A day of two dreams and a nightmare

25 years ago I sat on a beach on the west side of Lifuka Island in the Kingdom of Tonga, watching sand gradually settle into and fill small holes I had dug in the beach.

It was the culmination of a childhood dream to visit the Islands: one which I never honestly thought would be realised, but which through a series of unexpected events did actually come to pass.

A volcano on the horizon puffed and gently shook the ground constantly. The volcano created the island of Tofua which lies in the same trench as Hunga-Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai which exploded spectacularly yesterday evening.

To my amazement I heard the sonic boom from that and the subsequent explosions. It sounded like somebody having a fight inside a horse float…I was completely mystified until there were reports on the radio this morning about people having heard the booms.

A volcanic sonic boom happens when the shockwaves from the eruptions exceed the speed of sound. Imagine the force of those explosions that I heard 3000km away. Imagine the impact on Tonga and Tongans.

And imagine is still as much as we can do because power and comms are mostly down. It is a desperate time of not knowing for families in NZ. My heart goes out to them all, both here and there.

Meanwhile Chez Mima and Bean, I’ve been keeping an eye on our neighbours’ property: horse, dogs, chooks, sheep, cattle. They are away on a weekend horse trail.

Bean loves going over there to play with Tilda. They bounce around together endlessly. I love watching them being dogs together.

I’m living a dream now too… It’s amazing how they can be realised if you believe it’s possible.