Visit to Tonga — ‘The Friendly Islands’

Te Ao Hou, November 1964, Page 5

Visit to Tonga — ‘The Friendly Islands’ by Eve Magee Among the 30 New Zealanders who attended the annual conference of the Pan Pacific and South-East Asia Women's Association in Tonga last August, were four Maori women, all members of the Maori Women's Welfare League: Mrs M. Hirini, Mrs R. Takarangi, Mrs Te A. Potaka and Mrs E. Magee. In this article Mrs Eve Magee gives her impressions of the conference. flying from auckland to Fiji, our plane went at a terrific rate, and the trip took only four hours. After spending the night at a Fijian hotel we boarded another plane, not nearly such a grand one this time, for the second part of our journey to Tonga. Beneath us were the mountains of Fiji's interior, the shining rivers and the coastal plantations. Then after three hours above the clouds we came in sight of Tonga, a long thin island with a big lagoon, no mountains and no rivers. Many people were there to meet us at the airport. Pretty girls put leis around our necks, and buses and cars took us to the town of Nuku'alofa. There we were most warmly welcomed by our hosts and hostesses, who billeted us in their homes and did everything possible to look after us and make us feel at home. Everyone in Tonga seemed delighted for us to be there, and they certainly lived up to their country's name as ‘The Friendly Islands’. In their isolated home it needed hard and enthusiastic work to organise such a large conference as this. The Tongan people made a wonderful success of it, and have set a standard it will be difficult for future conferences to follow. I stayed at a very comfortable new house in the heart of the village. Round about us were tall coconut palms, other tropical trees and plants, and hibiscus flowers in full bloom. The weather was fine and very warm.