9th November, 2012, Niue Island.

Well today is the day we leave on our jet plane after a great week.

Des's birtday today our time but your yesterday, so Des hope you had a great day and we will see you later today on arrival.

We have had so much fun exploying caves and chasm, learning about the people, their culture and how they live. Really lovely people. So natural, but in time I suspose they will become commericalised like the Fijians.
Went on their plantation, had tropical forest walks.

Great hotel Matavai Resort but no beach for those that need boating in the bay.
 The staff were lovely people always very helpful and always smiling.
Great being up high looking over the cliff out to the ocean with its massive big seas rolling in against the cliffs. Nice pool deck and bar hanging over the edge of the coral cliffs looking along the coast.

They tell us that coconuts have the most purest milk in the world. If the mothers can't feed their babies they will feed  them on this.

The Niue discocovery pack is well worth purchasing before you leave home. Save lots on those vouchers. Cost us $100.24 and we think that we got about $400 worth of voucher to use here. Saved heaps on our tours and food beaverages.

This place must be one of the best kept secrets as to places to visit. We really enjoyed it and had lots of fun but very busy every day exploring what they have to offer.

We have seen a lot of dolphens swimming in front of the hotel most days.

I will now try and down load some photos of the outside of the hotel and then we will be on our way to the airport.

Must away to the airport now.
I have loaded about three blogs over the last 24 hours so check back to see that you have picked them all up by date order.

 

8th November 2012 Niue Island

Thought that we would have a quiet day on our last day and just hang around the hotel but ended up going along to town to fill the car ready for its return tomorrow. $80.00 worth of fuel for the week but unfortuately forgot to take the milage  so no idea how far we went.
Decided to stop off at a couple of places we hadn't yet seen before we went back to the hotel to spend some time around the pool. Something we haven't really had time to do.

 

Along the coast from the Matavai Hotel where we are staying.

 

This one is of the hotel to show how it sits up above the cliff. Not very clear as I had to zoom in a long way to see it from a far point Toyulu.

 



 

Two little sandy bays either side of Toyulu point. Above and below.

Anaana Point blow holes above and below.



Big seas after the storm yesterday. Massive waves crashing against the cliffs making the blow holes work well, loud as. They have been so loud all day under our hotel. Even shaking the room sometimes. Couldn't tell the difference between the high and low tide today as the waves were so big they were coming over the whole reef.

 

 



 

Now gone down the Amanau sea track above and below saw big  bright blue reef fish and big black ones too.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the  wharf for the boats but because of the size of the waves couldn't get boats in here as you can see how rough and how high the waves are. Some of the big waves were going right over the wharf.

 

 

 

 

This is where captain cook landed in 1774. Couldn't land there with those big waves today. Above and below

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some people we meet from Torbay our last dinner as we leave tomorrow.

 

 

It was crab night so guess who had the crab. Very disappointing as hardly no meat in them and very dry. Not like those lobsters in Prince Edward Island.

 



 

Our farewell sunset off the dining terrace.

 

 

Must have been a quieter day as I have posted two blogs so hope you realise and have picked up yesterdays.

 

Its sad to be leaving tomorrow. Its been a great holiday, so much to see. What a great place to come to. We have both really enjoyed it. Will try and post pictures of the outside of the hotel before we leave tomorrow  But will see how I go for time as we have to be out of the hotel by 10.00 but plane doesn't leave until about 1.55 pm. I think.  

 

 



7th November, 2012 Niue Island.

Had very heavy rain last night and thunderstorms. I thought then that we would wake up to very humid weather with all that rain. Sure enough the sun was out and man was it hot. Must have been in the thirties and seemed like 100% humidity. A real killer.

We left the hotel at 9.15am to go to the top of the island so I could have a massage and facial which I had a voucher for so had to use it, at the Namukulu Spa. An Australian couple run it and have motel units as well on a large piece of land. Great lifestyle for them. They had two boxer dogs!!

 

They brought these dogs over from Australia but it is pretty tough here as there is no vet on the island.

 We then did our last tramp of the week as we are going to have a quiet day around the hotel tomorrow as it will be our last day. Very sad, still a lot of places we haven't seen as there is so much exploring to do on this island.
The hotel isn't like most resorts where everyone hangs round the hotel all day. You hardly see anyone as it seems that the people that come here love exploring and are out most of the day.

We then did the Talava Arches track. In the heat and humidity we were having, it was very hard going but well worth it. Took an hour to get there and back.

Entering the cave which we had to walk through to get to the arches was really hard. It was very slippery although they had ropes to hang onto that wasn't enough in one particular part. Just behind me (in the picture) if you slipped there, you would have ended up down that hole. Although you can grab hold of the rope there, you would have to be quick to grab that in a slide. It was probably extra bad after all the rain last night.

This is the rest of the cave we had to walk through to get to see the arches. See the ropes for hanging onto. When we got out of the cave there were more ropes to hang onto to get down the side of very steep rocks. Very exciting but a great help when we returned to pull ourselves up again over the steep rocks. 

 

TALAVA ARCHERS.

 

After hanging from the rock face this is what we saw. Great outlook. Resting now, humidity still very high and we were wet through with the heat.

 



Closer view of the Arches.

 

 



 

 

Now a close up. When the tide is out you can walk out under the arches. Not today probably even at low tide as the wind has changed from the east coast to the west where we are so we are getting the big waves pouring in over the reef. The reefs don't go out very far, then a sudden drop of 200 metres deep into the sea. They are really starting to crash in over the reef, massive waves with the wind change. We then had to return back through that dangerous slippery cave, but we made it.

 

 

We then headed across the northern end of the island back over to the east coast. As the road is inland a little to get to the coast you had to drive down these sea tracks as above. Pete wasn't happy taking the old car down these as it was over one km and knew it would get steep at one stage as we approached the coast. This is what they call a secondary road once you get off the main roads. We went in over half way and as it started to descend very steeply Pete wasn't going to trust the car to get us back up again so we parked in the bush and walked the rest of the way to see the coast line. 

 

 

 

We arrived at these steps which we walked down to the water level.

 

 

 

 This is what we saw so you can imagine how rugged the coastline is and this shows how far the reef goes out then that sudden drop into the deep ocean.

 

 

 

I took this photo to show how the land is made up of coral and especially on the east coast it can be very rugged like this. I said to Pete that it looks like Rangitoto.

 

 

We then decide to head back to the hotel as after the very hot humid morning the skies were looking very black and I thought here comes the tropical storm you can get after it turns very hot. Sure enough without any warning the rain suddenly hit us while we were still driving. It was like driving into a waterfall instantly very heavy couldn't see where we were going. We had to practically stop for awhile.

We stopped to have an icecream as we hadn't had any lunch and then onto the hotel. Big puddles all round the hotel and apparently hit them hard too. I had washing on the line which is on our balcony which has a big overhang and the rain came right in there and everything was soaked. The seas where very big crashing onto the reef. It all cleared as the afternoon went on but we had lightning through dinner and more rain. First bad weather we have had so can't complain as it is always good seeing these tropical storms. 

 



6th November, 2012 Niue Island

 

 

 

 

Our time is the 6th but NZ is 7th Nov. and it is Evka's birthday. Happy birthday Evka, hope you didn't work too hard and that Dave cooked you dinner.

 

 

Today we got picked up from the hotel at 8.00pm by Jack to take us on his  Ebony tour. Jack took us up the east coast and took us into Niue's rich tropical rainforest on foot. The rain forest is home to coconut crabs (Uga) fruit bats (peka) wild pigeons (lupe) and many more insects and species. Ebony tree is only found in the deep rain forest. We left his van on the side of the road and entered the forest on foot. Once we had been walking for ten minuetes none of us could have found our way out. You loose all sense of direction and just had to reley on the guidands from then on. We must have had nearly three hours in the forest, no tracks to forrow just Jack. He said that he was the only one on the island that completly knew the forest and had been hunting in there for twenty years so that made us feel a bit better that he would see us out.

 We learnt all about the trees, how they grow and what they are used for. Today was a cloudy day so the sun wasn't filtering through the trees which would have made it prettier. He also explained how there were many caves under the forest floor. You could tell when you were over a cave as there was more coral on the surface. He showed us many holes in the ground that leed down into underground caves  We didn't have any torches but Pete went down one of the bigger ones and took some photos. After spending this time in the forest Jack got us out and back to his van. Wouldn't like to get lost in there. You woldn't know which way to turn.

He then took us back to his house, chopped down a couple of coconuts for us to have a drink of coconut water which is very good for you which I will tell you more later in the week.

Jack is also an Ebony carver . He gets his Ebony wood for carving from the heart of the ebony tree. It is a black wood and very hard.. Couldn't even get his knife into it.  Each unique body ornament is crafted by hand from raw Ebony.

It takes years to form into dense mass of solid black gold so called because of its rich black colour when polished and its natural beauty. Its yellow fruits are a favourite delicacy of the Uga (coconut crab).

We arrived back at the hotel in just under four hours.

 

Still thick cloud overhead and hot so went to the pool for a swim. We heard that there was a wedding on the pool deck at two. I thought that I would stay round the pool and swim thinking there was no sun but I was surprised that I got a bit burnt just sitting under cloud.

Usually I would go down for my swim about four and never burn in the sun at that time so thought that I would be fine under thick cloud. Must have been the time of day.

Looks like the weather might not be the best for the next two days but I don't think that they really know what to expect.If we get any rain its only a few spits.

 

Pete came down to see the wedding party of four being married on the deck with the ocean in the background. Us and two other couples watched and we ended up having a glass of champaine with them all as they had no guests.

Made a nice finish to the day.

 

  

 

 

Jack our tour leader to take us through the forest. look at the roots of the tree. They spread across the top of the ground.

  

 

 

 We are standing over the top of a cave. You can see to th bottom left the hole down to it.

 

 

This shows how small the entrance to the cave is. Wouldn't get me down there.



 

 

 

 If you look closely you can see the trees roots growing up the side of the tree which kills the trunk, then they start coming down again aned rooting in the ground. Amazing.

 

 

 

A better photo showing how the roots creep along the top of the grown.

 

 

This is a hole looking down into a cave under the forest floor. Too small to go down in.

This cave had a bigger entrance to get into  so the boys decided to give it a go and climb down into it. Too scarey for me as we didn't have torches.

It was so dark they couldn't  really see anything so just took photos with flash

It looks amazing down there with the.
 lovely colours.

As Niue's forshore is all cliffs usually when you climb through caves you start at the road level at the top of the cliff, (which is back from the cliffs edge for several meters)  walk down a track, through the caves which bring you out to the sea.
In the forest which is inland from the coast the caves are under the forest floor, so when you see a hole in the ground that is the entrance to the cave. So instead of walking through them you have to jumb down into them. Bit scarey as its so dark you could end up down a deep hole.

We are now out of the forest, thank goodness, didn't get lost. We are standing on one of the main roads round the island. This is what all the main roads look like. Not very wide.And as you can see not a car to be seen.

Back out Pauls house where he has a man shed where he does all is Ebony  carvings. He does some beautiful work.

5th November 2012, Niue Island

 



 



When you look at the date above don't forget that we are a day behind, so I am not as late as you think.  

 

It is the 5th today but 6th in NZ and it is Adam  A's bithday. Happy birthday Adam. Hope you had a great day.

 

We left the hotel at 8.15am to drove to the top of the island to do the A5 Tours at 9.00am. Meet Tony who took us out to learn all about the plantation on the island.

We started of at his house eating mangos cut and soaked in coconut milk. Very nice. Waited for another couple to come but they didn't turn up so it was just the two of us.

Tony took us through their villages plantation spot and explained all the variety of the local crops, tasting everyting as we went. Today was a little cloudy so much more comfortable out in the field. He took us in his old 4x4 wheel drive disappearing down all these little tracks then just across the plantation. Bumpy as hell.                                                                                       

 

 

 

 

This is his villages plantation. He was explaining that it is very hard to get the crops growing as they haven't had any real rain since April. All the crops are just scattered amongst all the other growth. 

 

  

 



He brought some coconut crabs - Uga along to show us. They are the largest living arthropod in the world weighing up to 4 kg.We are having crab night in the hotel on Thursday night. These are land crabs, they cannot swim and will drown if immersed in water. Although the females migrate to the sea to release their fertilized eggs as they hatch. They live on coconuts, hence the name, seeds and any nuts. He doesn't look big here as I am holding his large claws in, real tight. If you put a twig between his claws as Tony did he will just snap it into two. Would break your fingures.


A big surprise Tony our guide went to his van and pulled out a rifle. I had just asked him if he climbs the palms to get the coconuts and he said why would I climb a tree when I have a gun. He loaded it up (didn't like that feeling out in the middle of nowhere) and told Pete to aim at the top of the part that holds all the clump of coconuts and they will all come down whole. His first shot he got one right in the middle and that landed to the ground split in half. No good for anything. His second go it got it just in the right place and the whole bunch dropped to the ground. Tony then had a go and missed three times, got them on his fourth. I didn't like being right next to the gun when it went off.

 

Pete aiming at his coconuts!!!!

 

 

 

This is the one he split in half with his first shot.

 

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Tony picking up the coconuts Pete shot down. I didn't like it when he kept swinging around and that gun was facing me.

 

 

 



 

Tony has this playgrownd all set up for his boys to play when he takes them out into the plantation while he works. I am sitting at a desk with a computer and keyboard. There was radios cars bikes all sorts of bits and pieces. Imagine our boys getting fun out of a pretendy old compter in the middle of a paddock. They would only be happy with the real thing. After the tour we went back to his house and had a walk all around his back garden and he showed us mango, melon trees, his free range hens with heaps of babies as they can never find the eggs. Had a smelly old pig run with a very pregnant pig, another big pig and a small pig he had brought at the markets for $50. Kept cutting off fruit from the trees also bananas and giving it to us but in the end we had to say that we had had enough. Couldn't eat anymore. Spent about two and half hours with him and found it very interesting learning all the ways they live off the land. His wife was a Australian girl and they had four kids. Big change of life style for her. 



 

 

 

 

After we left A5 Tours we went out to the northern coast at the top of the island. Walked into this cave where there were a few dug outs.But looking at the size of the sea on this side don't know how they would ever get their boats out. Maybe they have some calm weather sometimes. 

 

 

 

This is the northern coastline. 

 

 

Up to the northern coastline we went over the highest point of the island which ws only 69m high.

 

Drove back down the west coast and stopped at the Matapa Chasm. Just a short walk down to the beautiful little cove with a lovely swimming pool coming in from the sea.

 

 

 

MATAPA CHASM

 

 

 

 

When you drive along the road everyone waves so Pete has his hand ready and his fingers just goes

up whenever anyone is approaching. Just like in Norfolk Island.

 

We had another good day Very busy.