Photos by ©IR Stehbens : on the map, in Google Earth (KML)

Bali, Indonesia, Islam, Muslim, PBI 2010 Viewed 3 times	PBI 2010, Peacebuilder, PNG, portrait, PPBI Viewed 5 times	'Eua, Tonga Viewed 2 times	art, flora, flower, yellow Viewed 14 times
Australia, historic home, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, NSW, Stroud Viewed 16 times	Australia, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, NSW, Stroud Viewed 11 times	Australia, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, NSW, Stroud Viewed 16 times	'Eua, Pacific Ocean, South Pacific, Tonga Viewed 37 times
'Eua, Pacific Ocean, South Pacific, Tonga Viewed 21 times	Nuku'alofa, South Pacific, Tonga Viewed 29 times	coconut, Nuku'alofa, South Pacific, Tonga Viewed 26 times	Nuku'alofa, South Pacific, Tonga, tourism Viewed 68 times
Nuku'alofa, South Pacific, Tonga, tourism Viewed 71 times	art, boat, harbour, Nuku'alofa, South Pacific, Tonga Viewed 32 times	art, boat, harbour, Nuku'alofa, South Pacific, Tonga Viewed 50 times	art, boat, harbour, Nuku'alofa, Pacific, Pacific Ocean, shipwreck, South Pacific, Tonga Viewed 55 times
art, boat, harbour, Nuku'alofa, Pacific, Pacific Ocean, shipwreck, South Pacific, Tonga Viewed 75 times	boat, GE, harbour, Nuku'alofa, Pacific, Pacific Ocean, South Pacific, Tonga Viewed 59 times	art, boat, harbour, Nuku'alofa, Pacific, Pacific Ocean, shipwreck, South Pacific, Tonga Viewed 39 times	boys, Nuku'alofa, Pacific, Puloka, South Pacific, Tonga, Tongan culture Viewed 44 times
Nuku'alofa, Pacific, Royal Family, South Pacific, Tonga, Tongan culture, Women Viewed 39 times	Nuku'alofa, Pacific, portrait, Royal Family, South Pacific, Tonga, Tongan culture Viewed 38 times	GE, Nuku'alofa, Pacific, Puloka, South Pacific, Tonga, Tongan culture Viewed 48 times	flora, GE, Nuku'alofa, Pacific, Pacific Ocean, reef, South Pacific, Tonga Viewed 43 times
flora, flower, GE, Pacific, Port Vila, South Pacific, Vanuatu Viewed 47 times	flora, flower, Pacific, Port Vila, South Pacific, Vanuatu Viewed 39 times	flora, Pacific, Pacific Ocean, Port Vila, South Pacific, tourism, Vanuatu Viewed 48 times	Australia, GE, New South Wales, NSW Viewed 40 times
Australia, Barrington Tops, forestry, New South Wales, NSW Viewed 45 times	Australia, Barrington Tops, flora, GE, New South Wales, NSW Viewed 37 times	Australia, Barrington Tops, flora, meteorology, New South Wales, NSW Viewed 48 times	Viewed 63 times

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©IR Stehbens's conversations

©IR Stehbens said:

EXPLORING THE RUGGED EAST COAST OF 'EUA

Part 32

Emerging from the rainforest, was like the moment the movie begins in the cinema, and here above Fangutave Beach, the movie was in wide screen format.

I sat down on the cliff ledge, high up in the theatre. Closing my eyes for a moment I saw the lines of the white coral beach in parallel with the line of the thrashing white surf on the reef edge, and both were embraced by the line of sheer cliffs. And all of it held in the palm of the horizon.

I wanted to soar, like the white tropic birds. I wanted to leap from here in the harness of a hang glider. I did so in my imagination:

It would have been sufficient as a training flight just to have floated in the silence of glider flight for a while then gently land on the arc of beach. The exhilaration of flight is one thing, the realisation that we are safely borne by the air is another. No engine can fail us. No fuel blockage can force a landing. No flare in the jet engine can melt the casing and explode with deafening fear. There is just the silence and assurance of the wind beneath our wings.

But as I leapt from the edge and began to drift, I glanced below as the cliff face appeared behind us. It was amazingly pocked and crazily eaten by decay. I turned left scanning the many openings into caves. Some were large others small. Inside were the dry floors, and the white painted ledges indicated that these were homes to colonies of seabirds and bats.

I turned right, and the prominence dropped away to plunge into the sea, and as I soared beyond out over the sea the cliffed and bayed coast to the south stretched away to where we had been the day before. Like three huge stairs the landscape rose from the coast, thickly carpeted in tropical jungle, the canopy tightly coiffured by the strong salty winds.

Drifting around over the sea, I chose not to follow the tropic birds who from great heights dive to the ocean to make their catch. My preference was to follow the reef observing its geometric patterns interplaying with the surf, before a U-turn brought me back into the wind and slowly aligning with the white untrodden beach, I descended gently touching down at a running pace, thus leaving the only footprints on the beach.

The Eagle had landed....on Fangutave Beach.

Pristine. Beautifully wild. Beautiful Tonga.

Down here the silence ended in the crashing of the waves and the swash of white onto the beach. The flight was in my imagination but the real sounds of the sea were generating another imagining.

Perhaps today we will reach the northern end of 'Eua. Perhaps tomorrow we would circumnavigate the island by boat. And Lisiate knew a guy who owned a fishing boat. For the price of fuel we could do it.

©IR Stehbens said:

You make me very happy, Conquilha!! And a hug from Tonga.

Warm greetings from the South Pacific,

Ian

©IR Stehbens said:

Uploaded for you, Renee.

Ian Stehbens said:

Thankyou, GeKo. It is a garden of Eden.

In friendship,

Ian

Ian Stehbens said:

Dear Amy,

And it is wonderful to have you standing beside me on the clifftop, Amelia, for there is much beauty to see and your creativity makes us all see it differently.

Dream and see.

Ian

Ian Stehbens said:

Dear Worapong/Bangkok and Marilyn,

I think 'Less is beautiful' is one of Marilyn's comments too, so you are both in agreement. Thanks for your appreciative remarks for they both inspire and encourage.

Ian

Amelia Royan said:

Thank you Sorin, I had a lovely morning at the arboretum, and am happy to share it with you :)))

Greetings my friend - winter approaches, Amelia

Ian Stehbens said:

Thanks very much Marilyn. I agree, and may I say, I think this is one of my finest pieces of photography. But then that is just a private opinion. It has just enough colour to make it rich and just enough design to make it powerful, and just enough interest (+ve & -ve) to make me imagine a story.

Appreciatively,

Ian

Amelia Royan said:

Thank you so much Sandro & Cristina, sorry for the late reply, I really appreciate your visit :))

Greetings, Amelia

Ian Stehbens said:

Hello w☺rap☺ng,

If the sound of "South Pacific" makes you want to ascend and descend these cliffs and scrub-bash through this luxuriant vegetation, then it is powerful emotive music. Thank you for your appreciation of the photo. Enjoy your time away.

Ian

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