One Cook Island for Another
Trip Start
Apr 15, 2006
1
21
Trip End
Aug 23, 2006
Arutunga,
Cook Islands
Thursday, August 3, 2006
No lazing around this morning - we have stuff to do and places to go - which is good, as it means it's the last time we'll be crawling into the dribble of water that consitutes the shower here at Stinksville No. 7. We won't name it, but if you ever plan to come to Raro, email us and we'll let you know where NOT to stay. We settle up with the front office only to find they have us booked in for another night - please god no - but they let us leave, thankfully (it's not been thaaat bad). A quick trip to Dougies to email home and then a military operation ensues to us both, and our four bags and the scooter back into town for some lunch whilst we pass the time before our flight this afternoon. This is achieved in two trips, and Nic gets left at the chaos surrounding Trader Jacks (bar/restaurant on Avurua wharf, blown away by hurrican in Feb 2005 but now bustling with trade again) where there's some sort of cultural festival occuring. Mark makes it back to see some of the action, having dropped the mini-beast back at Budget. There's a lot of locals in costume, singing and dancing prior to launching wooden outrigger canoes into the water, after carrying them ceremoniously down the wharf ramp. Once all of the canoes had made it into the water (complete with 1 capsize of the canoe with the 2 biggest locals in it!) they all came back to land and everyone disappeared off home! We head to the airport at 3 for check-in for our 3.30 flight. No metal detectors, no security checks, and the boarding pass is just a slip of paper! At 3.25 we walk through the airport security gate to board our 33 seater prop plane bound for Aitutaki! 40 minutes and 220 kilometres later and we're over some of the bluest water imaginable - home to Aitutaki and it's glorious lagoon. The main island itself is surrounded by aournd 20 little motu's - and it's a sight to be seen as we bank and descend onto the runway. We get picked up by the owners wife and two kids, and we drop our bags off at the still unfinished beach bungalow! Whilst the guy earth's the sink, we're driven into town (Arutunga) which has a bank, post office, supermarket and a few other buildings along with a small port. It's then off ot 'Honk's' to get a scooter for the 13 days we're here! This all takes about 20 minutes - you could drive round the whole atoll in about 25 minutes - it really isn't that large! On Rarotonga we learnt that the 'Survivor' CBS series was being filmed at Aitutaki, and that the south part of the island and the most beautiful part of the lagoon is fenced off! Luckily we're told that they've just finished filming, and whilst the southern tip of the island (where they've had their base camp) is still closed, the lagoon is back open, which is a massive relief! Back in the bungalow, and it's a complete breath of fresh air - it's clean, doesn't stink of cats, and is right on the beach. The other bonus is that the one next door to us is unfinished, and so we've got this little part of paradise all to ourselves! We watch Broken Flowers on DVD - and keeping hold of the ones bought in Thailand seems like a good idea now!
Day 112 - 4th August 2006 - Aitutaki, The Cook Islands
Happy Birthday Kate! A very peaceful and comfy night's sleep - and it's nice not to be woken by cockerels at 4.30 am! We watch another DVD before venturing out onto 'our' beach. It's deserted, really quiet - and a bit rugged - with lots of coconuts around, and a fair amount of seaweed it has to be said, but we'd rather be paying $180 a night instead of $400 to stay at Etu Moana's next door even though their stretch of beach is swept clean! For lunch we take a trip to our other neighbour, 'Tauno's', where we've read good things about cake. There's a table of homegrown fresh fruit outside and whilst we were hoping to get some fresh fish here too, we make do with starfruit, pomelo, bananas, mangos and coconut cake! A fruit lunch (!) is followed by a trip on the old banged out scooter we picked up last night to exchange it for a post accident (but still automatic starting) rattler. It's seen better days - i.e. has bodywork hanging off it but it gets us from A to B. The south of the island is still closed, as we come across 'GO BACK' signs left by CBS on our round island tour. The island is quite rugged in parts, particulary on the east coast where the lagoon is quite shallow and land crabs scuttle out of your way on the road. Houses are dotted around really spaciously, and the lawns are meticulously kept, and are surrounded by longer grass where the odd goat can be seen tied to a metal pole (similar to Jurrasic Park I) whilst studiously going about trying to keep the grass under control by eating as much as it can! Almost all houses have the grave of their ancestors in the front lawn, although their are random placings of graves by the roadside too. We finally get back to the bungalow with the contents of a veggie stirfry along with two coconuts which get chopped open and continue to fuel Nic's addiction to coconut juice! We start to get dinner cooked, but then Roro (the wife of Solo Solomona - I swear I'm not making it up!) comes round and says that she's booked us in at an island night at 'Puffys' up the road to make up for the fact that the kitchen in the bungalow isn't quite finished. Dinner preparation comes to an abrupt halt, and we rush to get ready. It's a big buffet spread with locals as well as tourists present, afterwards a lorry turns up (like a carnival truck) and a load of locals jump out the back and proceed to put on a dance show for us; the boys in their grass skirts and leaf chains, the girls in coconuts, flower lei and leaf waistbands that they shake when they wiggle their booties to the music! Little'uns as young as about 5 were taking part and still knew all the moves! The dancing is a lot more energetic than the Fijian crew, and the drums and singing sounds really good. Of course there's the standard 'audience' participation part. Funnily enough at this point the audience consists only of tourists - the locals know when to leave - and so we're dragged up by young things who can not only dance but have rhythm too! Suitably embarressed, we zip off on the scooter back to the safety of our bungalow!
Day 113 - 5th August 2006 - Aitutaki, The Cook Islands
Clear blue skies light up the sea that we can see from our bed, and so we spring like young gazelles out of bed, and then head straight for the beach! Rumours of soaring temperatures back in Blighty mean that we can't go home without a tan! This lasts until lunch calls, after which Mark has had officially too much sun this morning as he suggests climbing the 113 metres to the highest point on the island (Maungapu), 'while the weather's nice, so we get a good view'! After a 30 minute climb we're rewarded with a fantastic view of the lagoon and the motus around it's edge. We don't stay too long, as word gets out in the mossie camp that fresh flesh is about and they descend in swarms so we make a hasty exit! Back on the beach Mark takes his first snorkle in Aitutaki waters, and then we have a ten hermit crab race! We sit out on the veranda before getting attacked by mossies again, and so it's back on the scooter to go and check out Samades on the northern point of the island, by the airport and opposite the 'Aitutaki Lagoon Resort and Spa' which sits on its own little motu. It used to have a bridge to it that you could walk across on, but that allowed non-paying people easy access, and so they knocked it down and there's a guy in a boat that sits there all day waiting to take people across instead!
