Day 343 – 356: Raro and Coconuts

The only way to guarantee that we would actually leave New Zealand was to book our homeward flight via the Cook Islands. We might have been nearing the end of our trip but we still had the excitement of a holiday in the beautiful pacific islands. Our flight from Auckland didn’t arrive until 2.30 am but still there was a guy at the airport with a eukelele welcoming our arrival with island music.

We got taken to our accommodation by Lilly the “Transport Lady” who, after depositing us, managed to get the van stuck with the back wheels off the ground. After our futile efforts to move it she called her daughter who was clever and would know what to do. However it was not the daughter’s brains that were needed and when she arrived it was clear that shifting minibusses with her sizeable shoulders (she was huge in a pacific island sort of way) was not the same problem it posed us.

I think it goes without saying that the Cook Islands were amazing. We could not ask for a more beautiful location to finish our trip with. We spent half our time on Rarotonga, the main island, mostly relaxing on the beach or by the pool (we had a lovely pool/bbq area by our room which was great for a budget place). We hired a moped for a day to explore and buy supplies (fresh fish and papaya were about the only reasonably priced things on the island so we happily lived off that for a week). There was no real need to go further afield because we were staying on Muri Lagoon, which is the best beach on the island. About the only other activity we managed was to go to church on Sunday. Neither of us have been inside a church since the last  wedding but everyone had told us to at least make on island service and it is a great occasion. Everyone dresses up, the ladies in the front with their hats on and the men at the back with their flower print shirts and the singing is fantastic.

Our last night on Rarontonga, we went to an “Island Night” at the big hotel on Muri Beach. There was an excellent Hangi style buffet with every different sort of seafood and then put on some dancing. It was all a lot of fun until they dragged people up to join in… how embarrasing – but Gem did win a free cocktail out of it.

We split up our stay in the Cook Islands with a week in Aitutaki, a smaller, quieter island a short flight away so on Tuesday we got the bus into town and then got on a plane that was smaller than the bus!! The flight into Aitutaki is possibly the most spectacular approach there can be. Flying over the lagoon you see all the little islands as well as the most dazzling blue of the shallow sea.

We chose our accommodation because it was the cheapest we could get, but it was gorgeous. Much more than we needed – we had a large self-contained bungalow, with our own decking. And we pretty much had the resort, with its own secluded beach, to ourselves. This truly was paradise and we were very lucky to be there.

We did have a couple of days of rain while we were in Aitutaki (this was the rainy season), and as there really is nothing to do there these were totally wasted – just reading books on the deck getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. But after what seemed like forever it cleared up and we could get back to the beach and, more importantly, could go on our lagoon tour. The lagoon tour is the highlight of Aitutaki. The lagoon is significantly bigger than  on the main island so you don’t get a real appreciation for its beauty until you are on a boat visiting all the small uninhabitted islands and snorkelling areas. A couple of islands are where they film “survivor” and “shipwrecked” so if you are into your sunday morning tv you will know what they look like, but they are all picture postcard beautiful. On one-foot island, there is actually a post office. Not quite sure why, but they will stamp your passport for you if you bring it along, which is quite cool.

The rest of the week on the island we spent of several different beaches – all equally deserted but it is nice to have a change of scenery sometimes. The one we spent the most time on was near to us and in that part of the lagoon there was a sand bank that stretched out for about a kilometre with the water barely getting deeper than your shins. This was great when it was too hot to sit on the beach because you could read without having to get up every five minutes to cool off.

Alas, all good things must come to an end and short of becoming a coconut exporter, we had to leave the Cook Islands. But we could go on with a renewed sense of excitement because it was on one of the beaches (sitting on a spit in the lagoon) that Gemma agreed to marry me and so we had an important bit of shopping to do in the States before we got home…

(Rarotonga Airport international departures lounge)