05/01
We land into Rarotonga, on the 5th of January, after a long flight, tired but excited!!! It feels weird to arrive at 5am and be welcomed by a ukulele's player in a small airport under the heat! Robin, our kabana's owner is here with flowers necklaces to take us to our new home,it is very hot and humid...short drive, amongst villages and vegetation. We discover our lagoon, Muri Beach and our kabana, a little beach hut in a lush garden, so close to the lagoon and a white sand beach, quiet and amazing view...it honestly feels like paradise! We are both amazed and excited as hell!!!We fight to stay awake and go for a walk, surrounded by an incredible white sand beach and wild landscape of forests and mountains...first lunch on the beach in a nice restaurant, served by a French girl from Paimpol!! Far from Brittany but she fell for a Kiwi and they moved here. Funny to speak French here on this small island. The colour of the sea is incredible, like we have all seen in travel brochure or movie: turquoise, clear,pristine....I discover Ika Mata, a recipe of raw fresh fish (usually tuna) marinated in coconut milk and lemon, with vegetables, I am going to spend the next week eating this fabulous dish...it is my next culinary obsession. Fab also eat some nice raw fish (Muri Tataki), we both agreed that Polynesian flavours are great.
We then go for a walk and experience the torrential rain, the weather changes dramatically in minutes, it is tropical and it is typhoon season. Water keeps falling, how funny to be wet and hot under the rain, very healing,somehow liberating....the nature is strong here, powerful and it feels right. There is amazing natural beauty and tranquility despite the violence of the rain.
We learn a bit about the cooks islands: 15 islands scattered over the pacific ocean, Captain James Cook sighted the islands in the 18th century but the first time a European man put foot on Rarotonga was in 1814,the majority of the population is still maori but here are many NZ living here too. Christianity plays an important part in the local life now, and we will see many churches along the road. Dusk comes quickly and we wander around before heading back to our kabana and sleep like logs despite the heat and many mosquitos.
6/01
First swim in this amazing clear water, we are up early as a bit jetlagged and hot...feels like paradise, we play like children in the warm turquoise water (only time we will see the Ocean that colour!!Rain is coming...and will stay!) Then Helmut, our German neighbour who has been living in a Kabana, here for few months gives us a lift into the small town Avarua (the capital of the Cook Islands). It is a busy township with many shops. We spend the morning organising the bike driving license for Fab (we BUY it ater a short test!!), we then go on touring around town with our little scooter, no helmets of course.... Island way!!! We go to the big supermarket to find food and expecting to find fresh stuff, are very dissappointed to find only very basic stuff, junk food craps and very few fresh stuff...all expensive...pasta, cheddars, frozen stuff...We will survived on brown rice and raw fish this week!!Every thing has to be imported so it is very minimal.
More swimming in the afternoon, ride at night around the area and bed time already. We both reflect on the soothing qualities of the ocean, and are amazed by the unspoilt natural environment of this place. Even the tourists places are small, hidden behing trees and not disturbing the scenery. Somebody will tell us later that it is advisable not to build houses taller than a coconut tree!! I love this place, it is surprising but simple and amazingly beautiful,so natural.
7/01
This is a grey day today, the weather has changed over night and it is colder (still 27 degres!!), we go back to the town, kayak around the lagoon, snorkel a bit, we managed to see some fishes but are a bit disappointed, nothing compared to Ko Phi Phi in Thailand, the reef where we are seems dead...Grey day for both of us, not finding it easy to adjust and relax.
Only highlight was eating Ika Mata on the beach, 9 pm in bed, after watching the lagoon at night. I feel a bit worried, will I managed to enjoy those 6 months, will we manage to adjust to so many changes and be happy together? Funny to be anxious in the middle of a tropical Paradise!I feel sometimes restless and bored and not able to enjoy being here. Fab is tired and still needs to recover, he is still stressed, work might be over but we both feel his long lasting effects on him, more naps and rest needed before being in the being here.
8/01
Rainy day today, we have a lazish morning then go for a ride around the island, amazing back road, leading onto the montain, Rarotonga is a volcanic island and today, the powerful nature is impressive, dark angry grey sky, vibrant colours, lush vegetations, mosquitoes, very dense forests. We fall in love wth the natural environment. We observe people's houses, how they live, we both love being on the scooter, childish feeling of freedom, especially in this tropical moist. Raro is lush and carpeted with plantations and forests, we are amazed by the colours of the plants, We rode the ancient road called Ara Metua, built by an ancestor chief Toi (there are only two roads on the island, one circling the beaches and the ancient one inside),I love the fact that Polynesia has much more to offer than blue lagoon and amazing white sand beaches, it is a real discovery and I realy connect with the place, specially the nature. Lazy afternoon, I do some writing and collages, Fab naps...then we go for a canoe moment with the outrigger, feels fun. we then have a BBQ with our Aussie neighbours, Keith and Nadia from Sydney, nice eve, drinking wine, eating BBQ meat,talking Raro, life, Australia, England, Paris. There are only 4 kabanas so we get to meet everyone here and chat a bit, it feels nice to socialise a bit. Everyone is quiet and frendly, an English family ending a Kiwi trip here, a young English and Irish couple getting married on a nearby Island, our German guy. Life is lived at a gentle pace, we all spend many hours on our deck reading, sleeping or watching the lagoon! Feels secluded. We both spend many moments looking at things or landscapes...There are many big holes in the ground around us and they are all inhabited by gigantic crabs, I spend many hours watching them, they make me laugh, they look like old chinese wise men. They remind me of the crazy martial arts teacher in Kill Bill!!! They move so slowly, look around so suspiciously, afraid of everything!There are also many dogs around, some stray but all seem nice, funny enough I am not that scared of dogs, they seem to be like us, suffer from the heat as much as we do and bath in the ocean too!!!A little white and ginger cat decides to spend many days on our deck, feels nice to have a cat even here. Reminds me of my little Milly at home.
9/01
Bad night, the rain and wind were mad, heat is hard, not much sleeping..at the same time I love the torrential rain, very healing and soothing, feels again right to see the Nature powerful and in charge...the forest needs the rain and it comes with furor. We go for a safari tour, trying to discover the ancient culture and the lush rainforest interior, as we have been told that it was dangerous to go alone, as too slippery...It rains heavily but we are inside a big jeep....we see few sites, sacred maori sites, a waterfall, some amazing mountains views, we see our own lagoon from far up, surrounded by its 4 motus (small islands that close the lagoon from the ocean). All OK but touring in group is not our cup of tea even if we enjoy talking to an Italian couple and tried to communicate with alovely Japanese couple with nearly no English. I am happy to exchange for a bit, touched by our guide who tells us about his life, how he never managed to learn English properly as a child as he was too scared in school and only wanted to speak Maori, until he went to live in NZ. There are only 16000 people in the Cook and 10000 live in Raro but there are many (I heard something like 50000) overseas, mainly in NZ. We talk about the associated goverment, The cooks are freely associated with NZ and every islander has a NZ passport. We learn about the land system, how the land belongs to the family and how it goes to the next generation, foreigners, like in Thailand, cannot own the land but lease it for 60 years. The land is precious here, and one day, it could become complicated if all the overseas cildren come back to reclaim a bit of their own.
Most people are buried on the family land, which explains why we see so many tombs in the gardens, around the house. You look after your ancestors and grandfathers even when they are dead.
We talk about the similarities with other places in Polynesia, how Tahiti is the closest culturally to the Cook. Our guide is warm, so happy to be back in Raro, so proud of his home, we get a sense here that they are a proud people with a rich culture, proud of their land and history, and above all of the natural land. He describes the society here, all seems a bit rosy...we have seen helpline numbers for suicide, saw many shacks and poor houses and it seems to us that it might not be as idyllic as described to us, tourists, but tourism is the first employer here and all has to fit the magic of a Pacific island holiday....Nice moment but the touristy concept of it (BBQ on a beach feeling more like a corporate tacky lunch) is really not for us. Back after lunch in our little retreat, we then go off to snorkel on another beach, called the Fruits of Rarotonga, we see many fishes, the tropical marine life is much more interesting today, nice corals, colourful fishes (some big ones, parrots fishes), the visibiltiy is good but the water is not that warm today , it feels fresh. We meet Nadia and Keith, they came all the way from our beach, on the outrigger, we are impressed as it is a few kilometers to row!!!!
We then go into town for the eve, Friday night is the night in Rarotonga, and we are going to see an Island night, been recommended to us to see local dancers and drummers. We are afraid it is going to be touristy but acutally funny enough, islanders love Island Nights and tourists are a minority in the restaurant, we eat chat, relax after our crazy ride under a torrential rain, mad but such a laugh, we both arrived completely soaked at the place...not classy at all...We then see some dances from Polynesia, I am a bit dissappointed by the dancers, I hoped they would be from Raro as I really want to take some pictures, I find their faces amazing, very beautiful, it really reminds me of a Gauguin painting, but our dancers seem to come form other Pacific islands and they even look south American!!!The show is good, complex choreography, amazing sensual moves very similar to arabic-belly dancing moves, fearless maori warriors but it is short, only half an hour...the place then transformed into a night club, many locals arrive, drinks, dance, funny to be in a bar club here, we go home after a drink as Fab has to ride the scooter in the middle of the night under the rain. We laughed again a lot on the scooter, so fun, despite the mosquitoes!!!
10/01
Saturay and soon we are leaving for NZ, it is going so quickly, I just start to feel at home, start to relax, to appreciate being here, observing the crabs, the rain that rarely stops now...A part of me would love to see this place under the sun and with turquoise waters but I am also happy to experience it with tropical rains, downpours of waters and a more intense nature, it feels less like a fake paradise, more authentic and I am connecting wit this moist hot tropical environment.We get up early to go to the market and experience the hub that is Avarua, the township, many stalls in the market, saturday is the important day, locals are out shopping, tourists are here browsing, buying black pearls, everyone out..., many people, food everywhere, people eating curry, burgers, fish at 9am. Locals sell local craft, pareu (sarongs here), wooden carvings and black pearls. The tropical heat is back, it is going to rain but for now on, it feels suffocating...We browse around, we take many pictures, especially of people, we both find the Polynesian so beautiful, men and women are all very large, no size zero here, far from it! Many adorn their bodies with multiple tattoos, women have flowers in their hairs, there is a real sense of a gentle elegance. I look at them and search for something in those amazing faces. Funny to be so puzzled by physical details. We buy some ika mata for the next few days, some local vegs a bit like spinachs, some paws paws smoothies (papayas) and some naughty papayas jelly cakes...
Home, then we go kayaking and it is hell with the crazy wind, we hit many rocks, fight the wind and give up after an hour...The rain starts, we jump in thre sea for a swim the home for late lunch. Fab is tired and naps, I sit on the beach until the torrential rain rinses me and everything around...I am now sitting on the deck, looking at the rain, i am observed by big crabs, the heavy grey sky is not even scary. I finally managed to sit down and write this blog post. We eat at home, then spend the eve watching the Cook Island TV (only one channel and quite funny.)
11/01
Our last day on the island, feels a bit sad but we want to enjoy it, so we start the day by going swimming, so nice to be in the water, under the rain. The sky is a mix of blue and grey, we spend a bit of time in the water as we are not sure when will be the next time as New Zealand is supposed to be much colder now!
We then go for a last ride along the island, watching people go to church, looking at those amazing views for one last time. We leave tyhe scooter at the rental place, then decide to be adventurous and go kayaking before lunch: it is very shoppy as the wind is strong...a very good excercise!! We kayak to the reef and explore it a bit, watching the corals and stones and noticing the difference between the Ocean and the lagoon. The cruise back to our home is strenuous, we fight against the and the wind is getting stronger...We managed to arrive safely and eat some more raw fish, we then spend the afternoon chilling out on the deck, discussing our plans for NZ and planning our next moves...
Tomorrow morning the flight is at 7.45am and we are leaving the bungalow around 6am....next stop Auckland and the start of our campervan experience!!!
Polynesia has been a great place to start properly and make sense of this adventure but it feels there is so much more to see and experience here. I guess this is going to be a familiar feeling, that we will have to tame, as we leave places we both like and feel safe and content.
We land into Rarotonga, on the 5th of January, after a long flight, tired but excited!!! It feels weird to arrive at 5am and be welcomed by a ukulele's player in a small airport under the heat! Robin, our kabana's owner is here with flowers necklaces to take us to our new home,it is very hot and humid...short drive, amongst villages and vegetation. We discover our lagoon, Muri Beach and our kabana, a little beach hut in a lush garden, so close to the lagoon and a white sand beach, quiet and amazing view...it honestly feels like paradise! We are both amazed and excited as hell!!!We fight to stay awake and go for a walk, surrounded by an incredible white sand beach and wild landscape of forests and mountains...first lunch on the beach in a nice restaurant, served by a French girl from Paimpol!! Far from Brittany but she fell for a Kiwi and they moved here. Funny to speak French here on this small island. The colour of the sea is incredible, like we have all seen in travel brochure or movie: turquoise, clear,pristine....I discover Ika Mata, a recipe of raw fresh fish (usually tuna) marinated in coconut milk and lemon, with vegetables, I am going to spend the next week eating this fabulous dish...it is my next culinary obsession. Fab also eat some nice raw fish (Muri Tataki), we both agreed that Polynesian flavours are great.
We then go for a walk and experience the torrential rain, the weather changes dramatically in minutes, it is tropical and it is typhoon season. Water keeps falling, how funny to be wet and hot under the rain, very healing,somehow liberating....the nature is strong here, powerful and it feels right. There is amazing natural beauty and tranquility despite the violence of the rain.
We learn a bit about the cooks islands: 15 islands scattered over the pacific ocean, Captain James Cook sighted the islands in the 18th century but the first time a European man put foot on Rarotonga was in 1814,the majority of the population is still maori but here are many NZ living here too. Christianity plays an important part in the local life now, and we will see many churches along the road. Dusk comes quickly and we wander around before heading back to our kabana and sleep like logs despite the heat and many mosquitos.
6/01
First swim in this amazing clear water, we are up early as a bit jetlagged and hot...feels like paradise, we play like children in the warm turquoise water (only time we will see the Ocean that colour!!Rain is coming...and will stay!) Then Helmut, our German neighbour who has been living in a Kabana, here for few months gives us a lift into the small town Avarua (the capital of the Cook Islands). It is a busy township with many shops. We spend the morning organising the bike driving license for Fab (we BUY it ater a short test!!), we then go on touring around town with our little scooter, no helmets of course.... Island way!!! We go to the big supermarket to find food and expecting to find fresh stuff, are very dissappointed to find only very basic stuff, junk food craps and very few fresh stuff...all expensive...pasta, cheddars, frozen stuff...We will survived on brown rice and raw fish this week!!Every thing has to be imported so it is very minimal.
More swimming in the afternoon, ride at night around the area and bed time already. We both reflect on the soothing qualities of the ocean, and are amazed by the unspoilt natural environment of this place. Even the tourists places are small, hidden behing trees and not disturbing the scenery. Somebody will tell us later that it is advisable not to build houses taller than a coconut tree!! I love this place, it is surprising but simple and amazingly beautiful,so natural.
7/01
This is a grey day today, the weather has changed over night and it is colder (still 27 degres!!), we go back to the town, kayak around the lagoon, snorkel a bit, we managed to see some fishes but are a bit disappointed, nothing compared to Ko Phi Phi in Thailand, the reef where we are seems dead...Grey day for both of us, not finding it easy to adjust and relax.
Only highlight was eating Ika Mata on the beach, 9 pm in bed, after watching the lagoon at night. I feel a bit worried, will I managed to enjoy those 6 months, will we manage to adjust to so many changes and be happy together? Funny to be anxious in the middle of a tropical Paradise!I feel sometimes restless and bored and not able to enjoy being here. Fab is tired and still needs to recover, he is still stressed, work might be over but we both feel his long lasting effects on him, more naps and rest needed before being in the being here.
8/01
Rainy day today, we have a lazish morning then go for a ride around the island, amazing back road, leading onto the montain, Rarotonga is a volcanic island and today, the powerful nature is impressive, dark angry grey sky, vibrant colours, lush vegetations, mosquitoes, very dense forests. We fall in love wth the natural environment. We observe people's houses, how they live, we both love being on the scooter, childish feeling of freedom, especially in this tropical moist. Raro is lush and carpeted with plantations and forests, we are amazed by the colours of the plants, We rode the ancient road called Ara Metua, built by an ancestor chief Toi (there are only two roads on the island, one circling the beaches and the ancient one inside),I love the fact that Polynesia has much more to offer than blue lagoon and amazing white sand beaches, it is a real discovery and I realy connect with the place, specially the nature. Lazy afternoon, I do some writing and collages, Fab naps...then we go for a canoe moment with the outrigger, feels fun. we then have a BBQ with our Aussie neighbours, Keith and Nadia from Sydney, nice eve, drinking wine, eating BBQ meat,talking Raro, life, Australia, England, Paris. There are only 4 kabanas so we get to meet everyone here and chat a bit, it feels nice to socialise a bit. Everyone is quiet and frendly, an English family ending a Kiwi trip here, a young English and Irish couple getting married on a nearby Island, our German guy. Life is lived at a gentle pace, we all spend many hours on our deck reading, sleeping or watching the lagoon! Feels secluded. We both spend many moments looking at things or landscapes...There are many big holes in the ground around us and they are all inhabited by gigantic crabs, I spend many hours watching them, they make me laugh, they look like old chinese wise men. They remind me of the crazy martial arts teacher in Kill Bill!!! They move so slowly, look around so suspiciously, afraid of everything!There are also many dogs around, some stray but all seem nice, funny enough I am not that scared of dogs, they seem to be like us, suffer from the heat as much as we do and bath in the ocean too!!!A little white and ginger cat decides to spend many days on our deck, feels nice to have a cat even here. Reminds me of my little Milly at home.
9/01
Bad night, the rain and wind were mad, heat is hard, not much sleeping..at the same time I love the torrential rain, very healing and soothing, feels again right to see the Nature powerful and in charge...the forest needs the rain and it comes with furor. We go for a safari tour, trying to discover the ancient culture and the lush rainforest interior, as we have been told that it was dangerous to go alone, as too slippery...It rains heavily but we are inside a big jeep....we see few sites, sacred maori sites, a waterfall, some amazing mountains views, we see our own lagoon from far up, surrounded by its 4 motus (small islands that close the lagoon from the ocean). All OK but touring in group is not our cup of tea even if we enjoy talking to an Italian couple and tried to communicate with alovely Japanese couple with nearly no English. I am happy to exchange for a bit, touched by our guide who tells us about his life, how he never managed to learn English properly as a child as he was too scared in school and only wanted to speak Maori, until he went to live in NZ. There are only 16000 people in the Cook and 10000 live in Raro but there are many (I heard something like 50000) overseas, mainly in NZ. We talk about the associated goverment, The cooks are freely associated with NZ and every islander has a NZ passport. We learn about the land system, how the land belongs to the family and how it goes to the next generation, foreigners, like in Thailand, cannot own the land but lease it for 60 years. The land is precious here, and one day, it could become complicated if all the overseas cildren come back to reclaim a bit of their own.
Most people are buried on the family land, which explains why we see so many tombs in the gardens, around the house. You look after your ancestors and grandfathers even when they are dead.
We talk about the similarities with other places in Polynesia, how Tahiti is the closest culturally to the Cook. Our guide is warm, so happy to be back in Raro, so proud of his home, we get a sense here that they are a proud people with a rich culture, proud of their land and history, and above all of the natural land. He describes the society here, all seems a bit rosy...we have seen helpline numbers for suicide, saw many shacks and poor houses and it seems to us that it might not be as idyllic as described to us, tourists, but tourism is the first employer here and all has to fit the magic of a Pacific island holiday....Nice moment but the touristy concept of it (BBQ on a beach feeling more like a corporate tacky lunch) is really not for us. Back after lunch in our little retreat, we then go off to snorkel on another beach, called the Fruits of Rarotonga, we see many fishes, the tropical marine life is much more interesting today, nice corals, colourful fishes (some big ones, parrots fishes), the visibiltiy is good but the water is not that warm today , it feels fresh. We meet Nadia and Keith, they came all the way from our beach, on the outrigger, we are impressed as it is a few kilometers to row!!!!
We then go into town for the eve, Friday night is the night in Rarotonga, and we are going to see an Island night, been recommended to us to see local dancers and drummers. We are afraid it is going to be touristy but acutally funny enough, islanders love Island Nights and tourists are a minority in the restaurant, we eat chat, relax after our crazy ride under a torrential rain, mad but such a laugh, we both arrived completely soaked at the place...not classy at all...We then see some dances from Polynesia, I am a bit dissappointed by the dancers, I hoped they would be from Raro as I really want to take some pictures, I find their faces amazing, very beautiful, it really reminds me of a Gauguin painting, but our dancers seem to come form other Pacific islands and they even look south American!!!The show is good, complex choreography, amazing sensual moves very similar to arabic-belly dancing moves, fearless maori warriors but it is short, only half an hour...the place then transformed into a night club, many locals arrive, drinks, dance, funny to be in a bar club here, we go home after a drink as Fab has to ride the scooter in the middle of the night under the rain. We laughed again a lot on the scooter, so fun, despite the mosquitoes!!!
10/01
Saturay and soon we are leaving for NZ, it is going so quickly, I just start to feel at home, start to relax, to appreciate being here, observing the crabs, the rain that rarely stops now...A part of me would love to see this place under the sun and with turquoise waters but I am also happy to experience it with tropical rains, downpours of waters and a more intense nature, it feels less like a fake paradise, more authentic and I am connecting wit this moist hot tropical environment.We get up early to go to the market and experience the hub that is Avarua, the township, many stalls in the market, saturday is the important day, locals are out shopping, tourists are here browsing, buying black pearls, everyone out..., many people, food everywhere, people eating curry, burgers, fish at 9am. Locals sell local craft, pareu (sarongs here), wooden carvings and black pearls. The tropical heat is back, it is going to rain but for now on, it feels suffocating...We browse around, we take many pictures, especially of people, we both find the Polynesian so beautiful, men and women are all very large, no size zero here, far from it! Many adorn their bodies with multiple tattoos, women have flowers in their hairs, there is a real sense of a gentle elegance. I look at them and search for something in those amazing faces. Funny to be so puzzled by physical details. We buy some ika mata for the next few days, some local vegs a bit like spinachs, some paws paws smoothies (papayas) and some naughty papayas jelly cakes...
Home, then we go kayaking and it is hell with the crazy wind, we hit many rocks, fight the wind and give up after an hour...The rain starts, we jump in thre sea for a swim the home for late lunch. Fab is tired and naps, I sit on the beach until the torrential rain rinses me and everything around...I am now sitting on the deck, looking at the rain, i am observed by big crabs, the heavy grey sky is not even scary. I finally managed to sit down and write this blog post. We eat at home, then spend the eve watching the Cook Island TV (only one channel and quite funny.)
11/01
Our last day on the island, feels a bit sad but we want to enjoy it, so we start the day by going swimming, so nice to be in the water, under the rain. The sky is a mix of blue and grey, we spend a bit of time in the water as we are not sure when will be the next time as New Zealand is supposed to be much colder now!
We then go for a last ride along the island, watching people go to church, looking at those amazing views for one last time. We leave tyhe scooter at the rental place, then decide to be adventurous and go kayaking before lunch: it is very shoppy as the wind is strong...a very good excercise!! We kayak to the reef and explore it a bit, watching the corals and stones and noticing the difference between the Ocean and the lagoon. The cruise back to our home is strenuous, we fight against the and the wind is getting stronger...We managed to arrive safely and eat some more raw fish, we then spend the afternoon chilling out on the deck, discussing our plans for NZ and planning our next moves...
Tomorrow morning the flight is at 7.45am and we are leaving the bungalow around 6am....next stop Auckland and the start of our campervan experience!!!
Polynesia has been a great place to start properly and make sense of this adventure but it feels there is so much more to see and experience here. I guess this is going to be a familiar feeling, that we will have to tame, as we leave places we both like and feel safe and content.
1 comments:
This is fascinating - Val you write really well, the descriptions are so vivid. Will look at the photos later, but it's great to track your experiences, next best thing to being there! Love to you both,
Mandy x
Post a Comment