Friendly Islands Kayak Company - Chance Encounters in the South Pacific

Sea Kayaking and Whale Watching Adventure Escapes in the Kingdom of Tonga

Friendly Islands
Kayak Company

Tonga Office
(Local Enquiries)
Private Bag 10
Neiafu, Vava'u
KINGDOM OF TONGA
South Pacific
Ph/Fax: 676 70 173

New Zealand Office
(International Enquiries)
PO Box 142
Waitati, Otago 9069
NEW ZEALAND
Ph/Fax: 64 3 482 1202

Email
tours@fikco.com

Tongan Shell

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Chance Encounters in the South Pacific

by Rosemary Rayfuse
(This article appeared in "Traditions", the alumni magazine of Glenlyon-Norfolk School)

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There are some things your body just isn't designed to do. When one part of my leg went in one direction as the other went in another I knew I had just done one of those things. There would be no climbing for me for a while. The expedition was off. Ten months after the reconstruction the leg still wasn't up to much. But here it was, October mid-session break, and I just couldn't face the piles of assignments and preparing more lectures. I needed a holiday. One that didn't involve using my leg very much. There was the ad - simple yet appealing: "Kayaking in Tonga". Just what I needed. So bright and early on a Saturday morning I dialled the number.

I was more than mildly surprised to hear a woman with what sounded distinctly like a Canadian accent answer the phone. She gave me the details, and yes there was a trip going during the time I had available. Then we chatted for a while. I had seen ads for kayaking in Tonga at home in Victoria and I asked if she was anything to do with that company. No, but they all knew each other. But if Victoria was my home - who was I? I told her my name and when the response came down the line I nearly fell of my chair. "Rosemary! It's Sharon, Sharon Angus! Well, I was then-but I'm married and it's Spence now!" I couldn't believe it. There I was in Sydney, Australia, phoning Tonga out of the blue, and speaking to an old class mate of mine from Norfolk House! That was it. I had to go. Anne, a friend from my Cambridge days, bravely decided to come along. She was absolutely intrigued by the prospect of hearing tales about me from even earlier times.

After an all too short night on Tongatapu, the main island, we headed back to the airport for our flight to Vava'u, the northern archipelago of the Tongan group of islands. Not yet used to 'Tonga time' we nearly missed our plane. Planes depart when everyone who has checked in is on board. We had checked in but were sitting waiting for a 'call'. Someone was scurrying around looking very concerned. We finally asked why and learned that we were the objects of that concern. We ran out to the aircraft and took the two remaining seats at the back.

After an hour or so of whale gazing from the air we landed in the middle archipelago of Ha'apai. Very different from Vava'u with its volcanic mountains, Ha'apai is a bunch of coral reefs just above sea level with only barely enough room for a runway on the main island. It was here that Captain Cook met what he thought were friendly natives and gave the islands their name-the Friendly Islands. Another hour or so flying over open ocean and there we were in Vava'u. I recognised Sharon at the airport immediately - and she me. We had both changed but we had also stayed pretty much the same. Floral leis were flung around our necks and we were driven across the island out to a wonderful beach hotel from which our kayaking trip would start a couple of days hence.

The next two days were probably pretty agonising for Anne and Doug, and everyone around us, as Sharon and I blabbered on incessantly - filling each other in on more than twenty years worth of 'news'. How had she ended up in Tonga? She and her husband Doug had moved to New Zealand many years ago. They were avid paddlers and, about eight years ago, after a kayaking trip in the South Pacific they decided to set up business in Tonga. They spend half the year there and then, in hurricane season, they return to their home and jobs in New Zealand. "Not bad", I thought....

Sharon would not be on our trip as she and Doug were taking out a large group of older, inexperienced, paddlers from Western Australia. But the itinerary was arranged so that we would meet up with them for a big feast on the last night of our trip. So we were introduced to our Tongan and western guides, instructed in Tongan etiquette, shown around the main island and, finally, introduced to our kayaks. Beautiful, sturdy, shiny beasts imported all the way from Canada. I felt almost at home. Having done a fair bit of kayaking I wanted a single. But as there were only four us and two guides we needed the volume of doubles to carry all the gear and food - so doubles it was. I soon learned the advantage of sitting in the back letting the person in front do all the work!

The trip was six days of tropical bliss; some of the finest paddling I have ever done and certainly the most scenic. We stopped at underwater caves, and snorkelled and swam. The water was warm and clear and the corals and fish life magnificent. Much better than what I had seen at the south end of the Great Barrier Reef. We camped on beaches under swaying coconut palms-a different island every night-and hiked up mountains while our Tongan guide introduced us to the local folklore and legends. We saw turtles and sharks and dolphins and birds of all sorts, and watched humpback whales swim by within 100 meters of us. I even braved a night snorkel with our Tongan guide to catch fish. Nothing like fresh lobster for breakfast!

We visited a school in one village and I was surprised to see maps and pictures of Canada adorning the walls. Sharon and Doug have contributed a great deal to their adopted home. When the school master heard I had been in grade school with Sharon he was absolutely amazed. Everywhere I went after that, the word was out. I was treated like royalty - such is the love and respect the people of Vava'u have for Sharon and Doug that any friend of theirs had to be treated like someone special.

On the last night of our paddle we met up with Sharon and Doug and their group on the island of Taonga. The villagers had been busy all day preparing food for our 'Umu' feast. We ate and ate and ate some more. And then the dancers arrived and treated us to a visual feast. Then it was time for the kava. My nerve gave way and I opted to serve rather than drink. The local 'band' serenaded us and we even replied with a few songs of our own. In the morning a delegation of village women came to our camp site with a gift for me-to thank me for serving, singing, and for being Sharon's friend. It was a wedding ta'ovala - one of the fine pandanus mats that women wear as their wedding dress. I wonder if they were trying to tell me something......

After the kayaking, Anne and I set out with our fellow travellers to indulge in some day sailing and scuba diving. But nothing compared with the kayaking. The name of Sharon and Doug's company couldn't possibly be more appropriate-The Friendly Islands Kayak Company. We had been fed and pampered almost completely into Tonga time. Nothing could possibly have been 'friendlier'. And it was wonderful to have met up with Sharon after all these years, to have shared those amazing moments with her, and to have had the chance to reminisce about our Norfolk House days. I even discovered that I am not the only one with gammy knees! I've been keeping in touch with Sharon and Doug and am looking forward to my next paddling holiday in Tonga. After my next mountain, of course!