Leaving The Cooks

Saturday 30 December

I am at last able to get a connection again, and am posting the blogs (from Saturday 16 December) in Tahiti on Sunday 31 December. The time we have spent in the Cook Islands has been very relaxing, doing almost nothing, so the entries are much shorter than those for New Zealand. We would like to wish everyone who is keeping up with our travels a very Happy New Year and hope to see you when we get home – tomorrow we will be able to say “later this year”! I might just add that the sun is shining here, it’s over 30 degrees and the sky is blue as we wait for midnight – still ten hours behind England.

Saturday 30 December

Our last day on this island, and in some ways we will be glad to be traveling on. The hotel, while basic and comfortable, is even more full of children now for New Year, and whereas they tended to be between 0 and 6 for Christmas, they have now progressed to 0 to15, and the pool has become a warfare zone as everyone tries to get a small area to teach young children to swim, play volleyball, or just plain float around in a leisurely manner. It is proving far too small now the resort is full. There are also too few loungers and insufficient shade in the hotel as guests wander around looking for somewhere to lay out where they won’t be fried alive. We have now exhausted the breakfast stakes and become bored with the choice – are we becoming travel “snobs”? Having said all that, we have enjoyed our break here, relaxing in the sun this last week – I am now quite burnt in places from the ocean breezes and beginning to peel – and we have got used to doing nothing once again.

We packed our suitcases as far as possible, keeping out clothes to change into later, and, of course, swimmers, books, puzzles and cards to entertain us during the day – quite a bagful to find space for later. We returned to our spot with large chairs under the shady palm trees, but the sun was scorching today (how different from just a week ago when we experienced all that rain) and soon moved round, so we had to move to another spot. Colin went and sat in the marquee looking out over the bay, while I went kayaking again. In only a short distance from the shore, the breezes strengthened and were whipping the surface of the lagoon into forceful waves, and the current was running strongly across the cove. Keeping the kayak in a straight line, the way you wanted to go, was quite difficult and I kept finding myself being tugged closer and closer to the exposed rocks near the reef – a long way from shore. Fearful of falling in again, I tried to make my back to the beach, but it seemed to be like “stirring porridge” and I felt I was getting nowhere fast. In the waves it was difficult to spot the fish – I saw a few, but nowhere near so many as on other days – I think they were staying at home till the waters calmed a little. I floated further across the lagoon and made another attempt at getting closer to the shore, and with the wind in my face, it was a slow process, but I got there in the end. There were only a few kayaks left on the water by now, so I think everyone was abandoning the almost treacherous conditions.

Returning to Colin, we puzzled for a while in the marquee, with cooling winds blowing through, but then a waitress started to set up tables for a wedding breakfast later in the day, so we had to move once more. This time found a shady spot closer to the restaurant and ordered a couple of beers. We spent the afternoon reading and puzzling, until about 16.30 the activities guys set up the volleyball net, only yards from where we were sitting. Obviously a reminder to us to think about changing. As mentioned yesterday, the Reception has suggested we change in the shower in the loos near the poolside, but when investigating, I found the floor in the ladies area was running with water, through which dirty little feet had padded throughout the day, so by now it was grubby and wet and entirely unsuitable. Instead we knew there were loos on the first floor, so foregoing a shower (I had rinsed myself under the warm water tap on the beach when leaving the lagoon earlier) we changed and returned to the patio area immediately outside the restaurant to play cards until it was time to eat.

Needing to top up on junk food before we left, both of us chose burgers tonight – Colin a Raro burger, with everything from pineapple, fried egg, beetroot and salad inside his bun, with chips of course, while I chose an equally decadent cheese and bacon burger (it was supposed to have onion rings as a garnish, which were missing – but it was such a huge burger I couldn’t have eaten them anyway) again with chips (I seem to have got a bit of a “chips” fetish since coming here, so will have to change that when we travel on).

It was then time to sort out cases ready for the onslaught on the airport – and pay the bill. We had arranged with the hotel manager not to settle our account until just before we left, so we didn’t have to change up any more dollars unnecessarily, although of course we had to hand our key before 10.00 – which caused a bit of consternation in the morning, but worked out fine in the end. The two telephone calls on our bill were equal to a third of the total! – but they were worth every minute and every dollar. Nothing to do then, but sit and wait to be collected – and get bitten by mozzzie-type flies - they were out in force tonight – there are no doors or windows to shut in Reception to keep out any such bugs, so they had a feast on us. (We are still using the “magic” potion from Koh Samui days.)

The bus collected us around 20.15 and when we arrived at the airport, we were amazed at how many others were traveling tonight on our flight – we naively had though it would be a small inter-island hopper style airplane – but it was a large Boeing 737-300 taking people from Auckland via Rarotonga and Tahiti to Los Angeles! Rarotonga airport is a little like Koh Samui, with lots of gardens, trees and small huts – the waiting areas before and after the security checks are lawns with picnic tables covered by thatched roofs. It was a very balmy evening with a bright, three-quarter moon lighting the runway. When the plane landed, it quickly taxied to the “arrivals gate” (which becomes the “departure gate” when everyone has been off-loaded!) where it had to do a 360 degree turn – there was not a lot of room for error, and the man with the red torches was flapping his arms frantically to ensure the wings missed the roof of the building.

All the passengers had to evacuate the plane at both stopover points and take all their hand luggage with them! I think those with young children found this a bind – but we are told it’s for “security”. Here in Rarotonga they were treated to a local musician serenading them as they entered the waiting area, and invited over the PA system to take advantage of the duty free shopping (mostly pearls, booze and ciggys here) – which many of them did. Transit passengers were the first to be allowed back on the plane, but we weren’t far behind, as it was already about 15 minutes behind schedule, and the captain was eager to make up the time before he reached Tahiti – I think they changed crews there.

We were only a few minutes late at Tahiti, which was a re-run of Roratonga – but in French. All the announcements were foreign (we could pick out the odd word from our schoolday French – but they speak very fast and it’s hard to keep up), but we managed to find our way to the minibus, waiting to take us to the hotel – collecting white jasmine and red hibiscus garlands on the way – that smell again – heavenly..

Our hotel was the first stop on the route and most of the passengers alighted here. It appeared far more sophisticated and much more what we were used to, than the Rarotonga Resort, with a posh reception area, ready and waiting to dispatch us to our rooms. We enjoyed a glass of cold pineapple juice – most welcome, as the temperature here was still almost 30 degrees, despite it being nearly 02.00. We were taken to our room by a porter dressed in nothing but a short linen wrap-round “skirt” decorated with braiding round the hem – at about mid-thigh length – he was quite hunky with his bare chest and Polynesian good looks – but very gay!

The room was excellent (thank goodness), fairly large with all the facilities we have come to expect – a proper bathroom with shower, bath, wash basin and loo in one room for a start. Looking out over the balcony, the moonlight was reflected in a long frieze across the sea in front of us, with several tall palm trees along the water’s edge. It looked very romantic – but it was too late to muse on that. No time to unpack more than washbags before we climbed into bed, feeling quite exhausted. We have no food booked at this hotel, apart from our “special dinner” tomorrow evening, so we do not have to be up early to catch breakfast – I made sure Colin did not set the alarm clock.