Welcome to my 10th Visit and Run Territory out of a global total of 71 Territories. This post is Part 1 of Wallis Island since I will return here after 4 days and 3 nights on Futuna Island.
Another day, another drama. The only way to get to Wallis is via Nadi Fiji. Months ago I had booked myself into Nadi the day before flying to Wallis, just in case, since New Caledonia’s airline “Aircalin” flies from Noumea to Nadi to Wallis and there are political riots in Noumea at the moment which may delay or cancel flights. It happened. Aircalin sends me an email in the Cook Islands declaring my flight on 13JUL was now 12JUL, the day I was to arrive in Nadi from Sydney after the Intermission. The two flights were now only 2hrs apart and I have to collect my bags, clear customs, exit arrivals, re-enter departures to check in and go through customs again. Would I make it. Any delays in Jetstar from Sydney to Nadi would make matters worse. And they did. I arrived at Sydney airport to find out that Jetstar was leaving 15-30min late due to “late arrival of aircraft” and the fact that Sydney airport was so full that our aircraft was parked just outside the Qantas Jet Base at the north end of the main north-south runway. We had to get on buses to take us out there, which added to the delay. So I went into classic Golfin attack and found a phone number for Aircalin at Nadi Airport and called them on the bus to the Jetstar A321neo. Chandra, the Aircalin supervisor assured me that he would help me transit without the need to collect or recheck my bag and that he would have a boarding pass ready for me the minute I stepped of the Jetstar aircraft. I was relived but would believe it only when I saw it.
The Jetstar flight left 20min late and it was half-full so I got an entire row to myself. Bliss. Lucky for me there was a tail wind and we took 7hrs instead of 7.5hrs so we arrived into Nadi on time. Thank Goodness. The head Jetstar Pursor also went into bat for me when I explained my situation when I boarded and she moved me to the front row so I could get off first. What a champ. All these things put together saved me or at least saved Wallis. If I missed the Wallis flight the next one was in 10 days so I would skip it completely since I had American Samoa lined up immediately after. The Pursor put me behind her, opened the A321neo forward door and out I popped into the hands of an Aircalin ground staff member Ben who called out my name. Impressive. Ben whisked me away to a security area where he inspected my passport and handed me my Wallis boarding pass and bag label. I did not have to collect my bag or go through immigration or customs. In exactly 20min flat I was sipping wine and eating dinner in the Nadi International Terminal after a brief pass through a dedicated X-Ray machine. This was the most impressive organised response to a airline connection that I had ever seen. Chandra even came to greet me as I prepared myself to eat in the terminal. I thanked him profusely. My journey to Wallis was secure and started with a very enjoyable dinner in Nadi Terminal. Our Aircalin A320-200 departed on time and we spent 90min flying the 866km to Wallis. I arrived at 730pm and was greeted by Pitu from Hotel Ulukula, who I had communicated with extensive via WHATSAPP to organise my stay in Wallis. Much to me surprise and delight, Pitu is a Samoan Fafafine or Fafa. I interviewed a Fafa in Apia Samoa in my film AMNESIA. A Fafa is a man whose mother deliberately raised him as a girl so that he could help her during a time when 10 boys were born for every one girl. A logical solution. Fafa’s end up wearing women’s clothing and Pitu was no exception – he looks terrific – no prizes for spotting him below. I waited with Pitu for some other passengers and climbed into a van to take us to our Wallis home for the next 10 days. The evening was extremely humid and warm at 26C. I knew I was arriving after dark so purchased some duty free wine in Nadi and held on to my Aircalin sandwich to engineer a simple but satisfying dinner on my first night in Wallis…
The following morning (Sat 13JUL) I got my first glimpse of Wallis. Very flat and very green with lots of inland forest but I could not yet see the reef. It is classified as an island with a reef around it rather than an atoll. It was overcast when I woke at 7am and it was 27C and 90% humidity outside. I was nervous for my run since it was way more humid than I expected. It was a hard run with not a lot of breeze to fight that humidity but I was hit with a rain shower half way through which gave me the boost I needed for a strong finish. I wondered if there were dogs here and in the last 2km I found out when I was chased by four of them !!! When I got back I met Penny who also worked at the hotel and she advised me on the best supermarket to get wine and hot food. Penny’s English was way better than Pitu’s who really struggled – so much so that I had to constantly use Dr Google to translate. I told Penny of my desire to spend 3 nights in Futuna since you can only book flights and accommodation at one travel agent in Mata Utu and not online. Penny asked me to go with Pitu to the airport that morning for the Futuna flight just in case check-in could sell me a ticket. It was not to be. The lovely lady at the counter told Pitu that “Wallis Voyage” was the only place that sells tickets in Mata Utu and could also organise a hire car and lagoon cruise for me on both islands. Only issue is they are shit weekends so I would have to visit them on Monday.
After leaving the airport, Pitu took me to SME Supermarket, which was perfect. ATM outside and hot food and boatloads of relatively cheap French and Ozzie and NZ wine inside. Full marks to Penny. I even managed to find a tin of Ratatouille !!! As I left the supermarket it started to rain heavily and persisted for the rest of the day. I spent late morning and early afternoon in the Ulukula Dining Area which was quite nice with very strong satellite internet and plenty of coffee. I decided to do some bookwork because the rain was just pouring down. When it let up and grabbed my brolley and went downtown to the church and wharf area. I am glad I did. The reef was calm and clear but I could not yet appreciate its colour given the drab weather. I sussed out where I was going to swim the next day and met a bunch of local kids sitting under the church entry who wanted to practice their English with me – I was wearing my Ozzie singlet so was easy to spot. This area was full of larger tents or marques with families BBQing, eating and sitting together. Apparently this happens every Saturday. I was even invited to join one of the tents. That was my first real positive impression of the local Samoan/Tongan Polynesians that live here. So friendly. So inviting. Another thing I loved is that everyone waves to each other in or out of their cars – just like Niue. I lost count of how many times I waved during my 10km run that morning. Another interesting thing I witnessed in the wharf area were older guys throwing what looked like spears in a competition judged by what looked like local chiefs. A worthwhile insight for me despite the rain. By this time I was soaked even with my brolley so I headed home. Spent the rest of the afternoon preparing this post and planning for Futuna.
I had a stranger in my room the next morning (14JUL). The sun. So good to see it. Being a Sunday I headed straight for the supermarket to get hot food for my dinner since everything shuts at noon. Much to my surprise everyone was in the supermarket dressed up in colourful florals with flowers around their necks – Church has started 7am instead of 10am in the Cook Islands and French Polynesia. I was upset on two fronts. First was that I missed Church and wanted to go. Second that all the food was gone because Church is early here. For good reason. My walk here was in blistering heat and humidity now that the sun was out. My intent to visit the local church brought me good luck and I was able to snap up the last 5 beef kebabs at the counter. I returned to the hotel and put on my cozzie and headed down to the harbour. It was ablaze with music and people. It was now approaching 10am and high tide so I would come back to the celebrations after my swim. I entered the water and it was way to shallow – even at high tide. Had to walk out a significant distance form shore until there was enough depth to start my long swim. I headed for the freight port figuring I could maintain this depth since the entire bay was shallow. It worked. After 2.1km and 40min I was out of the water and headed home to change and grab my camera. I found out the reason behind the celebrations. The local schools were playing the Grand Finals of KILIKITI – which is the unique Polynesian version of CRICKET !!! The ball is made of a very hard rubber wrapped in pandanus (long leaves of a palm like bush). Players are not protected by any padding or masks. The sennit-wrapped wooden bat is modelled on the three-sided Samoan war club called the "lapalapa," which are based on the stalk of coconut fronds. There is a batting team, a fielding team, and a pitch (sometimes of concrete). The bowl alternates between two bowlers, one at each end of the pitch; accordingly, there are two wicket keepers (this as opposed to the single wicket keeper in cricket). Cricket was brought to Samoa by English Missionaries in the early 1900s but was adapted to local materials and rules thus giving birth to KILIKITI. All the island elders, parents and locals looked on and cheered with whistles blowing and music playing from a stage. I was told it is usual to combine these events with food and music. The winning team was given its trophy which was a mounted bat and ball as you will see below. This event was a great Godsend for me to film and photograph the locals. Once the celebrations were over I began a long walk of the entire Mata Utu town. I walked up the home-lined coast passing two offshore islands – this is easily the nicest part of town. I then proceeded inland along a long main road but lined with many unusual flowering plants as you will see in the photos below. By this stage it was close to 2pm and I was literally melting. The humidity here is high. Most homes I passed had loud local music blaring with smoking BBQs and families gathered together under outdoor marques or awnings. I got many invitations to join which speaks to great culture of this place. By contrast, I was saddened to see many abandoned and derelict houses and buildings. The town is not as colourful or well organised as others in the Pacific but they did have large properties with ample vegetation. There are hardly any tourists here. The only non-local people I saw were from France either working here or visiting their territory. When I got back to my room, I decided to have a good nap to prepare myself for a potential viewing of Wimbledon and Euros finals tonight. I then blogged away until the sun set. My day ended with a fantastic Netflix film on boxer George Foreman accompanied by beef souvlakia and off wine !!!
My hire car was delivered on-time at 1015am the next day (15JUL) under brilliant sunshine and 28C and 80% humidity to match. My first hire car trip was to the supermarket to secure a superb looking pork and rice dish for tonight before it disappeared. I was then off to circumnavigate the northern half of the island travelling in an anticlockwise direction. Sun makes all the difference. I was now able to fully appreciate the unexpected multi-coloured reef waters surrounding the island. My initial traverse of the east coast reminded me of Samoa with unusually architected colourful churches right on the water. I visited the following places: Aka Aka Village & Church, Pointe Tepako, St Peter & St Paul Church Alele, St John The Baptist Church Vailala, Tufuone, Breakdown near Mt Lulu.
Yes, you read the last stop correctly. A full stop. My hire car decided to drop dead in the middle of nowhere !!! The engine stopped and I was not able to re-start it. No power. Windows did not work via remote. Locks did not work via remote. Not even the hazard lights worked. That told me that the battery was completely and utterly dead. Maps.me informed me that I was 1.2km from the main road. I packed my gear and started walking on the red dirt road in searing heat and humidity. You don’t want to know what I was saying at the time. Upside was that I had seen everything I wanted and was on my way back to supermarket and hotel. Got to main road and no cars. Nearest intersection was another 4km away. FKCK !!! The west side of the island is isolated. No villages. No traffic. Perfect place for a bad-luck Golfin to break down. I got to intersection that connects the airport with main town and cars emerged every 20sec. Why did this not happen where I broke down. In 5km I saw nothing. Not even an animal !!! I kind couple gave me a lift to the car hire place opposite the airport. I paused outside to calm down. Thank goodness for maps.me which works without internet or data (just satellite) and I marked out where the car was stuck for the staff inside. They refunded my money after much argument from me and drove me to another car hire place within walking distance of my hotel. I was saved. The second car hire place had a cheaper car for me the next day (I had hired my first car for today and tomorrow). I walked home drenched in sweat and smell but grateful that I had a car for tomorrow which would cover the best sites in the south of the island. Suffice to say that I celebrated that evening with sparkling Rose and not just the car hire recovery but the brilliant drone shots of the island that I managed to get today…
Another glorious day (16JUL) and another run. This time I headed inland at just after sunrise to avoid the sun and comfort from the shadow of the inland lush green bush. It worked. I returned feeling great, showered and sat down to a coffee with the owner. He told me that the two pilots who would be flying me to Futuna Island tomorrow morning were staying at the hotel and could tell me the landing route they would take into Futuna so I knew which side of the 16 seat De Havilland to sit on – 1C was the target seat !!! This more than made up for the false advise I was given with Aitutaku. My hire car Hyundai i10 Grande Auto was delivered to my hotel at 830am by the other company Haviti. This car was newer and better then the Renault Duster I had yesterday and even had Apple Play so I could see my maps.me in the in-built display. I had two morning chores before my day-long expedition of the southern part of Wallis. I drove back to Vaka La and this time struck gold and booked a day-long kayak trip to 5 islands and 2 coral deposits in the reef on my return from Futuna. I then headed to the supermarket to lock-in hot food and wine for tonight.
The southern Wallis expedition then began in a clockwise direction headed south. The Churches here are VERY unusual. They have enormous bell towers made of cemented basalt blocks with several statues in them on the way up to the bell. I have not seen this anywhere else in the world so far. The sun was out and the humidity just wore you down to the skin. I visited the following places: Oratoire Ste-Bernadette Church (Chapelle Lausikula), Lake Lalolalo, Talietumu (Tongan Fortress), Chapelle St Jean Baptiste, Plage Nord, Eglise St Joseph, St George Church, Sacred Heart Church Tepa, Gahi Town & Bay (WWII Jetty, St Joseph Church), Matala'a Lookout, Te'Esi Cathedral, Kolopolo Point. The highlight was Lake Lalolalo as you will see below. The lake is so unusual. A huge deep crater in the middle of a rainforest filled with freshwater but 50m below ground level. The drone shots do it justice since you cannot see all of it from the human viewpoint. I returned to the hotel at 4pm to complete my dag dance of Wallis which you will see in the last post. I then reorganised my bags so that my backpack was my Futuna Pack at 10kg and the main bag at 12kg was to be locked up at the Wallis hotel for my return in 3 days time. The Futuna aircraft only takes 16 people and everyone is limited to 10kg of luggage. I managed to get this post off and the relax to roast chicken and mixed veggies in an olive tomato sauce. Wallatians eat plenty of chicken and pork and rice is the staple accompaniment.
Please enjoy the magic of Wallis Island noting that I explain Wallis & Futuna Territory after all the photos…
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
ABOUT WALLIS & FUTUNA:
Wallis and Futuna Islands is not a full member UN Country but a territory or overseas French collectivity in the South Pacific like French Polynesia and New Caledonia. The territory is made up of three main volcanic tropical islands and a number of tiny islets. It is divided into two island groups that lie about 260 km (160 mi) apart: the Wallis Islands (also known as Uvea) in the northeast; and the Hoorn Islands (also known as the Futuna Islands) in the southwest, including Futuna Island proper and the mostly uninhabited Alofi Island. Mata Utu is its capital and largest city on Wallis Island and is 4,034km from Sydney and a further 864km northeast of Fiji. Wallis and Futuna are 260km apart. Futuna consists of two islands.
The earliest signs of human habitation on these islands are artifacts characteristic of the Lapita culture, dating roughly to between 850-800 BC. The islands served as natural stopover points for boat traffic, mostly between Fiji and Samoa. Futuna was first put on European maps by Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire, during their circumnavigation of the globe, in 1616. The Wallis Islands are named after the British explorer Samuel Wallis, who sailed past them in 1767, after being the first European to visit Tahiti. The French were the first Europeans to settle in the territory, with the arrival of French missionaries in 1837, who converted the population to Roman Catholicism. Pierre Chanel, canonized in 1954, is a major patron saint of the island of Futuna and of the region. In 1887, the queen of Uvea signed a treaty, officially establishing a French protectorate. In 1917 Wallis and Futuna came under the authority of the colony of New Caledonia. Units of the US Marine Corps later landed on Wallis, on 29 May 1942. In 1959, the inhabitants of the islands voted to become a separate French overseas territory thus ending their subordination to New Caledonia. To this day, Wallis & Futuna are self-governed by three Kings but a combination of French & Tribal Laws applies. 79% of locals are of Polynesian descent from Samoa and Tonga. The dominant language is WALLASIAN (59%), which is a Polynesian language, derived from Tongan from the 15th and 16th Century invasions by Tongans. FUTUNAN (28%) is the second most spoken Polynesian language derived from Samoan due to immigration in the late 1800s. Finally, 13% of the total population also speak French. The top three exports of Wallis and Futuna are: Broadcasting Equipment, Chemical Analysis Instruments and Office Machine Parts. Tourism is very low given the distance from France and the size, commercialism and popularity of French Polynesia and New Caledonia.
WALLIS ISLAND FACTS:
Area: 96 sq km (only 0.8% the size of Greater Sydney)
Dimensions: 7km by 14km
Coastline: 53km (coastal road is 35km).
Highest Peak: 145m.
Population: 8,333.
No comments:
Post a Comment