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Published: January 29th 2006
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The Cook Islands are about 13 degrees east of the international date line. They are some of the last places on Earth to see the dawn of the new day, being 10 hours behind GMT. They are only four hours ahead of east coast Australia, though there it's tomorrow. We find it's best not to think about that too much - it frys our fun-sized brains.
It seems appropriate that these islands should be out here at the end of time. We sensed the isolation when we flew in from Easter Island, through Tahiti. For hour upon hour there is nothing - not even a slither of land. The Cooks are tiny specs in the vast Pacific. However, the islands are connected to the rest of the world, having a few international airports, some satellite internet connection and mobile telephone networks (except on the more remote outer islands).
The Cooks have been a NZ protectorate since 1900 (and the Brits were here before that, since 1888). Sadly, the outside influence seems to have had a detrimental effect on the people of Rarotonga, the main island in the group. The people seem distressed that they have to work for a
living and sometimes offer tourists no more than indifference. According to the guys on Rapa Nui the cause of this was the destruction of the native culture by European meddling. The islands always produced an abundance of food so little hard work was needed in the past. However, now that the islanders desire some of the benefits of modern life they have had to jump on the capitalistic bandwagon and it doesn't seem to be in their nature.
That said, we did meet a lot of friendly people on Rarotonga - huge friendly people! You don't want to get a bear hug from some of them. Polynesians are naturally large. There are whole families over six foot tall and built like rhinos on steriods. This will have helped the Polynesians on their migration across the Pacific (or maybe it's the result of it?). Given the vastness of the ocean and the relatively tiny landfalls for which they were looking, it's amazing that the Polynesians were roaming around the Pacific some 2,000 years ago. In fact Rarotonga was one of the islands from which the first Moari settlers left for the land of the long white cloud, New Zealand. The
seafaring capability far surpassed that of the Europeans or anyone else in the world at that time.
Why you would want to leave Rarotonga in the first place is more of a mystery. It's a stunningly beautiful volcanic island, the interior of which is a tangle of tropical jungle. The coastline is mostly white coral sand beach encircled by a shallow lagoon. Off in the distance towering waves break on a barrier reef in a white water chain reaction along the edge of the lagoon.
The breaks in the reef that drain the lagoon at low tide are deep coral canyons that offer some great dive sites. The lagoon regulars (Moon Wrasse, Picasso Triggerfish, Parrotfish, Boxfish and Porcupine Puffafish) mingle with Soldierfish, Peacock Groupers, sizeable Tuna, Needlefish, Green Turtles, Whitemouthed Moray Eels, Scorpionfish and many more. However, just snorkelling in the lagoon is pretty amazing. Huge barrels of coral support a diverse ecosystem that is protected by local fishing bans. There were rarely more than a handful of people on the beaches so we enjoyed the tropical paradise to ourselves most of the time.
While we were on Rarotonga the Queen's Baton was being paraded around, en
One foot island
Aitutaki Lagoon route to the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. We managed to get our filthy mits on it for a moment. Apparently, the baton has an in-built GPS system and camera in it's casing just in case anyone has the idea of keeping the baton for longer than they should! While the baton was on Aitutaki (another of the Cook Islands in the southern group) it was wrapped in a 10,000 NZ dollar black pearl necklace for it's journey across the lagoon. The baton made it, but the pearls did not. They say that people are diving in the lagoon hoping to find the necklace, though it's most probably long gone by now! Maybe the baton snaffled them for Queenie?!
Aitutaki is a 40 minute flight from Rarotonga by Air Rarotonga. The safety briefing goes something like this - "Alright guys. 40 minutes - Aitutaki. Ah, don't forget to buckle up". However, Aitutaki is in many respects a world away from Rarotonga. Virtually everyone waves hello on the road and when we went to a nearby bar the locals literally demanded that we had a beer with them. Not only that, Aitutaki is very much in the mix for the most
Marco and Francesco
Learning to drink like the English - eh oh... beautiful island in the South Pacific award. It has a huge turquoise lagoon filled with uninhabited coral islands, called Motu. We kayaked to deserted beaches, snorkelled over reef encrusted with Giant Clams and lazed on fluffy white sand. It's only when you're cruising the lagoon that you can really appreciate the astonishing colour of the water - it's indescribable, so we'll leave that to the photos. The Motu are deserted tropical gems - their coconut trees reach into the skies and are circled by red tailed tropic-birds.
We visited Moturakau, a tiny island that was home to the contestants on the reality TV show, Shipwrecked. They were on the island for 4 months, the lucky buggers. Mind you, they wouldn't have enjoyed the mossies. We have become human pincushions, walking snacks for the ravenous flying hoardes.
Back on Aitutaki we couldn't pass up an invitation to an Island Night, which is when the locals put on dance shows. The guys' dance is a show of strength - a wobbling of knees to end all knee wobbling! The girls dance sensously and wiggle their hips at amazing speed. Even the kids get in on the act. All the children
Dancing kiddies
Island night on Aitutaki start to learn how to dance from about the age of three!
We spent a lot of our time on Rarotonga and Aitutaki with our crazy Italian friends, Marco and Francesco from Florence. On Aitutaki we found yet more Italians! Angelo has been living on Aitutaki for years and runs an organic fruit and vegetable garden. He treated us all to an amazing spaghetti bolognese at his house. Suddenly we were in the South Pacific's little Italy, listening to Nessun Dorma and learning how to swear in Italian. We were sad to leave but we had to head off to to see another island.
Atiu offers something a little different. Very few tourists visit, mainly because you can't really swim off the beaches - the reef is too shallow and close in to the shore. The old reef crept onto the island as it was raised up from the seabed and was petrified, forming a deadly band of razor sharp rocks known as the makatea. The makatea contains huge cave complexes, one of which (Anatakitaki) is home to the Kopeka, a tiny swift which lives clinging upside down to the roof of the cave like a bat. The
Akitua Motu
Oh god, get me out of here! Kopeka never rests while outside of its subterrenean home and has developed a sonar-like click system in order to navigate the dark reaches of its cave. Next to the home of the Kopeka is an underground pool in which you can have a refreshing dip by candlelight.
On the way back from the caves, we stopped off for a drink at the Tumunu, the local drinking den where the lads dish out home-made bush beer. They only give tourists small amounts. If you were unwise enough to take them on in a drinking contest it wouldn't be long until they would have to stretcher you back to your hostel. It's potent stuff (rumoured to be about 28 percent alcohol!) and the recipe is a closely guarded secret at each Tumunu.
Atiu is very much how we imagine all of the Cooks to have been in the past. They have an abundance of fish and home-grown veggies so no-one will ever go hungry. The island has a very laid back attitude as it doesn't really matter what gets done and what doesn't get done. Given that the island is by-passed by most tourists it's likely to stay that way
too. We hope that Aitutaki can simlarly keep true to itself.
Next up, our travels in the Pacific continue, but we're going to have to dredge up some of that schoolboy French as we're off to Tahiti, in French Polynesia.
Kia Orana
T&S
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Annie
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So good to hear from you guys again! Look, you don't HAVE to put up with all that coral island and blue lagoon stuff - brave of you, I'm sure - but there's always the easy option of coming back to London and basking in sub-zero temps or just swanning around on the ever-efficient Northern Line. Just think about it, OK? The pictures are stunning as usual and there's so much in-depth info you could publish an atlas. Thank you for taking me along with you on all your adventures!