Cook Islands

Hello all lucky enough to read this wonderful online journal,

After leaving Fiji we took the next flight to the wonderful islands of Cook (owned by NZ funnily enough). The main and largest in the group is that of Rarotonga. We arrived late night so we arranged for the free shuttle from the airport to the hostel, situated at the other end of the island. The mammoth journey took a whooping 30mins. The room we were in was right on the beach, literary open the door and you got sea air blowing in your face, especially at the time we arrived as it was really windy nearly the whole time we were there. The 2nd and 3rd night at the hostel we had the whole room to ourselves as it wasn't exactly peak time. The first day we rented out a 125cc little cruiser motorbike for the day just to see the whole island. It took us a massive 45 mins to ride around the whole island (32km). Nice to be back on a bike, in a very nice part of the world. Later in the evening Simone was feeling ill so she went to bed early while I went out for a ride on the motorbike and had a drink in town with a Canadian guy who i met in the hostel. Just had a bit of a dance and a beer then came home, nothing too hectic. Below is a pic of Simone and I looking like a right pair of goons in our funny helmets!

Above is the island we snorkeled by and the beach front we stayed right next.

The morning/early afternoon after Simone and I went snorkeling near by the island seen in the picture below. On the way to the spot I heard a rustle in the trees then all of a sudden something flew by head and hit me on the hand - a bloody coconut had fallen from 25feet up and smack me one. I was lucky not to be hit on the head, and we had been talking about being hit by falling coconuts the night before. Crazy! The snorkeling was pretty good just a few too many triggerfish so we left earlier than expected. Twas still fun but just a little short. That evening we spent the time playing cards with the other guests, chatting and you know the usual. The next morning we left for...

Atutaki

We set off from Rarotonga at 6 in the morning to get the full time/experience at one of the most beautiful islands/lagoons in the world. The plane flight over there was pretty shaky and felt unstable due to the tiny size of the plane. It only had 33 seats on it so whatever wind there is around will shake the hell out of the plane. Anyway we arrived safe and sound but the outlook for the weather looked terrible. We got to the place we were staying at early in the morning and the guy let us in to the room, before check in time - had a nap as you do when traveling constantly. We woke up just before the afternoon to go fit in some sights and time to check out the area. We took a ride out on the free scooter we got with the room. It all looked amazing even though the weather wasn't that great. We both realised straight away how amazing the whole island was and what individual culture they have. Hardly anyone else of the roads makes for some nice relaxing riding on the scooter. In the evening we met some new friends in the other bungalows on site. The first a really cool intellectual 9lots of new info acquired) from Toronto and a gay couple from Germany. We spent the evening drinking some Cook islands and Fijian rum, while chatting by the lagoon (which is right next to the bungalows we all stay in, literally outlooking the lagoon - amazing).

The next morning we had a little lie in. After catching up on some beauty time we went out on the scooter to check out the diving schools, a few local sights and do some shopping. Terrible rain most of the time but we still really loved the place. That evening we were persuaded by the Canadian guy to go to this Polynesian night at a nearby resteraunt. We were so pleased he persuaded us to go, it was top notch. The food was possibly the best meal, at least close on the best I've ever had. So many different types of lovely food. The best probably being ikamata, its raw fish marinated in lime juice over night and served with coconut milk the next day
, just unreal flavour. After the buffet dinner the locals put on an amazing dance that lasted for around an hour. Very unusual but fantastic dancing, everyone was very impressed.


Above is the ikamata we bought the day after trying it the night before.

Early on the second day we had planned the night before to go scuba diving on the reef outside the lagoon. The weather seemed to be clearing up the first moment we woke up but it gradually got worse as we made our way kitted up on the boat, being pulled by a tractor and a trailer on the main roads. When we got out to see the water was extremely rough throwing the boat around everywhere. We wondered what it would do to the visibility below the surface. When we descended we were so shocked to see that the views were really clear (well compared to other places we had dived) a good 20-25m. We saw loads of really wicked stuff: over 20 eagle rays, 2 huge green turtles, a napoleon wrasse and loads of other stuff. The eagle rays are awesome they glide and soar through the water effortlessly. The green turtles came from rocks right below me and ascending up past us all very graciously while the napoleon wrasse was just an absolutely huge fish slightly curious of what was going on. After we finished the dive the skipper decided to head back and the second dive would be canceled because the weather was just too bad to stay into sea. On the way back into the harbour we nearly got smashed int the coral, but the skipper was very good and we managed the passive, just! After a quick nap we got up and went sea kayaking around a couple of the other islands. The snorkeling was terrible
so we didn't try to much, it was very murky, we just spent the time cruising around on the kayak. Then another evening of playing cards, drinking rum and speaking of days gone by.

On the day after we went for another cruise round on the scooter and Simone got bashed in the face with a low lying branch. Not hurt just annoyed with me for not telling her about it, but I did she just didn't hear me. This ride we got totally soaked through by the rain
, but dried soon enough. Then after we went for some more kayaking and snorkeling, wasn't too great but it was still fun. That evening we spent it by ourselves just writing postcards, reading books, playing a few cards and relaxing.

We woke up early the next day as we had been told the weather would clear up, so we woke early to catch the most of the good weather. It was absolutely glorious, the lagoon looked fantastic. We went for another ride around the whole (small island) taking some quality photos and enjoying the nice views and the good weather. Boo hoo it had finally come to an end, our time in Aitutaki was over but not forgotten. Again we travel here on more time another day - defo's. The flight back to Raro was crazy, really getting flung around by the wind and currents, nether the less we arrived safe and sound. Below photo taken of the lagoon from the plane (our bungalow is just on the bottom right curve on the lagoon).


Back in Rarotonga we sorted our bags and got ready for a plane flight that would take us to our next destination - Tahiti.