the week of rain

Since Thursday 12 April, it has rained everyday for a little over a week. This isn't exactly in keeping with Tonga as an island paradise. Admittedly, the rain has been both blessing and curse - respite from the hot, muggy conditions that had assaulted us since our arrival in Tonga was certainly welcome. However, the rain somewhat disrupted the long-weekend trip to 'Eua.

Before I recount on the trip, now is probably a good time for a geography lesson. Tonga, as I hope most of you know by now, is located in the Pacific Ocean north of New Zealand and east of Fiji. (Nowhere near the Solomon Islands, for those of you who are concerned.)

The Kingdom is made up of 177 islands divided into four island groups. Running south to north, these are Tongatapu, Ha'apai, Vava'u and the Niuas, as shown in the map I stole from another website.

I live, as most Tongans do, on the island of Tongatapu where the capital, Nuku'alofa, is located. The physical highlight of Tongatapu is the reef that surrounds the island. Otherwise, Tongatapu is an amazingly flat island and most of the natural vegetation has been removed since the Tongans first arrived 3000 years ago, to be replaced by coconut trees which has actually been required by law since 1927. From the Land Act:

Every male Tongan subject ... shall within one year from the date of [taking posession of land] have growing on such allotment 200 coconut trees planted in rows and so arranged that the trees are 9 metres apart or 4.5 metres apart in rows 18 metres distant from each other.

This is just one example of the over regulation that blights the Kingdom.

As I was explaining in my last post, 'Eua lies to the south-east of Tongatapu and is in stark contrast to the flatness of the main island being dominated by a low ridge that extends the length of the island. As most of the land remains unallocated, the natural rainforest and pine plantations dominate (though there are still some coconut trees). This and a number of interesting geological formations make 'Eua just about perfect for bushwalking and camping, which was our plan for the Easter long-weekend.

The weekend started with an 8-minute flight from Fua'amotu domestic airport, supposedly the shortest commercial flight in the world. In June to November, the low altitude of the flight allows you to spot the migrating whales below - no such luck for us. I was able to take a couple of photos of the Tongatapu coast (which shows the reef I mentioned) and coconut trees. I recommend the flight, being over and done with before you even know it and far better than the horror stories I have heard about the ferry which is the only alternative.

Plans to camp/trek over a night or two were put on hold when we were greeted by the continuiing downpour on our first morning in 'Eua. The options were to sit and read a book or take the 4WD tour. Normally, I would baulk at the idea of 4WD-ing, but everybody else was enthusiastic and I didn't think it a good idea to finish my book on the first day of what could be a very wet long-weekend. Lucky for me, as the tour was well worthwhile the highlights being a visit to the big banyan tree and Maui's fault.

The description of the banyan tree is no understatement. The trunk of twisted vines stretches over 10 metres in diameter and the tree towered above despite starting in a cave 5 metres or so below us. We clambered down into the cave via a muddy slope and then used the twisted trunk of the banyan tree to climb back out. This set a trend for how a 4WD tour in Tonga differs from one in Australia.

Maui's fault is a large chasm formed, as legend would have it, when the Polynesian god Maui struck his kava stick into the ground and moved it back and forth to tear a whole in the earth. The Lonely Planet Tonga Guidebook says climbing into Maui's without climbing gear is impossible. Our guide, Peter, told us this story as we travelled to the fault. On arrival he then instructed us on how to climb down into and then out of the fault using a few muddy footholds and the thick vines of nearby trees exactly as he had done for the Lonely Planet author. There wasn't much point to us climbing into this cave, other than the challenge of getting out again, but it was fun and proved that you shouldn't always believe the guidebooks.

On Sunday, with the rain still beating down a few of us chose to do the only thing you legally can do in Tonga on that day and went to church. I have already attended the large King's Church in Nuku'alofa as part of our orientation. The quality of the singing and the ferocity of the sermon at the King's Church were good, but nothing when compared to the intimacy of the small village church we attended in Tufuvai, 'Eua. Being agnostic, my attendance at church is purely cultural appreciation. The highlights are the singing of the hymns, which the Tongans pride themselves on, and the game of pass-the-baby which involves any child under two being passed from mother to aunty to uncle to sister and so on throughout the whole service.

Monday was a little more low key as we were meant to fly back to Tongatapu that evening. I went for a walk along the coast wading through rock pools and managed a few octopuses, sea slugs, flat worms an eel and the usual array of fish and coral. On returning from the walk, we found out our flight was cancelled because of all the rain. I am getting used to delays flying to Tongatapu anyway, so the extra hours of swimming and exploring were very welcome.

In 'Eua we stayed at The Hideaway. Though rather basic, The Hideaway is relaxed and pleasant. The owners, who lived in Canberra for twenty years, are extremely friendly and seem to be the first to recognise the tourist potential of 'Eua, organising the tours around the island and whale watching in season. This and the good, sizeable meals make the Hideaway a great place to stay.

On work, the Minister has decided that the department where I work will indeed take on a policy advisory role when it is merged with the Ministry later this month (as I suggested on this blog last week) and also redouble its efforts to ensure that the national development plan is adhered to at budget time. For some reason, the Director is proposing that I work on developing a database rather than these other tasks. A quick, but tentative, email with my application to the AYAD Program attached and some suggestions of work I could do might change their mind. Here's looking forward to next week.

I have also worked out a way of uploading photos from work. They just don't upload in the order I would like. Check them out on my flickr site.