February 21, 2014. The Queen Elizabeth. Tonga.

Tonga is an interesting place. It is flat and after the steep hills of Samoa it is unusual. And it is surrounded by coral reefs. Captain Cook came to Tonga in 1777. In fact, today we visited the same spot where he landed. In many ways, it was like every other developing place. Ken suggested that it looked very similar to Nicaragua, but the clothes are different. The men wear skirts. Even the school boy uniforms use the cotton long skirts. I feel sure I am using the wrong name for the men’s clothing.. And they like the women to be large!! Ken and I took an excursion on the island, to see their historic spots. The thing that was most obvious was the pride of the people in their history and their country. Actually, the drive was interesting but the places we visited were not dramatic and not really very interesting. But we enjoyed the trip. When we arrived back to the ship, the local police brass band was playing at the end of the pier. Much to our surprise, they were good. It was great fun listening to them. As folks came back from their excursions, they stayed to listen to the band. And the people on the ship came out to the deck to listen too. Evidently, this band is famous. Normally, it is a band of 60 but almost half of the players could not get off work. The band has travelled to Australia, New Zealand, Germany, England, Hawaii and other places too. Mel would be pleased to know that the three bass players were excellent, as were the two euphoniums. The cornet section was weak as was the trombones. But all in all, it was great fun listening to them. Four times during their hour and a half concert, the men sang. They were a good men’s chorus. They ended by playing and singing Waltzing Matilda, much to the delight of the Australian passengers. And finally, they played as we left the pier “For All We Know, We May Never Meet Again”. And half the town were waving us goodbye. This was the first time that The Queen Elizabeth had visited Tonga.