More Tales from Tonga

We are now in the central, Ha'apai, group of Tongan islands. An area seldom visited by 'palangi' or foreigners except for one island which has a small airport. Even the hundreds of yachts now in Tonga waiting to cross to New Zealand (those going to Australia have taken a different route) for the most part miss this area out. So we are a select few souls who are prepared to do without supplies, technical assistance, bars cafes and restaurants and ice cream. Instead we have uninhabited or sparcely habited islands, miles of sandy beaches which are a shell-collectors paradise, unspoilt reefs, and enough fish to keep us on a mainly fishy diet. Also traditional villages where time has stood nearly still.

On this island, Luangahu, the population is 200. The village consists of one small store, a church, a school, and a straggle of very basic houses. Pigs, goats, chickens and a few tethered cows snuffle, chew and peck at their extremely free range diet of ripe mangoes and coconuts with a bit of breadfruit. The villagers are very friendly. We met a family on the track into the village with an ancient wheelbarrow in which was packed a small girl, several papaya, a bag of mangoes, taro, and some leafy vegetable. They presented us with a large papaya and we found out that he was the pastor - his English was much better than that of most of the villagers. We were already quite laden with fruit. Another man had said he could supply us, and marched us off to his house where a group of women were sitting on the floor finger weaving panandus mats. It was hardly a house, more like a wooden shed, with a large pig fast asleep under a hammock slung outside the door. We then followed him along paths through plantations of palms and fruit trees with patches of taro, yams, and cassava. Soon we had a stalk of bananas, a few lemons, lots of mangoes (in season at the moment and dropping off the trees), and a papaya.

As we get further south, we are out of the real sticky tropical heat which is very nice, but it also means that snorkelling expeditions are chillier, and a walk on a beach is often more tempting. Our shell collection is getting quite large, and our 'Seashells of the World' book is well-thumbed. There are fruit bats (flying foxes) on several islands, and many terns that object to our landing on their territory. But good whale sightings have eluded us. We have seen a few from the boat, blowing and jumping, but not close too. I really wanted to see mothers and babies, as this is the season and place to see them, and eventually went on a commercial whale watching trip with some other cruisers. It wasn't meant to be though, the day before there had been whales right next to the boat, and also the day after. On our trip we only saw a few whales, and all quite far away. The boat did have an underwater microphone, and it was wonderful to hear the (distant) whales 'talking' to each other.

Only a couple more weeks before we choose a day for the last leg of our trip - to the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. The weather is calming down in that notorious stretch of water between here and there, and we have started to keep an eye on the weather reports that we can download on our email system. Some families are sending mums and children by air from Nuku A'lufa, the capital of Tonga, and others are flying in extra crew. We are giving the boat a good check through, and just keep fingers crossed that the seas will be kind to us. As we run down our supplies, Pegasus is riding high in the water which hopefully means we can go faster.....