Niue

Niue Rocks

Echo: If a sound echoes or a place echoes with a sound, you hear the sound again because you are in a large, empty space:

Being a volcanic rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Niue has an abundance of, caves, chasms, and empty spaces. There’s lots of potential to hear echoes, you just have to stop and listen. I’ve heard Niue described as a green dinner plate upside down in the ocean. I’d say more like an upside-down flan dish on a doily. The island meets the sea abruptly with walls of crinkly cliffs. Straight below a ring of pink coral fringes the island like it’s sitting on a decorative lace doily.

The structure of the island, where cliff meets sea, means there is a network of deep crystal clear rock pools. If you pick your tides and keep a watch on the swells you can spend hours snorkelling around in them. Imagine the aquarium at your dentists only a hundred times bigger and you’re on the inside. If you use your imagination you can even see the odd rock castle, like the ones they put in fish tanks.    

At about a hundred meters offshore the island drops off sharply. This is the playground for pods of Spinner dolphins who of course rely on echoes to find those yummy fish. Land lovers can find yummy fish at the Kai ika sushi restaurant. In fact fish and chicken are predominantly on the menu of all the island restaurants.

Whilst driving around the island we saw two things that struck us as unusual. Firstly the abandoned houses. These are dwellings that the owners have walked away from. They have moved overseas but their presence is still there, even if it is only in the form of bricks and mortar. Ghost houses, they still seem to have souls but no bodies.

The other strange thing for us, but makes perfect sense to a community that owns land forever and respects its ancestors, were the graves. Dotted along the roadside, sometimes on the edge of the village or right outside a family home. They were well cared for and even decorated.

Echoes of the past, as in traditions, are still as concrete as the hurricane proof houses. Sundays are a day for church, family and relaxation. Not many businesses are open on Sunday, a nice reminder of the way life used to be in New Zealand. A day to kick into neutral.

The upbringing with the church front and centre seemed to have a visible spin off. The singing! I think it must be in the DNA, then honed on Sunday mornings. It was just melodious. Even their Karaoke night sounded fantastic.

Niue is on the other side of the dateline so it is literally behind the (New Zealand) times, but not in a bad way. One good reason for choosing Niue as my birthday destination (a tradition of mine, to be on an island for my birthday) was the timing. I could avoid my birthday by 23 hours. As it happened the up side was I managed two birthdays. People were extra nice to me for two days, my New Zealand birthday and my Niuean birthday. Passing back over the dateline we lost a day so I don’t have to count the extra birthday. 

“In 1974 the people of Niue adopted a Constitution providing for self-government in free association with New Zealand. This is different from full independence. Under the Niue Constitution, New Zealand provides necessary economic and administrative assistance, and is responsible for Niue's defence and surveillance of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). 

Because Niueans are New Zealand citizens, they can work and study here without requiring special visas. About 24,000 Niueans live in New Zealand, compared to 1,460 living in Niue (2011 Census)”.

Because of the close link between New Zealand and Niue and the constant coming and going of its citizens there seems like an echo of a New Zealand in a gentler less rushed time albeit with a distinct island resonance.

Under: Under someone's spell. Fascinated or influenced by someone.

As far as we could work out there were only really two fixed weekly schedules on the island. The two Air New Zealand flights (Friday and Tuesday) and the happy hours (shared by the various bars). Everything else was negotiable dependent on weather, tides, weddings or the arrival of a cargo ship. Government departments only work Monday to Thursday and shops only open on the days when there are likely to be customers. Vital services like the service station and the grocery store are open sometime during most days, Sundays 4 -8pm. Restaurants like the bars share the tourists around by opening on alternative days to each other. R’Lina’s café advertises that they are only open on “plane days”, (we found they were open other days too). Wash away café (because it once was), Gills Indian, Vaiolama, Oki oki mai and Matavai are the only ones that trade on a Sunday. My favourite café had to be the Crazy Uga (Coconut crab) for both views and friendly service. Thankfully there were no sightings of said crazy crab. Maybe being born under the sign of cancer, I was the crazy crab?

Sue and Keith Vial run the Commodore’s orientation tour on the first morning after you arrive and I can fully recommend you do this for several reasons. Firstly, it gives you the lay of the land. Secondly, they can give you quite a bit of a background to the island. Thirdly, they give you a pack at the end of the tour which gives you tide times, suggested places to visit and the islands activities for that week (including where and when the happy hours are).

Like most tour operators on the island they truly just want you to have a good time and stay safe. Sue went up to the island to teach and they both stayed, that’s the sort of place it is, captivating.

Niue has an abundance of self-driven explorations. In order to do them though you need to borrow a few things. Most importantly, a mode of transport, be it a pushbike, a scooter, a motorbike, a car or a boat. You’ll also need gear, snorkels, masks, fins, reef shoes, trekking sticks, diving equipment or a fishing rod.

While we were there we borrowed (under hire) a car of sorts, snorkel gear and dive gear.

Driving on the island is like an inverted game of space invaders where you try not to hit the potholes. The constant weaving from side to side keeps you focused. Luckily the speed limits are 40km/hr (villages) and 60km/hr (open). Keeping to the speed limits is a good idea because other than the potholes there are also dogs, chickens and falling coconuts to avoid. Our rental car we coaxed along sacrificing overdrive and air-conditioning for horsepower on the hills. Even though the island ring road is only 64km we managed 400kms by the end of our trip.

Under the guidance of the locals it was easy to lay back, listen to the waves crashing on the reef, sip a cocktail or two and unwind to island pace. Relax, no hurry here. Appointments were flexible plus or minus an hour. We saw very few clocks but a lot of cocks, as in roosters. Obviously they are Niuean born, they have no sense of timing and crow day and night.         

As a tourist you are really only borrowing the experience but once you are under the influence of Niue being either under water or underground you will be under her enchanting spell. Remember the only thing not be under is a coconut tree with your rental car.

Indigo: Indigo is that subtle colour between purple and blue. It is credited with creativity and serenity.

The sea around the island has been both protector, provider and barrier for the Niuean people. Apparently back in Captain Cook’s days the locals didn’t take too kindly to tourists, chasing them off. The locals are much more friendly now.

With the arrival twice a week of the big black and white bird the island goes into overdrive (well overdrive is relative, like my rental’s overdrive, just a slight change in speed). The tourists came in waves as such and the bi weekly batches were easily divided into three stages. Driving slowly, just got their rental. Driving slightly faster and waving occasionally, been here a few days. Driving to the point where they reach the speed limit between villages, waving to everyone and avoiding most potholes, they were about to leave.

Listening to the waves in the morning, watching the dolphins cruise past from our balcony and being in the ocean will be my take home memories of Niue. The blend of red coral, to turquoise rock pools, to the indigo of the deep sea is something very calming to me. Being in the water itself is what Niue is renowned for. Because there are no streams running into the sea there are no particles to dirty up the water. The crystal clear visibility makes it ideal for snorkelling and diving. The snorkelling was as I said before like being in a huge wave tank. The fish were canary yellow, electric blue, orange, white, black, brown, striped and spotted. I even saw a fish that had stolen all the colours of the rainbow. I did see a few of those slinky black and white sea snakes, so fluid and graceful. We were too early to see the whales which pass close to the shore. Sounds like an excuse for another trip.

Then there was the diving!

I did something called a try dive where you get instruction in a swimming pool then get to do an ocean dive with an instructor. The instructor controls your buoyancy so all you have to remember to do is breathe and equalize your ears. All I can say is it’s a whole new world down there that has taken me 50 years to discover. Any time I thought about what I was doing and where I was, I kept seeing something else fascinating that took my mind off being underwater with an artificial source of air. It was just magic and I have to give a big thanks to Rami for introducing me to the world down under. Appropriately Rami and Julz business is called Magical Niue and no they didn’t pay me to rave about them they are just great people who want you to enjoy what the island has to offer.

New: of recent origin or arrival, made, invented, discovered, acquired, or experienced recently or now for the first time.

There is lots of new stuff happening on Niue with new tourist ventures finding their feet and lots of new fresh ideas. The Matavai Resort where we stayed is expanding and building a conference and wedding venue as well as a new accommodation block.

I think of this tourism lark as a fine balance. Like the buoyancy control device in diving. Too little air and you sink to the floor of the sea, not sustainable. Too much air and you bob around on the top never seeing the real underwater world. Having to avoid all the boats and other people on the surface just spoils it. The beauty of an island, to me, is the lack of dilution from outside influences, including tourists. That’s the point of difference Niue still has.    

If you want to find out about Niue the tourism website is excellent www.niueisland.com and they give you an island guide when you arrive that has all the information you need. There is a daily newsletter put out by the Matavai resort to keep you up to date with the cultural shows and the current island activities.

New Zealand currency is used and the flight up is only 3 and ½ hours from Auckland.

Power is the same as New Zealand and a blessing in disguise is that internet and cell-phones are virtually non-existent. Try it, go to Niue and go off line! Remember talking to each other at the dinner table. I don’t know, call me traditional.

Trust me you’ll feel like a new man or woman after soaking in the waters and swimming with the fishes of Niue. 

Looking backwards or forward, from above or below

EUIN or NIUE

to me it fits with the old bridal traditional of:

Something Old                      Echoes           The old world traditions         

Something New                     New                The new ventures

Something Borrowed           Under              The tourists

Something Blue                     Indigo              The sea