Fakatonga

One of the motivating factors for embarking on my New Zealand adventure this year was the Peace Corps placement of my friend Alicia in the tiny Pacific Island chain of Tonga. Only three hours from New Zealand, but isolated and tourist-free enough that I probably wouldn't have ever heard of it, much less visited, if not for Alicia. We had talked about crossing paths in the Pacific for at least a year, and then a few weeks ago I found a magically cheap flight and booked myself a ten-day holiday from my holiday.

The trip was incredibly rich and packed with new impressions and thoughts. I spent time with Peace Corps volunteers, crazy expats, Tongan families, as well as beautiful beaches and palm trees. Because Tonga receives few tourists, and because I was blessed by a friend who's now pretty much fluent in Tongan, I got to see a very varied slice of Pacific Island life and get some insight into the Peace Corps experience. I'll try to show you a bit of it via a (perhaps overly long) photo tour.

The domestic flight from the island of Tongatapu to the Ha'apai island chain. I flew over on a tiny six-seater plane, sitting next to the luggage, and gaping shamelessly at the islands and reefs and little waves that I pretended were dolphins. Those are colors I don't think I had ever seen before in nature.

I arrived in Ha'apai to a greeting party of Alicia, several curious Tongan children, and Mui Mui, Alicia's singularly adorable adopted dog. The pampered "palangi" (or white people's) dogs are a source of endless amusement to the Tongans, whose dogs - like the pigs and chickens - generally roam at will, feed where they can, and eventually are eaten by the family for a special treat. But don't worry...Mui Mui is off the menu now.

Most Tongans work at subsistence farming, and Alicia's neighbors kept us well provided with food from their bush plot. Like these "hopa" bananas, which we later fried for breakfast or made into countless loves of banana bread.

Sunsets in the Pacific seem invariably beautiful and are the Tongans' favorite time for a warm evening swim. Here's Alicia with the neighbor kids and Mui Mui, followed by the spectacular sunset on our night at Uoleva.

And here's Uoleva during the day. Thanks to Alicia's friendships with the residents of Ha'apai, we got to spend two gorgeous, practically free days on this uninhabited resort island, swimming and snorkeling on the reefs: a nice look at how the slightly less poverty-line tourists might see the Pacific.

We even got a free snorkeling trip on the way back.

We also got to spend a lot of time with Alicia's incredibly hospitable and generous neighbors. They invited me to spend a traditional Sunday with them, making lu in the umu (coconut oven, pictured above) and then dressing us up in Tongan mats to go to church (below...Alicia and Tupou) while our big meal cooked. The afternoon is then spent in a colossal nap.

And when I left, the family even presented me with some traditional Tongan gifts, including this gorgeous sea turtle shell, which the Tongans are allowed to harvest, but which U.S. Customs prohibits me from taking home. We called to ask and they basically laughed in our faces. Would you like some ivory and gorilla hands with that? Maybe a nice tiger-skin rug? O.K...point taken.

All in all, I had a wonderful stay, experienced incredible hospitality, and also got eaten alive by mosquitos, sunburnt, and stung by a tiny jellyfish. I grew quite attached, actually. I hope I get to cross paths with some of those beautiful people again soon.

Kiwi Hospitality

There's another horn that needs tooting, I've realized. The New Zealand countryside can't steal all the glory. Tribute must also be paid to my wonderful hosts, the Kiwi friends and friends-of-friends who have been taking me into their homes and and bringing me along on their holidays. In Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Tongariro, Akaroa, and Arthur's Pass, I've been fed and housed and driven about by the most wonderful people, and I'd like you to meet them too.

Me and Tommy with Beth, Laura, and Kev: youth workers and North Island hosts extraordinaires. They worked at a summer camp with our friend Luisa last year, and this year they have offered us their homes and cars whenever we needed to clean up, rest a bit, or stage some northern adventures. Pretty incredible for people who had never met us before January.

Tommy with Juliette, Jane, and Megan; Tommy with Richard. I met Juliette, Megan, and Richard in France (you may remember them from the photos of the castle holiday), and they've since introduced me to a whole network of fun-loving Kiwis and to a variety of typically Kiwi holiday destinations down south. You couldn't ask for more delightful, silly, and generous friends.

Giving and receiving hospitality is one of the most marvelous parts of travel for me. The "pay it forward" economy of helping someone along on a journey seems such a strong proof against the lie that humans are inherently selfish. It restores your faith in the potentially exponential effects of friendship. And I hope that someday, I'll be able to pass some of this good energy on to others. Negative emotions aren't the only ones that snowball and pick up speed when you roll them down a hill.

So long South Island, bye bye Bilbo

As I flew over the Cook Straights last night, leaving the South Island for the North, I started thinking about how often lately I've actually been able to feel the emotional and existential sandshiftings that signal "transition time." I've been putting my ear to the ground for them, trying to give myself time to absorb the aftershocks, miss the old and realign to the new. It's gotten me to wondering whether life is actually moving faster and hitting harder on this trip, or whether I'm just paying more attention. Maybe life has always been changing from moment to moment with this much color and noise, but I had my eyes on a bigger picture that just hasn't existed while I'm here.

Anyway, there's a wee semi-philosophical moment for you, prompted by the emotional weight of leaving the South Island. After cozy visits with Kiwi friends, an amazing road trip with Devon and Ross, and a fabulous WWOOFing stay, Tommy and I have both made our separate ways north to start new adventures. And to make the whole transition that much more weighty, we've even left our beloved car, Bilbo, behind, where he will hopefully run free - low on battery life, but mighty in spirit - with new travelers some day. As for us, we've got our packs on our backs again, we've bid adieu to the Southern Alps, and the trip seems totally new and unknown yet again.

So I'd like to propose a toast to the South Island and to our trusty car, via some last travel photos of our final weeks in the south.

Queen Charlotte Coast Track

Kaikoura

Abel Tasman National Park


Arthur's Pass

And here's to you, Bilbo. You taught me how to jump a car, how to believe in empty-tank miracles, and how to throw the schedule out the window.

Life at Ngaroma

Tommy and I feel like we got pretty lucky with our first WWOOFing experience. As I shared in my last post, our hosts really helped us get our hands dirty and make ourselves at home. So here are some photos to take you through a day in the life of a very happy WWOOFer.

Greeting the Morning

Shifting the Sheep

Puttering in the Gardens


Walking the Farm

Running the Dogs

Dining with the Family

Calling it a Day