Vaccination Destination

New Zealand’s Covid-19 vaccination rollout is picking up pace, with those over 30 now eligible to book a jab. I booked mine when the over-50’s age group first opened up, what seems like an age ago before the latest Level 4 lockdown. Was it really only 9^th August that I booked it? And did we really only go to Level 4 on 18^th? It would appear so. Since then, the government have been boasting about record numbers of people being vaccinated at new drive-through centres. It would be interesting to know how many of those are people who’ve already booked, though. 

Our little local centre is at a church hall in Miramar, so there was a bit more of a wait between booking and jab. Nevertheless, it rolled around today, and I duly turned up 10 minutes early, got checked in, checked and vaccinated with no fuss, no mess (and, fortunately, no piping hot casserole). After the jab, I was told to sit for 15 minutes to make sure I didn’t go into anaphylactic shock, and after that time was up, was happily sent on my way. I popped into New World on the way back to pick up some fresh veg, and now I’m back home.

Next appointment is in three weeks’ time.

Late To The Party

As with nearly everything, New Zealand comes late to the party. But the Delta Variant has finally arrived! Unfortunately, this is not cause for celebration, and with the detection of one case of unknown origin outside MIQ, the doors have slammed shut, and we are back to lockdown – Covid Alert Level 4 with (almost) immediate effect: from midnight on Wednesday, the whole country is back to level 4 restrictions for three days initially (seven days for Auckland and Coromandel), whilst they do DNA testing and attempt to trace the source. My guess is that the days will be extended to at least 14, and possibly longer, before we’re able to relax a little. Even then, we’ll probably only relax to Alert Level 3.

Bugger.

This response has been informed by the events in New South Wales and Fiji, who are now locked down after dithering for a number of weeks as case numbers and deaths multiplied. New Zealand’s strategy is to try to nip it in the bud straight away and break the chain of transmission quickly. Whether that will be possible will be borne out by events, but as the original (Case A) has possibly been infectious since last Thursday, and travelled to Coromandel in that time, there’s an awful lot of people who may have come into contact with him. There are currently 15 locations of interest on the MOH website. As of this morning, there are now four more cases, all connected to Case A.

It’s a good job we managed to get our Rarotonga holiday in as, naturally, that door has slammed shut again. Other than that, there’s (fortunately) not much else going on at this time of year. Our burger journey will likely be curtailed after just one tasting. Toastmasters, quiz and my photography course which I’ve just started will all be cancelled, rescheduled, or done via Zoom. Nicola is still an essential worker so may still be called on to do some Driving Miss Daisy work, but most of those journeys (apart from medical appointments) have been cancelled, too. Vaccinations have been cancelled as well, so my scheduled date at the end of this month is under threat…we’ll have to see how that pans out.

Here we go again... 

The Buffalo

And they’re off! Yes, the Burger Wellington section of Wellington On A Plate is back, and, with all the speed of a snail on valium, we’ve dived into the party, four days late. Why so sluggish? Well, not being employed in the CBD these days means we don’t have a lot of eateries on our doorstep for lunchtime burgeration, so we waited until this week, and the offering from The Larder…which is closed on Mondays. On Tuesday, therefore, we headed down the hill at midday, to find the place chock-a-block with customers. The Larder are also running their Vietnamese Larder offering throughout August, so there’s other Vietnamese delicacies on offer. We put ourselves on the wait list for a table, and settled down with the crossword. After about 15 minutes we were seated and ordering burgers.

The Larder’s offering this year is The Buffalo, described thus: Grilled water buffalo patty with Vietnamese mint, pickled vegetables, roasted rice powder and lucky sauce in a housemade bun, with fried rice paper crisps and nuoc cham mayonnaise. The Garage Project beer match is Transit of Venus, a hazy IPA made with lemongrass, lime and grapefruit. I’d ordered a side of chunky chips to accompany, so the whole shebang looks like this:

This is a tasty burger. Can you tell that it’s buffalo and not beef? I don’t know…maybe the meat is a little stronger in flavour. The Vietnamese mint gives a tangy flavour to the burger, and the pickled vegetables are good too. I didn’t use the mayo, as I had aioli with my chips anyway. Also, the rice powder didn’t really add much other than to make eating it a bit messy. The beer is, of course, up to the usual high standard you expect from Garage Project – tangy and hazy and IPA-ey.

Overall, a good burger to start our Burger Wellington adventure. I score it a 7/10.

Now for the bad news…

 

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.