Niue is a raised coral reef located approx 2200km N.E. of Auckland, N.Z.

Latitude = 19^o02'S   Longitude = 169^o52'W  (Loc. AH50BX)

(The antipodal point of Niue is in Mauritania, N.W. Africa)

The coral cliffs surrounding Niue have been deeply eroded by the waves, creating spectacular caves, chasms and rock pools full of tropical fish at low tide. The island is roughly oval 23km x 16km, completely covered by vegetation about 20 feet high, with a large forest covering much of the S.E. part of the island, with ancient ebony trees. The island is generally flat, about 20m above sea level, with a few higher areas. 

There are about 1500 residents, with nearly 20000 Niueans living overseas - mostly in N.Z.  Niueans are warm friendly people, who ask a lot of questions about you and why you are visiting Niue. Many Niueans return every year or two to visit their families here.

Cyclone Heta caused severe damage to Niue in early 2004 - there are many wrecked houses which show the devastating effects of the hurricane force winds.

ZK2V is located on the N.W. corner of the island, with good take-offs on the short paths to Europe, Japan, North and South America.

Click the 'Great circle map' button to see how the world looks from Niue. 

The air temperature in Niue varies over a surprisingly small range throughout the year - rarely above 30^oC and rarely below 22^oC - the humidity varies a lot however - when we arrived it was very humid for 2 weeks, but is now less humid in June.  The rainy season ends in May and Jan to March is the cyclone season.

There is only one Air New Zealand flight to Niue per week - it takes 3 hrs 20 mins - you leave Auckland at 0950 on Sunday and arrive in Alofi at 1410 on Saturday !  (You lose a day on the way back of course) This schedule changes during the year.

Visit the website  www.niueisland.com  for more info and photos of Niue.

Advice for visitors to Niue (I will expand this into a whole webpage later) :

1.  Bring plenty CASH - there are no ATMs here - it is a cash-only society - the currency is NZ dollars. There are only 2 banks in Alofi, the small Niue Development Bank and the Bank of South Pacific (linked to BNZ in New Zealand). Very few places on the island will accept Credit Cards. We had to transfer funds from NZ via the local travel agency, which was the only way we could top up our dwindling supply of $. Food is roughly 30% more expensive than in New Zealand.

2.  You need an Immigration Visa if your stay is longer than 30 days - we did not discover this until we arrived at check-in in Auckland - luckily we were allowed to fly and have been able to extend our visas by 4 days - but we should have applied beforehand.

3.  Bring snorkelling gear - you can hire everything locally, but it becomes costly if you want to snorkel every day - the rock pools are amazing - full of colourful tropical fish at low tide.

4.  Bring insect repellant - the local mosquitoes are almost invisible but bite enthusiastically. Luckily there is no Dengue fever or Malaria on Niue.

5.  Don't bother bringing any warm clothes - you will not need them for most of the year.

6.  Don't have prior expectations about what Niue has to offer - there are no shopping malls or glitzy night-spots - it is a unique place which is largely untouched by modern society.

7.  There is no cellphone network, but internet access is good. Phoning to/from Niue is very expensive, so bring a headset and use Skype.