Travels: Rarotonga May 2015

Happy holidaymakers with leis

KIA ORANA (welcome,/hello in Cook Island Maori)
We left Auckland with Karen and Blair. Flight from Auckland to Rarotonga went well. I watched the movie Still Alice, a perceptive and poignant portrayal of a 50 yr old woman who developed Alzheimers.

Blair still trying to understand how we went back in time, leaving Auckland at 9.45am on Saturday, and arriving here at 3.30pm on Friday! Will lose a day on the way home, leaving here at 4pm on Sunday, and arriving in Auckland at 7.30pm on Monday evening.

All four of us were presented with beautiiful fresh flower leis on our arrival.

Tiny gecko saying hello

The holiday house we are staying in is great. On its own large section with tropical flowers, coconut and banana palms. A little frustrating as the bananas aren't yet ripe, and the coconuts are, but we don't have a machete to get in to them. A dire warning to not even try with the kitchen knives!! All sorts of interesting visitors - the next door neighbours dogs, roosters and hens, and this morning three pigs wandered through our front yard. Very funny. Geckos, tiny crabs and centipedes are numerous, and birds fly in and out of nearby trees.

Pop and Blair between banana palms

The house itself is spacious, clean, and with all the facilities we need.

The view behind the house is of coconut palms, and shrub covered hills leading up to some steep peaks. To the front we are looking through a coconut grove to the sea. Lovely.

Once we had unpacked we decided to catch the local bus back in to town for dinner. Our understanding was that buses went both ways, but by that time they were only going in a clockwise direction so we had a forty minute scenic drive around the island in to the main township of Avarua. Had a delicious meal at an outdoor cafe beside the sea with the interesting name of The Anywhere Bar & Bistro. Relaxed friendly staff and tasty meals.

At the Saturday market

On Saturday morning we went to the weekly local market, which was colourful, lively, and interesting. Watched some great acts on a central stage - exuberant backing group, singers and dancers. The youngest members were two little girls of about 4 and 6, who had a ton of confidence and wiggled their hips almost as well as the older girls.

Blair was on a mission to buy Karen a Mothers' Day present and settled on a lovely necklace. We bought a huge bunch of bananas which are divine - lovely creamy texture.

Mothers' Day breakfast in bed

We decided to rent a car for the convenience of being able to go where we want when we want rather than have to wait for once an hour buses. Driving is interesting. Motor scooters outnumber cars by about five to one, and the drivers are erratic, to put it mildly. Mainly Cook Islanders aged anywhere between 15 and 90 with a few tourists thrown in to the mix -ranging from timid to gung ho! Bareheaded and usually with no footwear, the Islanders manage to transport kids, groceries, crates of beer, etc. We even followed one today with a whole hedge trimmimg kit tucked under his left arm!

That afternoon we drove to the lovely and popular Muri Beach, located on a lagoon. We could see waves crashing on to the outer reef. We enjoyed swimming and snorkeling there. Water was warm and enjoyable.

Mothers' Day dawned with a lively 6 yr old prancing around the kitchen keen to give his mother breakfast in bed. She enjoyed his enthusiasm, and her breakfast!

Ornate altar

Karen and Paul with three elegant ladies

At 10am we went to a service at the Cook Islands Christian Church. Warmly welcomed, the lady beside us took fresh hibiscis flowers off her hat and pinned them in Karen's and my hair. The service was conducted partly in Cook Island Maori and partly in English.

Mothers'Day was acknowledged and celebrated. But the best feature was the singing. The music, mainly unaccompanied, washed over us in melodious waves of sound. We were astonished at the harmonies, volume and passion. An amazing experience to be stored in our memory banks.

Just across the road from that church, which was in the middle of the countryside, on the coast, was a memorial of seven rocks representing the great migration of the Maori canoes to New Zealand,which left from that spot. Fourteen left in 1350AD, but only 7 made it to NZ to set up settlements here. Our Maori tribes took the names of the canoes their ancestors had arrived on.

Great climbing tree

Collection of pretty shells

That afternoon we drove to a beach on the north coast which had crystal clear water for snorkeling in. A lovely Cook Islander man named Vira watched Blair splashing around, then proceeded to give him, Karen and me the benefit of his knowledge and experience. Showed us how to drop sand in to the sea to observe which way the water was running, then to just gently float on top with our snorkels and masks on to observe, as he described it, the "movie" underwater. There were hundreds of sea cucumbers, like small squishy sausages, which he described as the "vacuum cleaners" of the lagoon, purifying the water. Pretty coral, and darting fish. A great experience.

That evening Karen took us for dinner to a lovely relaxed restaurant with delicious food, Nubar.

A week later....................On the big silver bird now on our way back to Auckland from Rarotonga. Karen and Blair were given an upgrade to Premium Economy so are sitting up front with lots of leg room. I am being given a payback for making a remark about two very overweight ladies sitting behind us in the breskfast restaurant this morning. One of them is seated beside me, overflowing on to me, and wanting to be my new best friend. Thank goodness it is only a four hour flight. Paul says it serves me right!

We awoke this morning to pelting torrential rain and strong winds. Couldn't see ten metres out from our apartment towards the beach. Couldn't see how any aircraft could possibly fly in those conditions, so hoped for a clearance by the time we were due to depart at 5pm. The rain diminished a little by the time we went to Mass at the Catholic Cathedral at 10.30am. As on the previous Sunday at the Christian Church, the music and singing were amazing -such harmony and volume. Many of the ladies were elegantly dressed in white dresses and hats. Karen noticed that many of the hats had a mother of pearl shell sitting on the crown. When we asked afterwards why this was, it is to weigh them down a little so that they don't go flying off in a breeze!

We were fortunate to be allowed a late check out of 2pm and by that time the rain had cleared and sun was shining. When we arrived in Rarotonga we were told that there had just been two weeks of rain, so we were relieved that they got it over before our holiday. Apart from that last day, we were treated to warm sunny days with pleasant temps of 21 to 26C, and low humidity.

Captain Tama Cruise passengers!

Fish through boat's glass bottom

Tuesday was a perfect sunny calm day to go on a Captain Tama lagoon cruise, out from Muri Beach. A fun crew of three Cook Islanders played music and sang as everyone was gathering, then took the forty passengers (mainly NZers) out to the marine reserve area of the lagoon, where they tied the boat to a buoy.

Relaxed bronzed Paul

Good advice

Getting ready on boat

Viewing the undersea world and fish

We were able to watch fish swimming under the glass bottomed boat - of all sizes and colours. Some small ones had zebra stripes, others were a brilliant turquoise, some yellow and white - many different types. We snorkelled around the boat and saw fish, sea anenomes, starfish and sea cucumbers around the intriguing coral structures. One of Blair's favourites were the bright blue starfish. His snorkel loosened one of his wiggly top front teeth, and as Karen pulled it out with wet fingers it slipped from her fingers into Nemo's grasp. One of the crewmen assured Blair that the tooth would become part of the coral and that the fish talked to the tooth fairy. Sure enough, she delivered that night.

From the boat we also saw some giant clams (almost a metre wide) and a turtle lumbering along the sea floor.

Climbing up palm -very fast

Talk about coconuts

We went to a quintessential Pacific tropical island for a delicious BBQ lunch of tuna with delicious salads, and barbequed pawpaw and bananas. Afterwards one of the men impressively scaled a tall coconut palm in just a few seconds. We were then given a demonstration of how a coconut is opened using a wood spear and machete, and given fresh coconut milk to drink. A very enjoyable day.

We went swimming and snorkelling most days we were there in different places around the island.

Inland bush track

One day we were going to do a Cross Island walk up and over the hills in the centre of the island.. The plan was for the four of us to walk to the top, then Blair and I to return and collect the car and drive around to the other side of the island to have a swim in a waterfall pool, and pick up Paul and Karen. Unfortunately it had rained the night before and the track was muddy and slippery so we had to forgo that plan after only a short walk. We drove around to the Wigmore's Waterfall anyway (the perimeter road right around the island is only 32Km long), where Blair had his swim.

Abandoned hotel project

On the road in there we saw a massive abandoned building project. Paul found out later that it was to have been a luxury 220 room hotel, built by Italians in conjunction with the Cook Islands government.. Unfortunately, when building was about 80% completed, there was a huge bust of the Mafia in Italy, which it transpired were supplying the funding for the hotel, and the project ground to a standstill.

One day Paul and Karen did a tour at Matutu Brewery, a locally owned micro-brewery, which they found interesting. They were happy to sample some of the fine products on the way around, and pronounced it very good beer. We then had lunch at the Hidden Spirit café nearby which was surrounded by extensive gardens filled with tropical flowers, plants and palms - truly beautiful.

Mairenui Botanical Gardens

Ian and Clare

Island Groove duo. Drink is apple juice!

We met up with Ian and Clare Wheldon at The Café in Avarua, friends of Wally Duff, who is in the Nelson Male Voice Choir with Paul. They suggested that we go to Happy Hour at the Palm Grove bar and bistro on the south coast. The popular Island Groove duo were playing and singing to an appreciative crowd.

View from balcony - Pat in new sarong

Blair,, beach, lagoon and reef

We shifted from our holiday house to Edgewater Resort for our last two days, as Karen wanted to experience it as a possible accommodation option for her clients. We were given an upgrade to a lovely beachfront apartment. Saw a couple getting married on the beach just in front of it on Saturday afternoon! You can see the view from the deck in this photo Karen took of me wearing my new sarong.

On the Saturday evening we went to an island night at the resort. Started with an extensive Polynesian buffet, including delicious ika mata- raw fish marinated in lime juice mixed with coconut cream etc, and rukau -taro leaves cooked and mixed with coconut sauce and onion, that looks and tastes not unlike spinach.