Untraveller

After our shopping we decided to go for a little drive. I can’t remember which direction we went, or even whether it was south or north, but we basically stayed around the western end of the island. I must say that I found Niue to be probably one of the prettiest islands that we’ve visited. A lot of vegetation and narrow roads. Very little traffic: only rarely did we have to negotiate around cars coming the other way.

We arrived at Niue in the afternoon. Disembarking from the plane. On our way to the terminal building. No conveyor belt for luggage here. Those people in high-vis just took bags off the trolley and placed it on the ground. We collected our hire-car then drove to our accomodation. Unlike the other missions, we were to stay at rented accomodation. This was four separate self-contained units, which feature a small kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom.

Niue

While chatting to those who’ve done such missions before, there was a general rule: the more east you got, the easier it got. Niue was the easternmost country we visited, and probably my favourite. Earlier trips made by others to Niue were done when there was only a single weekly flight to the island. We were warned that we may have to stay the week because of this, which I was not too keen at first.

We worked on Tuesday, and left on the Wednesday. We had a direct flight back to Melbourne, which was roughly 5 hours or so, and was quite comfortable enough. I got back home in the evening.

Monday was a work day. By this time we were pretty comfortable in our roles for what we were there to do. Not much to say about that day, except that we did have a great view of the airport and we spent lunchtime doing some plane spotting. Our view from the runway from the met office. Another shot of the runway, taken from the road. One day, I can’t remember if it was the Monday or the Tuesday, a plane landed during our lunchtime and we got to see the passengers disembark, the plane get inspected and cleaned, a different group of passenger board, and the plane take off, all within around an hour and a half.

Sunday was our day to tour the island a bit. Driving south by the airport on the right. We started by heading directly south, towards Fua’matu, then turned right and headed north-west. The road started off quite decently, with houses on either side. Eventually the houses thinned out and the road became rough and overgrown. I do remember us slowing down once or twice near the western end to navigate some large potholes.

Tonga

We arrived at Tonga on a Saturday. The airport, hotel (the Kau Vakauta Limited Estate), and met service were probably within a few minutes of each other by car, and was pretty much surrounded by little else. Whereas Cook Island was actually quite lively with tourists, Tonga was the opposite. It was very quiet. We were pretty much only guests in the hotel, apart from the staff and someone from Ireland or New Zealand (I can’t remember which) who was hired to do some renovations.

Friday was our day off, and the day we were leaving, but we did have the morning and part of the afternoon to travel around the island a little. There was one major road that travels around the island, and we had the option of either going clockwise or anti-clockwise. We chose to go anti-clockwise. I can’t remember what we saw on that drive, but I do remember it being quite pleasant.

The second day was much like the first day, so not really much to say there. We did get a tour of the met service, including their TV studio where the meteorologists actually did the weather report for the local news. The hotel put on some event that evening, something involving outdoor dining and activities. We didn’t partake in any of them ourselves: they were geared more for those that were there on holiday.

For lunch, we drove to Avarua, which was bustling with tourists. This was during the Southern Hemisphere winter so there were quite a few people from Australia and New Zealand trying to escape the cold weather. Speaking of, the weather was very pleasant, probably mid 20s°C or so. It was humid, but I do remember it being kind of breezy so it wasn’t uncomfortable. We ended up going to a fish and chip shop which did a very nice flake.