An Introduction to Niue

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Trip Start Apr 24, 2011 Previous
Entry Trip End May 19, 2011

  Alofi, Niue
Saturday, April 30, 2011

or...
25 Things You Need to Know about 'The Rock'

1. Niue (pronounced New-Ay) literally translates as "Behold! The coconut."  The island is often referred to as "the rock of Polynesia" and most locals simply call it "the rock".

2. The island is small, roughly 100 square miles in size and is situated 2,400km north-east of New Zealand, on the eastern side of the International Date Line (11hrs behind GMT).  It is the only land mass in the centre of the triangle formed by Tonga, Samoa and the Cook islands.

3. The official population of Niue is around 1500.  In reality it is probably closer to 1100 (many islanders left for NZ after cyclone Heta devastated Niue in 2004).  There are approximately 20,000 Niueans in NZ and 3,000 in Australia. 

4. There are two Niuean's buried in the UK.  Having volunteered for service in WW1 they headed for the UK prior to deployment and promptly died of the common cold. (Note to the British crown - taking people from a tropical island and dumping in the sub-zero temperatures of a British winter is, frankly, stoopid).

5. Niue was 'discovered' by Captain Cook in 1774; he attempted to land three times but met a hostile reception (much throwing of spears) and eventually moved on dubbing Niue "Savage Island".  Locals later insisted that he had misinterpreted their traditional, albeit enthusiastic, 'challenge' that serves as a 'welcome'.

6. European missionaries (who else?) were the next outsiders to attempt to establish a presence on the rock, finally achieving to do so in 1846, with the help of Peniamina, a Niuean who converted to Christianity in Samoa.  Peniamina's Grave is one of Niue's foremost historical sights.

7. The missionaries were confused by the local population's friendly disinterest in western 'advancements' such as better tools, labour-saving devices, and the trinkets they brought to trade, including magnifying glasses and umbrellas. Niueans wanted only two things from the Europeans - mother of pearl and decent roads.  (As a side note - we have seen very little of either!)

8. Christianity eventually established dominance on the island.  Today, Niuean's are deeply religious, with most attending both morning and afternoon church services.  Nothing is open on a Sunday, boating and fishing are forbidden, as is swimming in certain places of historical note.  Apparently, when Willy Saniteli opened the "Washaway Cafe" (open Sunday's only and the Pacific's only 'Self-service bar' - take what you want and put the money in the till) serving light meals and (shock-horror) alcohol he met with such a degree of resistance from the local minister that he moved parishes.

9. Niue is unusual in terms of the British Empire, in that the island actually formally asked to be a British protectorate twice. Their request was finally accepted in 1900.  Niue was annexed to New Zealand a year later.

10. Niue achieved 'self-governance in free association with New Zealand' in 1974. Parliament consists of a 20 member assembly including a Premier and a cabinet of 3 ministers, elected every three years.  During our visit candidates have been busy campaigning, with the election taking place on May 7th.

11. 'Free association with New Zealand' basically means that NZ maintains a representative presence on the island (replacing the pre-self rule governor) and takes care of foreign relations and defence, whilst also retaining some responsibility for Niue's economic welfare.

12. All Niueans are British subjects (Liz II being head of state), and have joint Niuean and New Zealand citizenship.  Islanders are universally bi-lingual speaking both Niuean and English. This makes for easy holidaying!

13. An odd reflection to the early missionary days (where Niueans each had two huts, one to live in and one for show) followed cyclone Heta, which wrecked a number of homes on the island to the extent that it was easier to replace them than repair them.  Many Niueans now have two homes. The difference now is that they live in the new ones and have converted the damaged ones into storage and drying rooms.

14. Niue is not really an island, but a raised coral atoll (hence the colloquial title of 'the rock'). This makes for 'interesting' (hard-going) terrain, gazillions of caves, crashing pacific waves and almost eerily still rock pools teeming with wildlife (unbelievably amazing snorkelling).  Kate is reliably informed that the rocky island terrain is not rock, but dead coral. Coral, whilst appearing to be soft and fluffy is in fact anything but, having an incredibly robust exoskeleton.  When the coral dies the skeleton remains, over time hardening and compacting to form 'rock' and, in the case of a coral atoll, the ground. This all involves something to do with calcium and complicated chemistry stuff which Rufus is doing his best to explain (and threatening Kate with his Open University geology textbooks). 

15. There are 76 miles (123km) of 'road' (more like gravel tracks) on the island. These include 3 main roads that radiate from Alofi (the capital) on the west coast to villages on the east coast and the 'ring road' that roughly runs parallel to the 68km coastline.

16. In is standard practice to break sharply for: chickens, roosters, geckos, semi-suicidal dogs, and the occasional Uga (coconut crab, pronounced Oon-gah).

17. In terms of the above mentioned wildlife, we estimate that chickens outnumber people 15 to 1 and geckos 100 to 1. There are estimated to be around 2,000 Uga and murmurs of introducing some form protective legislation to fend off impending extinction. We are informed (ok, we were eavesdropping) that no-one was talking about this in the run up to the election as it is likely to be hugely unpopular.  This is because Uga are delicious (tasting vaguely of coconut and making, as we have experienced, fantastic soup).

18. Raw fish is also delicious!  Kate (surprisingly considering she is a fish lover) has never had sushi before.  She is now, most definitely, a convert.

19. Excluding the above, food is rather basic, involving too much meat and chips (Rufus says "that's not possible").  A Niuean staple is Taro, a root vegetable that tastes a bit like cardboard - using it to make a fresh papaya lasagne considerably improves the taste.

20. Niue has 3 seasons (or 2 depending on how you categorise the weather) - Wet and hot (November -April), Dry and hot (May-June, plus October) and Dry and even hotter (July-September).  The transition from wet to dry means that in early May it rains quite a lot.  When it isn't raining it is hot, hot, hot.  The rain is pleasant as it cools the air (whilst also cooling us shade dwelling brits who aren't appropriately acclimatised).

21. The pace of life is slow and leisurely... this suits us perfectly and offset the manic Bangkok and stressful flying experiences within a couple of days.  Niue is more than worth the hassle it took to get us here.

22. Brits are unusual on Niue. Everyone we meet is surprised that we would travel so far (it is admittedly pretty much as far as you can travel) and even more surprised that we even knew the island existed.  Thankfully, now the commotion has died down a bit, questions about the 'other-newly-weds-who-shall-not-be-mentioned' are becoming increasingly less frequent. (Can you believe she doesn't just have Kate's first name, but also the same middle name??? The cheek of it!)

23. Mosquitoes and other biting insects are evil. Rufus has learnt two important lessons in relation to this: 1. If you scratch your bites until you have virtually clawed them off and left open flesh wounds they will get infected and you will have to have Kate drive you to the hospital to get anti-biotics; 2. Listen to your wife - she is always right.

24. Jehovah's Witnesses are inescapable. Thankfully it was raining when they called and so the conversation was relatively brief. The copy of the Watchtower went in the bin.

25. The night sky deserves a special mention. Even Rufus, who being a country boy finds Kate's enjoyment of a clear Oxfordshire night amusing, was left somewhat speechless on our first night here. The milky way jumps out at you with all its swirly brilliance and the sheer volume and clarity of the stars is indescribable - one of those things you have to experience to appreciate.

In summary, Niue is every bit the island paradise we hoped for.  It is beautiful, tranquil and wonderfully relaxing. You should be jealous!

(More will follow on Niue's highlights, but considering that two weeks is simply nowhere near enough time to explore every chasm and fresh water pool on the island, probably not until we are in transit again).

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