Tongan Letters...#1

Reef Resort

2-6-14

Greetings from the Kingdom of Tonga!  I thought I’d give you readers a little insight about living on an island in the Vava’u group of the Tongan Islands.

We arrived late January to care take the Reef Resort for the owners, Josef and Renate.  We had met them earlier on  sailing through the islands this past September.  We anchored in front of this beautiful open restaurant surrounded by five “fales” (guesthouses) overlooking the beach of Kapa Island and decided to stop for a beer.  The owners were very welcoming, though we couldn’t stay for dinner as most of these island resorts only prepare food for the “private paying guest”, but they could offer a cold beer!

First day on the "job" at Reef Resort

 We enjoyed ourselves so much that we visited a few more times and during our conversations asked,” if they ever needed someone to “house sit” while they took a vacation?,” we would be interested…well, you guessed it…we sold our boat in Australia...and here we are, feeding the dog, the three cats, keeping the cockroaches at a  minimum and keeping the pigs out!  That is pretty much our “job description” as we care take the resort for three months.

Gardening for the fun of it

Feeding my feline friends!

 This is summer time in Tonga, December through April.  It is just the opposite of our winter months in the northern hemisphere.  The water temp is about 85 and the air temp about the same.  The humidity can be in the 90s but mostly there is a fresh tropical breeze blowing so you dont feel the hot sun or the sweat dripping down your back.   The weather changes daily;  in the morning we can wake up to a clear sky and by mid-day a rain squall is passing through soaking the ground.  And when it rains here...its like someone turned on the faucet! It just dumps for a half an hour, then its over and the sun comes out again. Swimming in these warmer water temps is weird at first because there is not much temp difference to the air temp, but dive a little deeper and the water is cooler.

Rain squall passing through...

We hear to watch out for stinging jelly fish because of the warmer climes, but I haven't seen any, yet.  Tonga gets one cyclone every so often this time of year, so that is why (besides the whales leaving for the anartic) the sailing and tourist season shuts down.   Tonga gets hit by one cyclone every ten years or so.  You probably heard about the category 5 Cyclone Ian, that came barreling down on the islands in January? It was headed for the Vava'u group, but changed direction and clobbered the middle of Tonga, the Ha'api group of islands instead.  Leveled them. They are already low lying atolls and getting hit by 120knt of wind wiped out houses and crops.  All infrastructure has to be rebuilt. Thankfully, only one person died.  Aid from New Zealand and our US Peace Corp are helping out. That said, Tonga won't be having (ususally) another cyclone this year!  Lucky for us!


Our view from our deck is blue-green waters over a shallow reef pass between two islands.  We are like on a big boat now, managing the energy consumption by monitoring the solar panels to see if they keep up with our energy needs. The resort is closed  for off season and its just the two of us, so we don’t use much energy, unless we want to run the washing machine or have an espresso, then we need to be mindful of our energy.

Taking a break!

 One of John’s job is a daily trek up the hill to the battery bank to check the amps usage, if it’s below a certain percentage, he turns on the huge generator to top off the batteries.  Mostly the sun generates enough power for us.  Pretty cool. this power system is called the Outback (Kenwood Energy would approve of our system).  When the resort is full of guests they use the generator more often for all those cappuccinos and cold beer!

Sione does the really heavy work- mowing!

We have help at the resort, too.  Sione, a Tongan from the neighboring village on Otea, comes to help with the yard work, mows the grass, weeds and walks the 5-acres perimeter to check that the electric fence is still working to keep the pigs out.

Solar power!

Did I mention there are a lot of pigs in Tonga?  Pigs on the beach, pigs in the road, momma pigs and baby piglets and pigs just about everywhere!   The Tongans save pigs for special occasion feasts, like Sunday dinners and weddings and so there are a lot of pigs just waiting to be meals… and while they are waiting they wonder around foraging and rutting up the grounds. This doesn’t look good for a resort, so our job is to keep the pigs out!

John's daily trek up the hill to check power supply.

The battery bank of the Outback system

Pig Power.. good for cleaning up the trash!

We are on Kapa Island, one of the larger inhabited islands of the Vava’u group.  We get to town by boating one mile across an open channel to the main island of Pangaimotu, Then pick up a car parked in a friend’s yard in the village of Talihau and then drive twenty minutes to the town, Neiafu where we do our shopping at the fresh open market and buy supplies at the Chinese market.  There is a small influence of Chinese here in Tonga who own most of the markets. That's where we can buy beer only. The Tongan stores don't sell alcohol. We have lunch at one of the many restaurants who are trying to survive the “off season” when the tourists have are gone. Our small contribution of dollars helps.

Our transportation to town...

 Vava’u is known for its Humpback Whale watching and tourists come to “swim with the whales”.  It is one of only three places left in the world that allows swimming near a mother and her baby calf!
http://www.whalewatchvavau.com/about.html   There are several whale watching companies to choose a tour with!  The Tongans are making quite a living catering to this tourism industry along with sport fishing these activities sustain the economy for the year.  Just barely.

The road to town...

 Most business owners are palangis (white expatriates) and there isn’t very much trickle down to the Tongans., though there are more Tongans starting their own businesses.  Many young people go off to work in New Zealand or Australia and send money back to their families in the islands.

 Most tourists come here for the water. The water is visibility is spectacular sometimes as much as 100 ft. with colorful coral reefs to explore that are amazingly alive. and there are the whales to swim with! Tonga is a place waiting to be discovered.  It’s still a little “third world” by our standards and its not for everyone.   Air  travel is spotty and can be cancelled at any moment due to weather. This contributes to the cost factor of getting here.  Surviving the daily gauntlet of people, pigs and potholes and a general “laid-back” approach to living is a little overwhelming for some visitors.  Only the well traveled will enjoy the simple Tongan ways. We are still learning.

So many thing to do in Tonga!

Fishin' ...hope we got good bait..

Our care taking position ends in May when the owners return.  We then return to our home in Kenwood, California.  It’s been a long journey, almost two years away from home! It’s been a “vacation” of a lifetime and one we are so grateful to have experienced!

 But, I’m also looking forward to home ground, again, too.  More later...

Tasmania! Part 2

Fortescue National Park

Tasmania Part -2
We drive inland away from the coast and vacation crowds to find beautiful rolling hills dotted with grazing sheep and cattle. We drive through ranches,  orchards and vineyards.  This is dairy country much like our home in Sonoma County, California.

Sheep, sheep and more sheep....

I hear the "Bonanza" theme song.... where's Little Joe?

Freshly cut hay rolled in the fields.

A Campbell in Campbell Town

We drive through historic Campbell Town famous for the Red Bridge built in late 1800’s by convict labor.  This is the dark history of Australia and Tasmania when England sent convicts to these islands for life.  They built everything; bridges, roads, buildings and worked in the mines, or cleared forests. Today the convicts are honored for their labor, but of course during those times it was gruesome conditions and many died doing slave labor. Campbell Towns Bridge was built with some 1.2 million hand made bricks.  There is with a memorial plaque to remind us.  They say 4 out of 5 Tasmanians have convicts in their ancestry!  In Campbell Town is a path along main street of memorial bricks with each convicts name, where they came from ( mostly England) the crimes committed and the sentence given….most died as prisoners, but some paid off their debt to society and were given freedom.

Red Bridge in Campbell Town built by convicts.

I found the crimes interesting and minor and not fitting of the sentences levied, yet England was overcrowded and needed people to colonize their new territories…so went the convicts to Australia and (estimated 70,000) to Tasmania .

Campbell Town Brick Trail memorial

Interesting crimes committed....

Stole a bag of wheat to feed his 15 children...10 years for the crime!

Another sign of the poverty in those days...

We drive trough wide-open spaces…and poppy fields!  Tasmania produces 50% of the worldest  medicinal opium! Electric fencing protects the fields. And a big “KEEP OUT” sign posted.

Blooming poppy fields.  Tasmania grows large export of medicinal opium.

 Mining is still a big industry here, too with gold being the first big discovery as well as tin, copper and other minerals. Each new discovery brought new waves of settlers and towns grew up along the route to the shipping ports. Forests are still clear cut, chipped (pine or eucalyptus) and exported for paper.

Once we got off the main tourist route onto interior side roads we discovered the “under pants” the ugly remains of logging and mining that has scarred the countryside.

One place in particular, Queenstown is still a working copper mining town.  We were so depressed by the scarred hills, we just drove on through (sorry no photos).  I can only describe the vast canyon hole and barren hills left from acid rain surrounding the town was ugly and depressing to see.  The King river that runs through town is colored orange from years of copper runoff.   There are no fish and the vegetation is sparse.  The coppers mine have changed mining practices for the better, but they say it will be years before vegetation comes back to the hills..  We pulled into this town looking like it was struggling to survive with worn out homes and people... we decided to drive on through...

The Kroll, a cat-like-raccoon creature raids our camp!

Anyway, we get cranky if we don’t have a campsite for the night. The Adventure in a camper van.…where will we camp for the night? We don’t mind staying in the rough for one or two nights, but after that, we really would like a shower and proper toilets…and Internet? That would be nice,  but we drive on and end up camping next to the boat ramp on a fishing reservoir.  Nice.  That night we were raided by the curious Kroll, a cat-like creature with spots!

 WE LOVE Tasmania for its pristine waters and pristine environment!(excluding the mining towns)

Pyengana Dairy ranch...looks a lot like California!

9-1-14
Pyengana Valley.  Stop in for lunch at the Pyengan Dairy Company.  Award winning cheddar cheese is made on site with tastings and the cheese making process to watch while enjoying the surrounding green valley and high mountains.  Best micro-brew tasted, too…Moo Brew

Moo Brew...best ale so far!

Finally, a warm sunny day!  We drive through fields of rolled hay and stop at Weldborough Hotel for a beer…this is an historic roadside hotel in the middle of nowhere, but historic because of the "Tin Rush" that blazed through here in the 1800's. Now its home to travelers like us, passing through. We camp in the sunny field behind the hotel. Perfect. They also host a yearly mountain bike race where 600 riders camp and drink beer!

Weldborough Hotel ... with micro- brews on tap!

Ahh...sun and relaxing spot for the night in Weldborough

Another day of hiking...4 hrs looking for the trail leading to the top...wrong turn?

Down the road again....to Moorina.  At one time this bustling town was home to over 1000 people mostly Chinese laborers. An interesting memorial stands in the town of Moorina.

 Memorial for Chinese mining laborers in Moorina.

Chinese laborers in Tasmania

The Tin Trail is an historical route winding through the valley mining towns along the route to the coast for shipping out either at Bridport or Strahan.  We are following through the mountains… Derby is our next mining town.  I take the museum tour and am the only one in a large empty movie room showing a wonderful informational documentary of the “tin era” how it shaped the land, the catastrophe when the Cascade Dam collapsed and washed the town of Derby clean away and why tin was such an important material…especially during the WWs when canned foods was needed, tin roofs for buildings and tin toys before plastic.

The Tin Can invention sparks the "Tin Rush" in Tasmania

Toys were made of tin before plastic

Gingerbread style bank in mining town of Derby

13-1-14
A Few Days in Bridport…
Continuing on to Bridport  a popular beach resort town filled with a young hip vibe, families on the beach and good restaurants.  We secure a campsite  on a grassy knoll with an ocean view and enjoy walking along the beach.

 North coast  Bridport Bay and beach

We treat ourselves to dinner at the Bridport Bay Inn .  It seems a few days camping out camping requires a reward of eating in a restaurant!

Local fried scallops a specialty and served with the roe...yummm!

John orders the roasted farm raised Wallaby with  potatoes… when is he ever going to try it again?! Tastes just like a good roast beef!  I ordered a plate of fresh oysters followed by a Caesar salad then fried local calamari and prawns.  It was a great dinner....and pricey.  We find is expensive, but we may be comparing to Mexico and Fiji which had great value for the "buck".  Australia and Tasmania are similar to America prices for food, if not higher.  Beer and alcohol is over the top! Taxes!

Camper van trouble...

The downside of the day was our camper van died…the alternator quit…so we called the rental company who were very quick to pay for a new one replaced by the local mechanic. We only lost one day…but didn’t even notice as we spent the day walking along the beach looking out to the Bass Straits. The weather has calmed and warmed over the last two weeks.  Finally, we can say it’s HOT! The bay is shallow sand and the reflecting color is bright turquoise!

The colors are unreal!

The camper van is older with some 3500km on the mileage dial.  There was something bound to fail.  I as the driver, still had a hard time finding the right gears and crammed the shifter into a wrong gear sometimes.. Ooops! After the new alternator was installed, the engine seems stronger and we never had another problem.

Mole Creek
Day of driving still inland from Bridport through small towns, Westbury, Deloranie and each town claims historic buildings to visit, brick cathedrals and quaint shops  many still in use from the 1800s.  We quess because there are no earthquakes in Tasmania the buildings remain undisturbed?

We detour to visit the only Salmon and ginseng farm in Tasmania?  The company is called 41* South and is a farm deep in a eucalyptus forest.  The salmon are farm-raised in large steel tanks.  Its one of the biggest exports, farm raised salmon.  I question the practice in my mind, but wild salmon IS being depleted and so this may be the sustainable alternative?  The company sold other products, like smoked salmon( so delicous) ginseng tea, honey and wines.  Yes, there are many wineries in Tasmania…and I didn’t get chance to go to one (I did discover a suburb sauvignon Blanc called Ninth Island even Mike Lee would’ve thumbs up) mainly, because it takes time to “taste wine” and we just didn’t take the time. And besides, I live in the best wine country, Sonoma County!

Great Western Tiers Mountain in the background

Mole Creek  Karst National Park
  We check into the local information desk  and learn about the many limestone caves in the area, Marakoopa and King Solomon.   John is not keen on  paying $20 for a guided tour with many other tourists in a lighted cave…so local knowledge tells us of  the Wet Caves.

The Wet Caves were awesome!

Warning!

Kind of creepy...

John loves exploring these caves!

So much to see,  so much to hike...so little time!

16-1-14
Higgs Track
Still camping in Mole Creek...decide on another adventurous hike up the face of the Great Western Tiers. These are the grand rocks that surround this valley. The trail was cut in 1897 by early trappers and it literally goes straight up out of a canyon through rain forest and climbs out over boulders to an alpine  meadow.  We climbed slowly 200 ft vertical feet in 2 hours to the top.

Alpine meadow at 2,500 ft.

But, it was worth it!  The view was grand overlooking the Mole creek Valley below.  At the top was a meadow of colorful peat still bogged and damp from snow melt.   We felt we were in the High Sierras!  We walked lightly on a trail leading to our destination, Lady Lake Hut.

Lady Lake Hut

Every track warns of the changing weather in Tasmania that can catch hikers unprepared.  These huts are for hiker to take shelter.   The refurbished hut is wooden with a wall lined in bunks, a table and chairs,  cooking hot belly stove and water from a rain catchment system.  Off in the distance strategically placed above water level is the out house.  What a great hiker's destination!

Backpacker accommodations inside Lady Lake hut

 We notice it is occupied with backpacker's gear and sleeping bags... and so just leave a note that we were there for a rest, water and snack. This is one of seven back country shelter huts being restored by  conservationists for present-day hikers.

King of the Mountain!

QUEEN OF THE MOUNTAIN!

Next we stop at the waterfalls at the bottom of the trail...a little "skinny dipping" and we call it a full day!  We are exhausted, but happy to have spent the day on the trail and visited the hiker's hut.

Mercer Falls is refreshingly cold!

Our first platypus sighting! 

Back at the camp, our host tells where we can see a platypus...so down the road we go to the specific bridge and there they are...  a family swimming and diving for food.  Our first ever platypus sighting!

Tasmanian Tiger Bar

More Mole Creek…
Another claim to fame for the Mole Creek Township is the last sighting of the now extinct Tasmanian tiger was seen here in 1987.   Seems the early settlers killed all the tigers (they look like scrawny dogs) because one or two little sheep were missing…Anyway, the town has adopted this theme to market and so we stopped in to meet the locals at the Tasmanian Tiger Bar.  I tell you it’s the best way to learn about the town and its history by hanging out with the locals.

Sheffield is famous for painted murals on buildings

17-1-14
On the road again… to the town of Sheffield, a quirky eccentric-kind of town with antiques, tourists and ex-hippies. We stop for coffee and a picture with a pet llama.  “That'll be two dollars,” says the pet owner who is trying to make a living from the tourists.  I gladly pay and get a wet llama kiss!

The Kiss!

This town is the turn-off towards Cradle Mountain National Park, a popular park much like our Yosemite in California.   Many hikers undertake the difficult 5-day Overland Track through undisturbed nature (Sarah Miller are you reading this?) We plan to drive through and the high plateau and camp on the south entrance at Lake St Claire, thus missing the tourist crowds, again.
Lake St Claire is Tasmania and Australia’s largest natural lake formed by glaciers.  The setting is beautiful and reminds me of our Lake Tahoe.  Even though we are only at 2,500 ft elevation it gets snow!

Watch for Wombats!

The Ranger Center is also an informative museum and we learn about the animals and how this area was carved by glaciations and that 30% of Tasmania had been declared World Heritage Designated, a title that sounds impressive, but in reality, only protects land from development until maybe its needed..   When reading the World  Heritage criteria, a country only has to meet 1 out of 10 criterias ( learn more: http://whc.unesco.org/en/faq ) to be nominated as a World Heritage site…Tasmania meets 7 of these!  This island is pretty special.  And this is where two sides of Tasmania conflict: the Conservationists (tree-huggers, not my words) and the Conservatives (industry& jobs) are vying for power.

In the middle of the Tasmania!

Crossing the Franklin River on a suspension cable bridge.

Always a wooden track over a fragile watershed...

Man ferns on track to St Columba Falls

After touring this beautiful country, we think Tasmania will eventually become a “Boutique Island” saved and preserved for tourism in the future.  The lumber, mining and ranching industries are struggling to stay alive as young families move off the island to make a living.  It’s a hard call when a mine closes and a family is out of work.  But, I do  hope tourism and conservation will be the stewards of the future. Tasmania is such a special place and needs preservation!

Lake St Claire National Park

From Lake St Claire we drove straight through to Hobart to drop off our camper van and catch a plane out on Jan 21 to Tonga! We ran out of time!
We easily could’ve spent another three weeks touring Tasmania.  There is so much to see…We passed on ferrying to the off islands, Flinders, Bruny and Maria due to time constraints and stayed away from the big cities,  Hobart and Launceton.    We purposely avoided the high tourists spots choosing a quieter path far from the madding crowds..  That was our choice.  Another visitor might choose a different path.  We enjoyed the 19 days that we had and filled each day.
Thanks for the memories, Tasmania!

Ok..that's all for now...Whew! It's hard work keeping up with this blog...and this is OLD NEWS now, 'cause we're ba-aack in Tonga!  I have internet 24/7...so no excuses for not posting!
Malo!