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Published: February 6th 2011
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MALO LELEI !! from Tonga!
Well here we are back again having sailed the wonderful South Seas, and visited the fantastic South Sea Islands!!!
I am not even going to try and tell you where and when we were there, we have changed times so often in the last couple of weeks, and now we have missed the 2nd February altogether, so apart from my watch having been ballroom dancing back and forth each day, the only thing for sure now is that we are exactly 12 hours ahead of Spain and 13 UK for the time being!!
I would love to hear from you all as to what was happening on the 2nd February, in case I missed out!!!!
Well we have just about crossed the Pacific Ocean, which covers 30% of the surface of the earth, and is larger than all the Continents put together! Amazing, and we have not even seen another ship since leaving Peru!!!
Well anyway, after leaving Beautiful Bora Bora, our next stop was the tiny remote island of Rorotunga in the Cook Islands, on a Sunday! Well the only thing that was open was Church, and indeed the entire population
were there. Hoping to hire a scooter and see the island, we could just about achieve this at the petrol station, but needed a Cook Island driving license, an impossibility on a Sunday, as it is issued by the Police, and the Police Station doesn't open on Sundays! Hey Ho, it was a nice stroll through the tiny town, and very pretty scenery. As this was once again an anchorage at sea, the tender ride was particularly fun as the seas were very rough, you would pay a lot of money for that trip at Alton Towers!
2 days later, we arrived in Alofie, Niue, this was even smaller and indeed only a few hours stop.
Having lost 24 hours, we arrived yesterday in Tonga. I have been there before, but Richard had been sick last time, so for a change I knew where we were going and what I wanted to see. No scooters or motorbikes, and whilst we were pondering over a hire car, Mausia came along in his ancient mini bus and offered us an island tour? Well after a little negotiation, we decided that $30 was a fair price, as long as we took
my itinerary!
This started off as a good idea, first stop the money exchange so that Mausia could change his US dollars into Tongan money, then the garage to fill up with petrol, and then we were on our way. Well for about 15 minutes until we had a puncture down a very lonely country road!! I did warn Richard that if he came out on my trips, there would be an adventure!! After 45 mins of trying to get the old wheel off, Richard was “huffing and puffing” and looking to flag the next vehicle down and get back to town. No chance, nothing came along except a young lad on a bicycle, who helped to change the wheel eventually. So off we went again, this time with the temporary 4 inch wheel!! trying to avoid pot holes.
Anyway, for all of that, we toured the entire island, which is beautiful, heard all the local stories and history from Mausia and even visited his home and family!
All in all a great day out, on a gorgeous island.
Well, as I have said before, “We came to sea to see the sea, and what do we see? We
see the sea!” I am sitting in the Crows Nest, the top bar on the ship which has stunning views, and am surrounded by sea, as I write this, ready to send to you all when we reach Auckland on Sunday, where we spend 2 days before having a really busy trip around North and South Island New Zealand with Port days every day for the next 10! so there will be plenty of news and photos to follow!
Big talking point here is where we will get to eventually, we are due to arrive in India next month, before travelling on to Dubai, through the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean! Well at this moment in time, that is not likely, with 1000 Americans on board! So we will have to wait and see nearer the time whether we stick to our original itinerary or do a detour back to Fort Lauderdale, who knows but it all adds to the interest of the trip. Richard lost sleep last night, when he realised that he had left his South African Rand at home, and indeed we may go there!! Watch this space, hope you all enjoy the news, and
would love to have some messages!!
Miss you all, but having a wonderful time as always
Much love
NOFO À
Elaine
FUNNY STORY!
With all the time changes, I have been getting up really early to watch the sun rise from the Aft deck. Here I meet up each day with several men from US and Canada with our coffee. One day they told me they all worked for the same company, well as they are all retired, I said “really, how can that be?” Well said one, we all worked for Honeydew! I thought this really strange, and said so, to which they all laughed at me and said oh it is easy, it is “Honey do this! And Honey do that!” from their wives!! I thought that was as funny as the comedien who said that the Man was the head of the household, but the Woman was the neck, and everyone knows that the head is controlled by the neck!!!
Thought you girls would all like that one!
XX
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