18/1/2026 Rarotonga market and road trip.

I'm slacking… I was a little late to breakfast this morning, only by a few minutes because I was preparing my phone and waterproof case ready for my day out. So I feel I have a valid excuse. Also I’m on Island time so it doesn’t matter anyway really. 

Saturday must be shift swap day, because the staff who have been on afternoons are now on for breakfast. The girl who knows my water order, was in for breakfast and offered to carry my food to the table for me. People are just so lovely. I added some toast to my breakfast this morning as I knew I'd be out for a while and didn't really know what the plan was. I discovered the bread that I've enjoyed today was gluten free, I thought there was something familiar about it when I ate it!  As i was enjoying my third coffee, my Maori neighbour who has been on all the trips and having the time of her life came in. I'd missed her the last day or so but she'd been busy which is fabulous. She went out on the party bus, which takes the passengers on a pub crawl around the island. There was a hen night on it, all in their mid twenties,  and she lasted a few pubs with them and walked back to the resort, but they had been so kind to her and taken her under their wing. 

I invited her to join me and was surprised but really pleased when she accepted, she was very tearful, and it was because she never imagined in her lifetime that she would get to experience and see everything she had seen these last two weeks. As she was telling me everything she just couldn't stop crying but they were tears of gratitude and joy, and I just sat and listened and held her hand. It was really humbling to be sat with a person who was so grateful for everything she had. It turns out she is from a really rough part of New Zealand, and is, in her words, very poor and looked down upon because she has no money. Single handedly she has brought up 4 boys and two girl, they are all working full time, and seem to adore her, and they are the ones who chipped together and paid for her first ever holiday out of new Zealand. Understandably shes incredibly proud of them because living where they do it would have been very easy for them to have joined gangs, got into drugs, but they are all seriously good people. In her community, they do a lot of voluntary work, and she,  Sandy, provides packed lunches for school children out of her own pocket, and feeds elderly people a hot meal and sits with them . That lady is amazing, and just so incredibly humble. I had to tell her how impressed I was at her attitude, and her confidence to just throw herself into life and make the most of every single thing.  I didn't want to seem condescending, but she has inspired me so much, simply with her attitude. When I said that to her she burst into tears again, and admitted that she has very few friends and gets very lonely. This is why she enjoys helping the people less fortunate than herself in her community as it connects her with people and sometimes it's the only conversation she gets, other than with her kids. Her attitude to life is amazing, and she said she has nothing to speak of materially, but she felt she was rich beyond her dreams because of her family,  they are her greatest achievement. What a woman. 

After Sandy left, I helped myself to more coffee, because it is so nice!. Abraham, the man who seems to be behind the bar or clearing the restaurant, came and cleared my plates away, asked if I needed anything and was I enjoying my holiday so far. I told him I was indeed thankyou, and he asked what I had planned for the day. I told him I was going to the market, and he was so pleased I was going to explore. He told me to take it easy and recommended a stand to get Nu (coconut) and to enjoy the show in the market as I drank it. The staff are just so kind and helpful, and he also reminded me to take water because it was going to be hot, and promptly went to get me one from the fridge from behind the bar. Once I finished my coffee I took my water and made my way back to the room to get ready for the trip. As I left  Levita wished me a lovely day, and called me by my name, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. I'm certain they do it for everyone but it's those little things that make the difference to someone's day isn't it? On my way out I met Niki, and her other friend who was introduced to me as Honey and she's lovely too, we arranged to meet in the lobby at 0930 for our day out. I hotfooted it back to the room and double checked my bag . I changed into a dress because we were going snorkelling straight after the market and I knew there aren't changing cubicles on the beaches. I was going to use my dress as my own cubicle, yes I am a genius. 

All ready to go I went to wait in the lobby for the ladies and found them talking to the security guard whose name I have now discovered is Pappa Tom.  When I approached, he started singing “I can see Clairely (not a typo) now the rain has gone”, such a Simon thing to do, it made me smile which I'm pretty sure is what he intended. I think the ladies must have been talking about me, and he placed that big warm hand on my shoulder and said that when we got back he and I would have a one to one session that would bring me peace. I have no reason to doubt him, and the ladies were in full agreement that it is exactly what I need. I later found out at lunch that he is very spiritual and does some kind of healing. The ladies used some Maori words to describe what he does but I didn't quite understand the translation or the whole explanation. I was absolutely right about his healing energy though it radiates from him. I have no doubt I will understand when I spend more time with him. 

The ladies' car was delivered and they had to drop the delivery driver back to the  rental place, so I waited in the lobby with all the bags for  Amanda, who was fishing out some snorkelling equipment for their return. I got bitten on the hand twice in a matter of minutes by a mosquito and realised I'd forgotten to spray my spraying hand with deet. Which was a right pain in the backside, but at least it was only the hand I’d missed.  Ten minutes later they were back and we were loading the bags into the boot, and leaping into the air-conditioned Toyota. The rental company had told Niki that we could park there if we were visiting the market which would be much simpler than trying to get into the carpark, and it worked out perfectly for us. The stalls in the market are cash only with no card machines anywhere on site. Cash truly is King! As such there are several cash machines at either entrance. There were significant queues at all of them when we arrived so I was pleased I already had cash on me. 

In honesty I didn't really need anything, although maybe a new sarong is in order at some point as mine has now got holes in it from somewhere, so it may be an idea to replace it sooner rather than later. Not today though! We decided we'd meet up at the entrance if we got split up in the market which was a good plan and we went in. Niki and Honey were on a mission, and Amanda and I are on the same bus when it comes to shopping, neither of us in a rush and not really wanting to purchase anything in particular. Amanda just wanted some Black Pearl earrings for her daughter and I was happy to just look today. I have two more opportunities to shop at the market  before I go home if I find something I can't leave behind. Not needing or wanting anything makes for a nice simple experience, so Amanda and I took Abraham's advice and located the fresh Nu stand, and we sat and watched the show on the stage. The dancing was incredible,  but because my phone was already enclosed in the waterproof case I hadn't taken it to the market with me. I'm just hoping that the dancing will be on again next saturday so i can take photos. Its been 90% humidity today, and 34* but the market, despite being out in the open felt an awful lot hotter. By the time we got down to the end of the first row, my shirt  that I had on over my dress was soaked through … that was pleasant.. Amanda and I spotted a sign on one of the stalls advertising a 15 minute neck, back, shoulders and arm massage for $20, which was infinitely more appealing than traipsing around market stalls in the heat, and decided on the spot we would have one. And what a good decision that turned out to be!!! Oh my days it was  amazing and turned out to be just what I needed. Its location was unusual, a small wooden hut, with beautifully coloured clothes hanging up for sale at the front and then the back, seemed to be a mini hair salon/nailbar/ massage parlour. However if the massage was anything to go by, the hairdressing should be fantastic too, not that I'll give it a whirl. I am definitely going back for another massage next week. It was that good. Niki and Honey had seen Amanda while I was having my massage and when I finished they were waiting for one too. Once they'd had theirs we decided we had done enough shopping and the heat was starting to make us tired and hungry so we decided to leave and go to the Lucky Rooster for lunch. 

I was a bit apprehensive initially because Si and I ate there a lot when we were here last, and I really didn't want to dissolve into floods of tears and make the girls uncomfortable, or make a complete twat of myself. However, I needn't have worried, because other than a bit of a wobble when we ended up sitting at the same table we used to sit at (we were such creatures of habit) it was all ok. We ordered our food, which came really quickly and I had one of Si’s favorite drinks, lemon, ginger and honey tea. The tea had massive chunks of raw ginger and lemon and was sooo good, and was very much a happy memory for me, as I could see Si sitting there so clearly, taking a sniff before tasting it and then enjoying every mouthful of it. He ate all the ginger chunks and lemon too because “that's the best bit”. The food was still excellent and the portions were the same enormous size. So much so Niki had to ask for a box for her spaghetti because she couldn't finish it all.  We chatted about Pappa Tom over lunch, and as I said I couldn't quite understand how they described him in regards to the words and phrases they were using, but it became apparent that he's a very special person so i’m looking forward to further conversations with him.

After lunch, we returned to the car and then drove back to the resort because Honey needed to pick something up. The place where we’d been told to go snorkelling by the Kuber driver the ladies had used a lot was just down the road. When we got there we discovered it was by the Fishing Club. Because the weather had changed dramatically and the sky was black, the whole area was looking a bit too murdery for my liking. Before we committed to snorkelling we decided to take a closer look and as we got out of the car I noticed the most enormous yellow fin tuna hanging from a hook after being gutted. The fisherman had caught two of them out in the channel and I have never seen anything the size of it, the boat didn't look big enough to haul one in let alone two.. If one of those things had swum past me I would have shit myself, it was huge!! After taking photos we went to the shoreline to see what we thought about the snorkelling possibility. Our unanimous decision was oh hell no!. The rain started to fall heavily, and it didn't add much to the atmosphere it has to be said. The whole murdery feeling increased and when we looked at the lagoon it was very green, with a lot of sea grass. and none of us wanted to be taken by surprise by something with big teeth. There are definitely no crocodiles in The Cook Islands , but the water looked like there might be, so we knocked that idea on the head. A bit disappointed we went back to the car and by the time we had it was throwing it down with rain and we decided to go to Muri Beach which was the second choice. 

On the way to Muri, the car started to make a funny noise so we pulled over, we checked it for hanging off bits and found the front mudflap was hanging off. Niki rang the rental company and they said they would come out with a new car for us. We had about half an hour to wait and in that time it rained even heavier, which I didn't think was possible. Once we'd swapped cars we got back on the road and were pleased to see a pull in. You’re not allowed to park on resorts you're not staying at, or in front of private properties which narrows down where you can go. However at Titikaveka there is a large open space by the bus stop so we pulled off the road and parked up. There were a few people on the beach as it wasn’t raining at all in this part of the island … yet. It was just very overcast, so we went down to the beach after getting changed. . I found a shiny silver 10c piece on the way, so I picked it up, and then automatically said out loud ‘see a penny pick it up, all the day…but before i could finish it with you'll have good luck, Amanda finished it with “all the day you'll have a penny” which is what Si used to say. Pft. tears. 

Getting into the ocean was bloody lush, especially as it was so hot. The water wasn’t very clear but it was like a millpond which I didn’t expect at all.

It’s such a contrast from the crashing waves by the resort and gave me the eebie jeebies. I couldn’t tell you why, but it just felt unnaturally still. We'd only been in 5 minutes and the heavens opened up and torrential rain came down. Obviously as we were already wet it made no difference at all. I was glad I had packed my own snorkel as the ladies were struggling with theirs and couldn't get on with them at all. I swam off over the rocks and started taking photos of the fish. The sand was very fine and it stirred up very easily which made it less than perfect for fish finding. There were some small bits of coral and I was really pleased to see some fish darting about. After I took a load of pics I went back to the ladies and offered them my snorkel so they could see the fish properly and they were really pleased.

Unfortunately there were no turtles, and I think if I want to see them I'd have to go on a tour, but I'm not sure I want to go that badly really. Especially over the reef,  after seeing the size of the bloody tuna! In the lagoon area, there was a lot of fine seaweed that kept wrapping itself around our ankles and we decided that was not pleasant at all. The rain increased and we decided we'd had enough snorkellling.

By the time we got back to the car, it was bouncing back up off the road so we took cover under the bus shelter to wait for it to ease off. Which it did eventually. All our towels were soaked so we decided that it was going to make no difference at all to change so jumped in the car and got on our way. 

We opted to carry on around the island it the clockwise direction , which was really nice, but the rain was insane. So much so we were down to 20km an hour due to the visibility, flooding and also large potholes! As we came up the west coast of the island the rain eased off and by the time we got to the North the road was dry and there had obviously been no rain at all. Bizarre for an island that is only 32 km around.  We had Brilliant sunshine again by the time we got back to town which all closes down at 1430 hours on a  Saturday .  

When we arrived back at the resort, there was nowhere at all to park the car, so Niki dropped us all off and went to find somewhere, ending up parking around the back. There are a lot more people today,  there are no free pool chairs and the  pool is full!. We went for a dip to wash off the seawater, and the rain that we'd been in all day arrived at the resort. It had followed us back.. And for me that was my sign to go and have a shower and check out the photos I’d taken, which were pretty good. Not a patch on what we saw in Fiji or last time we were but it is a different part  of the island. I might get the bus to the other hotel and see what the snorkelling is like there. I'm hoping that the ocean is less seaweedy, murdery  and a lot more fishy! I'm also contemplating a marine reserve trip, but I'm undecided on that one as I’m not entirely sure I want to spend the day stuck on a glass bottom boat with people. Apart from that I’ve done it before and maybe a mountain safari would be better as we didn’t explore inland last time.

Anyway, I’ve had a simply lovely day. I've had a lush massage, seen two gigantic tuna,  a few smaller colorful fish and laughed in the ocean in the rain. As my camera was all tied up Amanda took the Tuna photos and is sending them to me so as soon as I get them ill post them. I Didn’t get eaten alive by some enormous swamp beast in the lagoon or murdered so I think we can chalk it up as a little win . Most importantly it’s the people I have shared the day with,  and those I have met along the way that have made it special. 

I spent the evening going through the photos, deleting the ones that were just empty bits of ocean floor having failed to capture the fish … quick aren’t they?? !  And I am left with around 70  pics of the day so not bad. Si would be shocked as he could never get his head around the number of photos I took. So the fact I’m culling them as I go makes me feel I am growing as a person. Well photography wise anyway.  

Much love

Mrs Leonard

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