Fakalofa
Lahi Atu, last week I travelled to Niue Island with my grandparents, mother,
aunty, uncle and cousins. Here is three
simple short stories that I wrote about my homeland.
Niue Island
Niue Island
is a huge raised coral atoll, which means that Niue is high above sea level.
It is in the
centre of a triangle of four Polynesian islands made up of Tonga, Cook Islands
and Samoa. It takes three hours to travel from NZ (New Zealand) to Niue by
plane.
It is made
up of fourteen colourful villages. I come from the capital of Niue which is
Alofi. I also come from Hakupu.
There are
less than 1,500 people living in Niue. Most people are bilingual, speaking both
Niuean and English. People who travel there are called tourists but those who
live in Niue are called locals. The locals are very kind, friendly and helpful.
Sunday is a
respected day in Niue. Most locals attend church in the morning and again in
the afternoon. Throughout the country Sunday is the best day for rest and
worship. Tourists however play golf, go sightseeing or swimming but not boating
and fishing as it is not allowed.
Niue Island
is a great holiday destination to go for a fabulous and safe vacation.
Matapa Chasm
Have you
ever been to Matapa chasm before? Well
it is an incredible place that you can go to do a range of water activities
such as snorkelling, diving, swimming and skimming rocks.
My favourite
thing to do there is snorkelling.
Snorkelling at Matapa Chasm is absolutely outstanding as the water is
clear and unpolluted. You can see a
variety of sea creatures like coloured, stripy, bright, neon, large, small,
tiny fish, sea snakes and even sea urchins (kina).
Matapa Chasm
was once used as a bathing place for Niue’s Traditional kings. It is an awesome place to go and cool off
while in Niue.
UGA
Uga is an
island land crab which is popular in Niue.
At first they are blue then when you boil them they turn red. It is the best seafood you could ever eat.
Uga is hard
to find if you don’t know what you are doing.
Luckily the locals are smart and experienced at catching uga.
To catch an
uga you have to go into the forest at daytime and lay your bait. The bait is usually dry brown coconuts tied
onto a rock.
After a couple of days you
go back at night to see if you have caught any.
Uga hunting
is difficult at first but after lots of practice, you will get use to it. My grandpa is good at hunting uga but he said
that my cousins in Hakupu are the best.