Living the Easy Life
Trip Start
Feb 08, 2008
1
27
29
Trip End
Mar 10, 2008
Where I stayed
Avarua, Rarotonga,
Cook Islands
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Monday we set off on our scooter to explore the island. We have mobility and we intend to use it. Al is now feeling confident on the scooter and today I do much better as well. By afternoon I am holding on with only one hand, and my other hand is nowhere near Al's neck! I am wearing sturdy shoes, a long sleeved cotton blouse and my hat - I feel much better prepared to be on a bike. It is still not smooth sailing - hazards are everywhere, potholes, dogs, roosters, and even three little pigs that trot across the road in front of us. The best way to stay cool here is to stay on the bike and we travel everywhere - around the island, we walk along the beaches, up back roads and we even manage to find the well hidden Wigmore Falls. The beaches here are mostly coral so you need good shoes for the beach, and you need shoes that you can wear into the water. I had looked for a pair of beach walker shoes at home but being the wrong season I was unable to find any
Crotons
. I thought I could pick some up here, but I did not find any. All shopping here is very expensive as most things are imported from NZ, even for a basic t-shirt you can expect to pay around $25.00. While exploring we find the Mai Nui Gardens and Café. This is a lovely garden that has been created to show off and preserve native flora. For $3.00 you can walk through the gardens, which spreads over several acres. The café is open so we have some refreshment before discovering the gardens. The tropical salad is excellent if somewhat overpriced at $16.50.Over the course of the week we are out on our scooter whenever weather permits. We have had showers off and on this week and we do not want to be caught on the scooter when it rains as it comes down in torrents when it rains. After the rain showers it is never refreshing, instead it creates a hot steam bath effect. Even with air conditioning our room is hot for sleeping. Sleeping in is a bit of a problem as well. Next door to our resort are free range roosters, so we get a wake up call whether we want it or not. It rains most evenings and it can get pretty gusty. I have been hoping for some good shots of sunsets but so far no luck. It gets dark early here, right now sunset is around 7:00. We usually have a later dinner and there is no shortage of restaurants to try. After dinner there is little to do; at our resort there is only one channel and it is mostly advertising or religious programmes. There is no internet connection so we have to catch up on e-mail whenever we go to town. Al is so desperate for a newspaper that he keeps going into town to see if the Auckland Sunday Times has arrived. It finally arrives on Thursday, cost for 4 day old news $4.00. We get good at devising strategies to deal with sudden showers if we are out on the bike, and I am still looking at those cute little convertibles with some degree of envy
Sunset
. With showers pending any moment we duck into the local museum. The museum in Rarotonga has an excellent collection of photographs from early colonization days here on the island. It is amazing (and somewhat sad) to see the affect that missionaries had on this island and the native culture. This museum is attached to the local library and they have books for sale - happiness!Wednesday night is Island night at many of the big resorts so we decide to take one in. We choose the Rarotonga Resort which is close by and we have been wanting to see what the resort looks like. Island night includes a buffet, with many of the foods being cooked in the Umu (earth oven). Both the buffet and the drumming and dancing show which follows is first class and it is a beautiful resort. At $55.00 pp we feel that we have had value for our dollar. However the cocktails starting at $14.95, glass of wine starting at $12.00 and small bottle of water for $4.00 did not seem so value added. After the dinner show Al and I are outside waiting for the local bus when a van with two young Cook Island girls pulls over and offers us a ride to our resort. As rain is once again threatening we happily accept their offer. The driver turns out to be a dancer and she has recently been to Vancouver B.C. to perform so we happily talk about Canada.
Island Dancers
You cannot come to the Cook Islands and not try snorkelling in these fantastically clear waters. Al has decided that he would like to try this and Captain Tamas Lagoon Cruise has been highly recommended by fellow travellers staying at our resort. There are two tours a day - the morning one is the best as it includes a great BBQ lunch. They provide a shuttle service to pick us up at our resort. Luckily we have great weather for our tour, and it is a great day to be out on a glass bottom boat. Our tour guides are quite witty and provide humour along the way, as well as some singing and ukulele playing and everyone is in a lighthearted mood. Did I mention that the guides are also VERY good looking and can you believe my camera batteries die and I cannot take pictures. We tour around some of the local small islands before heading to the middle of the lagoon where everyone piles out of the boat and into the lagoon. Colourful fish are everywhere but the highlight for everyone seems to be Charlie - the resident eel. Then it is off to another island for a leisurely BBQ lunch, fresh out of the Umu. A large assortment of freshly prepared salads and fruit round out the meal of BBQ fish, onions and fried bananas - all of it yummy. After lunch our tour guides provide some entertainment, at the expense of our newlywed couples. They get a demonstration on how to tie a his and her's sarong - great fun for everyone except the unlucky volunteers. This had been a great day - our tour started at 11:00, we were back on land by 3:30 and for $60 pp this has been one of the better experiences that we have had.
