THE JEWELS OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC
106 | June• 2019
of Tonga from 2006 until his death at
the r elatively young age of 63 in 2012.
The island is among the world’s
few monarchies. King Tupou V was
succeeded by his youngest brother,
Tupouto’a Lavaka, who is the nation’s
current monarch, King Tupou V I.
Tonga is a very observant Chris-
tian society. Shops are still mostly
closed on Sundays. Only in the past
few years have aircraft been allowed
to land or take off on the Sabbath. But
that doesn’t seem to bother the tour-
ists, who visit the island to relax and
enjoy the resorts, the beautiful white-
sand beaches, diving, snorkelling and
whale-watching.
Other key attractions include the
Royal Palace, a gleaming white tim-
ber structure built in 1867, and only
a short stroll from Nuku’alofa’s cen-
tre, and the Ha’amonga ‘a Maui tri-
lithon, a megalithic gate sometimes
referred to as the ‘Stonehenge of the
South Pacific’.ately heavy mid-morning traffic flow.
It drew alongside me and from inside
I noticed a very large man sprawled
across the back seat. He smiled and
waved to me.Such friendly people, I
thought to myself.
I continued along the street,
heading purposefully towards the
intersection. Just as I stepped out
onto the road, the big, shiny black
car lurched forwards. I screamed.
The car screeched to a halt.
Thank goodness I did scream – if I
hadn’t, I could have been killed or
quite possibly seriously injured.
Instead, t his turned out to be my
luck y day.
The very large man leaned out the
window and smiled and waved – for a
second time in as many minutes. The
car then rejoined the traffic flow and
disappeared. It must have been his
day to be particularly kind to foreign-
ers. I recognised him instantly. It was
His Majesty King Siaosi Tupou V, king
Left to right: the Ha’amonga ‘a Maui trilithon; the white weatherboard
Victorian-style Royal Palace is surrounded by expansive lawnsPHOTOS: ALAMY; GETTY IMAGES