Graves near the ocean
Basilica of St. Anthony of Padua, Nuku'alofa
Another church
And yet another. Tonga is one of the most devoutly Christian countries in the world.
A Catholic church
Mormon missionaries, Nuku'alofa. These missionaries are Tongan.
An advertisement in the local newspaper.
Christian cemetery
During brief but heavy afternoon downpour
Enjoying the rain
Children playing the the rain. When the British explorer Captain James Cook visited Tonga in the 18th century, he named it "The Friendly Islands," based on his encounters with the people he met there. My experience in Tonga gave me no reason to dispute Cook's characterization.
Blowholes at Mapu 'a Vaea. One of Tonga's few tourist attractions.
A royal palace
The official Royal Palace in Nuku'alofa. But King Tupuo V, descibed in a New Zealand newspaper as "pompous converted Anglophile who returned home after schooling in Europe speaking and dressing like a character from an Agatha Christie novel," doesn't live here. He prefers his luxurious mansion atop the only hill on the main island of Tongatapu.
Happy Birthday to His Majesty
A boy collects sea urchins. In the background is a cruise shop, carrying Japanese passengers, which stopped off in Nuku'alofa for a few hours.
Gathering sea urchins
Gathering shellfish or urchins
Sea urchin gathering again
Roadside store, with graffiti reflecting the sentiments of the protesters who burned down much of central Nuku'alofa in 2006.
In the Nuku'alofa market
A rural road
Nuku'alofa harbor
Pigs on the beach.
Nuku'alofa street scene
Nuku'alofa
The bank is Australian, the skirts Tongan
Nuku'alofa, Tonga's capital
Beautification project
Well, not any more. Royal Tongan Airlines went out of business in 2004, and today only three international airlines serve the country.
Signs advertising money transfer services abound in Tonga. This isn't surprising, since more than half of Tonga's population work abroad, and their remittances are the country's major source of foreign exchange.
Ha'amonga 'a Maui, a 12th century trilithon. For more information on it, see the next photograph.
About Ha'amonga 'a Maui
Foreign aid.
More foreign aid
Another tourist attraction
Tonga was one of the Pacific countries that attempted to capitalize on their location close to the International Date Line. Alas, as with most other efforts to attract tourists to this remote country, it was not very successful.
A memorial to Tongans who fought in the Great War of 1914 - 1918. About 2,000 Tongans also served in the Second World War, seeing action in the Solomon Islands.
A fish trap.
To learn more about Tonga, you may wish to have a look at my blog entry on the country (it's at http://regionalgeography.org/101blog/?p=1300)
