Nuku'Alofa, Tonga
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| Welcome gate at the pier |
Video link of Nuku'alofa Harbour:
The Kingdom of Tonga became an independent nation under the British Commonwealth in 1970. It consists of more than 170 Polynesian islands, many are uninhabited. The capital, Nuku'Alofa is located on the main island of Tongtapu. Unlike Samoa, the major islands are low lying with no visible mountains. The people look very similar to the Samoan's, including their dress. The men wear skirts, often with a wide belt of some kind, a lot depending on what they are dressing for. In Samoa, these were called lavalava. Here they are referred to as tupenu's.
Tonga's current king is Tupou VI. He resides in the wooden palace built in 1867. He appoints a Prime Minister who is than voted on by the parliament.
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| King's Palace as viewed from Queen Anne |
These island people are very religious. As we traveled through the island, many different churches were present with the Wesleyan church being the most prevalent but Seventh Day Adventist has to be a close second. Catholics also have a presence. The schools are affiliated with one religion or another.
We have a bigger, older touring bus this time but with no A/C and we could have used it. Temperatures were in the 80s. Our guide, Babe, said we lucked out on the weather as it had rained all day just yesterday and there was even flooding in some areas.
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| Our aging tour bus at the palace |
Our first stop was at the king's palace, which we really had a much better view from the ship. It is closed to the public so I'm not sure the reason for the stop. Our next destination is quite a long journey to Captain's James Cook's landing spot back in 1777.
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| Typical graveyard |
It gave us a good chance to observe the church's, schools and residential buildings and homes along the way. There were also many different burial sites that were decorated to the max with artificial flowers and other remembrances.
We did see some livestock, mostly cattle. Babe said that Tongans loved their BBQ pig and any celebration to be successful had to include roasted pig. She pointed out a horse that she saw and said they are a rare sight because Tongans loved to eat horse meat and actually eradicated them from the island! They are now a protected animal.
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| Farmland |
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Typical roadside market |
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| Guide wearing his tupenu |
We arrive at Captain Cook's landing area and are given time to take some pictures and make use of the public toilets that are available there. A couple other tour busses are also there and it is quite crowded. Although we have traveled quite a distance from our pier, this is an open bay area that extends quite a ways inland.
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| Captain Cook's Landing |
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| Another stand with quite a variety of goods! |
From here we travel to our final destination which is Oholei Beach and Hina Cave. This is where we will have and extended time of nearly two hours to enjoy the beach, the hospitality of our hosts which provide us with a meal and entertainment.
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| Stairway to beach |
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| Before heading to beach |
The beach and cave are down a steep set of stairs but we manage them along with most of the other guests. The cave is around the corner and rather anticlimactic but interesting all the same. It has some open areas at the top which must make some spectacular spouts if the water ever gets riled up enough to force it through these openings.
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| Cave entrance |
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| Openings in cave overhead |
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| Inside looking out |
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| Sue soaking |
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| Beach area |
We climb back up the stairs and enter the restaurant which has plenty of seating. I take the opportunity to order a gin and tonic as Sue is outside drying out her feet to put her shoes and socks back on. There are some musicians and a singer on stage doing their best to sing some popular UK and US songs. Sue joins me and she orders a bottle of water and I order the local beer called Maka.
We notice some people coming in from outside carrying a leaf wrapped around some hot food. Sue goes out and they had a table set up with various samples of local delicacies. A couple from the U.K. joins us with their leaf. It is all quite tasty, even if we didn't know what everything was.
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| Roast Pig, mussel, spinach or kale, assorted veggies, purple sweet potato, octopus |
Little did we know, this was just the beginning as some of the locals started filling the inside tables with prepared dishes as well while we were being entertained by a group of dancers, three men and three women in traditional dress doing a local dance with occasional shouting and clapping. I filmed some of it but I don't think I can post it because I'm having a hard time downloading a link to the computer. I joined the line to get some of the offerings and was surprised to see a roast pig which the chef was carving and giving us a sample. Afterwards, I managed to get a picture of one before they carved it up.
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| At least it wasn't a horse! (It was delicious!) |
To end the festivities, a young native lad, I would guess around 14, did a live fire dance with a lighted baton. It was quite impressive! I did get a video and hopefully I can share it.
Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BgV_nxmBCEmsdQqH-3MJUCWuHcfK8smM/view?usp=drive_link
Our hosts had been very gracious and they lined up to shake our hand and thank us for coming.
We had a busy day and got to see a lot of the island. We had made reservations to go see a Marilyn Monroe impersonator. She looked very much like Marilyn and did a decent job singing some of her songs. She also brought a couple of men on stage and interviewed them for a fourth husband!
Next stop: Auckland, New Zealand
I never realised that Captain Cook was the same time as the Revolution. 🤔 Sounds like an interesting visit.
ReplyDeleteIn our experience, Toyotas are excellent cars. We've had 3 (sequentially) for about 10 years each and never any problems. And of course they fit on UK roads, and if we choose carefully it even fits in the garage!