Who needs a time machine when you have Air New Zealand… I took off from Auckland at 0930 on Tuesday 20 June 2023 local time and landed in Niue at 1230 on Monday 19 June 2023 !!! How’s that for going back in time !!! Of course, this is thanks to the International Date Line. Auckland is just before the Date Line and Niue is just after it. So, even though the countries are 1-hour time difference you go back 23 hours as far as date is concerned !!! It’s enough to blow your brain.
Niue (Pop 1,658) is not a United Nations Country but a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand, and New Zealand conducts most diplomatic relations on its behalf. As part of the Realm of New Zealand, Niueans are citizens of New Zealand and Charles III is Niue's head of state in his capacity as King of New Zealand.
Niue is known as “The Rock of Polynesia” or simply “The Rock”. Niue is geologically “a raised atoll” – the largest in the world and has no rivers or lakes !!! Niueans speak Niuean and English and 96.4% of the 1,658 population are Christian (53.7% Methodist). Niueans are actually Polynesians from Samoa who settled here in 900AD and ruled themselves under a succession of Kings until the early 1800’s. Captain Cook was the first European to approach the island in 1774 but was refused landing so named it “Savage Island”. Eventually English whaling vessels traded their way onto the island in the early 1800s introducing Christianity and Queen Victoria to the island who assigned the Governor of New Zealand to represent her. In 1974 the New Zealand Government proclaimed Niue as a self-governing “protectorate” of New Zealand with Queen Elizabeth II as the Head of State. Niue has been like this ever since but has not joined the UN.
Here are 10 fun facts about Niue:
1. There’s more Niueans living outside of Niue (22,000+ in New Zealand) than in Niue (1,658).
2. Niuean is an endangered language – around 7,000 are left who speak it.
3. Islanders in the North speak differently from Islanders in the South
4. Niue used to have a Pokemon Currency depicting Pokemon characters on one side and Queen Elizabeth II on the other. Niue has also had Star Wars themed coins.
5. The Island’s prison is on the only golf course on the island.
6. Niue is the world’s largest “Raised Coral Atoll” formed by volcanic upheavals some 2-3 million years ago leaving a large island of limestone rock.
7. There used to be an elephant on the Island called Anjalee who was flown to Niue to be quarantined on the island before making her way to the Auckland Zoo in New Zealand.
8. Niue is the last nation in the World to see the sun set each day because it is the closest nation to the International Date Line on the Hawaiian side.
9. Niue has the most politicians per capita (1 to 65) since it has only one political party.
10. Niue has no traffic lights.
You can see all of Niue from the air on approach to land – it looks very flat and absolutely green all over with small cliffs into a very blue ocean with coral reef all the way around. It is oval shaped, 21km north-south and 18km east-west and 64km all the way around. The airport is very basic and everyone turns up to greet you. I was greeted by my host and I met two others who stayed with me at the guesthouse: Ernie and Masas. More on them soon. We all made a stop at the only supermarket on the island called SWANSONS – next door is the BOND STORE which another word for Liquor Store. It had wine, beer and spirits but very expensive as you can imagine – all packaged food and drink (especially meat and dairy) is shipped here on a small container ship every 4-6 weeks from Auckland. China sends a medium-sized container ship here every 3-4 months with clothes and household goods and building materials on it. Petrol and diesel is also shipped in but it comes from various origins depending on price.
Alofi is the Capital and it is only 2.3km from the airport. Alofi is hardly a Capital – it is a village with only 580 people !!! It is easily the smallest, most isolated capital I have visited so far in my global expeditions… Niue to me is more isolated and basic than even Tuvalu even though Niue has more land than Tuvalu, it has way fewer people and tiny villages – more like a collection of a few houses. Our guesthouse was well located and you can walk to every attraction in Alofi. The guesthouse is above ground – just a big house with a huge open living and dining room and kitchen and four bedrooms. I went for an evening walk and took some sunset pics for you below.
The next day our host Helena took me to the Police Station (near airport) so I could get a local drivers license to drive my hire car around the island. They booked me in for 9am the next day to take a photo. No one was there the next day so I would have to come the following day when I got my hire car. After the cop shop I picked up tonight’s dinner from Swansons and started to walk to Alofi. Much to my surprise the supermarket lady that served me came running out and invited me to take a lift with her co-worker who had finished her shift and lived in Alofi – this is the island way. No taxis. Just kind people looking out for each other including tourists. As a matter of fact it is expected that locals wave to tourists from their cars as they pass them and you must wave back. I liked that. For me that is the definition of community. When I got back I grabbed my Galaxy and started my walking tour of Alofi and visited the following places: Taoga Niue Museum, Utuko Beach & Reef (Snorkel), Ekalesia Church, Government of Niue Building Old & New (Parliament), Tomb Point, Opaahi Landing (Captain Cook Landing Site Attempts), Commercial Centre, Alofi Wharf (Snorkel). My favourite was the new Parliament House with National Museum in a similarly designed building but separate just opposite. A unique set up. Both were finished in 2018 and cost $NZD3.5m which NZ funded. This National Museum is very small – just one big room but tastefully done and modern. It is the only National Museum that you have to remove your footwear to visit !!! Loved that. I interviewed the lady on duty and spent some time there talking to the Manager on Niue’s intentions on joining the UN and becoming a fully registered country. Sadly if they do this then NZ will cease most of their funding and Niue will need to fund their own government departments including defense, which she explained was the show stopper. The Manager also asked me about the Voice to Parliament in Oz, which has been getting huge publicity in all the small Pacific nations with indigenous peoples. She was very much for it and predicted that Australia would achieve hero status amongst the other Pacific islanders if it got through. She then went off to host a group of Maori linguists who were visiting Niue to advise them on how to preserve their language, which is officially on the endangered list. I watched the welcome ceremony but was not allowed to film it since it was in the Parliament grounds. In the afternoon I snorkeled in the local bay and took drone footage of Alofi – cannot wait to show you. I was meant to go snorkeling on a boat but it was too windy and moved to the next day. Despite the reschedule I was glad to get my first full fast run in Niue since the knee-busting Kokoda. Felt good and I was glad to be running my normal speeds again.
Enjoy my first visuals of out-there in the Pacific Niue…
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