The Cook Islands

If ever you have taken a look at the books which show the 10, 50 or 1000 places to see before you die then Aitutaki in The Cook Islands is always right up there near the top of the list and we really wanted to include this in the itinerary. However, when we first booked the round the world ticket we could not include it because BA/Qantas don't fly there and we were going to have to make do with Fiji - it's hard you know! Anyhow, as you will know there has been a coup in Fiji and the Foreign Office were recommending us Brits not to travel there... so we made a hasty cancellation and reverted to Plan A.... The Cook Islands.

First a flight from Auckland to Rarotonga, the capital of the Cook Islands and an overnight stop.
We received a royal welcome from a gentleman who was welcoming us all in Arrivals with an island tune or two singing along merrily whilst playing his ukelele in a very flowery shirt! Little did we know that he also sings you out in Departures! And it was back to garlands around our necks... this time called a "lei".

Aitutaki, which is about 45 mins flight from Raro, is a group of one major and several tiny islands situated around an amazing turquoise lagoon which in turn is surrounded by a coral reef.... walk in and, yes, it does seem like paradise. Our little island, Akitua, is reached by a ferry, quaint! You will see we had a beach front "garden shed", close to the water's edge and as there were only about 50 guests in the resort, we even got to keep our own bit of beach all to ourselves.

We had plenty of time to laze around, explore the island and swim... just what the doctor ordered.

To be honest, though, a week is enough..... there is this thing called "island time" and the Spanish have a similar word "manana" but it does not even hint at the slow pace of life there. You kind of have to enter into the spirit of things and "chill".

Two of the days we hired cars - Mazda MX5 and a Toyota Rav 4 - for a spin and a shopping trip which took all of a couple of hours and that was stopping off for a lunch too! What a waste you might think, but we had an empty fridge in our room and by the time Doug had filled it with beers at $1.50 each compared to $6.90 in the hotel, we soon justified the rental fee. Mags will be pleased to learn that we found the latest branch of her favourite shop - Mango!

We also did the mandatory lagoon cruise... more turtles, loads of them, as well as excellent snorkelling and a stamp in our passport when we visited One Foot Island, which has the smallest post office in the world.... they reckon! Fortunately, the Post Master doubles as a bar man!

We also stopped at Honeymoon Island, as wel as the island where Shipwreck & Survivor (US) have been filmed. Doug even managed to finds the "facilities" ..... need I say more!

Dining room and .... facilities...

We also had a go at the kyaks.... is that how you spell it? It was very hard going against the current... but we had fun and used up a few of the alcoholic calories!

Hey... birthday boy!

Doug's 60th birthday also fell in this week and with a little help from some staff at the hotel and a supportive singing of "Happy Birthday to You" we were able to celebrate in style! Our kids phoned their Dad at great expense and a bottle of champagne also arrived from them... thanks a million... it did the trick and put us into party mood!

The party started with a fantastic sunset and was followed with the essential birthday cake.

We did have some fantastic weather, but the rain also caught up with us again... and the sight of the gardeners at work in the wet weather gear was really very funny... they were determined that the daily sweep up of leaves would happen, regardless of the weather!

We did have a bit of fun joining in with Island Night and the dancing ... the little ones were so cute!

One young couple from New Zealand, who were on their honeymoon, Rebecca and Al helped to make sundowners time a pleasant interlude.... we send them our best wishes and "happy ever after" now they are back in Christchurch.

When we left Aitutaki we didn't realise we would face a 59 hour journey to reach Hawaii caused by late departures, missed connections, etc... but we took some fabulous memories with us and a wonderful suntan.

The suntan stops here.. it's more siteseeing for the next two weeks... and then we will be home!