Day 395, Year 1: Saddened and Shocked Over News from Tonga
Date: Friday, November 17, 2006
Weather: Still Overcast and Windy
Location: Opua, New Zealand

On our way back from Paihia today, we heard about the riots in Nuku’alofa last night. The Tongan government announcement today that democratic elections will be held in 2008 came a date late to save most of the city of Nuku’alofa from destruction. Fiji has been on the verge of rioting for the past couple of weeks, but those of us who just came from Tonga had no idea that things were so tentative there. Rioters looted the stores and set fire to many buildings. There was a little bakery across from the Immigration Office that had been in business there since the 1800’s. We understand it was burned to the ground along with the internet café we used. The paper here did not have complete details so I’m not sure what else was destroyed, but estimates were that two-thirds of the city was set on fire. We can only hope that some good can come out of this for the good people of Tonga.

Mark and I took the courtesy van into the town of Paihia today. It is a nice little town, but it appears to exist only for the purpose of tourism. We’ve never seen so many tour guide businesses in one little place. We wondered through town, walked out to the Woolworth’s grocery store and did some food shopping, and then walked back into town for lunch. The Tourist Information Center had more tourist information that anyplace we have ever been. Most everything was free for the taking, so we now have more tour information than we will be able to read in the next few months.

Tonight we are going out to dinner with Doug and Sylvie of Windcastle and Monica and Felix of Makani. We look forward to sharing stories of our passage here and catching up on the travels of Makani since we last saw them in Bora Bora.

061117 Day 395 New Zealand–Paihia