As you may or may not have noticed there have been a distinct lack of posts and updates. The reason for the absence is we’ve both been as rough as ten bears since we arrived here, and it wiped us both out. Due to this we haven’t been able to do anything that we really wanted to do. So rather than bore you with a daily update of our germs there is only this little update.
Our first morning was spent out rumbling along the road and exploring our immediate location we found the bakery!!! The Island is stunning, sharp peaked green covered volcanoes inland and the ocean lapping at the shore, Utter Perfection. The Islands brewery is just past the Bakery, and they sell refillable bottles of beer and free triple filtered water top ups for all. Despite being a quiet part of the island there were still several restaurants and hotels offering tasty looking food. Except on Mondays. Or Tuesdays.
Opposite the entrance of our little resort is a general store selling most things, including WiFi vouchers. There is only one internet and mobile provider on the whole island and that is Vodafone. You have to purchase data packages and then log into it via open wifi networks around the island as there is little to no free wifi here.
Our little chalet is beautiful, set back slightly from the beach which is private. Large tropical coconut trees sway in the breeze, and there’s the occasional thud as a coconut hits the sand. The island has a lagoon around it, and on our particular beach the waves break on the coral wall and gently flow into the lagoon making it very safe for swimming and snorkelling. There are other areas that are very dangerous to swim in due to the coral channel having a violent undertow. The beach is a mix of white sand and large chunks of broken coral, with huge lumps of coral rising up out of the sand along the shore line. The resort supplies reef shoes and snorkelling gear which proved to be a godsend, The broken coral is not only blimin hard, it’s also incredibly sharp! The lagoon is a beautiful clear turquoise, and just in front of our part of the beach it’s rocky in the water in places, but as the water is so clear, you don’t come across them unexpectedly.
The island is renowned for its ants and mosquitoes. The ants were more of an irritant than the nozzles in this occasion, armies of them marching around the chalet, outside, on the beach, just everywhere. We also had a Delhi, which we named Gary. Friendly little guy, he bought his mates in for a party the one night we had to tell him to keep the noise down!!
We caught the clockwise bus on the one day which fortunately stops right outside the resort. It's $5 a ride no matter how far you go. The capitol isnt that big, but has a few places to eat and drink, a supermarket, and some nice gift shops. We didn’t stop long, just long enough to get some food from the supermarket and catch the anticlockwise bus back to the chalet.
We forced ourselves to do an anticlockwise bus ride of the Island too, and 40 minutes later we pulled up at the bus stop in town. We’d done a complete lap of the Island and it was beautiful, obviously I was snapping photos like a woman possessed! We had a light lunch in the lucky rooster, a seriously nice place to eat, with chickens wandering about pecking up the scraps that fall on the floor.
Every Saturday morning from 0700 to 1200hrs there’s a market, and we paid it a short visit. It was quite an experience. Absolutely packed, stalls of every description jammed in selling their wares. It’s the local market to buy fresh produce too so the road and the buses were busy, standing room only on the buses in both directions. We didn’t linger, thinking we might try the lucky rooster for food, only to discover it was closed, and as we were rumbling back the bus pulled in so we got in and went home.
I had a couple of days sat on the beach, but neither of us had any energy at all to do anything more taxing than that. Our plans for island hopping trips, and snorkelling, visiting the native village for a show and fire display over the water all fell by the wayside. We’ve decided we have to come back to do it justice, it’s such a lush island and everyone of the 14 islands has something quite unique to offer. Although some of them in the North, whilst inhabited get a cargo supply ship once a month and not much is known about the residents.
So that was Rarotonga, and we don’t really feel we can tick it off the list because we did zilch there! Never mind, we’ve had some lovely sunsets, and seen some amusing things. Mainly motorcycles involved. My favourite I think being a toddler, around 2 year old tied around her mothers waist with a wide strip of fabric on the back of a scooter. Holding on for grim death.