"SPIRITS ARE USING ME, LARGER VOICES CALLIN' "

 

SOUTHERN CROSS

Back in the mid 1980s I went for a 10 day holiday in the Kingdom of Tonga, staying on the 100 acre Atata Island which is 10 kilometers (20 minute boat ride) from Nuku'alofa.

I wrote a post about this a few years ago: HERE which you might remember.

It was a great holiday where I 'recharged my batteries' and wrote a business plan for the setting up of Quill & Company, a specialist premium liquor supply company which I convinced Allied Liquor Merchants to set up and which I headed up for a few years.

The small island had a reef but otherwise was located out in the big blue sea. The facilities were fairly basic but were in a stunning setting and I learnt to wind-surf (poorly), sail a catamaran (reasonably well) and to practise my swimming. The night sky was the best I've experienced with clear views of the Southern Cross and other constellations.

The main hotel building with bars and restaurant

The chalet on the beach I stayed in

The view from the chalet

The beach

'Selfie' of me in my holiday outfit showing a suntan I'd never had before and never since.

I have fond memories of that place. Later, when I met The Old Girl we were going to go there for a holiday but chose Aitutaki in The Cook Islands instead. Aitutaki was more upmarket but also beautiful.

Atata Island had the Royal Sunset Resort at one end and a traditional village with church and amenities at the other. Many of the villagers were employees at the resort and I got to meet and talk to a lot of nice people. Robert will be pleased to know that I attended a church service while there but it was the Free Church of Tonga (an offshoot of Wesleyianism) and not Roman Catholic which is in the minority there.

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It's very sad to hear of the massive volcanic eruption of Hunga Tonga - Tonga Ha'apai the volcanic island 65kms away from Nuku'alofa. The resultant tsunami and the ash fall is causing great destruction in Tonga and, sadly, might have destroyed Atata Island.

Information from Tonga has been sporadic at best and with communication cables destroyed a lot is unknown about the outer islands. I hope that Atata survives but it doesn't look good. I hope that the people I briefly knew are Ok particularly Siu, the lovely bar manager I struck up an acquaintance with. At the end of each evening's dinner or drinks I used to use an old Tony or Richard joke and say to her "See You" as I left. I think that she was impressed.

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This eruption and the aftermath is a strong lesson of what natural disasters may happen in our region. Most of the Pacific Islands are under threat from sea level rising as a result of global warming but this always seems to be a long and slow process which can be conveniently parked for future generations to handle. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and the resultant tsunamis are instant and violent and cannot be ignored. We in New Zealand and Australia must face up to our responsibilities for the region and open our doors to the hundreds of thousands of potential refugees for sanctuary and ultimately settlement, education and assimilation into our communities. It is best that it is done sooner in an orderly way rather than the last minute and tragic migrations that are happening in Europe, the Middle East and South and Central America.

Ive been thinking of this a lot over the last couple of years and will write a post on this soon.