Part Three = This is Nui!

We arrived at Nui early in the morning which meant that we had all morning to explore and wander around, before needing to be back on the boat for a 1pm departure – apparently!

Nui was also very beautiful and quiet.  They seemed to have more care for their gardens and there was a lot of pulaka pits where they grow the traditional root crops. All of the islands that we visited had large churches and Nui’s was a exceptionally large one

 

The lagoon and beach areas were virtually untouched except by coconuts

 

We were treated to local ‘brunch/lunch’ my Sandra’s translator’s cousin’s family!  They welcomed all three of us to a huge meal! Tuvaluans are so genuinely friendly and welcoming it seemed perfectly normal to invite total strangers to your house and to feed them!  We ate grilled and raw flying fish (which was super tasty) lots of paw-paw, rice, feke which is a local speciality and drank fresh coconut juice – from the coconuts! It was so special! And we sat on their traditional platform like this one.

 

After we’d be fed we headed back toward the wharf.  I should have said that this was the scariest of small boat rides! As you can see from the picture below the route in has been blasted through the coral and rocks.

 

 

As you will also see there are a number of fuel drums sitting in the very shallow wharf side waiting to be picked up for the island. The visits of the Nivaga and the other inter-island boat the Monafalau are supply provision for the outer islands communities and even petrol for mopeds and fishing boats is bought ashore this way! It was scary to watch them trying to move the heavy drums filled with fuel!

Once back on the boat we tried to find some space to settle down for the return journey, as you can see all available space was fair game for sleeping J

 

 

And after rushing to get back on board before 1pm little did we know we wouldn’t be leaving until after 4pm when they’d loaded the traditional canoe for the Royal Canoe race!

After this we headed off! The following morning after an eventful night of getting rained on whilst we slept on the roof of the boat again, and then getting smoked out by the chimney stack, and then getting soaked as the rain started coming sideways even when we were undercover, we eventually made it back to the wharf at Funafuti!
 

There was quite a welcome committee there as the chiefs from the outer islands were returning so no one was actually there to see us but still it felt good! Back to the hectic capital city and a desperately needed shower!! It was definitely an adventure and one I will never forget – it was incredible!

Part Two... Nui or is it Vaitupu??

As we left Nukufetau we were settling in for the longest leg of our journey approximately 12 hours of boat time to Nui the furthest north and western island of the Central group.  We’d been on route for approximately 5 hours when Sandra went to stretch her legs and spotted land?!  When she asked a helpful man, “Is that Nui?”, “No” he replied “that is Vaitupu”! And so we arrived shortly after that at Vaitupu!

Vaitupu is the outer island where the second of the two Tuvaluan high schools is based and it is a boarding school.  It was significantly bigger than Nukufetau and busier.  We saw Scout Ambassador, Andy as he has been based here for a couple of weeks teaching and setting up and new scout group, and then walked to the school. On our way to the school dawdled to appreciate the house with hanging baskets!

 

 

When we arrived at the school we were amazed to see it was on the most gorgeous stretch of beach, bright white sand and blue sea! Blew our minds, imagine this being where you go to school…

 

We got to see the models that they were making for the Royal couple up close and remarkably unfinished! They also thought that the boat was going to Nui first and that they would have a bit more time to complete them. This is the inside of the mini-maneape they made:

 

 

After crashing a farewell feast for Andy at the school we borrowed a couple of mopeds and I drove one with me and Sandra on – overall she said I did a great job! It was fun and a great way to see lots of the island which is fully joined up so we could drive all the way round the lagoon stopping and wading across to islets within the lagoon to enjoy views like this,

 

Another great day! We headed back to the Nivaga and our beans for tea again and sleeping on the roof of the boat! This was my view in the morning when we woke up almost at Nui, after sailing through the night.

 

 

Tri-island ‘cruise’ Part One = Nukufetau

I am using the word cruise very loosely in this context… Yes we were on a boat for an extended period of time and yes we did sleep on the boat and yes there were stop-offs where we visited outer islands and had a look around, so in some ways I can understand how it may appear it was a cruise but this is what it was actually like…

 

That was the busiest and final day but needless to say there was not a lot of space and everyone sits and sleeps on the floor on their mats! It was amazing… but most of you reading this would have hated it - I'm not even going to tell you about the toilet/shower facilities!

I’ll start at the beginning.  Tuvalu is made up of nine islands, which are divided in logistical terms into three groups: northern, southern and central.  Funafuti is the main island, where I have been living, the capital, for lack of a better term and it is in the southern group.  Sandra, my very good friend, decided that she was going to visit the central group of islands and as the boat before the Royal visit was as close to certain to be coming back as it was carrying the chiefs from the 3 central islands and gifts for the royal couple it was a pretty safe bet that she wouldn’t get stuck out on the islands – which is a bigger concern than you might think.  As Sandra had obviously put more thought into it than I had, I thought she’d be a pretty safe bet to tag along with! And thus Sacy’s Tri-Island cruise began!!! (That really is an in-joke but suffice to say there was a lot of the time on a boat with little to do and I thought that the adventure needed a name – so I smushed our names together!)

First stop Nukufetau…

 

This was one of the first spots of the island which is one of the smallest islands in Tuvalu, but similarly to Funafuti it is an atoll and therefore has a lagoon.  This was a view from our “cabin” which we only slept in one night – it didn’t have a lock on the doors, either to the cabin or the bathroom and on the second day we saw a huge rat in there so we slept on the roof of the boat instead!

First challenge on arriving at our first stop was getting off the Nivaga (boat's name!) into smaller boats to be taken to the wharf… it was always a challenge and the sights and near misses we both experienced and witnessed will be with us for some time… the rickety steps down from the Nivaga to the waiting boats were incredibly unstable combined with moving sea and overloading, it was an adventure in itself every time!!

But when we eventually got to the island itself it was STUNNING!! We walked from one end to the other in about 30 minutes, and it was so peaceful!

 

They had immaculately swept, straight smooth ‘roads’ and ‘pathways’, traditional boats,

 

Pig sties with sea views, and one of the best sunsets I’ve seen in a long time!

 

 

 

After sunset we had to get back on the boat for our first and only night sleep in the cabin, which was surprisingly ok!  But before that we had a hilarious dinner of baked beans cold from the can and bread! “We came, we saw, we ate beans”!!!

Boat didn’t move over night as they were still loading cargo but in the morning we started off… Next Stop Nui… or so we thought!

The Royal couple visit Tuvlau!

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge touched down here in Tuvalu’s capital ‘city’ of Funafuti at about 2pm local time and just in time for the rain to stop, temporarily!  The crowd to welcome them had been growing since noon – our little pose were some of the first! It was quite a sight to behold… the local people (and some of us) were dressed in traditional wear including head dresses made from frangipani flowers and skirts made from a local palm fronds. 

 

Everyone was colourful and eager to welcome the Royal Couple. 

As the crowds lined the runway and looked to the skies to be the first to spot the plane.  Once it landed, which was dramatic as they came to a halt impressively quickly, the procession of local muscular men carrying the throne platform that had been specially made for the occasion – there wasn’t one just lying around!!

 

Once the platform was in position we then all held our breaths for the first sight of the infamous pair and the obvious question on a lot of lips was “What will she be wearing?” We weren’t disappointed she looked very lovely in a lemon yellow dress and pretty wedges – one of 2 costume changes through the day! They were carried then to the Vaiaku manepa, which is the community hall next to the airport where the welcome really began with procession and introduction to local dignitaries, the chiefs from the outer islands (some of which I shared a large boat with last week), ministers from the Government, the governor general and the prime minister and the police force were all decked out in dress uniforms.  Both of them were so happy to chat and smiled warmly at everyone that they met. 

 

After entering the falekaupule the speeches began and we were lucky enough to have almost front row view - well of the people that were outside the hall!  

It was nice and not too long which was handed as shortly after it began the rain started again! So we all took shelter and the ‘wet weather schedule’ was put into motion, which meant that instead of riding in the platform that they had put in the back of an flatbed they would be off to the next stop on their whistle-stop tour in the one of the nice government vehicles! The next stop was the primary school at Nauti and then to the University of South Pacific.  We walked down just in time to see them getting ready to leave after meeting with all the students, and saw them getting into the fancy platform that had joined up with them after the rain had finally passed. We totally accidentally but very fortuitously were in a great spot for a very up-close view of them!

 

It was very exciting especially as Sandra and William’s eyes met!

Then they went to watch the traditional canoe race which all nine islands had made local boats for and were represented.  Sadly 3 of the boats sank before finishing but the Nui’s boat which we’d seen last week on our Boat Trip to the outer islands (another blog entry to follow on that!) finished in the top 3! This was it being loaded on the transport boat…

 

After the boat race was the feast which were weren’t able to get access to. But my Tuvaluan sister, Masi was there serving and as it transpired she was fanning the Duke’s food and features in a photo that I found on the telegraph’s website (click to see).

After the feast came the fatele which is a traditional event involving different island’s people trying to out sing and dance each other.  There were some amazing moments  Princess Kate was such a good sport taking part in all elements of the tradition, dancing, allowing herself to be dressed up with the local skirts and head-dress, spraying the dancers with perfume to express her approval and gratitude, at one point she was wondering around the dancers and she was encouraged to sit down on the floor whilst the other ‘island’ had their turn, and she didn’t even hesitate! She was less than 5 metres away from me!

 

As most of you know I’ve never been a strong supporter of the royals (understatement!) but after watching her and then him join in last night it was hard not to admire them.  I don’t think I could sit, smile, look interested and actually BE interested for hours on end, all the while still being good-spirited and looking so comfortable!  They were very nice and all the locals I’ve spoken to that met them have said how down-to-earth and genuine they were.  It was so great to be part of the Tuvaluan people showing off the culture that they are all so proud of and actually is part of their daily lives, 

The final event this morning before they left at about 9.30am was another smaller fatele and the gift giving ceremony.  Amongst the many gifts of traditional mats etc there were two models that the students of the secondary school on Vaitupu at made.  We were lucky enough to get to see these models, during construction when we visited Vaitupu last week.  They were intricate and very beautiful and the royals seemed suitably impressed.

 

And then that was it they were carried back to the plane in the same throne platform they arrived on and we were allowed to get really close for the final ways before they got on the plane. One of the cameramen that is here is doing filming for a documentary for ITV which is due to be aired on Sunday, this week, and he said that in all his years “in the biz” we had just experienced unprecedented access to the royals! It was really, really nice to be part of it!

And there they were gone…

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Day to day in Tuvalu!

Before leaving there was a lot of people that were asking about the sort of place that I would be staying in so in today's post I will show you my house and what normal daily life in Tuvalu is like!

This is my front garden (as it were!) I love this shot because it shows a number of things that are used regularly and contribute to the picture I’m going to paint of “normal” Tuvalu! The trolley is what my family’s Dad, Elisala, uses every day to move the food from the house to go and feed the pigs.  The white buckets are Breakfast Cracker buckets! These buckets are what Breakfast Crackers come in and are also the storage device of every Tuvaluan and ex-pat house I’ve been in! They have lockable lids to keep out bugs and the people here use them for storing and transporting all sorts of things – including juice for feasts! They are the epitome of waste being reused! What are Breakfast Crackers you may be asking... well they are like biscuits we have for cheese at home but not salty and in my house they put them in tea or milk and have them like cereal!!!

 

You can also see the traditional hand-made broom that most households use every day to sweep the leaves away from the front of their houses – just the leaves though they are not too bothered about the litter or scrap cars!

There is also a fresh coconut on the bench… The people of Tuvalu have found uses for virtually all the different parts of the coconut tree. Obviously the coconut fruit, milk and cream is used regularly in food and the palms are weaved into all sorts of useful things from hats to fans to plates!  But they also have a use for the sap of the coconut tree which is called ‘tody’ this sugary, syrup is used for making donuts (which are delicious), a sauce for rice (which I’ve not tried) and some resourceful fellows even make alcohol from it – which I’ve also not tried!

This is the front of my house…

My room is separate and down the side of the house...

That is my house! And this is my ‘sister’ Masi!!

 

Keep an eye out for her in photos or coverage of the royal visit next week as she has been chosen to serve them at the feast that will be happening in their honour!!! So exciting!!

 

Other daily highlights include ‘Mackensies’ this is one of two of the ‘big’ shops for groceries etc. as you can see, it has warehouse qualities and as with all the shops you never know what you will find from day to day!
 

 

 

And this is a petrol station Tuvalu style!! Health and Safety doesn’t really exist here!!!!

 

As always I like to finish off with at least one photo to make you all hate me a little and the show the best side of Tuvalu… this one is from a boating trip that we went on yesterday. It’s still in the lagoon of Funafuti but right down in the South! It was paradise!! 
 

 

Next time on Lucy’s blog land… I’ll include a picture of the giant Coral Trout that I also caught that same “blessed Sunday” and possibly some shots of the 4 day outer island boat trip we are going on tomorrow! It’s going to be like a cruise except without any luxury J