Pacific Paradise

first breathtaking view of muri lagoon from our hillside lodge
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Sitting here in Auckland writing this, The Cook Islands seems like so long ago, although we're only one full week back in the big smoke. It's hard to do this place justice in words and photos, but i'll give it a go. It is without doubt the most unique country I've ever visited, and I reckon Ciara would think the same. The best thing i can say about The Cook Islands is if you ever have the slightest chance of going there, take it! It's not what you'd call accessible from an Irish or European perpective. We flew 9 and a half hours from LA to Rarotonga. Incidentally, if you ever have the slightest chance of spendning 9 hours in LAX waiting for your flight, I'd reccommend you go and do something less painful...like a root canal maybe. Anyway, after a pretty decent flight with Air NZ we arrived in Raro to a musical welcome from a man with a flowery shirt and a ukelele. We didnt get that in Boston. We decided that we'd go cheap and cheerful for the first few nights so we booked in at a place called Varas backpackers. We were collected by two crazy local women who argued over everything from the direction home to who had the front door keys. It was a surreal start as we drove towards our hostel in the hills, over Raro's one main road. The island itself is about 45km around and one main road circles it, so it's pretty hard to get lost. Even the buses just say "clockwise" or anti-clockwise"! We were really impressed with Vara's - although we didnt stay in their beachside units. We got a great hillside house, which we shared with a few other people. it came complete with wrap round balcony and stunning views of the beach and the lagoon. The entire island is surrounded by a lagoon and coral reef, so instead of waves breaking on the beach, they break on the reef which is about a quarter of a mile off shore at its furthest. It means that there is a beautiful still turkwoise lagoon, full of amazing fish, marine life and sea slugs (more on them later). Its hard to put into words how beautiful this all looks as you walk up the beach. As if that wasn't enough, at Muri which is where we stayed, there are four tropical Motu (islands) in the lagoon. They are easily reached by kayak, a leisurely swim, or you can just walk over as the lagoon doesn't get more than about 4 feet deep at Muri Beach. The islands are great for sunbathing, doing BBQ's or just pretending you are in "lost". Ciara made this into an artform. It doesn't take long to slip into the Cook Islands way of life. Everything moves a little slower, nothing is done with any urgency. It takes a little longer to get a drink or pay a bill..but what's the hurry anyway? They have lots of quirky little things that make you love the place. Their two dollar coin is a triangle for example. Why not? Our favourite though, is the one dollar coin. On the back, is Queen Elizabeth, on the front is Tangaroa, the local god of fertility who happens to have an extremely large penis. Apparantly herself wasn't too impressed. Although maybe she was.. The airport is priceless too - it's tiny and its a bit like waiting for a bus when you leave the island. The departure terminal is a small grassy field with a few benches on the other side of the runway. Get bored waiting for your plane and you can run accross the road to a local bar and grab some lunch while swinging in a hammock on the beach. Somthing for Dublin Airport to aspire to i think. The main town, Avarua, is full of everything you would expect - shopping centre, cafes, restaurants and a few bars. There's more than enough to keep you occupied if you're bored. There are some cross island treks available if you're feeling energetic (we weren't). The centre of the island is mountainous and green and looks amazing, but the beach is too hard to leave. Although we liked Varas, looking back i think we'd both say that we really got the full "paradise experience" when we moved to our new home - Muri Beach hideaway. Our fatastic host, Pauline, checked us into the most amazing bungalow. We had our swimming pool 2 steps from our veranda, and an incredible view of muri lagoon. we were 15 metres from the sand and I can safely say there is nothing quite like sitting on the sundeck at our pool, sipping a beer and watching kayaks, windsurfers, kitesurfers and swimmers go by, all in front of a picture postcard sunset. We really felt like this was the most perfect place on earth. About halfway through our stay, I had to gear myself up for my scooter driving test. No one on Raro can drive without a local licence and unless you have a bike licence, you have to sit a driving test. After a late night cramming on the rules of the road, the local bike cop took us (myself and 4 others) on a hell-raising drive around the block of raro police HQ. Ciara waited nervously for me to return (which I did, in first place I might add). Thankfully, I managed to convince the sarge that like the locals, i too could stay on my bike on friday nights after a skinful of pints. (no, we didnt do that dont worry mum). Scooters proved a great way to get around and opened up the rest of the island to us which helped ease any boredom that set in. Ciara always said she wanted a biker boyfriend anyway. There are some lovely restaurants on Raro, most notably the Flame tree and Tamarind House (just in case you drop by). To be honest, we didnt do a whole lot during our stay. we chilled out, happy not to be moving every second day like the past 6 weeks. We cooked a bit in our bungalow, we went on a few bike rides - saw the most beautiful sunset Ive ever seen on the west side of the island, and worked on our tans a bit - so now were only slightly milky white. It wasnt just the picture perfect paradise and the weather that made us have such a great time though - we met some great people on Raro, not least Pauline - our fantastic host on the hideaway on the beach. Twice while we were there, she threw a dinner party and cooked food in the traditional 'Umu'. This is where your food cooks slowly in an earth oven covered over with hot stones and wrapped in bannana leaves. It tastes amazing. The dinners were great though, as it gave us the chance to meet some other guests there. We had great fun with some of Paulines friends and family and met some great friends in Rob and Noel from California and Jon and Steph from England who are living and teaching in Tokyo. We had a great time with all, including a somewhat infamous poker night involving pebbles, vodka and a man named Bobby K. You had to be there. Congrats to Rob and Noel who got engaged while we were next door neighbours on Muri Beach. its that kinda place, although Ciara didnt have the guts to ask me. Sea slugs - i nearly forgot about them. They look like long black bits of coral or rock, until they move that is. Apparantly they're quite tasty and can be taken straight from the water and pulled apart like a christmas cracker. What comes out is stringly spaghetti (guts!) which apparantly go down quite well. I dont think spaghetti hoops on toast will ever be the same again for Ciara. Oddly enough, sea slugs survive the christmas cracker style rude awakeing, and simply grow back again - which was more than could be said for Ciara's love of Spaghetti. We still actually miss Rarotonga. We didnt even get to Aitutaki which is the second largest of the Cook Islands, and apparantly even more stunning. Nne the less, Rarotonga is forver imprinted on us as probably the most beautiful place we've ever been. If only Ireland could be moved to the South Pacific. We'd take them at football too, they're rubbish at it....

We really felt like this was the most perfect place on earth