is crocheted.

(I still can't get pictures in. Just pretend you can see the quilts and other things mentioned.


















Unique to Polynesia, Tonga has archeological sites. Reminiscent of Stonehenge, the Ha’amonga Trilithon archway was built in 1200 AD. Each lintel weighs as much as 35 tons. The gateway is 16 feet high and 19 feet wide. Since the natives did not have the wheel at the time the archway was built there is much speculation as to the engineering. .


Like most of the south pacific islands school is compulsory and children begin kindergarten at age 3 or 4. The system follows that of England with classes and forms and examinations necessary to go on to what we call high school

Like the other islands the people were very friendly and the majority seem quite poor.. A little girl of about 6 in the market place asked me if I would take her picture and when I told her I would send it to her she was very excited. I promised to send it to her and her mother quickly gave me their address. I just hope they aren’t disappointed that it won’t arrive until we get back to Falmouth as we have no means of printing pictures on the ship. Even the ship’s printer is down so we haven’t seen any pictures taken by the ship’s photographers for a couple of weeks.

Two sea days coming up and then we begin our visit to four ports in New Zealand, land of 4 million people and 40 million sheep. Or as one lecturer put it,, 40 million nervous sheep.

Friday, Feb. 1. RABBIT, RABBIT, RABBIT.

The past two sea days have gone by quickly. Sea days are crammed full of lectures, games, movies, and the inevitable art auctions. One of the speakers, Anna Smith from Vancouver, gave a most interesting talk on fabrics--how they are created, what they are used for, and the role they have played in preserving history of cultures with no written language. If I had heard the talk before the cruise I would have bought more of the wonderful mola tote bags. Mola is an ancient art of layering cloth, cutting out intricate designs and stitching it all together.

Just out of curiosity I went to the cruise consultant’s desk (read travel agent) to inquire about next year’s world cruise. The balcony’s are completely booked…..mainly by people who have had the same one for several years.
Today, Feb. 1 for us out here on the other side of the world, was our first port of call in New Zealand. Auckland is a large very metropolitan city. Known as the City of Sails is has more eateries than any place I have ever seen. We were very surprised at the large ethnic population just assuming that everyone would be a kiwi. I think we saw more Asians than any other group.

The Kiwi. It’s a fruit, a flightless bird and the nickname of all New Zealanders.