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Published: March 2nd 2011
23 February 2011 It is not the monsoon season in Rarotonga but someone forgot to tell the weather that so, we awoke this morning to a torrential downpour which showed no sign of letting up. So much for topping up the tan before we return home.
Gregg, optimistically decided that there might be decent surf, it not generally being put out by the rain, so hopped on the bike with board in tow. Less than twenty minutes later, he returned in drowned rat mode. No surfing today then.
When it rains in Rarotonga, there is quite literally nothing to do so, out came the books and the card games and we whiled away all morning and the early afternoon that way. I was on a mission to finish a book, so it was no hardship for me and had just about done so when, without warning, the sun came up. Well, that might be a little bit of an exaggeration. The sky was still a bit grey but there was a definite lack of rain.
We had checked the weather forecast for today which was 'chance of rain 29 degrees' as opposed to 'rain 29
The beach by the Rarotongan Hotel
This is meant to be the best spot for snorkellingdegrees' for the rest of the week and had therefore decided that today was going to be ride around the island and take photos day. The rain and grey skies put paid to that and it looked like there wouldn't be another opportunity - we have about 40 photos of the island and they might have to do.
After yet another unexciting meal of noodles, we retired to our room, which we are having to do early because it is so hot that it is only possible to sleep if the door has been left open all evening. There are signs everywhere warning people to be safety concious and to keep doors locked at all times so we figure it is probably best not to leave it wide open and unattended. That said, it really doesn't feel as if Rarotonga is awash with crime.
24 February 2011 Our hearts sank as the morning brought with it yet more rain. Another write off of a day, it seemed. Today however, the rain got the message and stopped earlier than yesterday.
An aside about rain - this island has a cirucmference of 32 km. Even at
40km an hour (the maximum for a bike without helmets - 50km in a car/with helmets) one can circumnavigate it in an under an hour yet, it can be sheeting it down with rain less than 1km down the road from where others are bathed in sunshine. That said, I seriously doubt that any of the island has completely avoided the rain of the last few days.
Anyway, with an improvement in the weather, we decided that we would use this afternoon for our island photography. Stopping as the mood took us, we eventually arrived in Avarua(the main town), fortuitously, at just around lunch time where we stopped for a burger whilst sheltering from a brief shower which looked exceptionally ominous but turned out to be anything but.
It has proved exceptionally difficult for either of us to do photographic justice to Rarotonga and I am tempted to suggest that at all times we have had to battle with less than ideal conditions. In truth tho, we are probably at fault in having failed to capture the luscious beauty of the tropical floral and fauna. We tried.
The evening provided us with an opportunity to put that
right as we had decided to attend and 'Island Night' these are shows put on by one of the various dance troups of the island. A dance troup will also have a minimum of 5 drummers (in this case at least 8), a number of ukele players and some very talented singers. The leader/MC explained that they run the group in order to keep the younger generation in touch with their Maori roots and they hold these events to raise funds which allow them to take the group to tour around the world. He also very proudly told us that the group's drummers had come 3rd out of eight groups in a recent competition. The traditional dancing is much like a prettier version of the Hakka and was great fun to watch and, it appeared, to participate in - if the wonderful smiles were anything to go by.
There are three different types of drums. One like the type of drum that you might see in use in a military parade (only a bit more rustic), a set of bongo type drums and the rest look like stubby canoes - as I hope you will see from the photos.
The end of a bus stop
Bus stops are not strictly necessary however as the bus will stop wherever you flag it down.
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