"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness" - Mark Twain
Monday 19th January (contd..)
After leaving Fiji at about 3:00 in the morning after about 2 hours sleep, I got into Auckland after another hour on that plane, waited for my continuing flight to Raratonga for a couple of hours, then rocked into the main island of the Cooks, at around 2:00pm the previous day. Some of you may be wondering why I had to go via Auckland when its only a 3 hour flight from Fiji to Raro, but that flight only goes once a week, and it didnt fit into my schedule (at the time). Anyhow, I arrived and after getting lodgings at the Tiare Lodge near the main town of Avarua and quickly went out to get some food for the next day (Sunday) because like most islands in this part of the world, everything closes for the Sabbath. That chore completed (with only minutes to go) it was time to begin chilling out. I managed to fill the rest of that day and all of the next by playing cards and swimming in the pool. Today, Ive ventured out into town and although its a bit drizzly Im trying to get an itinerary together for the next few days so that I can actually see some of this place. Its going to be tough though!
The one thing that I have noticed about being here as opposed to Fiji is how clean everything is. In Fiji I was quite surprised (and appalled) how people threw rubbish out the windows of their cars and bus windows and the terrible state of some of the vehicles on the road. Here, everything is clean and the cars are in a decent state of repair and it seems a lot more orderly. It helps when you are not looking through a wire mesh at the person who is selling you a loaf of bread in shops though. I do miss the constant "Bula!" (Fijian for gidday) from passers by, the locals here seem to be a little more reserved.
Friday 23rd January
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| A view over part of Aitutaki |
Tuesday morning dawned fine, and a group of 4 of us from the Tiare Village (hostel) headed out on the cross island walk. Its a decent sort of a hike, and after an hour the party had been reduced to two. We continued on a little more steadily after that and after stopping for some lunch at the top of the island with grand vistas over both sides, finished up at a waterfall on the other side three and a half hours after starting out. A happy evening with a few drinks and a thousand more games of cards followed as we said goodbye to Duncan and Phil and welcomed in more new people on the late flight.
The next morning was an early start to catch the flight over to Aitutaki, and after rocking in at 9:00am we had just enough time to get our things in order at the hostel there and go for a quick swim before it was time to board our lagoon cruise. Aitutaki is simply amazing! Think of a perfect coconut tree-lined sandy island and you have the general theme, but the colours of the water and quietness have to be experienced to really appreciate the true beauty. On our cruise we went to three islands, including the island Motu Rakau - which is where the tv show 'Shipwrecked' was filmed. For those of you in the UK it was the show on Sunday mornings on channel 4.. remember? After having a wonderful lunch on One Foot island, we snorkelled for an hour or so, then headed back to the main island where we got some scooters and did a lap, taking in all the different views of the sea and reef. On the way back from the bottle store we saw sheets of rain heading in our direction and with nowhere to go had to endure riding through it, with each drop feeling like a small needle. The whole thing passed in about 15minutes! After getting back to the hostel I stayed up and chatted to the owner Moera, who gave me a brief insight into life in the Cook Islands. It was pretty cool hearing it from her, as she'd lived near to where I have lived in Auckland as well as in Sydney so I could totally understand her interpretations of the various trials and tribulations of owning a hostel and trying to employ workers in a very relaxed society.
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| Pub scene in Aitutaki |
Last night we stayed up and played guitar and sang until the wee hours, so today - and Im sure the next few will be also, has been very quiet and relaxing. Long may it continue!
Tuesday 27th January
Today is my last day in the beautiful Cook Islands, and I have reached a state of total relaxation. Over the past few days Ive done little more than just chill out and relax, although I once again walked over the island yesterday and had an interesting experience on a scooter the day before. A new bloke had arrived at our hostel, and not to put too fine a point on it, he was fat. Huge! Anyway it transpired that a group of us was going out to the beach for some snorkelling and he invited himself as a passenger on my bike. To cut a long story short my rear tyre decided that there was just too much pressure and blew out, causing a very wobbly and dangerous situation as I slowed down and got off the road. Luckily I managed to control the bike, and get the rental place to fix the tyre in a few hours. I even got a swim in there also. There was almost just too much excitement there for a minute!
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| 'Shipwrecked' Island, Motu Rakau in Aitutaki |
Monday 2nd February
I arrived into Papeete at just after midnight and realised that my initial plan of hanging out in the airport until dawn (and availablity of public transport) was not a good one, so I forked out the equivalent of 16 quid to travel 5km in one of the most expensive taxi rides that Ive ever had. This to arrive in one of the worst hostels that Ive ever stayed at, but luckily it was morning soon and I got out of the stinky bed to catch a ferry to the island of Moorea and after getting moderately lost in the dirty filthy city, and it is very dirty, I managed to stumble my way around the French required to gain direction from a passer-by and purchase a ticket at the appropriate window. Certainly there is not a lot of English spoken in this part of French Polynesia and it was also quite bizarre to see all the French cars driving on the right hand side of the road.
When I got off the Ferry at the port in Moorea,I found that I had missed the passenger service (called 'le truck') and while I was waiting for the next one, practiced some more French on the staff of the local restarant where I managed to get lunch. After I finally got on board, I whizzed over to Hauru Point where I stopped for the night. It was raining on and off so, myself and a girl from the hostel went out to the bar and watched the rain drops until there was no day left.
The next day, my last in summertime, was spent swimming and lazing in the sun until it was time to catch the last le truck to link up with the last ferry to get back accross to the main island of Tahiti Nui where I would catch another le truck to the airport. The bus was due to depart at 3:30, but I got there nice and early so there was no chance that I was going to miss it. The ride only takes 30mins so it was fine that the truck hadnt arrived after 15mins, because the ferry didnt leave until 4:20. I did start to worry a bit when it hadnt come by 4:00 though, and thoughts of a forced stay in Tahiti started running through my head. Finally the truck arrived and I jumped onboard sitting amongst a pretty agitated bunch of people. Luckily, the ferry was also very late and we made it right on time.
When I got to the airport and checked in, it was great to see some of the cool kats from Tiare Village in the transit lounge, and hear their stories from the past couple of days. I went through all the goodbyes again at LAX before continuing with my travels to New York City...
Click here to see what I get up to in the big apple..Any comments, innaccuracies or abuse, send to: ryananglem@hotmail.com