Tonga
Ripple2
Thu 21 Sep 2006 11:12
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We sailed to the entrance markers under a leaden
sky not long after sunrise (but it was cloudy).
4 miles to the north is a small conical volcanic
island. Niuatoputapu itself is mostly flat with a small range roughly in
the middle. It is about 4 miles end to end and 2 miles deep. There are
approx 1,000 people. The entrance channel was straightforward and
well marked. We anchored off a dock and small village in 35 feet.
We were due to arrive the previous afternoon which
would have been Friday Tahiti time but Saturday Tonga time. Due to a
lack of wind we arrived on sat Tahiti time, Sun Tonga time. So we went from
arriving on Fri to arriving on Sun. Between the wind and
the International Date Line we lost a few days there
somewhere.
We were not allowed on shore until we had been
visited on the boat by Customs, Immigration and Quarantine officials. That
was not going to happen until about 11 on Monday. So we relaxed
after 3 nights at sea.
Monday morning we cleaned the boat for our guests.
The officials came and went (see Annies Log for details). We were free to go
ashore.
We arrived in Niuetoputapu to the "stone age". Or very nearly, I would call
it the "corrugated iron age" After the almost first world conditions of French Poly this out island of the Kingdom was a bit of a shock. You always think you want to see thatched huts in the south Pacific. And then when you see a place that has them it's a little weird. The people are friendly enough but have few amenities. There is no electricity and virtually no economy. Not even a weekly food market. This is subsistence living. As we have become accustomed to in the more remote
islands we were first greeted by children asking for lollies and pens and maybe
a "what's your name?". The village was on flat open ground. A collection of
thatch and tin and the occasional concrete buildings. The streets were laid out
more or less in grid. There were dogs, horses and many pigs about. We walked
through at lunchtime so no-one except the kids were about.
We set off down a dirt road with no shade at this
time of day. We had to go the village that the locals optimistically
called "the capital", 3 miles away to pay our check-in fees at the
government office. On the road I saw a flattened can of VB (a brand of
Australian beer). I noted it but passed it off a fluke. I was down to just
4 cans of beer on the boat and I was reverently hoping to buy beer here. Not
long after I saw another one. No fluke. This was confirmation that you
could get beer here. We passed through another village with the customary
greetings of "give me lolly" . We had not thought to bring any but thought
that we could buy some in "the capitol" for the return trip.
Once in the capitol we found the government office
almost hidden down a side street. A colonial era stone building housed the
Treasury Sub Branch, Customs, Quarantine and Immigration offices. There
was no computer and I don't recall a typewriter although there may
have been one. There was however a 30's ? era safe. Large and heavy with the
door wide open to show a few banknotes haphazardly strewn about the
interior. I don't recall seeing any light fittings either. Who needs
lights. They work 8 to 4!
After paying our fee (about $US30) we searched for the shop. From
previous blogs you know that a visit to the shop is usually a highlight.
The Tonga Co-operative Food store would have done Soviet era Russia
proud. There were no shelves, just boxes of stuff in piles on the
floor. There was no freezer or refrigerator. Nothing fresh. About 25 items were
displayed on a bench with, helpfully, the price written below each. You stood at
a counter and asked for what you wanted. We wanted beer, coke, sprite, eggs,
potatoes, and flour. Actually our original list also included broccoli,
tomatoes, and some other fresh greens but that part of the list vanished almost
the instant we walked in. The revised list we had never had trouble filling
before (except eggs) . They had local versions of Coke and Sprite (but strangely
they came from California! They weren't local at all. So why not just sell Coke
and Sprite? Something to do with how the country is run is a possibility). The
only other thing that they had that we wanted was flour. But the minimum amount
you could get was 5kg (10lbs). O.K. if it comes in a 5kg pack I'll get 5kg. But
no, the flour is in a bulk container and they scoop out and weigh out 5kg and
put it in a shopping bag ! Go figure.
Next we found the bakery. A mostly red tin shack on
the edge of a never used cricket field (I knew it was a cricket field because it
had a concrete pitch in the middle. A fact that would have escaped many other
visitors, otherwise it just looked like a vacant plot of ground with 2 tire
tracks running through it and places where the ground had been uprooted by
pigs). A man had just arrived on a bicycle at the building a few minutes before
we got there. He was the baker. The man said that all the bread was gone
for today. Not unreasonable since it was well after lunchtime by now. We
expected this, that's why we had bought the flour. To make bread. The man said
that we could come back tomorrow at around 5am. Then we entered into negations
about what time we could possibly make it. Clearly anytime before 10am was
stretching it for us. That would mean getting up, making tea, drinking tea,
listening to the radio nets and the weather, making breakfast, listening to
Radio Australia, running the engine, watermaker, fridge (for 1 and a
half hours), eating breakfast, washing the dishes, packing water,
camera, lollies, pencils, pumping up the dinghy, dinghying ashore, tying up the
dinghy and then walking 3 miles. No. Not before 10. Then he offered us some
small fish that he had obviously just caught. No thank you (we had the half
of Wahoo remember). Then the most extraordinary thing happened. He went
into the shed and came back with a loaf of bread. That' s all we wanted all
along! So we had 5kg of flour, and now we had a loaf. We didn't need (or want to
carry 3 miles) 5kg of flour, So we gave him the flour. He felt its weight
and expressed surprise. Everyone was happy. Strangely Annie said that we would
come back tomorrow for more bread anyway. We may be the only people to have ever
bought bread with flour! Who would take flour to a bakery? That's why you read
these blogs.
All missions possible accomplished, we headed down
the road home. About halfway we were lucky enough to be picked up by a school
teacher. He spoke good English and we chatted. He asked what we were going to do
tomorrow. Tomorrow was the Kings funeral. We said that we were thinking of going
to visit the resort on a very nearby motu. He thought that was a good idea and
as tomorrow was a holiday, therefore no school and he was free he offered to
pick us up in his car tomorrow and take us there at any time we wished. Wow
we said. Are you sure? Yes he said. We decided on ......10am. That way we could
be at the bakery by 10 past (it was on the way to the resort). Wow we
didn't have to walk. Well to cut a long story (we were prepared and had lollies
and pencils and as it turned out 2 hours to kill) short, by noon he hadn't
appeared. By then it was too late and too hot to walk to the bakery. And
besides they were burying their King. We retired to the boat and rested, which
we still needed. Then at about 5 we took up an earlier invitation to drinks on
another boat (thank God, I only had 2 beers left)and ended up (mostly because of
rain) coming home after 9 and not fed.
Next morning we decided to visit the resort. They
most certainly had beer. We walked the 3 miles again. Again equipped
with lollies and pencils. And water for us. We were cordially welcome by Laura
an Englishwoman. We were a bit early (most unusual for us) for lunch and so
Laura gave us a brief tour of the accommodations and left us to wander the
coastline ( a beach only at high tide). By the time we came back Laura was
ready to make lunch for us, we were the only people there. We were offered Coke,
Sprite or BEER!!!! As it was early I asked for a Sprite and so did Annie.
Well as it turned out there was only one Sprite. Oh well IN THAT CASE I"LL HAVE
A VB!!! Australian beer and still over 2000 miles to go! After lunch and
some (very pleasant I must say) small talk I got to the point.
Yes they would sell us
beer to take away. Praise the Gods! At a trifling price of US$2.50 Cheaper than Ivans (and 40 ml larger) Well actually almost the entire world is cheaper than Ivans except the notoriously expensive French Polly. Considering we had to walk (by now about 4 miles) I got 2 six packs. That should do I thought as we were to leave the next day for a bigger island. Well that didn't happen.
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