Loving Niue

Since no one has answered the trivia question I will give you the answer- there was a very bad hurricane here Jan 2004 - Hurricane Heta, and our CAnadian government gave around $300,000 to help rebuild the primary school and also gave the fishermen here 80% of the value of the boats and outboard motors that were damaged and lost ! They love us CAnadians here for that!!!! here is the school , the kids of Niue painted all the flags as a thank you to Canada! you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.
The other day we woke up to humpback whales just off our stern , about 100 ft. they were magnificent! then they surfaced just infront of our bow, between us and 2 other boats. I was so exited I got so caught up in watching them forgot to take pictures! there was 2 big ones and 1 baby! the kids loved watching them!! we were so lucky.

Well we rented the van again to go swimming in the neat caves. Pictures will come later as I forgot my camera and Malachi (she emembered) has left for Tonga. we will miss them!! Steve has been a big help in the anchorage, I have crowned him "King of the Anchorage" its seems to have gone to his head - hahaha , na it hasn't but he has been helping a lot of boats and it has been good. currently trying to figure out a big front seal leak on a transmission (not ours), not so easy to find parts here. but about 4 other boats have been also trying - checking their stock of spares... no luck yet, its amazing how the cruiser sure pull together to help!!!
Love this island.... put it on your list to visit!! the landscape and nature are amazing. like I said , Malachi, Tin Soldier and us got the van again, had a great time even though the weather is acting like BC! although today, the sun is trying to come through..... We also went to Bingo last night! what a blast, they play it almost the same , but no B I N G O part. just numbers and they go up to 90- the caller sounds like an auctioneer ! the prizes, well, Malachi won a hug fish!! big Tuna, but traded it for a box of frozen whole chickens about 12!! I tried to win the grand prize - 3 big Tuna, 1 box of chickens, 1 whole ( dead) pig, and a big stalk of bananas and 4 stalks of Tao root. but no luck, however the friends we met at the weaving the day before won a basket of food and a cake and gave me the cake. of course I shared!! we had a lot of fun and the locals have adopted all of us. ( you know me, I can meet anyone) They were very happy to have us at the bingo cause it was a fundraiser and I brought at least 7 cruising boats ! it was fun!! SAt is bingo again only for money - some where between $200-$300 and it is at noon. Yes I will be there.
We did weaving on Tuesday, the women here get together and boy can they weave beautiful hats! they took us in with the kids and taught us how, we started of with making balls! I was pouring rain so it was a great thing to do. ( and of course they were at bingo, and loved having us there) I have to come back next week to weaving class and bring my beads, they want me to teach them the beading!!
The kids went next door to the pool hall and played some pool! Kyle really liked that. there is so much to do here for a little island and the yacht club here has been great giving us rides and finding out info for us all. tonight there is a BBQ and they are picking us up even. We plan on joining the yacht club and getting a burgy !



go to www.niueisland.com to check out this great place!!