Cook Islands Holiday 2013

1/1/2013, the longest day of my life. Chronologically that is. Experientially specialist medical exams would be the longest day,… or perhaps Di in labour with Sophie (the others went faster),… or perhaps my wedding day, with standing at the alter wondering if Di would actually turn up, before I was struck by lightning by the finger of God for trespassing in his house, I would have to think about it carefully, however chronologically 1/1/13 was definitely the longest. We flew out from Nelson with a send off from Dick and Janet, Nicky and Mac at about 3.30 pm at headed to Auckland. A fair bit of debate over who would get which seat (mostly in reference to no one wanting to sit with Ben who smells very strongly at the moment, and is not shy about sharing the rancid smell of his internal organs with anyone) and the usual stares of incredulous people at the sight of five kids following Mother duck onto the plane. This was after a day of mad activity getting the property tidied up for our friends Rod, Janine, Zoe and Hunter who are house sitting while we are away. As we are in the middle of packing for our house move on our return the place was a mess and still is (sorry guys). Built a new fence for the pet sheep as she has run out of food in her lamb paddock. Paid the last of the pile of bills and finished GST. Going on holiday with too many loose ends is no fun at all.

I forgot to fill out the seven departure cards on the flight so spent quiet a few minutes writing these out before we could head through customs to the departure area. Tried to find a jacket for me, and flippers for Ben in duty free without success then into the koru lounge for a feed. We bumped into friends Nigel and Sue Parr in the lounge, who we haven’t seen for several years. They are headed for a very different holiday to us, while we will bask in the tropics they are skiing with their two sons at Whistler. Good to catch up with them briefly, they are in good form. We boarded the big plane at 730pm and flew north-east. At about 10pm I am guessing we crossed the international date line and were briefly back in 2012 before the entertainment screen announced Happy New Years as we went back into 1/1/2013 half an hour before touch down and a whole 24 hours of 1/1/2013 to go! I guess this day has been about 46 hours long, now that bodes well for an awesome year, It should be very productive.

Through customs at Raro with no drama about the fact that we had about 30kg of food in our bags (no fresh food, or meat seemed to be the critical issues, possibly helped by the hour of the day). We had organized a rental car for the first few days as the transfer fees covered about three days of car rental. The email instructions were that the car would be in the carpark unlocked with our name on the window and the keys under that mat,….welcome to the islands.

Marlene Boyd from the house that we have rented met us and guided us around the corner to the Te Kakaia Villa, a nice wee three bedroom house on Hospital hill. The heat and humidity was fairly crushing, but we all did the best we could to get to sleep, once again after some debate and trantrumming about who would sleep where. I eventually won and got to sleep with Di (and Olivia).

Woke up after a restless night of tossing and turning trying to find a cool position. Had some pawpaw from the garden and contacted Emma and Kieran by text then after getting the teenager up, headed to the Rarotongan to have some Brunch together. Emma and Kieran have been here for a week, and it sounds like they have had a fun time. Kieran told a hilarious anecdote of a trip they did for a snorkel to the other side of the Island. They left their money so as to not be worried about leaving it on the beach while they swam, but realised when there that he hadn’t shaved, which would lead to a leaking mask. They went into a store and got some shaving gear, but when they went to pay found the store did not take credit cards. The owner said “don’t worry, take it and come back and pay me latter”. When they returned a day or so later, he couldn’t remember how much it was and said to them to pay what they thought it was worth! Apparently he does this all of the time, and claims that people always pay. But who would know, he clearly does not keep records. Nice to catch up with them over lunch, before they had to leave on the bus for the airport.

We went along to the fruits of Rarotonga a marine reserve, for a snorkel. Sophie, Pen, Danielle and Ben were snorkeled up, and into the lagoon in very short order, they took to it like Smith kids to the water. Olivia was a bit more reserved, and took her time getting in, but after a while she got the idea and didn’t want to come out. Very cute watching her get used to the mask and snorkel, standing putting her mask and face under while standing then with a bit more bravery she was off floating and kicking and splashing in a semi coordinated effort to gain forward momentum. Eventually she was absorbed with the underwater world she could see through her mask, and I took out into water well over her head and she loved it. It was all cut short as Sophie needed to use the toilet, and there was none around, and Di’s suggestion to go in the sea was “Disgusting!”

Headed home for a dinner of Pasta prepared by Sophie and Pen. After dinner a Whiskey (for me) donated by Emma and Kieran and a game of Scrabble between Sophie, Di, Pen and me on the verandah as the sun went down and other kids entertained themselves in the hammock. A competitive game that I proudly came third in. Pen won, Sophie nailed a series of big scores and came in second and Di graciously came forth (last!).

We were all pretty tired and hit the sack with relief, not so hot tonight (or are we just acclimatising?) The end of a very long day…..

Not quite. Before midnight Ben started vomiting, I guess that explains why he has been a bit more malodorous than usual, in recent times. The end to a very, very long day. A night of supporting Ben while he vomited repeatedly. Happy days.