25th February 2010 This small coastal town is basically the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. It is full of backpackers tripping into town to embark on the mandatory Whitsunday cruise. We sat for a while enjoying the view before the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos came down to the balcony, obviously expecting some food. Since they didn’t get any they set about destroying the small table on the balcony instead. ...
25th/26th October 2009 Attending church on a Sunday morning is something of a Rarotongan tradition. Each of the local churches welcomes the tourists to come into their morning service and listen to the wonderful Maori singing, followed by a feed at the community centre. The church we attended in Titikaveka was a lovely building built in the eighteen hundreds, the pulpit area was filled with local flowers and the windows were plain looking out onto the lush green hills behind. The church is a perfect square representing the fact that before God there is no colour or creed, simply human beings. The singing was superb and truly raised the roof and true to form I got quite emotional when they started (it’s something about choirs!). The entire service was conducted in Maori, apart from the lesson which was spoken first in Maori, then English. After the service, the Church secretary thanked a few special guests for coming, one of which was the Queens Representative on the Cook Islands, so we’d been at church with royalty (well almost!). ...
19th October 2009 Flying into Rarotonga at 5.30am, we saw a glorious dawn breaking over the horizon as we dipped below the fluffy clounds into Avarua (the main township). The airport hadn’t changed much in the 10 years since I last visited, you still pretty much land outside the terminal building and there was still a man with a guitar singing to welcome you and you still got garlands of flowers on arrival. ...
22nd October 2009 An early-ish start today, we caught the bus with Sophie who is also staying at the guesthouse, just before 9:30 and headed towards Avarua where we got off just next to the harbour ready to start our cross-island walk. The start was fairly easy going on tarmac roads, but this soon turned into a track, which then become a single file uphill climb through dense undergrowth. ...
24th October 2009 Saturday is market day in Avarua. The Cook Island’s Cultural market sells everything from seasonal fruit and vegetables, food ranging from waffles to meat cooked in the umu, the ubiquitous black pearls, pareu (sarongs) and t-shirts. One of the best things in the Cook Islands is that the people here are so laid back and friendly it’s lovely just to wander around the market and look at the stalls, there’s not the pressure to buy from the stall holders that you get in other places, you look, you say hello and if you want to buy you buy, if not, no problem. ...
20th October 2009 A lazy start on another morning with a cloudless blue sky. We popped into town to do some shopping, before heading back to the guesthouse for a sandwich lunch on the beach. After lunch, we went back to Fruits of Rarotonga and hired some snorkelling gear. We saw a few fish swimming round, but the water was a bit chilly, so we didn’t stay out for long, but came back and sat on the warm beach to dry off. ...
21st October 2009 We headed off to explore Avarua this morning to buy some postcards and stamps from the tiny post office. After a bit of a wander around town looking at some of the black pearls, we went back to the guesthouse to make some sandwiches with the free bread that we get every morning. The lady that lives here, Moka, works for a bakery so we get loads of fresh bread every morning. She keeps complaining we don’t eat enough of it! ...
23rd October 2009 Another early start today, we were booked to take a tour with Taranga Tours so we had to be at the supermarket for 8.30ish. We arrived just as the landrover was pulling in with the other people on today’s tour, a family of 3 from New Zealand. Before we began the tour, our driver, Useless (honestly!) said a prayer in Cook Islands Maouri, then he talked to us about the umu that we would have on our return from the tour. ...