If you haven’t heard of Huahine, you are in good company. It’s a very small island pair with a total population of 6,000 inhabitants. It has no great museums or important buildings. But it is cool for being the only Polynesian Island that held off the French. The queen finally decided that with all the nearby islands having fallen to the French, they would be better off negotiating the best deal they could. Our excursion had the best title of any: “Sacred Sites & Legendary Places”. We bravely got ourselves situated on “Le Truck”. This was a wooden structure built on a truck frame. We had morning showers, but with the heat and humidity, nobody wanted the windows up.

We drove to Marae, the site of over 200 pre-Columbian structures. Then we climbed Mata’irea Hill.

The thing about pre-Columbian structures is the only thing left is stone fortification walls and stone foundations of houses, temples, etc. Here’s a picture of a temple. The site is not all that impressive, but we also got the low-down on the real history of Polynesian history. (No young ladies wearing coconuts.)

The return trip down hill was quite difficult. The rain showers made the trail muddy and slippery. But we managed to get down without any major injuries. On the way back to the boat, we saw a fish trap. Fish get inside the V. The current pushes them into the circular area at the tip of the V. Fish can’t get out. One only has to scoop a net to get dinner without work.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

There isn’t a lot to do in Moorea. Especially on a Sunday, when everything except the larger tourist attractions and the wharf’s hello market are shut down. But it is one of the more beautiful places in the world, well worth a second day. We took another excursion today. We started out at the Tiki Village, which is built to demonstrate and celebrate pre-Columbian Polynesian culture. It’s nowhere near the quality of Colonial Williamsburg, but it’s a lot larger than Jerusalem Mill. We started with a concert. Other than the Ukulele, all the instruments were authentic. The Ukulele is so pervasive in today’s Polynesian culture that nobody would quibble about including it in a traditional concert. The songs were also authentic, at least as far as I could tell.

We also watched a dance, which was very much not a traditional dance. But the young lady hip wrigglers were quite entertaining. The picture is quite misleading. Behind the stage was incredibly beautiful tropical water. But the sun was bright, the sea was bright, and the dancers were in the shade of the stage. I had to wash out the sea so I could get a picture of the performers.

In 1958, Hollywood made a movie called South Pacific. Thee story took place in the shadow of the mountain of Bali Ha’i, on the island of Moorea. But it was more practical to film the move in Hawaii. So they did. After they finished the shoot, they needed a picture of the mountain for background. So they sent a photographer out with a camera. He came back with a picture that was almost as good as this one.

Near the end of the tour, we stopped at the Kia Ora Overlook. The verdant greens of the trees contrasted with the blues of the sea. I wouldn’t want to live here, but Moorea is a very beautiful corner of our planet.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

There are no pics today. We went on a dolphin watch. We were looking to find Spinner Dolphins. These are about half the size of the more common Bottle Nose Dolphins. Instead of jumping out of the water like Bottle Nose, Spinners spin out of the water. We saw several spins. They happen fast. If you aren’t lucky enough to be looking in the right direction, you will miss the whole show.

Some of the weather forecasts predicted intermittent T-storms. The excursion description had lots of warnings about getting wet. I decided I didn’t need to expose my phone to anything from salt spray to a driving storm. As it turned out, we had lovely weather. I don’t regret leaving my phone behind. I would have been so focused on getting “the picture” I probably wouldn’t have seen anything. The dolphins came fairly close to our boat, but they were never closer than 50 feet or so. Those who were lucky enough to get a pic or a movie probably saw a blurry dot in the corner of their screen.

Our guide was a PhD who studies dolphin biology. We all learned a lot about dolphins in general and spinners specifically. We even learned a little about sharks. A few lucky people also saw a sea turtle.

The weather was lovely, as I already mentioned. The water was incredible. We could easily see the bottom of the bay. We saw a lot of coral, but for some reason no fish. We ended up cruising half way around the island before we found the pod. The island is incredible, with high mountain peaks and huge vertical drops. We also saw closed or failed high end hotels, of the type that James Bond would visit, not minding the $1,000 a day charges.

Since I don’t have any pics, here’s link to a Spinning Dolphin video. I don’t know how they got this video. We never saw spins and jumps like the ones in the vid. Spinning Dolphins

We are staying here overnight. Tomorrow we’ll take a more traditional tour of the island. It’s easy to get a pic of a building. It doesn’t spin or move. I hope this finds everyone doing well.

Sometimes there’s not much adventure in an adventure. That can be ok.

Originally we had one stop in the Cook Islands and a stop at Bora Bora. The Bora Bora said they wouldn’t accept a ship of our size (over 1,000 passengers) due to COVID. So we would have two stops at the Cook Islands. Then Bora Bora changed their mind and we were back to the original plan. Then we got to the Cook Island and the sea swells were too high to tender safely. The swells were flooding the tender platform. So this is as close as we got to the Cook Islands.

There were a few disgruntled passengers. HA is giving each passenger a free drink. But here’s a hidden gem. We crossed the international dateline the other day. We had two Tuesdays this week. That means I could love my lovely wife 8 days a week (as the Beetles suggested). It’s even during our anniversary week. Nice.

We ended up needing our surprise sea day. Our Air B&B had a leak. The house is not habitable. That’s 0 for 2 with Air B&Bs. We ended up booking two rooms (one for us, one for Jul and her kids) at a hotel for watching the eclipse.

Tomorrow is a sea day. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Yesterday we had a presentation, a kind of Tonga warmup. The speaker let it be known that anybody visiting Tonga should snorkel or dive. Not doing so is simply cheating yourself out of the best that Tonga has to offer. I don’t mind cheating myself, but I don’t want to cheat you. So here is a picture from his presentation so you can see here what you should see in Tonga should you ever visit and decide to go snorkeling.

There’s not a lot to see in Tonga. It was very hot with 100% humidity. Rain showers turned on and off as we strolled the streets. Modern Tonga emerged along with the rest of the world in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The old Tonga was a monarchy and was the main power of the Pacific Islands. Modern Tonga emerged when the missionaries arrived and converted the island to Christianity. I have to admire those missionaries. Their first three attempts ended in failure, with all still living missionaries leaving the country. The fourth attempt succeeded. Tonga was never colonized. Modern Tonga is still a monarchy, but they also have a Prime Minister and a Parliament. Tonga is a very conservative Christian community. Citizens are guaranteed religions freedom. About 97% of the population goes to Church every Sunday. All commercial activities shut down on Sunday. It is illegal to go to the beach to swim. The most revered king is the third monarch and the first female king, Sālote Tupou III. Everybody in Tonga speaks Tongan. English is their second language. Only citizens can buy land in Tonga.

Tonga is obviously a poor country. Retail stores do not turn on their lights during the day. Air conditioning is reserved for foreign businesses and such. We asked one man for directions. We started talking. He knew that in the US, children are expected to leave their parent’s home after they graduate from college / get married. In Tonga, the family stays together. Even aunts and uncles might live together. This man had 5 daughters and one son. The son is in France studying at a university. The oldest daughter has married and moved to San Francisco. It’s common for children to leave, get jobs, and mail money back home. However, the children don’t always return. There are more Tongans living out of the country than in it.

The must see tourist landmark is the Royal Palace. The existing king does not live in the palace. It is used for some formal affairs of state. It’s not possible to go inside the palace or even walk around the grounds. Very well armed army troops are quite visible inside the fence. The building and grounds are immaculate, quite a contrast to other buildings in the area.

The most interesting thing I saw is still somewhat of a mystery to me. Most Tonga men wear slacks or a skirt that goes to their ankles. When we were near the palace, we saw a group of men wearing the skirts plus also a weaved apron. I asked them why they were were wearing the aprons. The man who answered hesitated before saying it was out of respect. I asked if this was respect for the King. He said no, it was respect for the Queen. I assume he meant Queen Sālote. I would like to have asked more, but they were obviously reluctant. But they weren’t at all reluctant to pose for this pic.

On our way back to the ship, a white woman driving a late model jeep stopped and asked if we wanted a ride to the ship. We were only a few blocks away. She appeared friendly, but her offer seemed a little off. I think she honestly wanted to be friendly, but I didn’t see any reason for getting in her car.

Tomorrow is a sea day. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

This is our last stop in New Zealand. Waitangi is where the Treaty of Te Hono Hawaiki was signed. It is where the first British governor lived. It’s where most of the Maori chiefs gathered for the treaty signing. In a very real sense, it was the beginning of the modern New Zealand. This is where the most extensive museum of modern New Zealand history is sited. So of course we decided to see glow worms. We selected most of our excursions 6 months ago or more. We had no idea of what the Hawaiki treaty was. There were no excursions to this museum because if you want to visit it, you walk less than 100 yards from the tender port to the museum entrance. But we have no regrets about missing this most comprehensive and most expensive museum. We have seen many exhibits about the Maori and early NZ. I keep on thinking of the spray painted extract of the English version of the treaty in Wellington. Certainly, this subject is under lively discussion to this day.

The glow worms live in a cave. To access the cave, one takes a bus ride. Our bus ride made a rest stop at the Hundertwasser Toilets. These are billed as the most photographed toilets in the world. I’m not sure whether anybody believes the claim but the toilets are certainly unusual. Not as unusual as Glenn’s “Urinals of Ireland”, but unusual in their own way.

When we got to the cave, I took one look and decided not to go in. Danita came back very excited about seeing the glow worms. If you want to know anything about them, you really should ask her.

Our third stop was the Manginangina Forest. This was a most impressive stop. This most northern part of the North Island has a slow growing tree that can be very old, produces excellent wood, and becomes very big. The difference between this tree and the tree we saw many days earlier (besides having different names) is that this tree is not as tall. Instead, it grows by increasing the diameter of the trunk. Also, the trees we saw were only 1200 years old or so. I don’t know how long they can live.

Our guide was a very active volunteer, heavily invested in protecting this uniquely New Zealand forest. He explained that the trees are now protected, but the forest is unhealthy because of non-indigenous predators. They extensively trap small mammals. They are trying to build a similar forests in small, uninhabited islands. Our guide says they want to eliminate predictors from NZ by 2050. That sounds like an ambitions goal, but I certainly wish him the best.

Our next two days are sea days. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We spent most of our time at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) is a big deal for both Australia and New Zealand. Both sent troupes to fight in both world wars, and soldiers who died in both wars are memorialized. But the biggest focus is on WW I. Their troupe losses as a percentage of population were much larger than Britain’s, and most of the losses came from one battle, the battle of Gallipoli. The ANZAC forces were sent on a suicide charge against the Turks while the British were having tea.

The most poignant room for me had a Japanese Zero fighter plane. At the beginning of the war, it was the best fighting plane in the world. The Japanese lost, of course. At the very end of the war, this plane was held back for repairs. By the time the plane was repaired, the war was over. Not long ago, A Japanese man visited the museum. He was a Zero pilot. He was scheduled to go on a suicide mission, but he was held back to train the next wave of pilots. By the time the pilots were trained, the war was over. He was so taken by the Zero display that he donated his pilot memorabilia, which you see in the second picture.

The museum displayed only two planes. The second was a Spitfire, one of the most effective planes built by the British. This plane has no extraordinary story, but it seems fitting to include it in this blog.

Similar to the history in the US, and Australia, and undoubtedly many other countries, there was extremely cruel and unfair treatment to the first people. Probably the worst incident in New Zealand was the attack at Ruapekapeka Pa. The Maori went deep into the bush and spent almost a year building their last stand fort. It involved many brilliant defensive measures. Eventually the British arrived. In spite of their superior weapons, it took them 10 days to overrun the fort.

Up into the 1950s, very few people in New Zealand knew about Ruapekapeka Pa. Even many history teachers didn’t know about it. Some school girls started a partition for a day of remembrance. They delivered thousands of signatures in boxes similar to this one. It’s just a cheap box, but it is covered with a Maori pattern that represents learning. Today, schools teach a more accurate version of history.

The last pic I will include is Moa bird, the biggest ever in New Zealand, and perhaps the world. Before the Maori came, there were no mammals in NZ, hence no predicters. As a result, a large number of NZ birds are flightless. Also, egg shells were much thinner than flightless birds in other parts of the world, such as the Ostridge. These birds became extinct shortly after the Maori arrived. The Maori caused the extension, but probably only indirectly. They brought with them a large rat that they used as a food source (like a guinea pig). The ratgs did well in NZ, often feasting on the easily penetrated Moa eggs.

We have one last stop in NZ, which will be tomorrow. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We started with a walking tour of the city. Our guide was entertaining, but didn’t have a lot to say that we haven’t already heard. The local government commissioned an artist to create a statue of Maori as strong and ready for battle. The artist decided it would be more appropriate to make the statue of a noble Maori looking out to the Pacific Ocean, contemplating the great achievement of navigating to New Zealand. Those artists are always changing things around. Anyway, the powers must have decided the statue was good enough. It’s in the harbor area.

We also saw this street art on the side of a building. Our tour guide kept describing the art using words such as inclusiveness. I finally figured out he meant LGBTQ+.

Here is a pic of the University of Auckland clock tower. This is a stand-in for the picture I should have taken but didn’t. Danita is facing another clock built into the ground in a garden. The numbers 3, 6, 9, and 12 are made from flowers. A circle of flowers defines the clock face. In the center of the face is a pipe buried in the ground holding a clockworks. What’s missing from the garden clock are the hour and minute hands. Our guide talked about a game university students like to play that involves placing a large number of beers on the clock “face” and guys (it’s always guys that do this silly stuff) trying to drink beer fast enough to consume it before the clock knocks a beer over. Somehow the game seemed to include running away from security officers. As you have noticed, I didn’t get the full gist of the game. But I did notice that our guide also mentioned that he graduated from Auckland U, and he didn’t discuss how well he did in the clock beer game.

The last pic is from the Maritime Museum. This is a modern model of the double-hulled boats the Maori used to navigate the Pacific. The materials are modern (fiber glass for the canoes, for example) but the lines and dimensions are true to the Maori. I get the idea. If you use a boat for educational sails for school kids, you have to meet modern safety standards. But I thought the solar panels were a bit much.

We stay overnight in Auckland. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

After we docked in Tauraga, we visited the village of Tewhakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao (Whaka for short). This is an actual village with about 70 Maori. We stopped for a photo at the village welcome center. We weren’t permitted indoors because it is sacred.

This village is on thermal steam vents, which are in active volcanic areas. Not long ago they had to evacuate the village due to a volcanic eruption. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and no damage was done.

Their entertainment troupe performed dances and songs for us. So far as I can tell, these were authentic. The man in the center is supposed to have his tongue out and his eyes bulged. It creates a fearsome image and helps the warrior prepare for war.

There were 39 passengers in our tour. Our bus driver was the worst ever. He told us he had to use a backup bus because this bus was in an accident yesterday — somebody drove into the bus. He twice had to stop short because he didn’t yield right of way to traffic entering a round about. He never told us when the bus was going to return. One of the passengers had to go back and ask. When it was time to go back to the ship, he counted the passengers and started to leave a couple of minutes early. If we hadn’t called out, he would have left three people behind. One of the passengers asked if he counted people. He said “I counted 46 before those three showed up.” On the way back to the boat, he drove over a large rock that was in the center of a round about. His reaction was to laugh about it. I’m convinced he was responsible for the accident yesterday. I don’t think he will be driving tour buses for long.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.