(Remember the movie Deliverance?)
The man who started it all
They fiercely protect their island and their heritage, to the point where you are limited in what you can see and who you can talk to. Upon arrival, one of the two designated hosts will meet you at your boat and assist you with mooring. You can not leave the boat unless you are accompanied by your host, who basically organizes your schedule and escorts you wherever they allow you to go.
Heading in for our Stepford Wives experience
Before we barely had time to get organized from our 2-night passage, Edward came and picked us up with everyone else who was aboard the other four yachts. We were taken to his family home, where we all ate a lovely lunch prepared by Edwards wife. Afterwards they entertained us with local folk songs (which seemed somewhat contrived) and then they took us on a walking tour where they introduced us to the families that they are friendly with. There is lots of local feuding going on and you really don’t get a feel for what the island is truly like because your experiences are all manufactured.
Strong Christian influence
What was really interesting is the successful school system. There is a New Zealand principle who is married to a Palmerston man. She has worked hard to develop the school and is quite proud of the fact that all of the children (about 35) all attend school. Because they are all different ages and abilities, they are on the New Zealand home schooling program, so the teachers and the principal basically supervise their work.
The primary classroom
This allows everyone to work at their own pace and provides the answer keys to the teachers, so that everyone benefits. Once the kids grow up they generally move to New Zealand to find a spouse and to make a living, (if they haven't married a cousin locally - another subject they didn't want you talking about).
The highschool set up
Your Palmerston host does not charge you for the mooring, or for entertaining/feeding you during your visit. You are expected to reciprocate by giving them supplies, boat parts, etc. We had already arranged with the store in Aititaki to take a number of supplies for one family, which we were happy to do. In addition we brought our own box of supplies for our host, plus gave them clothes, shoes and items from the work room (that they strongly hinted that they were more in need of after they invited themselves aboard our boat). Some other yachties called them “modern day pirates” for their trading system.
The Main Street - it even looks like a movie set
Palmerston truly had the feel of the “Stepford Wives” since everything that we were shown gave the impression that it was “set-up”. It is also a very male-dominated society. The clincher for me was when our host announced that the next day we were all going to an island – the men would fish and the women would cook the meal. Peter tried hard not to burst out laughing, when he looked over at me and I mouthed “we’re out of here!” I wasn’t comfortable with the “groupie” thing and being scheduled all day, or the idea of being relegated to the cooking and cleaning, so we decided to just spend the one night and we were out of there at first light. We’re really glad we went though, just to experience it. It truly felt like we were leaving the “Twilight Zone” behind when we sailed off.
1 comment:
Wow! This place sounds bizarre - but I'm sure an interesting, amazing experience all the same.
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