Nuku Hiva
We land at Nuku Hiva airport, a rough dodecagonal wooden hut on a scrubby deserted headland on the Western tip of the island. The chief delight was being met by the airport dog and cat; They greeted most of the passengers and the cat curled up under Camille's seat, she being aLeo and cat lover. Dublin airport please copy.
There were three other animals on reception duty in the men's toilet. In the pan of the leaking rusty shower were three of the largest cockroaches I have ever seen.
From the air the island strongly resembled the terrain of West Cork, a kind of tropical Glengarriff. As soon as we were loaded into a fleet of Land Rover Defenders, the only transport, we began to realise what a pothole can really be; all that fuss in Ireland about a few creases in the road! The tarred road gave up after the first bend and we wallowed and bounced over dirt tracks, through fords and more urgently round 180 degree bends with precipitous drops; the road climbing continuously. After an hour or so we reached a summit of 4,000 feet. At this height the land is forrested with fir trees (Casuarinas) 'ironwoods' which the Marquesans make tools from. They can only be carved on the first day after cutting and for a couple of hours the next day after being soaked in water. Then the wood turns to 'iron'.
Near the summit we hit a wet patch of mud and the Landrover went what American racecar drivers call 'loose'. The back hangs out sideways. Instead of heading along our ledge nice and neat we had a brief frontward view of the chasm below. Racecar drivers call this the brown trouser moment. It elicited a few gasps at least.
We travelled through this new terrain for two hours passing not a human although a scattering of horses (originally introduced from Chile), cows, goats and a scattering of pigs were to be seen. We covered the 45 kilometres in 2 hours eventually descending from the high plateau into the bowl of of 800 metre hills and a little coastal village Taiepae, population 1,800. It would remind one of a tropical Allihies, althpugh the houses are constructed of corrugated iron and wickerwork in the upper regions and some concrete ones near the shore.
There were three other animals on reception duty in the men's toilet. In the pan of the leaking rusty shower were three of the largest cockroaches I have ever seen.
From the air the island strongly resembled the terrain of West Cork, a kind of tropical Glengarriff. As soon as we were loaded into a fleet of Land Rover Defenders, the only transport, we began to realise what a pothole can really be; all that fuss in Ireland about a few creases in the road! The tarred road gave up after the first bend and we wallowed and bounced over dirt tracks, through fords and more urgently round 180 degree bends with precipitous drops; the road climbing continuously. After an hour or so we reached a summit of 4,000 feet. At this height the land is forrested with fir trees (Casuarinas) 'ironwoods' which the Marquesans make tools from. They can only be carved on the first day after cutting and for a couple of hours the next day after being soaked in water. Then the wood turns to 'iron'.
Near the summit we hit a wet patch of mud and the Landrover went what American racecar drivers call 'loose'. The back hangs out sideways. Instead of heading along our ledge nice and neat we had a brief frontward view of the chasm below. Racecar drivers call this the brown trouser moment. It elicited a few gasps at least.
We travelled through this new terrain for two hours passing not a human although a scattering of horses (originally introduced from Chile), cows, goats and a scattering of pigs were to be seen. We covered the 45 kilometres in 2 hours eventually descending from the high plateau into the bowl of of 800 metre hills and a little coastal village Taiepae, population 1,800. It would remind one of a tropical Allihies, althpugh the houses are constructed of corrugated iron and wickerwork in the upper regions and some concrete ones near the shore.
posted by Tim Goulding at Wednesday, February 23, 2005
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