Blogs from Niue, Cook Islands, Oceania
December 31st 2011
so nothing much happened in Pension California. i ended up sitting around, reading, and going to bed early. the next morning i stopped in a bakery on the way out and bought some AMAZING foccacia bread! the name of the bakery is french, and its rigt around the corner from pension, towards the malecon. so then i headed out of la paz towards cabos. the drive was actually pretty cool! after hitting the mountains the foliage changes and becomes much morelush. the coastal views are beautiful, but the resorts line the whole coast...not my scene. after oicking sophie up we swung around the tip and found an amazing place right across from playa cerritos. the complex was called Surf Camp, and is owned by an ex-pat gringo named Jaime. the people staying/living there were all super ... read more
August 7th 2010
18.33.02S 174.03.23E Arrived 0300 on the morning of Friday the 30th of July in the moorings of the harbour of Nieu, a beautiful little island between the Cooke Islands and Tonga. We were sooooo lucky to be able to get the last available public mooring thanks to the assistance of Rob from Bristol Rose and Mads and Ellen on Go Beyond got the last available fishing boat mooring. Not long after we tied up, a French Catamaran, Becoup or something similar came in and we let them raft up next to us and shared a few beers, rumbos and wines before getting to bed about 5.00am. We were happy campers to be on a mooring rather than having to find a place to drop the pick as the sea bed is littered with deep rocky gutters ... read more
September 24th 2009
Have a look at our previous BLOG entry to read about our NUIE trip in July. Hope you enjoy looking at our underwater shots. Must get a better camera!... read more
September 17th 2009
It's been a long ambition of ours to snorkel with Humpback Whales and Niue Island is one of the few destinations in the world that you can 'legally' do this. Niue is located between Tonga and the Cook Islands. The Humpback Whales are only there from July to November, we went there at the end of July. We had to fly to Auckland and stay overnight then fly to Niue the next day, crossing the international dateline meant that we arrived in Niue the same day we left Brisbane! There is only one flight in and out a week from Auckland and one shipment a month. Niue is a small independent state perched on top of a sleeping volcano rising steeply from a 3000-4000m deep ocean. The tiny limestone island, about 23 by 18 km rises ... read more
May 31st 2009
I have just returned to Auckland after my week in Niue and still can't really comprehend everything I saw. Niue is not a part of the Cook Islands, but rather is a self governed nation in free association with New Zealand. That pretty much means that they do their own thing, but still rely on New Zealand for a lot of aid. The island is 260 square kilometers, and is not the typical South Pacific island. There are no sandy beaches and thus the reason why it's not a typical tourist destination. Niue has a population of 1500 people, but there are about 20 000 Niueans living and working in other places around the world. This is mainly to do with the lack of jobs on the island itself. Niue is a raised coral shelf that ... read more
