Top five things to do in Niue

The coral atoll of Niue is a different kind of Pacific destination. Here are the top five things to do on the unique island.

1. GO SNORKELLING

If you think snorkelling is not your thing, get over yourself. If you can float you can snorkel, and the crystal blue waters of Niue are too enticing not to give it a go.

The coral atoll plunges almost directly into the depths of the ocean, and because there are no beaches or rivers running into the sea there's very little sand or silt to cloud the water. Visibility is often as much as 100 metres.

I have an irrational fear (aren't all fears irrational?) of touching anything underwater, so this is my kind of snorkelling. The reef falls sharply away, making it easy to avoid any unwanted close encounters.

There is a dazzling array of marine life. Corals of lavender, pink, yellow and blue; a multitude of brightly coloured and illuminated reef fish; lots of sea snakes.

I'm told the snakes like blue and I am wearing blue fins, so I give the venomous wrigglers a wide berth. (There are no known incidences of anyone being bitten by a sea snake, but I'm not about to become the first).

Sadly we do not encounter dolphins this particular day. It's a shame because we know they are about - two of the mornings we are there we see them playing in the water in front of the Matavai Resort where we are staying.

They are spinner dolphins, Krystal Hunter of Buccaneer Adventures tells us - a small dolphin famous for its acrobatic displays.

When there are dolphins about she gets people in the water holding on to ropes on the sides of the RIB as it moves along.

This attracts the dolphins who prefer to play with people than boats, she says.

2. TALK TO THE LOCALS

Niue is full of characters who are only too willing to share stories about their homeland.

Hima Douglas was Niue's first High Commissioner to New Zealand, and these days runs Toamana Tours.

He gives us a running commentary on everything to do with life on Niue as he shows us around.

It is Saturday and he takes us to the village of Hakupu where a fixture in the national kilikiki championship is enthusiastically underway. Kilikiki, known as kilikiti in other parts of the Pacific, is Polynesian cricket - it's a game involving an indefinable number of players and very long sticks which enable the runners to reach their crease more easily.

Hakupu are playing rival village Avatele and there is plenty of support from the spectators sitting around the oval under gazebos and on the beds of utes. The effect is not unlike an English village green cricket match, except with coconut palms shading the supporters.

In the old days a match could go on for a couple of days, Douglas tells us.

"It was soon stopped by the administration because it was taking up too much time, no-one was going to work.

"Sometimes there can be a dispute that lasts 20 minutes - there's no video referee," he smiles.

We meet former New Zealand High Commissioner to Niue and former Wellington Mayor Mark Blumsky, now married to a local and running no less than five businesses on the island including mini golf, a hydroponics operation - it is difficult to grow fresh vegetables in the Niuean soil - and a fashion boutique, Sassy Sissy. "It's the only place you can buy lettuce, tomatoes and a dress," he jokes.

The current New Zealand High Commissioner is Ross Ardern, father of Labour MP Jacinda Ardern. Jacinda happens to be visiting while we're there, and we run into her at the famous Washaway Cafe.

Washaway serves burgers and beers in a grotto-like pavilion on the Avatele waterfront only on Sundays, the day most other things on religious Niue are closed.

It's self service - you write down what you had in a book and settle up at the end.

I wonder why the young woman handing out plates and pouring wines looks familiar, until I realise it is the well known Auckland MP. This is how you roll in Niue.

3. SWIM IN A COVE

Niue has no beaches to speak of but its unique limestone rock formations have created numerous chasms and rockpools that are ideal for swimming.

As you pick your way down the tracks to each hidden spot you feel as if you are the first person in the world to discover it.

The Matapa Chasm is a cathedral-like cove drowned in deep, turquoise water. Avaiki is another stunning coastal cavern, and there are many more.

The landscape is almost Mediterranean-looking, reminiscent of Dubrovnik or the Amalfi Coast - minus the European architecture of course.

While we are there some of the coves are closed for the annual kaloama fishing season - a tradition that is more sport than a serious way of feeding the family, as the locals try to catch the tiny sardine-like fish individually.

4. ATTEND A FESTIVAL

As Niue expands its tourism industry it is developing a programme of festivals to further attract visitors.

The biennial Arts Festival is a week-long celebration of Niuean visual arts, song, dance, drama and hymns.

With a population of just 1400 permanent residents it feels like everyone on the island is involved. A charity masquerade ball with masks made out of local Niuean products is well attended.

The event is held to coincide with the April school holidays because often school groups will come up from New Zealand.

A highlight of this year's event was an exhibition by Niuean painter John Pule, recognised as one of the Pacific's most significant artists.

In the alternate year Tourism Niue has started holding a Food Festival. Last November was the first, and it attracted some big names - Tongan-born chef Alex Kaihea, who established The Beach House restaurant in Auckland's Bucklands Beach, Samoan-born chef Michael Meredith of Meredith's in Auckland, and Kiwi chef Robert Oliver, who was raised in Fiji and Samoa and whose first book Me'a Kai: The Food and Flavours of the South Pacific was named best cookbook in the world in 2010.

Niue Tourism hopes to develop other events such as the Species Festival, which sees it pick an animal of the year and develop activities around that.

This year is the Year of the Uga, or coconut crab - the sought-after delicacy found in the bush of the Pacific.

It's looking at making 2016 the Year of the Humpback Whale, in honour of the animals' annual migration to the waters off Niue to calve and nurse their young. The whales can usually be seen between July and October, and Niue is one of the only places in the world where you can swim with them.

"There's all these really cool ideas we can tie back to the culture," director of tourism Vanessa Marsh says. "For example there is a village that used to do whale calling."

5. VISIT AN ELEPHANT

It is strange but true - the tiny island of Niue currently has an elephant, and all going well it will play host to another one in the not-too distant future.

Until she gets her biosecurity clearance sometime at the end of June, Auckland Zoo's new elephant Anjalee is calling Niue home.

She lives in a purpose-built quarantine compound with a viewing platform so people can visit her. Locals from the nearby Avatele village go into the bush each day to collect the piles of coconut palms and Niuean apples she makes her way through.

Once she gets the all-clear a New Zealand Defence Force Hercules will transport her to her new life with the zoo's existing elephant, Burma.

Auckland Zoo's aim is to build a herd of elephants, and it plans to acquire another animal from the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage where Anjalee was born. That elephant will also be quarantined on Niue before it makes its way to New Zealand.