Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Rarotonga Trip
Day 5
The after party. A barbecue at Heather and Sud's huge house. My cousin Stephen has been doing chefing in England and did a great job preparing most of the food. He did salads, pasta, fruit salad and all the barbecue. Every one was drinking (except Lou and I as we had an early start the next morning) and having a good time. Everett (the best man) got out his guitar and everyone tried to sing along. Not very pretty to listen to but they were enjoying themselves.
We took a dip in the water but there were no fish to be seen, only lots of sea cucumber. Also the tide was so low Paul walked right out to the reef about 150 metres out for the beach.
Back at the house, things got more boisterous. Sud's brother got pushed into the pool. Unbeknown to the woman who pushed him in, his wallet, phone and camera were in his pocket. After that others were pushed, pulled and carried in, fully clothed (after their pockets had been emptied) almost everyone got done. Some foolishly went away and got changed. They ended up back in the pool.
We left early as we needed to get up at 4 am for our 7 am flight home. It was wonderful to escape to the sun and sand of Rarotonga. The weather was good to us and we had a great time.
Day 4
Today, being Saturday we headed into the markets in Avarua. The markets were the same as others the world over, knick-knacks, clothing, CD's, fruit, vegetables and food stalls. We got there at 10 am and the temperature was already at 37 degrees so we were hopping from one patch of shade to another. But the heat was not exhausting like it was in Sri-Lanka at a similar temperature. In the afternoon we headed over to the other side of the island for Sud's and Heather's wedding.
It was a beautiful, clear afternoon on the beach. They pulled out all the stops with an island band playing before, a boat to bring the bride in on, and island dancing to follow. Once we had all had a laugh at ourselves trying to dance, and taken many photo's we headed for the restaurant for food and more drinks. We didn't stay long after the meal as we could see that many people were well on the way it was going to get messy.
Day 3
Let me explain Rarotongan roads. There is basically one main road that is sealed and goes right round the island. In some parts there is an inland road that runs parallel to the main road and there are some roads that cross between the two. Some of these roads have very small sign posts that say the name of the road in very small letters, most have no sign at all. The map you get at the airport has no road names, only locations of resorts, restaurants and bars. So to navigate around you must use the names of the resorts and geographical markers like streams as your sign posts. This is a rather haphazard way to navigate and makes for quite a bit of back tracking.
Met up with Mum and Paul and tried to find the amazing waterfall that that had a crystal clear swimming hole below. It took us a while and quite a bit of driving around until we gave up and asked at a shop, where it was. Once we got there we were shocked and amazed. It was a trickle and you could maybe have a paddle in the pool. The waterfall had been dammed at the top with concrete and was being piped out by a rusty, leaky pipe.
Next we tried to find a walking track, after following the same procedure as we did to find the water fall, we started walking. The track climbed fast and we were soon greeted with a wonderful vista of the south coast. I was a little disappointed with the lack of wildlife we saw, only a few birds in the distance. Our ascent halted when we reached a rock face that was to be climbed with the help of knotted ropes and metal pegs that had been driven into the rock. I was the only one game enough to try to climb the rock. I was rather disappointed to find that, when I reached the top, I could so little more than I could from the bottom and that the track simply continued up. I climbed down and joined the others for the descent. The highlight of the walk, at least for Paul, was the seeing a White-tailed Tropicbird (Tuaki) just as we were finishing the track.
As you can imagine, we were pretty hot after the walk so we headed down to The Rarotongan resort (another snorkelling spot) and saw more brightly coloured fish. Today the water was crystal clear and coral more alive than at Fruits.
That night we went to an “Island night” this is something that the lonely planet says every visitor must do. It consists of a buffet meal, Cook island drumming and dancing and finishing with laughing at the tourists trying to imitate the dance moves. The men had to do an energetic dance which mostly involved standing still while moving your knees to the side then bringing them back to the middle in synchronisation. But I felt sorry for the women. They had to try to do the whole hip shaking thing, which is very difficult and looks very silly when not done correctly.
Day 2
We got a good nights sleep and woke up a bit late. We had originally thought that a scooter would be a good idea but my riding skills are a bit rusty having not ridden a bike in 10 years, and even then, only around a paddock. I did not fancy getting around with Lou on the back to boot so we decide to hire a car instead. In Rarotonga a licence from another country, even an international licence, isn't valid. You have to get a Rarotongan licence, so we drove into Ava-rua, (the only town in the Cook Islands) and walked into police station, 5 mins and $10 later, Lou had her drivers licence. I wish it was that easy in NZ. We had a quick lunch in town then went snorkelling at Fruits of Rarotonga. The snorkelling spot is named after the fruit drink store across the road from the beach. We saw many different types of fish swimming around the coral, including some from Finding Nemo. That evening Mum, my Aunties and their friends invited us to a barbecue at the house were they were staying.
Day 1
We left Wellington on a cold, grey, wet, windy day. Arriving in the early afternoon in Rarotonga the heat and humidity hit us as soon as we got out of the plane. We were greeted as we left the airport with lays and quickly bundled into a van. The van dropped us off at our house in Muri (south-east side of island), it is called Muri Tamaariki Villa and we arrange to meet with Mum, Paul and my aunties and uncles for dinner later. After the long flight, Lou and I thought we should have a nap and we zonked out. Feeling refreshed we walk around Muri to get the lay of the land. It is a nice little area with all the amenities a holiday maker could want; general store, service station, butcher, accommodation, bars, restaurants and a lovely, clear lagoon to swim or kayak in. After looking around for a place to eat we all end up at the Flame Tree restaurant. I had a nice beef curry and Lou had a big, tasty fish steak.
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