Fun Facts

Did you know that...

• Rapa Nui was the only Polynesian culture to keep a written language.
• Easter Island get its name from its discovery on Easter Sunday, 1722.
• Tonga is located right on the International Date Line, so it's the first nation to bring in the New Year for the world.
• Tonga consists of  over 170 islands. About 50 of the islands are inhabited.
• In ancient Fiji, all boys would have their heads sheved hen they were five years old- and they keep their heads shaved until they were 18.  Growing their hairwas a symbol of manhood.
• Until the mid-19th century, the practice of eating one's enemy was an accepted and honored tradition in Fiji.
• Hawaii gets more visitors in 10 days than Tahiti does in an entire year.
• It's common to put a tiare (Tahiti's national flower) behind one's ear -- left side you're taken, right if you're looking.
• In Samoa, young men are in charge of the food- including the gathering and the cooking.
• Samoans are known throughout Polynesia as the "happy people" because of their enjoyment of life and their good-spirited nature.
• A kiwi is not a fruit - it is New Zealand's native flightless bird and a slang term for a New Zealander. Kiwis call the fruit "kiwifruit" - they are also known as Chinese Gooseberries.
• Sir Edmund Hillary - the first man to reach the peak of Mount Everest was a New Zealander (born in Auckland) and his face is on the New Zealand $5 bill.
• The highest recorded temperature in Hawaii was 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Hawaii produces about 320,000 tons of pineapple each year.
• The Hawaiian alphabet consists of only twelve letters. The five vowels are A,E, I, O,U. And the seven consonants are H,K,L,M,N,P,W.