Rarotonga
Trip Start
Nov 22, 2006
1
17
45
Trip End
Jul 26, 2007
Where I stayed
Rarotonga,
Cook Islands
Thursday, December 28, 2006
On our second day here, we went to see a show of a man called Piri Puruto III. He is a world famous coconut tree climber, he's 67 and he can climb a 20 metre coconut tree in 8 seconds! And he actually is world famous, he has articles about his show from all over the world. The show takes place in his back garden which is right on the beach. It starts with a BBQ of flying fish, and then we all help to prepare the traditional food (chicken, sweet potato, fruit etc) and it is all cooked in the ground, a traditional earth oven called Umukai
All of us
. All the food is wrapped in banana leaves and herbs and after 4 hours it tastes delicious! We also made traditional plates and bowls from the leaves of the coconut tree - and Jon used a machete to cut all the leaves! He also shows us a traditional fire making ceremony using all the fibres from the coconut tree! Piri used to be a boxer, and at 67 he is such a character! So fit and nimble and he has had such an interesting life! So that day was a real highlight! Other than that we have lazed around on the beach, been kayaking, which was really hard work and today we swam across to the island, about 500 metres away, and I, Fay, got bit by a trigger fish! They are really protective of their territory, and if you go anywhere near it, they nip you! I've been generally bullied by nature today, I got glass in my foot when I was in town today, and Jon got stung by a huge wasp yesterday!
Also had Jon's birthday while we were here! We went for a really nice lunch during the day and then went out in the evening with loads of people from our hostel! Really, really fun night! And the locals are so friendly, they just pick you up on the way home when you're walking back, as the transport on the island is generally terrible! And they make a real effort to talk to you whenever you're out! The highlight of the evening for eveyone was the transvestites at this bar called the Whatever Bar
Christmas Day
! It was like they hadn't even made an effort - they just looked like huge Maori guys wearing dresses and flowers around their head - very amusing!Other big events were Christmas eve and Christmas day! On Christmas eve, we all got a bit carried away with festivities, making Christmas day a very fragile one! But Christmas day was amazing! Me and Jon and 2 other guys organised a massive beach BBQ for about 30 of us here! It was so great - the weather was amazing, we had loads of food and drink and everyone just generally had a great time! We missed home loads, but if you're gonna spend Christmas away from home, you may as well do it properly!
So, we're just waiting for our transfer to the airport to go to Auckland - really looking forward to New Zealand, but will be sad to leave here! We've really enjoyed ourselves!
On a final note, our hostel, Vara's Beach House, we'd recommend it to anyone! Cant fault it! Photos of everything to follow, computers aren't too high-tec here!
