Tuesday, July 5, 2011

2011 - NZ To SF - Day 53

Day 53: (5 July 2011 (-1 in time zone)):
- Terrible sleep due to mosquitos. Lights on & look for them. Some sleep with lights on.
- Possible car with Alexa? Coffee @ Crazy Uga. Joined by the older ladies.
- Redhead pair drop by, going on tour. The other girls not coming. Get ready on island time.
- Drive across island to Anapala. See the high school, Univ. of S. Pacific. Hakupu has lots of deserted houses. Fiafia no longer? Used to be biggest village. Had school built for 200. Now only 200 elementary students in Niue. School now used for bar, village hall, etc. Used to be one school per village, now centralised(?).
- Anapala: sea track: goes onto reef. High tides, bottom steps washed by water. Very large waves, great colours when curl & break. Long rocky/reef coastline with breaking waves & splashes.
- Anapala: forest track, then chasm: steep stone steps down deep & narrow chasm. Extremely clear fresh water. Swim to other side. Gurgling & sounds scary. Deep black hole in middle. Opening on other side. Shrimp & fish clean feet. Shrimp on wound. Stubborn flies here also swarm around wound.
- Road turnoff to Anapala: does not connect. Have to drive over grass.
- Sculpture park: A few things. Wires between palm trees OK. Others feel like junk pile. Worn shoes nailed to posts. Pile of junk nailed to wood structure & more junk lying beside it. Waiting to be nailed on?
- Took opportunity to take photo of car. License & phones only 4 numbers. Easy to get vanity plate?
- Continue to Liku for Tautu. Pass Togo & Vaikona. Sign @ Vaikona: “Guided Only.”
- Tautu: walked down road, should have driven down. Terrible-looking overgrown toilets. Approach sea, see whale breach twice ~ 50m offshore, but then dissappear. Heading south. Steps down through cave/arch. Nice reef walk, small pools in reef. Coves with sand & boulders. Big waves break close, on reef edge. Visiting family show up. Girls collect beautiful shells. Collect the red seeds on walk back. Poumere (?). Same ones as see driver collect in Savai’i.
- Continue to Motu/Ulupaka cave. Car girls brought food. We should have brought lunch.
- Drive down grass & forest cor tracks to trailhead. Glad we drove in this far.
- More difficult track with steep sharp coral rock. Exposed green section. Hills. Down 2 sets of wood ladders/stairs. Fishing equipment there. See cave above. Lots of boulders down there.
- Up ladders & to hidden track on left with big spider webs above it. Depression surrounded by tall rocks. Cave hole to see ocean. Two logs propped across to prevent people falling. “Jelly stalagmites.” Other cave, evil spirits or people lived in it? Walls filled with embedded coral. Tree roots being dripped on, thin layer of hard rock now.
- See absolutely giant blowhole/cave on penninsula jutting out to north.
- Try to find blowhole, but probably no access to it.
- Lots of graves. Apparently used as survey markers? Graves in yards common throughout Pacific.
- Drive back, keep missing trailheads & deciding low interest for non-missed places.
- Stop @ Limu for swim. Lower tide. 1st pool perfectly still, as now cut off from ocean other than shallow trickle. Cleanest water I’ve seen. Just as good to watch fish from the rocks above it. 2nd pool windy & choppy, as see still connected.
- Hio Seatrack next. Beautiful sandy cove down steps. Clear translucent waves as sun gets lower. Walk on reef to caves on right. See baby urchins. Very careful. Alexa go back for camera, so bought me my reef shoes too.
- Cave had oval chunk missing from ceiling. Small pools of water, but didn’t see the supposed great snorkelling spot. (See in photos on review?) Beautiful reef sunset, good colours. Walk back to beach & car after sunset.
- Bread place open late, see on drive back. Get coconut bread with Alexa. Left overnight: OK. Later in day: filled / permeated with tiny ants, even when cut to see inside. Tinned mackerel in tomato sauce. Same as last night for dinner, with addition of mackerel, which dominated the flavour. Alexa had a bit as well.
- Photograph gecko underside, through glass blinds.
- Another night of poor sleep due to mosquito even after lights on & look for them. old girls notice my lights on late.

Photos available at: http://marklitraveljournal.blogspot.com/

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