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Not far from New Zealand, relatively speaking for this part of the world, lies the Island of Niue, the smallest independant nation in the world, and a former protectorate of New Zealand. Niue has a population of between fifteen hundred and eighteen hundred people, depending on the date and source of the reading matter you can find; one main town, Alofi; a number of villages; one main road all around the island, made up for most of the way; one main residential hotel resort and a few motels; and a wonderfully charming people.

On Jan 5th, 2004, Niue was hit by the full force of Cyclone Heta, a force 5 Cyclone that passed over a number of South sea Islands in January. About 30% of all habitation was destroyed, and from what I could see, and I went round most of the island, the top 20% of all the tall plant and vegetation was removed.All of the following information is based on personal discussions with a number of the local people, and I accept any reponsibility for any errors or inaccuracies in facts, names or dates.

But perhaps this is not where I should start my story, and I need to go back about eighteen months.

I took early retirement in July 2002, and although well travelled in Europe and part of the Americas, my wife and I decided that there were many distant parts of the world that we wanted to see, and so over the next eighteen months we visited Hawaii, Dubai, Borneo, Japan, and cruised through Ecuador, Chile and Peru. The two remaining planned major destinations in the short term were New Zealand and Australia. In between planning and completing these various trips, I had occasion in August 2002 to spend some time in Manchester, UK, attending the Commonwealth games. On the evening of my second day there, the pool stage of the Rugby Union Sevens Tournament began. As an Englishman, my support was clearly for the Home Country. However, the English are also renowned for supporting the underdog, and during the course of the evening, a large part of the English crowd discovered a new favourite, the team from Niue; an enthusiastic, extraordinarily cheerful, and in the face of not too much success, a never say die side who were absolutely intent on having the time of their lives. It is probably true that few of the English crowd had any idea where Niue was, and also probably true that the Niue side could not understand the warmth of the reception they were getting from the English crowd. However, at the end of a few shouted exchanges between the crowd and the team, I heard myself call out to them that I would come to visit their island. I had no idea if any of them heard me.

I told my wife Pam when I got home that we were going to Niue, and she just smiled and said 'yes dear'. What she did not know was that I actually knew where it was.

I started planning my trip to New Zealand in about March 2003, and we had always used a UK travel company called Titan Travel for our long haul tours, so I approached them again, having chosen one of their standard published tours, and asked if they could arrange for an extension of our trip to New Zealnd with flights to Niue and Samoa. Not a problem was the reply, although as they had no contacts on the islands, accomodation was down to me. Thanks to the power of the internet, within two weeks, I had reservations confirmed at the Matavai Resort on Niue, and what looked like a very interesting hotel in Samoa called Aggie Greys. And there it stayed for almost a year.

In February 2004, we returned from a cruise on the Oriana to South America, and I started checking out the details of our trip down under. One of the first things I did was to check out the web site for the Matavai resort, primarily with the intention of seeing what there was to do on the island. The first line of the site read;' Still open after the storm'... Now I do not like causing my wife any unnecessary worries, so at that point I stopped looking too much further. At the end of March, we flew out to New Zealand and had a wonderful three weeks touring North and South Island, and then back to Auckland for a flight to Samoa, and a connection back to Niue.

There was about a five hour delay in Samoa, overnight, and not many passengers in transit to Niue. I start talking to a young American, John, who was cycling his way around the South Seas. 'Do you think there will be much damage from the storm' he says. 'I don't think so', says I, 'Our hotel is OK and still serving a choice of three main meals a night'. As I wander round the airport transit lounge, there is a sort of public notice board, with a notice from the government of Samoa, advising that most of the damage caused by Cyclone Heta has now been cleared, but offering commiserations to the inhabitants of Niue, who had been so badly affected, but Thanks to God with only minimal loss of life. A few minutes later, I start a conversation with Stuart, a young New Zealander. (Please excuse the 'young': at fifty seven, I find most South Sea travellers look young.). He is working on a team that is planning the reconstruction of the Island. I started wondering what to expect. 'When you stand on the main street in Alofi, and look out to sea over the cliifs, the reef is about twenty metres below. On the day the storm struck, the sea level was just below the top of the cliffs and the wind and rain took out the hospital, some government buildings, and most of the businesses on that side of the road'. He smiles.' But its OK, all that has been cleared away, and we are starting to plan the rebuilding'. I decide it is time to mention the storm to my wife.

We arrive in Niue, and Mary is waiting to pick us up. Mary is a New Zealander, who has been in Niue for about seven years. She says she is the only taxi driver available 24 hours a day. We ask her about the Cyclone. She is a bit subdued. A number of the locals have lost their houses, but with some help from the government of Tahiti, every one who has lost a home is receiving a new one from the government of Niue, and so far, about twenty new one have been built, and another twenty are in the process of being built. Mary's house is alright, and with her swimming pool, for which later in the week she is quite grateful when the water supply was off for two days, she has every intention of staying on Niue.

We arrive at the Matavai resort, to be greeted by the Manager, Dean Westcott, an Australian who has been managing the hotel for about three years.. Dean and I had exchanged various messages over the last twelve months as odd details of the trip had changed. I reminded him of his invite to his little bit of Paradise. The smile was rueful but soon brightened. The chef was ready for breakfast, the pool was open, and at eight in the morning our room was ready for occupation. The room was well protected with mosquito netting on the windows, until I discovered it was too late, and I had played host to about twenty little black beasts on the way from the airport. Still, after breakfast, a few hours sleep and a cold lager at lunch time, we had time to look round the resort. Twenty four rooms, a restaurant, bar, verandah, and two pools overlooking the sea. No beach, as Niue is coral on top of a volcano, but very good for diving and whale watching. As we did not dive, and whale watching starts in June, we ask Dean where we should go. Twenty minutes and a couple of phone calls later, we are taking a half day cab drive all round the island on the next day, caving the day after that with Tali's Cave Tours, if another customer could be found as it needed three for the trip to go ahead, and possibly a fun boat trip on Willie' s boat on the last day. So it is a quiet afternoon in. The only other guests in the hotel seem to be a young, again, New Zealand couple with a young boy and a little girl just walking, Ian and his family. Ian used to run Niue Dive. He lost his house, his business and his boat in the storm, and he and his family are living temporarily at the Matavai. He also has been on Niue for five years, and he is staying, and the business will reopen as soon as possible. That night, Stuart the reconstructor arrives for dinner. The Matavai is now probably the best place to eat on the Island, so we chat a bit more before another cold lager , the choice of three perfectly pleasant options for main course, and a nice bottle of New Zealand wine for my wife and myself, white for her, red for me, but half of each to be saved for dinner the next night.

The next morning our taxi arrives.The driver we think says his name is Neil, but he is a native Niuean, and we are not sure our English ears are as yet attuned to the local accent. Not quite sure how to start the conversation, so we start talking about Rugby, and the English triumph in the World Cup. Neil says he is glad we beat the Australians, especially as he is a keen Rugby player, and has played for Niue. Something stirs...has he ever been to England? Yes, he was with the Niue team in Manchester, although he was a reserve, and did not play a match. Bingo!, we tell him all about why we had decided to come to Niue. The next thing, we have stopped outside his house and out come the photo albums. His long trip to England via Singapore, pictures of the athletes village at the games, the chance to see Elizabeth the Queen, and pride of place, pictures of Old Trafford, where they had been allowed to look round the home of the famous Manchester United. ( At that point it seemed somewhat petty to mention I was a Yorkshireman). And then off round the Island. He shows us the traps for the coconut crabs, although we do not see any, but then as we drive around, we see more of the destruction and empty houses. And perhaps not all of this is down to the Cyclone. Apparently, there are thirty five thousand Niueans living in New Zealand, because that is really the best place to find work, and that is where most of the best Rugby players are, as they get a lot more experience with the New Zealand clubs, which makes Neil's selection for the Niue team even more impressive. Does he want to live in New Zealand? No. Niue is his home, and he is going to stay as long as he can. So we continue to drive round, and we see signs for coves and tourist lookouts, but each time we turn in to go look at them, the roads turn to rubble, the concrete paths have been blown away by the waves, and the public toilets knocked down.. We meet John, the bicycle man, who has been cycling merrily round the island, but has found it just as difficult to get to the waters edge as we have. We ask Neil what is going to be done, and he shrugs. There are hospitals and houses and offices to rebuild; who has time for the tourist attractions? And yet if this island is to recover, and to reattract the tourists on whom it has a huge dependancy, how will this happen without something for the tourist to look at. We get back to the Matavai, and Neil refuses any money from us. ' You have to pay Mary or the Hotel', so I shake his hand with some Dollars in my hand and thank him and wish him good bye. Back to the Matavai for another cold lager, and the other half of last night's wine.

That night, Dean is having dinner with his fiancee. Although we were not wanting to intrude, he asks about our day, and we start to chat. Now I should say at this point that because of the storm, Niue has no television, no radio stations, and because the international phone lines are down, no internet. So eating, chatting and a game or two of cards with my wife, are the main sources of entertainment. I ask Dean how the storm has affected his business. In the short term, he seems quite bullish. This is his low season, and it seems the traffic from the teams looking at reconstruction have boosted trade a bit. However, his main season starts in June, which is the start of the whale watching season, and on a good day you will see them from the verandah on a regular basis. Unfortunately the publicity from the Australian and New Zealand TV crews who visited the island after the storm has focussed more on the damage and destruction, and this has deterred a lot of his traditional clientele, and things are not looking so bright. He would like to find a way of bringing back the tourists.

The next morning, Mary arrives to take us to the local Tourist office to pick up the trip to the caves. We ask her about the loss of life we read about in Samoa. She explains they were very lucky. The Cyclone struck after lunch on the Monday, and most people had evacuated their homes or offices. The casualties seem to have been a mother and her baby, whom the mother had gone back to try and save. It does not make it any less sad. When we arrive at the Tourist Office, Tali's daughter is there, along with John and his bicycle, and there is another New Zealand lady with her three children aged from about eight years to thirteen years old. She is in Niue for a year teaching at the High School. We knew that there had to be a minimum of three before before the trip could go ahead, so we now had a double load. What I did not know until later in the day was that Tali, the Niuean who owned the lands where the caves were to be found, was in New Zealand on holiday, because there had been no tourists since the storm. So the Tourist office had rung his daughter, who was working for the Government of Niue, and told her to take a day off as she had customers for the first time since the storm. She had then rung her brother who was also working to tell him he was needed as a guide, and then she rang her sister to prepare six rounds of ham salad sandwich and six fresh coconuts for our refreshment. And then off we went, the three children in the lead after the guide, and my wife and I following nonchalently behind. Now in my experience, caving in Europe involves large caverns, illuminated pathways, boardwalks and steps as necessary, and at its best, loud organs playing as you float down the caverns in a gondola. Caving in Niue involves wearing a miner's helmet, wriggling through narrow and at times very dirty holes, at one point no bigger than 24 inches by 12 inches, struggling round tight corners with the help of a foot of rope, and with irregular rocks and remnants of stalagmites as a footfall, and stalactites that would pierce you through if you were not extremely careful. I think we call it potholing. And yet as I watched the kids dance their way through, there was no way I was not going to finish. After about an hour, we reached the other end of the cave , and my wife and I collapsed, telling all of the others what a wonderful experience we had had. The guide then intoduced us to the entrance to the second cave. After about fifteen paces, my wife announces that the soles of her shoes are all full of mud, and it is much too slippy to continue. Like the gentleman I am, I volunteer to stay behind with her while the others go on. Tali's daughter then decides she will stay with us, although I am sure her motives were entirely different to mine, and we return to the original cave for first choice of the salad sandwich and the coconut milk. Heaven, apart from the mosquitoes who were again out in force. That night, we decided to give the wine a miss, and be satisfied and fortified with the knowledge that we had done it and got through alive.

The final day was a bit of an anti-climax. Willie's boat was moored about a mile up the coast from the Matavai resort, so we decided to walk, absolutely smothered in insect repellent. The walk was quite pleasant, and we arrived at Willie's cafe, signposted on the road above as the Washed Away cafe, although now carefully amended to read the Unwashed Away cafe, at the appointed time. Ian from the defunct diving school was there cleaning up his four by four, as was Willie's car and trailer, but no boat, and no Willie. After an hour, we decide to walk back, and after about half a mile we come across a store advertising the best ice creams on the island, and a wide selection of videos and DVDs.. The store says open at 2pm, and it is only 11am, but there are clear signs of children and icecream in evidence. So two double cornets later, we are talking to the owner about trade in general at this time of year, and does he know Willie? Yes he does, he saw him sail out at 6 am, but no sight since. And as for trade? Quiet but steady; he is from Israel and has been here for five years and he intends to stay. So we then return to Matavai, and have a quiet hour playing cards before an afternoon swim,and then a cold beer. I mention to Dean then that we had not seen Willie, and then sudden panic. Willie apparently never leaves a customer stranded and he is now three hours overdue, so a panic call to the local telecom office, come life guard/emergency rescue.. However panic soon over, Willie has called in on the short wave to say he is back. That night at dinner in the hotel, Willie was there with a couple of friends, but we never did find out what the problem was, but as he was OK, no problem.

The next day was the end of out trip to Niue, so I go down to settle my bill and have a last cold beer, thank Dean and whoever of the staff are around, and then back to the Airport with Mary. We seemed to have seen such a lot of the island, although there were clearly lots of other places we had not had the chance to visit, and despite the storm, I am sure that there are other resorts that would welcome tourists as well as we were welcomed at the Matavia resort. If you want to check it out, go to http://www.niueisland.com/ And although this was not by any means the most memorable of our many trips, it was difficult to say goodbye without thinking about how the island could have been, and despite all the adversity, how friendly and welcoming all of the people we had met had been.

So what now you may ask is the point of my writing this? Well, initially I told Dean that I would try and get him some publicity, and see if we could liven up his high season. But when I got home, I felt it needed, and it turned into, a bit more than that for me. There are clearly major efforts supported by all the neighbouring Countries, and especially Australia and New Zealand, to reconstruct the infrastructure of the Island. And if anyone wishes to contribute to this please see http://www.ausaid.gov.au/hottopics/topic.cfm?Id=6670_4822_3056_4344_3303#help And when I talked to Stuart and some of his friends, there is a lot going on, but it is all talk, and not a lot of action, and given the nature of such projects, the action part is still some time away. So, when we were driving around the island with Neil, I had said to my wife that what the island really needed in the short term was a division of the UK Royal Engineers on a couple of weeks furlough, with a couple of bit of heavy plant, going round all the coves and inlets and scenic spots blasting out the rubble, and putting in new steps, boardwalks and conveniences, to give the tourist something to enjoy. Somehow, I seem to lack the trigger to focus the necessary government attention on what seems to a layman to be a relatively simple solution to an immediate and pressing problem, and if the UK government cannot help, and there is a longstanding friendly relationship between Niue and the UK, perhaps the Aussies or the Kiwis can help. So, the vegetation may be a bit barren for the moment, but how many tourists have seen a scalped South Sea Island. And unlike the Cowboys in the old American West who usually died when the Indians scalped them, Niue is not going to die. Everybody I talked to is intent on staying there and making things as they were or better. And secondly and hopefully with more chance of success, as a site seen by many seasoned travellers, I can think of no better way in which to appeal to all you experienced and wordly wise travellers who regularly read these sites. The next time you are down under or in one of the larger South Sea Islands, give Niue a few days of your time. Its only an hour from Samoa, and three from New Zealand by Polynesia Air, and they have some of the largest leg room of any airline I have flown. In Niue, you will find a resilient and proud group of people who would love to show you their bit of Paradise.

William Weir.

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