Day by Day

A cool shot by Travis
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Saturday - We flew overnight from Auckland and landed at 4am at the Rarotonga airport. I was disappointed not to get a view of the island as we arrived but later learned that its easier and safer for flights to land without the sun shining on the water(?) so all big flights come in at night. I had reserved a room in what I thought was a small homestay/B&B run by a guy named Doug who also ran the Internet Cafe in Muri Beach where we were staying. Other than booking the flights this was the only prior planning I had to do for this trip, and I had read some online reviews from people who had stayed there and it seemed a good (and cheap) choice. But I was still nervous and would be until I saw the room. Doug picked us up at the airport and led us through the dark parking lot. We could barely see but it was apparent that his car was a bit rundown and when he mentioned that he just needed to top up the radiator because he hadn't had time to get it fixed my apprehension jumped a few levels. I'm guessing if I could see the car well I wouldn't have gotten in it. We drove the 5 miles to Muri Beach and chatted with Doug who seems like a nice guy if a bit flaky, and learned along the way that 1) the house was right on the beach (yay) and 2) Doug only rents this house and gets people in to help pay the bills (not so good). Once we walked in I knew we weren't staying. The house was OK, decent by island standards, and you could see that Doug made an effort to keep it tidy but the mismatched furniture was tatty, the bed we could not sleep on for a week without serious back injury and the bathroom was ancient and rundown (plus we had to share it). We said we needed to get some sleep and closed the door to the room (which I later couldn't open because it sticks in the frame) and I apologized for my choice. In a couple hours when it was light and Doug was at the cafe we checked around and ended up getting a room with private bath just down the road at Vara'swhich was clean and comfortable with a shared kitchen and a great deck right on the beach. That was the only real bump in the road which we fixed right away. We left Doug some money for the night and a note and never saw him again. After we got settled we took the bus around the island the long way and into Avarua where we ate lunch, shopped and bought some groceries. We relaxed and went to bed pretty early.

So blue!
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Sunday - is a quiet day on the island, nothing is open so after sleeping a lovely 10 or 12 hours and awakening to the roosters crowing and palm leaves rustling, we decided to go for a hike nearby. We walked the Avana stream into the interior and were amazed at how green everything was. We also visited the Paradise Resort down the beach and had another yummy meal. It was great sharing a beach with people who were paying 10 times what we were.

Giant purple-lipped clams

It looks like head right?
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Monday - We went back into Avarua to have lunch at Trader Jack's (a harbor-front restaurant that had been hurt 3 times in the cyclones last year but just kept running). One look at the menu left no question that we would have the seafood platter for two. There's a great picture of the plate on the photo page, it was a bounty! Fresh tuna sashimi, shrimp, mussels, oysters, crayfish and best of all the local dish "ika mata" which is raw fish marinated in lime and coconut cream...yum! Back at Muri Beach we rented a kayak and paddled out to the islands in the lagoon. We thought we'd check out the recommended snorkelling on the far side of one little island but it was calm and shallow enough that we just floated around looking at the fish. We saw two bright blue starfish. There were some other people floating around, it was great just relaxing and looking into the water.

Vara's deck
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Tuesday - We celebrated out 2nd anniversary today (which is funny because it wasn't until after the trip was planned that I realized it was over our anniversary!). We rented a scooter which requires you to have a Cook Islands driver's license so we rode into town for Travis to get one. You have to take a motorcyle test to drive a scooter so the cop came out and gave instructions to the test takers and then followed them on a short drive around the block. The license is a cheesy laminated piece of paper but has a photo on it, a cool souvenir. The mission for the day was to drive around the island and snorkel at different spots. The best places turned out to be on the South end of the island in front of the Rarotongan Resort which also has a very nice beach to relax on. On the way home we stopped for a smoothie and also tried to get some fruit but still had no luck. We were in luck at the butcher's who had a fresh supply of swordfish steaks. He also explained why the fruit couldn't be found but we improvised with canned pineapple and made a great salsa to top the fish. (A $10 meal including beer!)

Mmmmm...seafood platter.
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Wednesday - We kept the scooter for another day so we would have transport to the "Island Night" we'd booked. First we decided to snorkel some more. We went back to the Rarotongan Resort where you could watch fish from the restaruant patio. We snorkelled relaxed on the beach for a few hours. I had read that there were giant clams but figured they were only outside the reef, but just as I thought I was done for the day Travis came back to shore and said he thought he'd seen one. So I went back out and paddled around and had just given up when there on the bottom were two giant clams with their purple lips and orange interiors - so cool! We heard there was good snorkelling across from a shop called Fruits of Rarotonga so we went there next. Finally it was time to go home, clean up and rest before Island Night. These events are a big deal and everyone goes to one, and its worth it. They cook dinner in the traditional underground method, and there is every local dish imaginable. The drummers and dancers really seem to enjoy themselves on stage which makes it that much more fun to watch. We even got to share some wedding cake courtesy of a couple who had their ceremony on the beach that afternoon. The scooter ride back was a bit chilly and a big bug flew right into my eye!

Thursday - Today was the day we tackled the cross-island hike. What an adventure! The walk is 5 miles in total, with about 2 miles of road leading to and from the trail. The elevation gain is only about 1200 ft and you go up one side, down the other...sounds simple enough right? We had waited a few days since the last rain so the trail would be in better shape and were afraid there wouldn't be much of a waterfall at the end; it was 90 degrees as we headed up the hill. The first half of the trail was very overgrown and then climbed steeply up a staircase of tree roots to a rock called "The Needle" (which we declined to scale). At the top I had to laugh because there was a rooster, those guys are everywhere. Only when we started to leave Travis felt something brush his leg and the rooster was following us. He crowed a few times and kept coming after us until Travis chased him back. It was unnerving having him sneak up on us as we were walking a narrow ridge where a fright could send you tumbling. It started to rain lightly, then harder and we were trying to move as quickly as possible while being careful on the slippery clay trail. The trail got better but the rain got worse and we found ourselves soaked through navigating another tree root staircase that was slowly turning into a small creek. We were both a bit nervous since we didn't know what the trail was like or how long we had to go. Our secret fears were realized when we hit the creek and realized we would have to cross the muddy tumbling water. We ended up crossing about 6 times, our spirits sinking each time we ended up at the water's edge. I don't think it was ever truly dangerous or we wouldn't have proceeded, but the cloudy, brown water left you carefully prodding for the next footstep having no idea of depth or rocks. It was better to try and get down asap then wait and get stuck. Finally the rain stopped and the trail left the creek. At the bottom the waterfall was in full swing and all 8 people from the trail had made it safely. We dried out in the sun, caught the bus back and had some more fabulous swordfish (fish tacos) for dinner.

Friday - Last day today (boo-hoo). Travis went into town to shop for souvenirs while I indulged my sore muscles by lying on Muri Beach and reading. We had one last meal at the Paradise Resort wriggling our toes in the sand under our beachside table. Sitting around the community kitchen that night listening to the other departing travellers compare hostels in Fiji and how many weeks they had left in the islands I was jealous. I didn't want to go back to work! The big question became what would it take for us to live in a beautiful place like this? As Travis said, there is a University of the South Pacific! It was a wonderful, relaxing vacation and I look forward to coming back to the Cook Islands and visiting some of the more remote islands.