Rarotonga Tours

On Monday morning, our first order of business was to make ourselves legal. This was something that should have been done when we landed, but we either misunderstood, or the cabin crew failed to inform us correctly (much more likely) about getting a Covid card. The system in Cook Islands is much like that in New Zealand – you’re supposed to check in everywhere you go. Unlike New Zealand, however, YOU have the QR code and the establishments – shops, restaurants etc. – have the scanner, usually a mobile phone. We didn’t have QR codes, so first thing we went to the tourist information office, filled out a few details, and became legal. Phew! That said, the system doesn’t seem to be used at quite the same level as in New Zealand. In fact, the only people we ever saw checking in was…us. Some places didn’t even seem to have anywhere to check in with. Hey ho, we did our bit.

We then headed back to Muri to join Captain Tama’s Lagoon Cruise. This is a half-day trip which we did last time we were in Raro, and enjoyed immensely then. It involves getting aboard one of three glass-bottomed boats, then sailing out to an area where the GTs – giant trevally – hang out in the lagoon. The water’s a bit deeper here, and there’s coral as well. The GTs are considered inedible due to their diet, which is probably why they’re so abundant inside the lagoon. We were soon snorkelling with them, and the crew feed them bits of fish, which they race to find. Anyone who gets between a trevally and its lunch soon knows about it! They’re extremely fast swimmers, and they know to hang out there for food, so there’s plenty to see. There were other, smaller, reef fish about in plenty, including a pair of moray eels. We didn’t see any turtles, unfortunately.

After an hour’s snorkelling, we made our way ashore for lunch and the show. Lunch was cooked for us by two of the boat’s captains, and was traditional island barbecue of fish with various salads – potato, pawpaw, coleslaw etc. Afterwards, Captain Fabulous (our boat’s captain) and his band entertained us with songs old and new, gave a demonstration of how to tie a sarong for both women and men, and finally told us about the coconut tree, the “tree of life” of the islands. He told us how every part of the tree is used, showed us how to open a coconut, and Captain Smack Sparrow climbed a coconut tree for our benefit. He is the two-time winner of the Islands coconut competition, which involves climbing, collecting and opening coconuts in the fastest time, so he was in fact slowing it down for our demonstration. Afterwards we went for another swim off the beach, before sailing back to their mooring.

Captain Fabulous demonstrating his coconuts

On the beach

In the evening we set out to find a bar on the other side of the island to watch the sun set. After a bit of a false start, we found the place – Shipwreck Hut – and had cocktails as the sun went down. We drove back to town for dinner at Trader Jack’s – we shared a plate of sashimi, and Fijian fish curry. This is a non-spicy curry, but they handily provide you with some chopped chilis to add so you can make it to your own spiciness. I made the schoolboy error of adding the lot, and after a short while fishing half of them out again – they were pretty fiery chilis! But tasty.

I love to watch the sun go down

On Tuesday, we’d booked a reef cruise for the afternoon, so in the morning we headed into town to do some shopping. For me, this was centred on the T-Shirt Factory, who, despite their name, sell all manner of clothing. I picked up another “been to Rarotonga” t-shirt, and a couple of floral shirts. We then headed into a black pearl emporium where Nicola acquired some bling. We got some lunch at The Beachcomber café, then drove around to the main port, from where our cruise was leaving. The vessel is a semi-submersible, with glass panels in the keel, so you can see the underwater world without getting wet. We went past the wreck of the RMS Matai, which sank on the reef in 1916, then further out to see more giant trevally, as well as other reef fish and coral outside the main reef. Again, no sharks or turtles made their presence known to us.We were able to observe from the glass-bottomed part of the boat, but none of my photos through the thick glass came out in any acceptable way.

Giant trevally

Wreck of the RMS Marai

In the evening we planned to go to Charlie’s pub, but when we got there, (a) it looked too busy, and (b) the staff were hurriedly updating a whiteboard with an ever-growing list of dishes that were no longer available. We did a quick volte-face and went to Rickshaw Thai restaurant instead, which was pretty much as it was the last time we went there five years ago, with the exception that they no longer serve Matutu beer. The brewery has sadly closed.

The next day the weather forecast wasn’t looking too flash, so we decided it would be a good day to take the inland safari tour. We were picked up from our bach and joined the rest of the group in two Land Rovers, and toured around the island, mostly on the inner ring-road system with the occasional break onto the main road. As we went our guides informed us about local flora and crops, as well as the history of the island. We got out at the Garden of Seven Stones, which celebrates the seven vaka (canoes) that left Rarotonga and made it to New Zealand. Our main guide told us the story of how the islands were first discovered by Europeans and the events that transpired, which included eating the captain’s girlfriend alive. Fun times!

Explaining history at the marae

We also visited Rarotonga’s only waterfall, which has changed substantially since we were last here: it is now the site of a water purification plant for the whole island, thus cleaning and regulating the water for everyone, making it drinkable and the supply more reliable. Rarotonga is entirely dependent on rainfall for water, and this system, jointly funded by New Zealand and China, has had huge benefits for the island. If only they could come and do the same for Wellington!

Papua (Wigmore's) Waterfall

Rarotonga Take Two

Dedicated readers of this blog (I fantasise that such people exist) will remember that we tried, and failed, to get to Rarotonga for a holiday at the end of June. Our best-laid plans went aglay when the Sydney tourist came to Wellington, causing another Level Two alert, and preventing us from flying. I say prevented, but there was no actual notification given. Another traveller from Wellington was refused boarding at the last minute – that would have been us if we’d not cancelled at the night before.

We rebooked and once more filled out our forms – they now give you 72 hours in advance rather than 24, presumably to prevent a repeat of last month’s debacle. As we’d changed our arrangements slightly, we were now departing on Sunday, leaving Wellington at a more civilised time of 8:45am. Our flights were uneventful, and we touched down in Rarotonga dead on time at 5:00pm on Saturday. We picked up our rental car, and drove to our accommodation – Avaro Cottage in Matavera – and found the key under mat as promised. It was small but clean with basic equipment – not that we need much to keep us happy. We made a quick trip across the road to Super Brown’s to get some basic supplies – tomorrow being Sunday, most places would be closed so we needed to ensure we had breakfast supplies and, importantly, wine, as the sale of alcohol is prohibited on Sundays.

After sorting ourselves out we went for dinner at Tamarind Restaurant, where I had the Cook Island’s signature dish, ika mata – raw fish cured in lime juice and coconut milk. We then retired to plan our adventures over the next few days.

On Sunday we went out for breakfast, eventually finding somewhere open to serve us at one of the resorts. There wasn’t much else open so we lollygagged, swam in the pool, and generally did very little. We’re on holiday! In the evening we drove round to Muri Night Market, which is generally food retailers, with a band playing island music for accompaniment. We checked out all the stalls before deciding on some noodles, and listened to the band play. Wherever you go in Raro, there’s music playing – they’re a very musical island, like most of the Pacific Islands, with a strong tradition of singing from a very young age.

That concluded the lollygagging stage of the holiday – we had activities booked every day for the rest of our stay.

The Delta Strain

Once more unto the breach, dear friends…

New Zealand recently opened up travel bubbles with Australia and Cook Islands, allowing two-way quarantine-free travel between these countries. Unfortunately, Australia is not quite as Covid-free as we’d like to think, and last weekend a traveller from Sydney arrived in Wellington, had a helluva good time, and then departed back home on Monday; he started to feel ill, and subsequently tested positive for Covid. This has led to Wellington being moved up to Alert Level 2 from Wednesday until Sunday, with a review on Sunday to assess the situation. Sydney, meanwhile, is in a lockdown due to an exploding cluster of the highly-contagious Delta variant, which has now increased to over 100 cases. New Zealand has temporarily suspended travel with New South Wales.

 

How to have a good time in Wellington

We were due to fly to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands on Thursday; but with the announcement at lunchtime on Wednesday, it seemed less than 100% certain that we would be able to go, especially as we’d visited the Te Papa Surrealist Art exhibition on Tuesday, one of the “Places of Interest” that the infected person had also visited; even though we’d gone three days later. I checked with our local testing centre and they said we didn’t need to get tested (Nicola is vaccinated anyway).

As part of the travel arrangement with Cook Islands, you have to fill in a contact form with details of where you’ll be staying, etc. It also asks if you’ve been to any Places of Interest. We duly completed this, listing that we’d been to Te Papa and the advice we’d been given about testing by Wellington DHB.

At this stage, there was no suggestion, or indication, that we couldn’t go. I’d also spoken to Air New Zealand, who’d given no hint that they wouldn’t carry us. However, through an abundance of caution on our part, and the fact that we’d had no contact from Cook Island Ministry of Health, we decided to postpone our travel plans. Fortunately our accommodation refunded us, and we have flight credits with Air New Zealand.

The following morning, 13 people who’d travelled from Wellington were removed from the Cook Islands flight NZ940 – the flight we would’ve been on – because they’d been in Wellington. So it looks like we made the right decision.

But I was fuming. Why did they wait until PEOPLE WERE BOARDING THE PLANE before taking action? The organisation is a complete shambles. In response to a story in Stuff, I wrote an email detailing this. The Stuff reporter contacted me the next day and asked whether I was still planning to travel, to which I said “yes”. But this wasn’t the story she wanted to write, so I didn’t get quoted. Instead she wrote about how people had no confidence in the travel bubble. People from Wellington have since been permitted to travel to Rarotonga if they haven’t listed any Places of Interest…so why were these 13 denied travel? In response to being badgered, Air New Zealand have finally refunded their airfares from Wellington and contributed to their accommodation costs overnight in Auckland. But if they knew this already, why didn't they act sooner? What a shitshow.

It now appears that the Sydney traveller wasn’t infectious, as no cases have subsequently been detected in Wellington over the last four days, despite extensive testing. We’ll be able to rebook to travel, but have now missed the crucial “kids are still in school” window that we’d been hoping for. Ah well. I'll check out accommodation and flight options again tomorrow.

Special Brew

Our last full day in Raro, and we hadn’t really planned anything. It was the start of the island’s Constitutional Celebrations…they celebrate each year their independence. Last year’s had been spectacularly done as it was 50 years…this year, 51, not so important. But there would be a float parade and various activities in Constitution Park in Avarua from 11:00am.

I totally forgot about it.

At around 11:45, after a morning’s idling about, we set off south for the Matutu Brewery tour, which starts at 12:00. We arrived in the nick of time, and sat down in the brewery run by Eric and James, the only one in Raro.

Eric started the brewery 10 years ago, with no previous brewing experience. He bought up Tuatara Brewery’s old equipment lock, stock and barrel, and literally rebuilt it as it had been at Tuatara. Tuatara are now one of the largest “craft” brewers in New Zealand, and were expanding and upgrading their plant at the time. Eric did three weeks’ work there, learning how to brew beer under their supervision; and then one of their brewers came over to Raro to supervise Matutu for their first two weeks of operation.

Eric explained the beer-making process, why their pale ale isn’t actually pale (using 1% of “chocolate” barley gives it the darker colour), international bitterness units, and different types of yeast. He’s clearly very knowledgeable about the process, and able to communicate it to a lay audience very easily. He also told us how the beer industry in the Pacific Islands works. Whilst he’s bottling and delivering to order to various stores, supermarkets and resorts, the large international brewers (principally Steinlager and Heineken) are effectively “dumping” out-of-date beer around the Pacific. When it’s within two or three months of its best before date, they’re able to sell it cheap to island nations; not only do they make a return on beer that they would otherwise have to throw away, they even get the tax they’ve paid on it back from the New Zealand government. This is how the Islander Hotel Resort is able to sell beer in happy hour at $3.50, whereas Matutu is generally available at $8.00 - $9.00. However, as a consumer of quality beer, I’m prepared to pay the extra, and also support a local business, so I sought it out whenever I could.

Despite this competition, Eric told us that he had 10% year on year growth over the last 10 years, and he had around 5% market share on the island. I surmise that most of his customers are tourists from New Zealand, rather than the locals.

During the talk, James poured the different beers that they’re currently producing: the Kiva pale ale, Mai lager and IPA styles. He also produces special occasion beers for single runs (such as last year’s 50^th anniversary of the constitution).

Afterwards we had a chat about beer, Beervana (he can’t make it this year) and entering the New Zealand Beer Awards – he won a bronze medal last year.  He also told us about how he measures the alcohol content of the beer, and why he won’t be exporting to New Zealand anytime soon. I left feeling better informed about beer, and happy with my choice to buy theirs!

Just up the road from the brewery is the Maire Nui tropical gardens and café, so we tootled along to see that. They have a large number of tropical plants, many of which were familiar to us from the hothouse at Wellington Botanic Gardens! Here they were in their natural habitat. We had lunch at the café, then went round to the Whale & Wildlife Centre near the airport. They told us that a whale had been sighted on the south coast, so we drove around there to try and spot it, without success. We stopped at Le Bon Vivant for a coffee and cake, and gave a lift to a young Czech lad who was thumbing a lift to Muri.

After  a short stop back at the bach, we went out for our final night’s dinner at the Yellow Hibiscus restaurant. As a celebration I drank a Blue Lagoon cocktail – this appeared to be the manly drink of choice as I noticed at least two other blokes drinking similar blue drinks. It did come with a paper parasol in it, though…but no plastic monkey. You so rarely see those on cocktails these days.

After dinner, we went home and packed up ready for our early morning flight back to New Zealand.

Aitutaki

The Cook Islands are made up of 15 islands, of which Rarotonga is the largest. The next largest is Aitutaki, which is a 40 minute flight north. It too has a thriving tourist industry, but it’s also possible to take a day trip, which is what we did.

We drove to the airport to check in at 7:30am. Belinda at Te Vara Nui had told us this would cost $1. At the airport, there was a sign saying parking $2, so clearly rampant inflation was in force.  At the airport I asked about how to pay for parking, as there didn’t appear to be a machine or anything, and was told “Oh, that’s only when there’s an international flight”.

On board the plane we were in row 1. Sadly not business class, but we were by the emergency exit, so…extra leg room! Always important on a 40-minute flight. I just about had time to read the inflight magazine before we landed. We could see the lagoon as we came in to land, as it’s built along the long spit that extends from the top of the island.

 Unlike Raro, whose lagoon extends around the island at distances of 50 to 500m, most of Aitutaki is in fact lagoon. With an airstrip built by US forces in 1942 “in case the Pacific war got out of hand” as our guide, Ari, put it, Aitutaki has been on the tourist trail longer than Raro. In the late forties and early fifties it was part of the Coral Route, flown by seaplanes between New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, the Cook Islands and Tahiti. It’s said to be the most beautiful lagoon on earth, by the people who say these things.

At the airport we got on board a bus which had clearly seen earlier service as a lorry, and our guide for the day, Ari, introduced himself and gave us some brief notes about Aitutaki. A lot of his patter seemed to concern various television shows that were filmed there, such as Survivor and  Shipwrecked. Less than interesting to us, but it garnered the island a lot of publicity and, importantly, money.

After a brief stop in the island’s commercial centre, we boarded our boat, a catamaran which would be home for the rest of the day. We were served fresh coconut water, as Ari kept up his talk, and introduced the rest of the crew. We got under way to our first destination, a motu called Akaiami, which is where Survivor was filmed, apparently.  A motu is the name given to the islets which surround each island, and are essentially part of the reef itself.

Our next stop was One Foot Island and the world’s smallest post office, to post our cards – they should be with you in about 4 months, if our Vanuatu experience is anything to go by – and to get our passports stamped with the One Foot Island stamp. 

Then we headed out to the middle of the lagoon where the best snorkelling was. The area they chose had several reefs, including an enormous giant clam marked by a buoy. As we arrived, so did several giant trevally. These are seriously large reef fish, and we were cautioned about the use of underwater cameras: hold them in your hand as you swim about, and don’t let them just dangle, as the fish will mistake it for food and come in and have a bite. Some of them are over a metre long, so you don’t want to mess with them.  There was also the usual selection of reef fish, some of which, particularly the black and white stripey ones, were curiously reluctant to get out of your way! We saw many different types as we swam about. After around 45 minutes’ snorkelling, Ari blew the conch shell which signalled us to get back aboard. The signalling he’d explained earlier: one blow  meant “no hurry”, the second meant “still plenty of time”, the third meant “hurry up and get aboard!”, the fourth meant “we’ll pick you up tomorrow”. Everyone was aboard by the time the third one went.

By the time we’d dried off, lunch was ready. This was barbecued tuna, with various salads and local delicacies which we were encouraged to try, including sea grapes and cooked overripened bananas, as well as the usual pawpaw and coconut.

After lunch, we had a coconut show. This appears to be standard on any type of tour that you do in the Cook Islands – it was our third. Ari demonstrated how to husk a coconut, and then got a volunteer to crack it open in the correct manner – which he did on the first go. It’s easy when you know the right way to do it. After scraping some of the flesh out, he demonstrated how to get coconut milk from it using the mesh that can be found between the leaves on the coconut tree.

We then went back to One Foot Island, and Ari took us on a nature walk, explaining the flora and fauna, including mahogany trees and white terns. We then went for another snorkel on the artificial reef which has been planted there; corals have grown on it for the last five years, attracting reef fish to the area. Ari explained that once the corals had grown for about 10 years they were moved to a new location and a new reef started. In this way they are populating more sites around the lagoon.

We went for a walk all the way round the island, then reboarded and headed back to the main island. On the way Ari told us the story of how the island got its name – a sad tale of a father and son.

Finally, we debarked, took the bus back to the airport, and flew back to the mainland. We were back by 5:30 and ready to go out again. First stop was at the Shipwreck Hut for a cocktail as we watched the sunset…quite literally a sundowner. Nicola had a pina colada and I had a mai tai.

For dinner, we’d decided to try Muri Night Market, which, as its name suggests, is a night market held in Muri, the second-largest town in Raro and just a short drive from where we’re staying. They have stalls selling local dishes. They also have a rather good scheme called rent-a-plate, whereby you spend one dollar to get a plate and metal cutlery, which is filled at each stall, rather than using disposable containers and plastic cutlery. All the proceeds go to the local primary school which runs the scheme. There’s music and dancing as well, and the party probably runs into the night. Fogeys that we are, were circled the market once more after eating before deciding to head home.

Mountain Safari

So far we’ve been around the outside of the island. This is where the beaches (duh!) and the main commercial centres are. But, hidden deep inside the dark interior, there are mysterious things lurking. OK, not that mysterious, but there is a Raro Mountain Safari Tours company that promises to take you places no other tour can go. This, it turns out, is because the proprietor owns the land, and only allows his own vehicles to use it.

We were picked up outside our bach at 8:30, and soon joined the rest of the expedition. There were four 4-wheel drive vehicles in our convoy. We had nine passengers – ourselves and fellow Kiwis Carl and Molly, and the rest were West Islanders from Melbourne. Our driver, Captain Pa, turned out to be a Wellingtonian as well, so we had a chat about the success (so far) of the Hurricanes this season.

Our trip took us to Raro’s one and only waterfall, Called Papua’s or Wigmore’s waterfall. It also sits in the catchment for the main water supply for the island. We then drove back to the coast and visited Muri beach, where one of the other drivers, known as Mr. Useless, told us the legend of the seven canoes that departed on a voyage of discovery to the land of the long white cloud, Aotearoa. We call it New Zealand these days. We drove back into the interior, with Pa pointing out the local crops and wild fauna and flora along the way. When we got to the mountain track up onto private property, the track became quite steep. It had been raining in the morning so there was a bit of mud about, but fortunately this also meant we weren’t eating the dust of the truck in front all the way. We made it up to the high point from where we could see The Needle, and the lush rainforest surrounding, as well as look down to the sea.

There's a Needle growing out of your head!

At the top, Chico, the main tour guide gave – guess what?! – a demonstration of how to open a coconut with a sharp stick, before cracking it with a single blow from a hard object. He then gave us a short lecture on how all the various parts of the coconut were used, with nothing going to waste. We drank the coconut water, ate the inside (he showed us how to get it out with a blunt knife). At this point two chickens turned up…I’m guessing they usually do at this time, because they know that there’s free coconut on offer.

We took some photos, got back aboard our trucks, and drove down a slightly less hair-raising way to a site near the airport, where we had our lunch of barbecue chicken and salad. Whilst eating we were entertained by the self-styled “worst band in Rarotonga”, (our drivers, natch) who gave us some traditional tunes.

Rarotonga

We were up at sparrow fart on Sunday morning to catch the 6:45 plane to Auckland, in time for a 9:30 connection to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. We didn’t have an awful lot of time to spare as we trundled between the domestic and international terminal at Auckland, especially as when I tried to check in, my Air New Zealand app had changed from offering me a QR code to requiring a printed boarding pass. They’d been having a bit of technical difficulty, apparently. We grabbed a quick breakfast at Shaky Isles, then headed to the gate…

…where they told us the flight was delayed as the incoming flight had been late. We eventually got away about two hours after the scheduled departure. On the plus side, they decided that all the premium content on the in-flight entertainment would be provided for no charge, so I settled in to watch Deadpool. On the downside, it was getting on towards evening by the time we arrived and, so my best-laid plan, which had involved getting to the supermarket in the afternoon, went horribly aglay. After checking out our accommodations, we decided to go out for a bite to eat.

 

In case I’ve not pointed it out to you yet, we landed on Saturday. Yes, this is the island of the day before. We get two Saturdays this week!

Raro is a small volcanic island, and has a fairly basic public transportation system. There are two buses, clockwise and anti-clockwise. They take about 50 minutes to circumnavigate the island, and set off once an hour from the main town of Avarua, which (along with the airport) is at around 12 o’clock on the island. We are staying at 2 o’clock, and the next village round is Muri at 4 o’clock, where we wanted to eat our dinner. We went to Rickshaw’s Thai restaurant, which was pretty good with substantial portions. We’d not eaten since breakfast, so fell upon it like a wolf on the fold. Washed down with the local beer, Matutu Kiva pale ale, it was delicious.

The only wrinkle in the bus transportation system is that after 4:30pm, the anti-clockwise bus stops running. The night service, until 11:00pm, only goes clockwise. We therefore waited, and boarded the bus, and had to go all the way around the island, stopping at various resorts, until we got back to our bach. Then we crashed out.

The next day dawned at dawn. We’re facing straight out to sea, so there’s nothing stopping the sunlight streaming into the bedroom. Note to self: must get up and photograph the dawn tomorrow. As it was Sunday, not much was open. They take their religious observance seriously in the islands. We walked down the road more in hope than expectation to the café for some breakfast, and it was indeed shut. No matter, we walked on a bit further to Super Brown’s, which claims to be open 24 hours, and bought eggs, butter, and bread, to make our own scrambled eggs on toast back at the bach. After that, we decided to take the bus into town to see what was there. We were able to see most of the scenery that we’d missed on the bus the previous evening. A lot of the good folk were on their way to church, dressed in Sunday best dresses, with hats. On scooters. Scooters are one of the main forms of transport on the island, and if that’s how you travel, that’s how you get to church. Some of the ladies were perforce steering one-handed whilst the other hand ensured that their hats didn’t fly off.

Our modest beachside shack

We arrived in town to find almost everything shut. We found a souvenir shop open and bought some postcards, then went along to Coelho’s café for lunch. We walked up the road a bit, through what could be termed the Government Quarter, but there’s not much to see when it’s all closed. We headed back to centre ville to catch the bus back home.

As I said, our bach is facing the ocean. It’s got a small lawn, then a short path through the rocky coral to a bit of sandy beach, then the lagoon. In the distance, waves crash over the reef, leaving a shallow, calm area for swimming which goes all around the island. Our bit of beach is actually a bit rocky, but there are better beaches around the island, so we’ll try to sample those at a later date. In the meantime, we’re getting busy booking those excursions to explore the island and surrounding sea!

On our lawn we spotted movement. “That shell’s moving” said Nicola. Sure enough, the shell was inhabited by a very nervous hermit crab that I christened “Hermy”, who had crawled all the way up from the lagoon. He disappeared inside his shell as soon as he felt vibrations from our footsteps, but after a short while emerged again to do whatever it is that hermit crabs do when they’re on the lawn. Casting around further, we spotted two smaller crabs also perambulating the grass, as if they owned the place. 

Hermy

We’ve also spotted several lizards, some of the gecko variety, which is good as they eat the mosquitoes. So far, the bird life consists of the ubiquitous hippity-hoppity birds (mynahs) that are endemic to Northland in New Zealand; and chickens…there are chickens everywhere. I’m hoping to see something a little more exotic when we take out tour into the interior.