Blogs from Aitutaki, Cook Islands, Oceania

Blog #31 – The Cook Islands – Aitutaki – Jan. 12th to 15th, 2011 - then home to Canada - This is the second largest, second most visited, and second most populated island in the Cooks with 2500 people. When we reached the airport the ticket agent asked if we were Jim and Carole. “Yes” we replied, “but how did you know?” “Everyone else on the flight is local” she answered. It reminded me very much of flying to Old Crow. The flight took 45 minutes – just long enough to drink a coke and read the daily paper thoroughly. It seems strange that there is an outer world – flooding in Queensland, shootings in Texas… Everything on Aitutaki is on a somewhat less sophisticated scale than Raratonga, and time runs even more slowly. I like ... read more

INDIANAPOLIS -- Things worth noting from the Giants' loss to the Colts on Sunday: What it means: That the New York Giants aren’t in the Peyton Manning/Indianapolis Colts class yet. They can beat the Carolina Panthers, but they aren’t among the elite. When the schedule came out, though, did you really think the Giants were winning this one? The Giants at 1-1 after a 38-14 loss to the Colts is what we expected. Tomorrow’s talker: The Giants seemed so wary of the pass game that they may have overdone it with with the extra defensive backs. That made it easier for the Colts to run it, and Joseph Addai and Donald Brown looked just great with the ball in their hands, combining for 161 yards and a 4.5 average. Addai looked particularly fresh, decisive and darting. ... read more

From Rarotonga, I took a 4-day break to Aitutaki, a group of small islands in a fantastic paradise lagoon. It's a 50 minute flight in a tiny 15-seater airplane with amazing views of the islands and the lagoon. Unfortunately for Aitutaki, it was hit by a cyclone about 2 months ago, destroying a lot of nature and houses on the island. Luckily, most of all the businesses were back up and running again, and the islands were still beautiful to visit. The lagoon was not damaged. I stayed with Gina, a local "queen" who has a four lodge garden. Officially, she really is a queen, although the meaning is somewhat different I think. She didn't really have a court or anything, but she was a queen after all! I was the only one staying at her ... read more

Breakfast - same As we had promised the three Canadian sisters, we went to meet them at their resort (Aitutaki Lagoon Resort). Doris hadn't been feeling very well, but we were able to take Rachel and Janine on the back of our bikes for a bit of a tour around the island. They said they had felt like prisoners at their accommodation, with everything costing an exhorbitant amount of money. They also said that the owner had employed Fijian staff at $2 per hour because the locals refused to work there. We had a great time with the sisters - Janine informed us she was 83! We took them to the Marine Research Centre and were able to see baby Giant Clams and young, brilliantly coloured coral. Lunch at Koru Cafe. Owned by Kiwi / Maori/ ... read more

Last Raina Breakfast (thank goodness) we just ate the oranges and pawpaw plus our own chubby bananas. Now to Aitutaki. Lunch at Tauono’s: Starfruit juice Vegetables (capsicum, spinach, chives, chillis) picked immediately before cooking and Spinach omelette. What a fantastic meal. Every mouthful was delicious Dinner: te Vaka - the restaurant attached to our accommodation LV - Maitai TC - Tamanu Sunset Pacific Bouillabaisse - prawns, crab, squid, fish, poached in a reef fish broth finished with roast tomato and garlic butter with crème fraiche and garlic bread Alan Scott Chardonnay ... read more

Etter tips fra vaar travel agent Jan Erik, som nok en gang har snekret sammen en kjempe tur, booket vi en dagstur til Aituaki. Dette mente han var ett "must" om man besoeker Cook Islands. Atuaki er en av de sørlige øyene i øygruppen Cookøyene. Aitutaki er 18.05 km² stor, derav hovedoeya dekker 16,8 km². Det er ca 2000 innbyggere. Aitutaki ligger ca 40 minutters flytur fra Raratonga, saa det foerste vi gjorde var aa booke oss en dagstur gjennom ett turistkontor paa Rarotonga. Dagen etter var det tidlig opp aa komme seg til flyplassen der flyet gikk kl. 08.00. Det er det minste flyet noen av oss har sittet i, med kun en flyvertinne. Da vi ankom den lille oeya ble vi moett av en heftig regnskur. Vi fikk en smule hetta, med tanke paa ... read more