Year Two
Date: 18/7/2009 17:00
Weather: Perfect
Location: Ovalau Island (18 45.00' S, 174 04.87' W)
Author: Peter.

We can't believe it. We have just been chased off the island by a very aggressive local. We went ashore exploring when just as we got back to our ducky we ran into a mob of goats. As we went to untie the duck the rather large male came for us causing both of us to back track into the water. He then made his way over towards our duck and rather nicely proceeded to entangle his very circular horns into our painter (rope coming from the bow of our duck) tied up to a coconut palm. It took him about 5 minutes to untangle himself before coming back to have another go at us and almost getting caught up again. It was only after his heard came down to him and then started walking off that he finally left us alone.

We went and did the local friendly twilight race last night. The boats that had wanted to race us earlier have already left Tonga so we missed out on the opportunity to sail against the earlier round winner. It is an interesting race having a start line the width of the harbour. A very relaxed start sequence, originally five minutes but then it got changed to three minutes mid sequence. Marks ranged from laid buoys to large channel markers to 40' charter boats. We were joined by the crew from Twin Image and lead from start to finish thanks to the professional crew. I am rather glad we had no boats around at the finish as we finished between the yacht club and the most inner moored boats. This meant sailing into the very closely packed moorings and bouncing back and forth like the ball in a pin ball machine. Not nice if you had other boats around as the mid fleet did. There is no charge to race each week which is interesting given each boat gets a prize. We won two prizes, a ten dollar gift voucher for a local souvenir shop and lunch for two at the Crows Nest Cafe. Wow what a lunch. Who would have thought you could find food this good in the middle of the south pacific. Thank you to Steve and Tess the owners for handing out such a great prize. We had two of the best fruit smoothie's either of us has ever had. We had the best chicken burger I have ever eaten and Tess who is originally from South India makes a truly amazing curry. We cannot rave about the food enough and we cannot wait to go back.

It is obvious lately that it is school holidays in New Zealand or Australia or both as there has been a major increase in yachts in the anchorages. The charter fleet is now in full swing. They all seem to be enjoying the warmth. Especially those from NZ who seem to be having some extreme weather. A side bonus is that one New Zealand family we met out near Nuapapa have just given us a box of their excess food. Their 9 day charter was coming to an end and they had over catered. What a bonus for us as they had some nice things on board like pastrami, cream cheese and latina fresh pasta. YUM. Thank you very much. Charter boats also mean some entertainment every now and then. About a week ago we watched a charter cat try to make its way into a difficult anchorage after the sun had just set. You should only navigate through the reefs while the sun is high unless you have a good reason. And this was one of those spots. We sat and watched on while he tried to feel his way through the channel to the anchorage running aground so many times I lost count. He even had a few ducks run out to give him a hand but i don't think they knew much more as they all seemed to come off other charter vessels. A couple of times he hit quite hard. I know we should not call this entertainment but well!!!!

Dudley and Tanya took us to our first Tongan BBQ the other day. We both choose the chicken which meant we each got three pieces of chicken, two sausages and some sweet potato. All for $5 pa'angi, about AUS$3.50. The chicken tasted surprisingly like KFC. And neither of us got sick. On a slightly different note the range of foods available here in Tonga is quite limited. Despite this limited range what fresh produce there is here is good. For example the carrots we are getting are much smaller than what you would get back in Aus but they are perfect. They look like the ones you get in fancy restaurants, they are full of flavour, and the are so fresh, just out of the ground and with their tops still on. Still you would not want to be to fussy an eater or you may go hungry. It is amazing to think what you can come up with when you have to.

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