Читать книгу Wanderlust: A Solitary Island in the South Pacific - Nina Hoffmann - Страница 4

After careful consideration we have decided not to mention the name of "our" lonely island. The idea that others might find happiness there drives Nina and me mad. I'm sorry.

I know that sounds selfish. It is. If you have good arguments, you may be able to convince us to give you all the information; and if you want to solve the mystery without our support, you will probably be able to do so without too much dislocation. A little internet research, a little asking around in the small South Sea kingdom of Tonga. Voilà.

We can't even explain exactly what our problem would be if others enjoyed life on "our" island. It's not ours, it's just a perceived ownership claim. I think we're afraid of getting jealous. For only a few months after our return to Germany it has already become clear to us: leaving the island was a mistake. Or the mistake was to find it in the first place. That's a matter of opinion.

Even with our now three-year-old daughter we have already been there for a few weeks, in January and February 2016. I would almost say we could spend the rest of our lives there. Well, in theory. With a child everything is not so simple anymore.

The island was perfect. Living in the moment, a daydream without deadline pressure. Fishing, gardening. Harvesting papayas, enjoying sunsets, making fire on the beach, walking around the island at full moon. All that.

In doing so, we always ignore the fact that we had just as many negative experiences. Some who almost forced us to stop our year in paradise early. On the one hand the forces of nature, on the other - man. Hard to believe, but he became the greatest threat to our island idyll. There were days when our desire for the South Seas was gone. Days when we were afraid for our lives.

Nevertheless - with this book we want to whet the appetite of our readers, you, for the South Seas.

We were also accompanied by our young mixed-breed dog Sunday, whom we took with us the long way to the other end of the world. His name is so because we found him as a puppy on the street on a Sunday. He's been in the family ever since. He is knee-high, black-brown-white and has a striking white tail-top. Getting him to his destination was extremely complicated; we had to fill out a lot of documents, answer a lot of questions from the relevant authorities. A German tax return is nothing compared to it.

Sunday has been our "Friday" on the island, if you will. We could talk to him when we had worries, and he always understood us. He was fishing with me every day and digging in the sand for crabs to challenge them to play. Without him, our island time would never have been what we remember it to be.