A Week on the Rock

An article by Drew    2 Comments

Here’s a travel blog on my recent trip to Niue. My wife and I were only there for a one week holiday, so don’t expect anything profound, inspiring or well informed. If you’re familiar with my articles you wouldn’t be expecting that anyway.

Niue – which means “behold the coconut” – is a large coral island (269 square km) located between Tonga and Samoa. It’s surrounded by limestone cliffs and reefs. There are no real beaches, few shops and fewer tourist attractions. The shops close early, most are closed on Saturday and on Sunday the whole island, even the single TV channel shuts down. Only the churches are open, offering four hour services in Niuean.

There are now only 1400 people living on the rock with over 20,000 living in Aotearoa. A cynic might claim that all the people with get up and go have got up and gone. A kinder suggestion is that those remaining on the island stay for the slow, quiet lifestyle. They don’t want to be hassled with lots of tourists and leave the running of almost all the tourist businesses to ex pats – Kiwis, Aussies and folk from other islands.

Run by a Philippino, specializing in pirated DVDs, this shop was a must to supplement Niue's one tedious TV channel.

The Niueans are warm, friendly people. Every passing motorist gives you a wave and a smile but they’re not in the least pushy. In Bali I’ve been chased down the street by vendors trying to sell me fake watches but in Niue I walked into several shops where no sales person was present. On our first day we wanted to hire bikes and ride to a village festival. The hire place was supposed to open at 7.30am but at 8.30am was still shut. My wife and I took the bikes, left a note and returned hours later. The manager, a lovely Tongan lady, hadn’t found our note but was completely unconcerned.

Niue’s ideal for biking with flat, mostly sealed roads and little traffic. We enjoyed several pleasant rides until our gluteus maximae, unused to such exercise, forced us to hire a motorbike – which broke down – then a car. You can drive right round Niue in about three hours – keeping to the 60kph speed limit – 40kph through the villages. Everywhere you see abandoned houses, in various states of decay. I’d guess that over half the houses in Niue are empty and returning rapidly to the jungle. There are also graves everywhere. In Niue relatives aren’t interred in a centralised cemetery but rather buried on ancestral land.

The other common sight in Niue is chickens. There is very little other wild life. There are no snakes, spiders, mosquitoes or nasty bugs – just lots of little lizards, a smattering of dogs and cats but heaps of chickens. While the peeping chicks were cute, the roosters were a pain. These magnificent birds don’t just crow to greet the sunrise, they crow all night. At 3am one rooster is disturbed and cries out in alarm. Four more respond with raucous crows and pass it on to the rooster who happens to be perched right outside your bedroom window.

The best wildlife in Niue is in the sea. The water is wonderfully clear and the fish life, colorful and abundant. With deep water just beyond the narrow reefs, the fishing is great. There are choice spots for diving and snorkeling but the highlight of any Niue trip has to be swimming with the dolphins and whales.

We went on a whale encounter with a delightful Kiwi/Aussie couple who take small groups out in inflatables. They really know their stuff and treat the whales with the respect they richly deserve. It’s a moving experience watching these sleek creatures moving slowly and gracefully, creating a sense of peace. We snorkeled with a mother, a six week old calf, who was already over 5 metres long and an escort/nanny whale.
At one point the mother – the size of a streamlined bus – was hanging vertically in the water. As the calf swam up in front of her, she embraced her baby with her huge, scalloped flukes in a whale hug. It’s a memory I will always treasure.

If you go to Niue expecting an exciting, South Pacific resort holiday, you’re going to be disappointed but if you think of it like a camping trip to a remote area you can have a pleasant and relaxing time. The weather and the water are warm. There are numerous little coves, reached by flights of stairs, which offer deep, emerald swimming holes in the coral. There are guided bush walks, some spectacular caves and arches.

Bring plenty of good books and food. The food on Niue is imported from Aotearoa – even the eggs and frozen chickens – at twice the price we pay here. There are some local fruit and veges. Bananas and paw paws were cheap and plentiful but there are only two produce markets each week which open at 6.30am and sell almost everything before 8am.

The handful of restaurants range from toastie/burger joints to the Matavai with a buffet of delicious local dishes such as raw tuna, taro cooked with paw paw and coconut milk, fresh crab meat, plantain chips and banana bread. It’s wise to book and order your meal or you may well find the eatery of your choice hasn’t opened.

Our government hopes to develop tourism in Niue but I’m skeptical about the potential. At present there are only 120 beds available on the rock and only one flight per week. The absence of shopping, night life and fun activities would put off many tourists and the population is by no means unanimously in favor of development. NZ Aid has poured many millions into Niue, particularly after the devastating cyclone in 2004, but some of this aid has been poorly applied and has fostered a hand-out mentality. The hospital, for example, is a first class facility with two operating theatres and sophisticated equipment but lacks the skilled staff to operate it.

While we should continue to support Niue and cultivate our special relationship, we need to contribute funds more carefully and in closer consultation with the locals.

When we arrived Niue struck me  to be one of the most boring places on the planet.. By the time we left I had come to appreciate its gentle, laid back charm. I was relaxed, rested and sorry to leave…until our plane was delayed and we had to spend four hours in Niue’s shed of an airport. Last I heard the petrol supply had run out but it wasn’t a worry. The tanker was due next week.