Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Island of Rarotonga, Cook islands

there will be no photos attached at this time..

All right, so here I am in this beautiful place and the weather is just not cooperating.. cloudy and the occasional showers, what's that... but in the last few days we have had sun and I have gotten of my lazy butt and done some sight seeing and activities..

But to start, our Cook islands history lesson! There are 15 islands in the Cooks and fall into two distinct groups scattered over some two million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean - an area the size of western Europe. Rarotonga is part of the southern group, which also includes Aitutaki (where i go tomorrow!) There are a number of unpopulated Islands in both the northern and southern groups.

The Cooks is a unique Polynesian country with an independent government (in free association with New Zealand - whatever that means) ahh it means.. that the Cook Islanders carry new Zealand passports and New Zealand takes on many of the responsibilities of Foreign Affairs (including defence).

The resident population is estimated to be around 13,000 but declining. Visitor numbers are close to 80,000 annually, (not including day trippers from cruise ships). Tourism is the most important money earner for the Cooks. the most common language is Rarotongan Maori, but everyone speaks English as well.

The name , Cook islands, was first used in the early 1830's by a Russian cartographer -- over 50 years after Captain James Cook's death. Cook had explored much of the group but only stepped ashore on Palmerston island and didn't see Rarotonga (the largest island and center of government and commerce). The name initially applied only to the Southern group of islands which until then were separate island entities. After annexation by New Zealand in 1901 the name, Cook Islands, was extended to include the islands in the northern group.

Enough of that.. the island is spectacularly beautiful and surrounded by an amazing coral reef which goes out about 100 meters (maybe) and drops off 4000 meters. This creates some amazing drastic color changes.... so beautiful!!! The weather has been off, cloudy with the occasional showers and very strong winds, but has finally cleared up, though still windy.

After taking 2 days to recover the killer flight from Tonga, I ventured out and went to a Cook Island Church service. It was colorful and lots of singing and the best part was the free luncheon afterwards! Good donuts and buns, and fruits!! yummy That afternoon I went with a couple of gals to the Fruits of Rarotonga beach and went for a snorkel. The coral isn't as colorful as other places, but it is there and with coral comes all different kinds of fish, so that was cool to see.

A couple of days were raining so I read and finished another book and started another one. I also moved from the dorm on the beach side to a single room in the hillside which gave me access to a tv (with one channel- the news) and a DVD player. So the rainy days passes with reading and watching movies.

Finally I got off my butt and went on an Island tour on the back roads with a jeep. They took us up the hills and had some amazing views from all around the island. We got a coconut presentation and at the end were served a traditional meal of chicken, rooster (very tasty), spinach, taro, kasava (like a yam/ potato), a cooked banana thing and a raw fish in coconut milk mixture called something I cannot remember...

The next day I went for a two tank dive and saw some new fish and neatly shaped coral and the sand bottom of the reef. I saw the neatest black and white puffer fish and got pretty close to a jelly fish. It was a good day to be under water as the winds were still pretty strong. After the dive I went to have lunch at another resort (VERY nice place, because I had met a gent on one of my plane trips who knew the over. so I went to say hi)..

On my last full day in Raro, i went on a cross island walk with a 68-year old gent up to the "needle" 400 meters up and a tough climb. But it was a great day to climb and be sheltered from the wind. the view from the top was amazing. We had a great lunch and some very good pau pau (papaya). AND my knees held out until the last five minutes, so all was good!

Tomorrow (Saturday) I am off to meet friends at the weekend market (which goes from 6 Am to 1 PM). I won't quite arrive that early though, but will get a good look around until I have to get back and get bags for my flight to Aitutaki. the plan is to get some cheap, yet beautiful black pearls there... no room for much else!

Aitutaki is supposed to be thee nicest place in the South Pacific and closer to the equator so warmer and sunnier! I am soo looking forward to it. I have a self contained beach bungalow on the beach and free kayak and scooter usage. So it should be fun! Internet, I am told, is $20/ hour so likely it will be awhile before you hear from me again!

Ohh yeah, I don't think i mentioned the free roaming chickens and pigs in Tonga, of which there were tons, and here in Raro, there are not so many pigs but roosters EVERYWHERE and they crow all day long. no rhyme nor reason!

Still loving the get-away, and still meeting all kinds of people, but also looking forward to getting away from ants and decent fitting clothes!

love y'all!

Shari

1 comment:

Beverly said...

Can't wait to see the pearls! The markets must be amazing to experience! Looking forward to hearing about them.