Niue is truly a geological feast. Its caves and chasms more than compensate for its lack of long sandy beaches. There is much to see and photograph on the island as you have seen already and will see in this all-colour post.
The East Coast is not as prolific as the West – it wins hands down. The roads in the east are also much worse – full of potholes but slowly being filled and regarded by none other than the Chinese. Given there are no natural resources that the Chinese seek on the island, the deal is to fix the roads as long as Niue uses Chinese shipping to have their goods delivered from NZ. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
I visited the following attractions on the southern half of the East Coast: Anapala Chasm, Tuhia Sea Track, Togo Chasm, Hikulagi Sculpture Park, Tautu Beach. My favourite here was the Togo Chasm because of the changing landscape of the sea track walk and the jaw-dropping basalt pinnacles or columns at the end. The track starts with a dense, green, covered bush walk, which suddenly opens up to thousands of pointy basalt pinnacles and finishing with huge pounding waves on a rocky coast way below you. The pinnacles are unlike anything I have ever seen in my global travels. The only other place that came close to this collection of three phases (bush, pinnacles and waves) was the track to Cape Raoul in Tasmania and it was tiny compared to this. The Anapala Chasm was also a treat but very dark and scary as you descend down hundreds of steps to get to the fresh water chasm at the bottom – very little sunlight gets through here but the Galaxy S23 Ultra handled the low light like it had torches inside its lenses. The two Chasms are a MUST VISIT in the south-east.
I then visited the following attractions on the northern half of the East Coast: Hikutavake Sea Track & Pools (Snorkel), Matapa Chasm (Snorkel), Talava Arches (Snorkel), Highest Point 69m, Puluhiki Sea Track & Beach, Tautu Sea Track. The best of the north-east and of the entire island was the Talava Arches followed by the Matapa Chasm. Technically speaking these two geological masterpieces are in the north-west but they are such a treat and take so long to visit and photograph that I visited them on the last day (best till last and the forecasted best weather day) along with the other north eastern attractions.
The Talava Arch is a huge limestone arch just off the coast and dominates the scene. At low tide there are crystal clear lagoons revealing colourful coral and rocks tainted with green, purple, orange and red lichen – a photographer’s feast !!! This is the place that I flew Mini without GPS and completely manually for the first time. If I lost contact then it would land in the sea !!! Mission accomplished for footage that you will fall out of your seat on. The Matapa Chasm is the best place on the island to swim. A crystal clear deep blue corridor of almost fresh water straddling two huge cliffs to form a calm long rectangular pool of water equivalent to 4 Olympic pools placed two on two. This place is lightly salted since the water emerges from an underground cave and seeps into the ocean with limited backwash. If really desperate you could drink this water given the very light salt. The water was so cool and refreshing with fish and some coral to watch that I swam 2.8km in very large 30-lap circles without even realizing it !!! You simply have not seen Niue until you see Talava and Matapa.
The last big treat was visiting Avaiki Cave at low tide, first thing in the morning of my last day. I visited the cave and showed you photos in my West Coast post but when I visited then at low tide there were people in what I call “the magic pool” just around the corner from the main cave – this is the true attraction of this cave. At low tide, a beautiful milky blue pool is revealed inside the cave with purple and red lichen covered rocks surrounding it – so mesmerizing that you can stare at it for hours !!! Behold the images below.
26 June 2023 was my last morning in Niue, which I spent on a victory walk up and down the capital village of Alofi. The evening before, Masas and I celebrated our island stay with a few beers and wine at a local sushi restaurant – the only one open for food and grog on the island on a Saturday. The morning was glorious and I reflected on just how idyllic life is here. As you will see in the interviews, the locals love their life here even though things are expensive because they can fall back to the traditional fishing and cassava/taro growing which is plentiful. My favourite recollection of Niue will be the constant waving to each other as you walk or drive by – something that speaks loudly of the sense of community and friendship that defines this island.
I was told to leave the keys in the hire car when I drove to the airport for my 1445 flight back to Auckland and forward in time – I would loose an entire day !!! The flight to Auckland was very comfortable and I spent all of it preparing and actually sending this post. It is so convenient using internet on a flight.
It was good to see Auckland again, albeit much colder than Niue. I stocked up at Woolies. The next day would see my fly to Tonga via Fiji at 1pm. Why Fiji – more on that later…
PEOPLE POST SCRIPT:
Masa is short for Masamoto. Masa was born, raised and educated in Japan in Economics. He migrated to Pert in 1987 where he started a Diving Shop having dived in Japan and looking for opportunities elsewhere in the world to engage his passion for diving and make a living from it. He was married there, had two kids and divorced ending up in Tonga in 2006 to start a new life as a single and set up another Dive Shop. He then ended up in Sydney in 2015 where he got work with a courier company. He was laid off during COVID and is now looking for a return to diving shops, which explains his trip to Niue. He is looking for opportunities here and in Sri Lanka where diving and blue whale watching is very new. Masa has a wicked laugh and speaks with a very loud voice. He would not tell me his age but I reckon he is in his late sixties. He is very thin but complains about pain in his knees which I can see are quote arthritic – he claims from too much lifting of scuba gear in his many years of diving shops. We engaged in conversation every afternoon as I cleaned photos and he researched dive shops in Niue and Sri Lanka. Masa is a simple sole, a straight-talker and loves a chat over many beers and his Wild Turkey !!! I enjoyed his company and wished him well in what he calls “his last diving venture”… Look out for the two photos all the way at the end of Masa next to two HUGE Humpback Whales !!!
Ernie on the hand was a complete mystery. Masa told me that he was born and raised in the Philippines and is a public school teacher there. We never saw him. He hired a bicycle which he would take off on around 9am after I returned from my runs and by the time I got back from touring around 4-5pm the bicycle was parked inside and he was locked in his room. He never came out. Never saw or heard him go the toilet and he never came out for a drink (even water) or to cook. I have no idea how he survived. He must have brought back food/drink with him and stashed it in his room. Masa reckons he ate only bread and cheese. How strange. Not even a conversation while Masa and I were carrying on like headless chooks, loud and laughing just outside his door… I did see him on my first day riding along the north-west road and passed him a few times. Not sure what he thought of Niue since he ever spoke. A strange soul indeed.
Nothing strange about what you will now see – may your eyes feast on the natural geography of Niue… a place with a lot of potential…
MASA - HUMPBACK MAN !!!
No comments:
Post a Comment