Exploring Niue

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday trying to see all that we could with a rental car. This island is stunningly beautiful and when I can get a good internet connection (probably Tonga in a couple of weeks) I will upload the pictures we took. There are many caves along the coast and there are trails leading to a lot of them. We got some great touring info from Keith, the yacht club commodore, and following his advice certainly paid off. We got to the caves on the west coast at low tide and were able to wander around and search the caverns and look into the pools. The water colour was an almost too perfect shade of blue. We saw stalactites and stalagmites, some floor to roof, some just barely starting. The "new" ones look like eggs frozen in the rock, really amazing to see. We stopped at a place called Limu Pools to have a snorkel next. It is fed with fresh water and the ocean swell provides a mix of salt water as well. The two layers (fresh and salt) are quite distinct and the boundary between them creates a blur when you are looking through a mask on the surface. The fresh water sits on top and to get to the warm ocean water you have to dive down. A bit backwards from what we are used to. Just before lunch on Tuesday, we walked out to the Talava Arches on the north end of the island. You scramble through this low cave and using a rope (provided) you work your way down to the shore. There are two arches, one right on the coast and one inland. The inland one you really don't realize is there as it is very high. There was a small bar/patio at the head of the trail so we had lunch there and then went down a much shorter trail to the swimming hole. It's a chasm that has a narrow entrance from land with sides that are near vertical. You are protected from the ocean by a rock wall on the seaward side that lets some swell in but not much. The lagoon is fed with fresh water and is substantially cooler than the ocean.
Wednesday, the major excursion was to a place called Togo Chasm on the east coast. A good 30 minute bush walk brings you to the coast. The landscape is unique. There are rows of sharp uplifted limestone that march in parallel lines towards the ocean. This island is still rising and these represent some of the movement (I'm guessing here!) The government has made a path to get to the actual chasm which is an oasis of white sand, complete with palm trees, surrounded by vertical walls. Access to the bottom is via a long and large ladder. The ladder verticals are the size of telephone poles so it's nice and solid. We were glad we went on Wednesday and it did drizzle off and on on Tuesday and the ladder may have been a bit slick. Once you are in the chasm, you can scramble through a cave system to get out to the coast at sea level. We have never seen anything like it, and it is probably the most amazing bit of geography we have seen anywhere in the world. We toured most of the island roads and with only 1500 inhabitants; most of the place is pretty deserted. We did visit the Noni farm that is probably the biggest bit of agriculture on the island. Noni fruit grows naturally in the islands and is the juice is touted as a wonder elixir. You sure don't drink it for the taste, which is quite frankly, pretty bad. They are currently shipping between 10-15 tons of juice a month and are hoping to increase production. They have interest from Japan, China and Germany. The process is pretty simple, they hand pick the fruit which is about the size of a tangerine, wash it off and put the whole fruit in sealed barrels for 8 weeks. The juice works it's out of the fruit and they then press it and pasteurize it prior to shipping it out. They harvest all year and pick every two weeks. The kiwi couple who are managing used to farm in NZ and have been here for only 6 months. They have gone through 4 managers in 5 years, a pretty remote place to work. Tonight is sausage and beer night at the yacht club, and today is also the last day on the island for many of the tourists that we have met. The weekly flight leaves Friday AM anywhere between 04:00 and 5:00, depending on the arrival time. We have no set plans to leave so will get to greet the next lot of tourists arriving.

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