I love the Cook Islands! Rarotonga is
all you imagine a tropical island to be, friendly locals, slow pace
of life, stunning scenery, special beaches and a reef which has
created a huge and sheltered lagoon. Unfortunately there are also
some mosquitos who seem to love me. Sue's developed a theory that as
we are in the Southern hemisphere the mosquitos have switched to
preferring men to women, I think her GCSE Science Grade E is still
some way off.
We were fortunate with the weather,
this is the rainy season but even so we only had one slight shower
during the day and one substantial shower in the evening.
Temperatures were constant 25-30 degrees, but humidity was quite
high on some days, surprisingly this affected Sue more than me.
Highlights of Rarotonga (not in
chronological order)
a. Captain Tama's Lagoon Cruize –
This glass bottomed boat ride on the lagoon where we saw large
numbers of tropical fish was good fun, the snorkelling was
interesting (even I did a little), the crew singing and their show
(tying sarongs, opening coconuts and island harmonies) entertaining. All of this followed by a BBQ on a small coral island in the lagoon.
b. Sue going scuba diving in the
lagoon. First a trial at a hotel swimming pool, then Sue came out
with a grin that lasted two days, she attacked and hugged the diving
instructor (James please note she'll do it to anyone given half a
chance). She told me that she saw an even greater variety of fish
than snorkelling.
c. The Island Night at the Pacific
Resort, a meal followed by local singing, dancing and drumming. I
have to be careful what I say, but Sue's description of the young
women dancers was “stunning” and they waggled their bums at an
amazing rate!! All wore coconut bras, but I read that these are not
traditional in the Cooks but an import from French Polynesia. Before
that, no coconuts – the old ways are the best.
d. Cook Islands Television – only
one channel and filled with some programmes from NZ and other
imports, mixed with local content. The local content is slightly
amateurish but very community focussed (an announcement of a memorial
service to a local person, congratulations to a local school team
who have done well and forthcoming community events), some reminded
me of the UK in the 1950's (the public service film at 8.15 in the
evening featuring a very young child talking to “Kuki”, a rather
alarming person sized parrot,saying it was her bedtime and that she
had done all of her homework and brushed her teeth. All of this
followed by the injunction to children that it was time for all Kukis
to be in bed.
e. The friendliness and kindness of
the locals. As with most places we have been local people are open
and welcoming. Sue's scuba instructor, Steve, was charming,
understanding, and kind to her. Robyn, who was the joint owner of the
Kabanas and who drove the pick up van, was booked to take us to the
airport at 22.00 but phoned the airport to check the flight was on
time. As it was late he phoned us to say he would pick us up later so
we didn't have too long waiting at the airport, so he came at 23.00
instead.
f. The tropical flowers growing like
weed. Plants which only grow in greenhouses in Europe were prolific,
makes me sick!
I will leave Rarotonga with many
happy memories and one or two strange ones. Perhaps the strangest was
seeing two (very attractive) female police officers with a speed gun
trying to identify speeding motorists. The maximum speed out of towns
is 50kmph, in towns 30 kmph! No-one drives at this speed because the
roads are so bad. Steve the scuba instructor, explained they are
trying to recoup the cost of the speed gun. I can believe this as a
major concern at the moment is the size of the Cook Islands
government deficit, $2.5 million.
Back to "civilisation" in
San Francisco yesterday. We travelled almost 24 hrs to get here. The
flight frm Rarotonga (9.5 hrs) was scheduled for midnight but left at
01.30 instead. We arrived at Los Angeles airport at 14.00 expecting
to endure the rude security and long delays for which the airport is
famous, not a bit of it!. The staff tried minimise the delay at
security and the officers were pleasant and polite. Our planned five
hour stop over at LA was shortened to three hours and we caught our
American Airlines one hour filght on time. AA are similar to Ryanair
in many ways, except they do allocate seats and you get a (small)
drink. They encourage people to use hand luggage so the plane was
jammed.
We are just at the gates of Chinatown
and so went for a Chinese meal, we seem to be developing a knack of
arriving at restaurants just as everyone else is leaving!
Today is President's Day in the US so
is a public holiday, along with many others we've been tourists in
SF, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Chinatown and Trolleys, and photos of
Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge have been on the itinerary. Very
fortunate with the weather which was clear and bright and springtime
warm. Being a bit jetlagged we are somewhat knackered! At least Sue
agreed to take the trolley car up the hill rather than down!
Tomorrow we leave to drive to
Monterey and the Pacific Coast Rd, and a surprise for someone.
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