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!