Travels to Niue Island
I have recently returned from a visit to Niue Island. I went to spend a week on the Noni orchard and the Noni juice processing plant, but as Niue is a place most people wouldn’t get to visit in their lifetime, I thought I’d share some observations.
Niue Island is situated 2,400kms north-east of New Zealand. It is 260 sq km, with a 64km coastline. Its highest point is 68m, and the Island has steep limestone cliffs rising out of the ocean. Niue does not have sandy palm-fringed beaches – the Island is surrounded by a reef, and swimming is only possible at low tide in the reef pools. There are 20,000 Niuens living in New Zealand, with only approximately 1,000 still living on Niue. There is only one commercial flight in and out of Niue every week, departing from Auckland, New Zealand at 10.00pm on a Friday night and departing Niue at 3.40am on a Friday morning.
Niue is a very scenic, beautiful place. The waters are unpolluted and crystal clear, with many tropical fish swimming in the reef pools. There is very little industry on the Island, so air pollution is also non-existent. Most food is shipped in , making items at the supermarket relatively expensive, and fresh fruit and vegetables are in short supply. There doesn’t appear to be a lot of topsoil covering the ground, which could explain the lack of fresh vegetables.
The first impression when driving around Niue is the number of abandoned houses around the various villages, which is understandable given the population drain to New Zealand, but it does tend to give a ‘ghost town’ feel to the place. Also worthy of comment are the number of wild chickens. I had always understood roosters start crowing at dawn to welcome the coming day, but Niuen roosters crow during the night too. It always seems to be the very rooster that lives under your bedroom window that starts crowing first, and then they’re like dogs barking - one sets the other off and before you know it, there’s a major cacophony of crowing roosters at 2.00am.
Ex-pats have interesting stories about how they come to be living on Niue. One I spoke to had a boyhood dream of following in Robinson Crusoe’s footsteps and living on a remote island. He came from the other side of the world with his wife and son, but unfortunately his wife didn’t share his dream and couldn’t live in such a remote spot. His dream was so strong that he choose to stay and made a new life for himself. Others may be Government employees who live on Niue for a specific time or else some people spend months of the year on Niue and the rest of their time elsewhere.
A population of 1,000 is very small - smaller than most secondary schools in New Zealand. Crime is almost non-existent as everyone knows each other and what they are doing - there is no escape if a crime is committed! The shops provide basic necessities, but there are not the luxuries we have come to expect in Western society. A lot of businesses are operated from home.
The biggest exporter on the Island is New Zealand born contemporary realist artist Mark Cross, who also has a gallery in the main commercial district of Alofi “http://www.markcross.nu/“ His works are spectacular, and his wife, Niuen born Ahi, is a master Pacific weaver.
The locals are friendly and helpful. There are not the luxury resorts you would find in Fiji or Tahiti, and not the trained population to staff them should one decide to start up. There used to be a multi-national hotel on the Island which was washed away with Cyclone Heta in 2004. Like many of the local population, the hotel shut up shop and emigrated after the cyclone.
One of the locals, Willie, returned home to Niue after many years living in New Zealand and started a business or two. One of Willie’s businesses is called the Washaway Cafe, which is located in the south western coastal village of Avatele. It is only open one day a week - Sunday - from 11.00am until late. The Washaway is constructed like a gazebo with no solid walls, only bamboo branches lashed together with flax - very reminiscent of Robinson Crusoe!
It sits on the hill with the reef in the foreground, looking out over the ocean to the horizon - can you imagine a more perfect place to watch the sun go down on a Sunday evening? Willie cooks burgers for his clientele while they chat and help themselves at the bar. When it’s time to leave, Willie’s customers pay what they owe for food and drink into the till themselves. The night I was there, there was a sing-a-long with Tom on the banjo and Mark on the guitar - this is Island paradise at it’s best.
Niue is not the place to go for a holiday if you wish to be pampered at a luxury resort. But if you want raw, unspoilt beauty and don’t mind a lack of facilities, it has a charm all its own.
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What was the cost to go to this island? Where did you go did you go there from? I live in the USA and would like to visit. What were the flight costs from new Zealand?