16.1.13

My turn to be crook in the night with the gastro finally catching up on me. The wind did not come to much, due to our position on the island we were pretty sheltered. We went around to Koru café for breakfast. Once again Andrew and Diedre came in as we were finishing up. I stopped in the Café and chatted to them while Di and the kids went beachcombing.

Quiet afternoon at the house. Richard and Rema called around to check the property I guess and see if we were ok following the blow. Sophie and I went off on the bike to get fish and chips for dinner and a DVD. There was no fish and we were instructed by the family about not getting chicken, so it ended up being just the chips for dinner. Sophie ran from the fish and chip place home, about 7km. I was a bit uneasy about her running on her own for some reason so I dropped the dinner home then went back to ride beside her while she ran. Unfortunaelty the TV was playing up so we watched the DVD on the computer, which was still pretty exciting, as we haven’t seen anything on the screen for quiet a few days. A nice steinlager to help settle the upset gut was just what the doctor ordered.

15.1.13 Tuesday

A debate over who would ride on the bike with me to do a list of errands that Di dreqmed up. Breakfast and off into it, first up Ben. The rain started fairly heavily after we got a few minutes down the road. We went and got some cash out, then into town for some petrol, then back to the Tumanu resort to book the Island night for Thursday. There was a large cruise ship mored off the coast and a small boat shuttling people in to Aitutaki for the day. Back home and the engine was barely swotched off and Danielle was on the back of the bike and we were off to get some groceries, which involved going to three shops around the island to get most of what we needed. By the time we got back I was very cold from all of the motorcycleing in the rain.

Andrew and Diedre called around for a visit, I offered a coffee, but Andrew was in more of a mood for Gin and pulled a bottle out of his car and poured us all a drink. Mid day is a bit early for me, but it was very nice all the same. Larry poped in with some mangoes and a newspaper, and got roped intot he midday gin drinking, compenting it must be 5 o’clock somewhere.

Lazy afternoon at the house and on the beach. Larry warned us of heavy wind overnight. Late in the afternoon Richard phoned to tell us that the wind would get up in the night and to move the beds away from the windows! We had a nice night of playing cards and battening down the hatches for what was likely to be cyclonic conditions in our imaginations. 

14.1.13 Monday

Woke to dead calm conditions so wandered down the beach 50m or so to the moored Vaka that was being stocked for the day of lagoon cruising to see if they could fit another 7 onboard. After a few phone calls to see if there was enough food, we got the thumbs up so spent the day on the lagoon, in a modern day 21m Vaka that looks traditional but is made of aluminium and powered by some cleverly concealed 200HP outboards.

Cruised across the lagoon to the tune of a couple of local comedians playing their ukuleles and guitar to a range of tunes from the represented nations. There is a bit of a party atmosphere to this cruise with a lot of emphasis put on the fact that there was a bar to access, and surprise that guests were not availing themselves of this service more (it was 10am). Visited the beach where seaplanes used to land before the airport existed. Seaplanes hoped across the pacific, from NZ to here then on to Tahiti. Film stars used to visit and stay on the island. Off to the volcanic island in the middle of the lagoon, where our guide pointed out the birds, and informatively told us that these birds are known locally as ‘White Birds”. They are white, and they are birds, and that was the limit of the information given about this area. We got out for a wander around the island for 10 mins, and snuck in a quick swim to cool off as well. The island is clearly a breading or nesting ground for the ‘white bird’ of Aitutaki as there were plenty of them in the air and in the trees.

We continued on to a marine researve and had the first snorkel of the day. They anchored in waste deep water and we swam around the boat and out into the deeper water with several coral outcrops. The water here was about 3-4m deep and Olivia is confident enough now that she was happily swimming along without assistance. I stayed pretty near but she was happy enough for me to dive down to the bottom periodically. Ben was off exploring with Di trying to keep up. The big girls were off doing their own thing, Danielle darting from here to there, then from there to here, and Sophie and Pen diving down and checking out the corals and the array of tropical fish. Eventually people started to drift back ot the boat and we did the same. There was some excited activity at the back of the boat, and as Livie and I made it closer we realised that there was some fish feeding going on with the little black and white, Sergeant Major fish hanging around and ripping into the bread, and also a large Trevally cruising around all of the people at the back of the boat. I was standing at the boat talking to Di, then put my masked face under the water to see where the Trevally was and Boom! He was right there swimming towards my mask about 1 metre away, it gave me a hell of a fright and made me jump. Of course the Trevally thought nothing of it and swerved and carried on to the next person. The kids were having a great time swimming after and touching the trevally, that was about the same length as Ben but of a higher bulk and weight.

The Conch shell was sounded to signal it was time for everyone to get aboard again and we had lunch as we cruised around the corner to one foot island. The lunch was a delicious mix of island fruits and veges made into various salads and some very nice barbecued tuna.

As we arrived at One foot island a dark cloud blew over and an almighty downpour started which lasted for most of the 2 hours that we were there. It was still very warm of course so the swimming continued, but the walk around the island seemed less appealing in the torrential rain. We spent some time looking a the Giant clams. There were six giant clams in a reserve area that had a bunch of native clams and corrals on underwater stands, and were surrounded by a few corals and six live giant clams with a number of empty clam shells as well. It was surreal coming to the surface and seeing from below the heavy rain hitting the surface of the water. Lots of jumping off the boat and having fun.

The conch shell sounded and we cruised back to ootu beach. The sun came out as we were leaving one foot island, so we cruised back in sunshine and calm conditions. We had a Sarong tying demonstration, and some local legends told to us on the way home. We had a nice time meeting the people on the trip who included a couple from Brisbane and their family. The mother was originally from the cook islands although her fair skin and blond hair seemed out of keeping, however her grand mother was the “queen” of the Cook Islands, so I guess the heritage was there despite looks. We also had an interesting talk to the Doctor that Di saw in Rarotonga who was here for a day trip with his wife and daughter. Overall a good day out.

13.1.13 Sunday

Early morning jaunt on the scooter with Pen to the shop that has a baking market 7am. This is the only shop open on Sunday as it is owned by Seventh Day Adventists hence is closed on Saturday but open Sunday. The early morning baking market is a popular treat for the locals. By 7.30 we were too late and it was mostly gone! We did get some sweat coconut bread and donuts for breakfast, which had everyone very happy on our return home. We spent the morning relaxing at home, followed by an afternoon relaxing at home and then beach combing. A quiet day.

11.1.13

Larry arrived as promised at 9am and there started the lesson on island life. Larry has been into IT since the 60s and ended up being a teacher of IT. He came to the Cook Islands 16 years ago and donated the first computers to the school in Aitutaki and went on to teach voluntarily up until 4 years ago at the high school. He knows the community and Island life well.

Larry had a bag with some cone shells in it and pointed out the danger of these innocent looking shells. The mollusk that forms them has a cute little tongue that comes out of the end it and reaches around to give you a sting, which can be fatal. Don’t pick them up if they are in the water is the take home message. He also told the kids about the dangers of walking under coconut trees, stonefish and less toxic irritants such as sand fly and mosquito bites. Richard arrived with the scooter that we have rented off them for the two weeks, and so the combination of Larry’s car and the motorbike meant that we could all go on the tour of the island. Larry seemed to get pleasure from showing us his adopted home. He showed us the water harvesting and reticulation system that gathers and stores ground water at the base of the hill, in a trench that has been excavated filled with gravel and covered again, with about a 1 km trench this catches and stores the rainwater run off from the hill, and there are about 11 of these on the island. There are fairly frequent water shortages all the same. We went up to top of the island and looked at the views from the highest point you can drive to. Then made our way down to the best shop in town, did some shopping and carried on to a jewelry and ukulele maker, who is making very attractive uke’s from native wood. The tour continued to another shop or two, and on to a point that looked out over the lagoon. Around the island through an arch of trees, then to his home for a toilet stop. The story of Larry’s house is interesting. You cannot buy land in the Cook Islands, it belongs to the families and cannot be sold. Larry after deciding to move here to retire at 55 went into an arrangement with a couple to build a restaurant with accommodation and Larry would have an attached one room dwelling that he would have use of for his lifetime. Larry put up 95% of the money, however on returning to take up residence was told that he would need to pay rent, or move out. This lead to a four year long legal battle. The local community knew of the details of this, and understood that Larry had been ripped off, and (to Larry’s surprise) were in support of his position. Eventually a local mentioned “it will be good when he gets the house that Reno is building for him”. Larry knew nothing of this house and after a couple of people mentioned this to him, he thought he should approach Reno who he did not know that well and find out what this was all about. Reno, a local businessman, had decided that Larry had been hard done by these people and had decided to build a house for Larry to live in. Larry said “whoa Reno! I am on a partial pension and can not afford to pay rent”,” don’t worry, we will work it out latter” says Reno, “no lets work it out now” said Larry worried about the “She’ll be right” attitude over committing him. “ how about one hundred dollars per week?” “Done! Can I pay monthly which would be … $433 per month?” “Lets just make it $400 per month,” concludes Reno. And Reno built the house for Larry. I think it would be fair to say this is a tight community, and Larry is clearly a valued member.

Larry gave a coconut ukulele to the Kids as he claimed that it would be better for someone who may use it to have it. We continued up past the hospital and school to another back yard shop with bulk frozen goods. Then down to the wharf to the Aitutaki stone for a photo, which makes us Aitutakians according to Larry. We headed past another shop and along to airport again and back to Koru Café for lunch. We spent about 4 hours being shown around by Larry and we bought him lunch in appreciation. What a great introduction to the island.

Headed home after a very substantial lunch- steak, followed by sticky date pudding for me, a variety of yummy foods for the others. Back home for a swim and a cool down. Nice afternoon mucking around at home and in the lagoon. Sophie and I went for a 5km run before dinner. Sushi, and early night for all.