Rarotonga
We took a four-hour flight from Auckland to the island of Rarotonga
in the Cook Islands. The Cook Islands are made up of 15 islands spread
out over two million square kilometers of the South Pacific Ocean.
We spent our entire time on the island of Rarotonga. If you want to
go to any other islands, the closest is over an hour by plane, so
we didn't press our time. As we were landing, we both freaked a little
bit because it looked as if we were going to touch down in the water.
Suddenly land appeared and the plane touched down on solid ground.
Rarotonga seems like it is alone in the world. The whole island can
be driven around in 45 minutes. We were told that the Cook Islands
has the shortest runway in the world for an International airport,
which by the way, was about as big as a municipal airport.
One of the first things that we discovered about the Cook Islands
is that everyone is very nice and laid back. All the indigenous
people, the Cook Islands Maori, seem like they are kiwis, or New
Zealanders. In fact, Cook Islanders are dual citizens with their
own country and New Zealand. Most of the people have the New Zealand
accent, and a lot of them have lived in both New Zealand and the
Cook Islands. Like I said, it is nice and laid back, no one pressures
you to buy anything, and relaxation is king. The Cook Islands is
like being in New Zealand or Australia, only more tropical, and
the ocean is 15 feet from our doorstep. A number of Islanders told
us that at one point in their life they had to decide between the
lifestyle of the Cook Islands or going to New Zealand or Australia
with good job possibilities. Although some choose the latter, a
large percentage chooses to stay home.
Most of our time here was spent swimming, snorkeling, kayaking,
and reading a few last books before the end of our trip. We have
read a ton of books and unfortunately, a few too many of the books
we have purchased we want to keep. Our luggage has lightened on
this trip in some ways, but we manage to weigh down our packs with
books, our limit in wine, and other heavy things that we have been
lugging along with us to bring home. We only hope to find some good
nooks for all the trinkets we picked up.
One of the Cook Islands entry laws is that you need to have pre-booked
a room, which we didn't. This is the only country we have ever been
to where you have to have your room before you get there. We had
read that there was an accommodation service at the airport, so
we decided to risk it and try there. It is difficult to book a room
when you don't know what dates you will be staying. The accommodation
service pointed us to a place called Vara's guesthouse, a budget
place. We were able to just write the name of Vara's on our entry
slips and they let us right on through customs. In hindsight, we
could have written any resort name and walked right through. It
is nice to have a place to stay though, and we found the Vara's
people right away and booked a double room for two nights. After
that, they were booked up, so we would need to look for another
place after those two days.
Soon after we arrived, we found that we were hungry, but unfortunately
lack of public transportation makes it pretty difficult to get around.
We resolved that we would get a motor bike for the duration of our
stay, but in the meantime we rented pedal bikes. The Cook Islands
does have a bus service, but we arrived on the weekend, and as we
were to discover, almost none of the services and service oriented
shops on the island are open on the weekend. Restaurants are open
on Saturday nights, but Sunday is pretty much out. The island of
Rarotonga is mostly Christian, and they heed the "no working
on Sunday" tradition as a country, although a lot of the shops
are open for a couple hours in the evening. Anyway, we rented some
bikes and rode the 45 minutes to town and ate at a restaurant.
Muri Beach Hideaway
When we got booted from Vara's, we needed to look around for a new
place to stay. We wanted a pretty decent place, since we were nearing
the end of our trip, and we wanted to be near the beach. With our
newly rented motor scooter, we went bungalow hunting. We found the
place in about five minutes. It was the first place we looked. It
was called the Muri Beach Hideaway, and we spent the duration of
our stay in our awesome bungalow there.
It was setup in such a way that the three bungalows on the property
all face the water somewhat diagonally. We are all able to view
the beachfront. In addition to the spaciousness of the place, including
a kitchen and bathroom, we got the use of a sea kayak and snorkeling
equipment (I broke one of the fins…oops).
The proprietor, Pauline, is the most hospitable and kind person
we have met on this trip. She is the Martha Stuart of the Cook Islands.
She is about 60 years old, and is a veritable Energizer Bunny. We
could always find her mowing or pruning or washing clothes, or offering
to drive us somewhere even though we had a motorbike. When Tony
suggested we eat wheat bread at home, but could not find it here,
Pauline told us about a local bakery, called them up, had them reserve
a loaf for us and she drove to town and bought it for us without
batting an eye. When we inquired about the best way to get to the
airport the day we leave, she said, "I will bring you."
We told her we asked her so she could maybe recommend a cab, as
we needed to be to the airport by 5:00 a.m., but she insisted. She
brought us over fresh tomatoes, mangoes, and avocados regularly
so we enjoyed them during our whole stay. Do you know the type?
Her husband is a butcher and lives in New Zealand. She spends her
time between the 2 places. She had children living in New Zealand
as well and we figured she must miss them as she "mothered"
and spoiled us during our stay. She was very intelligent, reads
a lot, and was the most interesting and carefree person. She would
always ask how our day was and her most common phrase is "Why
Not?" When we rolled out of bed one day close to noon, she
said "Why Not, you will be back to work soon enough."
What a great life philosophy…. "Why not?"
Pauline's Barbecue
Pauline invited us to a BBQ she was having on Friday night. Her
BBQ was for the bank manager who was leaving the Cook Islands in
a few weeks and going back to Australia. He, his wife and 2 children
were there, along with the island's Solicitor (lawyer), his wife
and 3 year old daughter Mananea; some of Pauline's other friends,
and the other bungalow guests from England. We have learned that
BBQ in many of the places we have been is very different from ours.
Their BBQ has many many meats! Pauline had T-bone steaks, pork chops,
lamb chops and sausages. There were many familiar dishes like coleslaw,
fried rice, bread, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, and a dish they
call "mayonnaise." This is similar to our potato salad,
except it has beet root and a few other ingredients in it. There
was also Taro root, which is similar to potatoes, only starchier.
That is one of the main staples of the Cook Islands.
The BBQ was great. We feasted for a long time, and everyone was
in good spirits. Maybe because it was Friday, maybe because of the
great food, but everyone talked for a long time, but finally the
families with small children had to leave as the kids were sprawling
all over the place in various stages of sleep. Mananea, (in the
pictures) was still running hard at 10:30 determined to not let
the other sleeping children slow her down.
Beautiful Music at Church
On Sunday we went to church and it was wonderful. We had read somewhere
that the one thing you must do when you are in the Cook Islands
(other than relax) is go to a church service. The singing is supposed
to be phenomenal. It didn't disappoint.
Most of the service language was in Cook Islands Maori but it was
very moving nonetheless. The main pastor rang the church bell for
about 5 minutes as the members filed in. Most of the women were
in white dresses with a straw hat, and the men were in white suits
and shirts. The older kids sat in the front of the church and the
minister was also in all white standing on a pulpit high above the
congregation. His sermon was about the glory of God and how we are
naïve to what that actually means. His message brought him
to tears and he had to take out his handkerchief and wipe his eyes
and gather himself before he continued.
There was much singing and it was amazing. There were no pianos,
organs, or any instruments and all of the singing was a cappella.
Now try to imagine going to your traditional place of worship and
singing hymns with no organ, no person was leading the songs and
just the congregation singing. It would be pretty reserved and quiet
at most of the churches we go to. Not here!
There is a certain type of singing in various cultures that is
different from the church culture we are part of. These cultures
seem to sing from their gut and soul, rather than their heads and
throats. The loud thunderous voices filled the church and probably
the most similar experience at home, was sitting among the Twin
Cities Gospel Choir as they belt out some of their songs. It brings
goosebumps to your arms. The women typically started most of the
songs, and the men joined in harmony. We were following along in
the hymnal, and though it was in another language, we could recognize
the words because the Greek alphabet is used just like we are used
to. It was interesting because as we were following along, the men
and women would break into harmonies not written in the book, and
were they good! Without instruments I suppose you learn harmonies
better, because the instrument is the voice.
Deep Sea Fishing Expedition
The next day, Tony went on a deep-sea fishing trip. I was supposed
to go two days before, but the weather was pretty bad, and it rained
most of the day. As Traci is not a big fisherwoman, Tony went alone.
The ship, run by an ex-kiwi, was a nice 26-foot yacht. There were
a number of huge fishing poles arranged around the boat. There were
three poles that we baited with 12-inch skirts, and those were for
tuna or any other decent sized fish to bite on. The two biggest
poles were on the sides in holders, and those were for catching
marlin.
There were only two fishermen; myself and a guy from Scotland.
There was a fishing seat directly in the center at the back of the
boat. If a fish got on the line between the beginning of the hour
and half-past, I got to catch it, if it was anytime after half past
to the beginning of the hour, David (the Scottish guy) got to try.
Well, David got the first chance as a marlin hammered our flying
fish bait lure. It was a mighty effort, but within two minutes,
the fish was off the line. When we brought the flying fish bait
in, we saw that the marlin had pretty much bit the thing in half.
It was surprising that the marlin didn't stay on the hook since
he bit so hard. Oh well.
Within fifteen minutes, it was my turn. We put on a fake squid
skirt (not me, the lure) and threw that out. We were driving along
and suddenly the same pole shuddered as another marlin strike hit.
As I was sitting on top of the yacht, I had to run down to the seat
to reel that sucker in. I got down to the seat very quickly, but
in the process almost took my big toenail off. I ran into a crossbeam
with my foot. Unfortunately, the marlin was off before I even got
a chance to reel. Oh well.
We took the yacht around three-quarters of the island, with our
pilot pointing out various points of interest. When the clouds parted,
the sea turned the most surreal blue I have ever seen. It was like
a blue-raspberry Flavor-Ice. Sorry for the bad description, but
if you have ever seen a blue-raspberry Flavor-Ice, you know what
I mean. We tooled around for five hours on the raging sea. Ok, it
wasn't raging, but there were some nice swells, and "raging"
sounds better. We finally went back in to harbor with nary a bite
after the two hopeful strikes. Oh well.
Island Show
We also attended a Cook Islands show. These are held all over the
island and go by the name "Island Night." It is an evening
of dinner, music, and Cook Islands dancing. We had managed to wait
until nearly our last night before we got around to looking at which
one we wanted to go to. We had been a little bit too busy sitting
around the beach and snorkeling to make a few calls ahead of time.
So as it turned out one of the only ones on the night we were available
was at one of the resorts. The music consisted mainly of a drumming
group of about 6 people drumming very loud and fast, and traditional
dancers keeping their hips moving with the fast drums. It was very
entertaining and we met some nice people from Sydney we visited
with.
Cook Island Highs
Riding around the island on motorbike
Papua Waterfalls
Pauline and Muri Beach Hideaway
Snorkeling almost daily
Kayaking
Fruit and vegetables
Flowers - especially bird of paradise
Floral smells all over the island
Pauline's BBQ
Sunrises and sunsets
Simplicity of the Island
Church Services
Beautiful children
Very laid back and friendly people
Nice rains
Beautiful hills
Quiet beaches
Tony's fishing trip sans fish
Cook Island Lows
Mean Trigger fish
Pirated movies that we could not watch due to poor quality (Pauline
gave us her VCR to watch movies)
|
