Today started out wet with the northerly wind dying down. By nine the rain had stopped and the outlook seemed fine for a few hours. I decided it was time to get out and about the island of Tongapapu.
First, I set off to Captain Cooks landing place where he set foot on Tongapapu in 1777. It’s quite an unimpressive site, run down with a closed-up café and non-functioning toilets. The water side is dirty with old junk lying around. The Queen and Prince Phillip visited the site in 1970 – I bet they spruced it up before she turned up.
Then it was off to look at some old royal terraced tombs. After the tombs I headed out to see Ha’amonga ‘a Maui. This is a stone monument, much like a mini Stonehenge. I am not sure the history of the thing as there was no information available. It appears that the cut vegetation lines mark out the summer and winter solstices, although the monument does not seem to line up.
This part of island where Ha’amonga ‘a Maui is situated is to the far east. There is a nice fresh atmosphere about the place with clean fresh air coming off the ocean. There’s Mango, Cassava, Plantain, and Banana everywhere. The land here looks very fertile and reminded me of Nigeria just stick anything in the ground and it will grow.
Alongside the roads there are stalls selling fresh fruit and vegetables. Not the bland, perfectly formed, irradiated supermarket type, but real out of the soil and off the trees produce. I bought some, it tastes good.
Around midday the heavens opened again, heavy tropical rain, I headed back to Nuku’alofa for a decent coffee and light lunch at Friends Cafe. After lunch I visited the internet café to check the weather – still not looking very flash for sailing to New Zealand. The weather up north is light and down south very windy. I will be waiting a few days more.
Sunday tomorrow – everything shut apart from the churches.
The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson 
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