http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , Cook Islands , Aitutaki en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:19:41 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:19:41 UTC It is market day on Raro so although we are stiff and sore from the trek we headed to the Punanga Nui Market this morning. It's Ruth's mums birthday today so we picked them up and headed to Avarua. The market was interesting as markets tend to be anywhere in the world there were lots of different foods and arts and crafts. The weather is not the best rain has forced us to duck in and out of sh http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-344964.html I'll let the pictures do the talk...The best share this special moment with DaxThe worse family and friends couldn't be hereEn el lugar adecuado en el momento adecuadoUna imagen vale mas que mil palabras...Lo mejor Compartir este momento especial con DaxLo peor Familia y amigos no pudieron compartirlo con nosotros http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-332050.html Kia Orana from Aranau 'Enua O Ru Ki Te Moana meaning Ru in search of land over the sea but to make things easier for those of us who don't speak maori was changed to Aitutaki a'i tutaki means to keep the fire going being Ru the 1st settler of the island who with his 4 wives his 4 brothers and their wives arrive here to decide to keep the island for himself and send his brothers away and http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-332042.html As promised here are some more pictures from the Cook Islands http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-330871.html Well the Cook Islands were GREAT We had an excellent time besides our little flight delay problem...but that was easily fixed by beautiful beaches and warm weather. As per the previous blog entry we were delayed in LA for about 6 hours and then had to be rerouted to Hawaii to pick up a new captain not sure how we flew to Hawaii without a captain..hmm...We arrived on the main island of Rar http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-330283.html Bored of the local lagoon which was a bit smelly we decided to trek to the other side of the island where we knew the swimming and snorkelling were much better. It didnrsquot look too far on the map but then we werenrsquot sure how accurate the map was Around 10am we set off. Luckily today was a bit cooler with a few clouds in the sky so if we were ever going to manage the walk today was http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-314134.html Another lazy day on the beachWe headed off after a leisurely breakfast to the beach around the Samade Bar which was about five mins walk away. Wersquod heard this was the best beach but it wasnrsquot a vast improvement on our own beach plus there were no loungers for us to use. But we spent the morning laying in the shade there as it was way to hot to lay directly in the sun. We didnrsqu http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-314131.html We woke up bright and early and finished our packing ready for moving from Amuri Pool Villa to a place called Inanos on the other side of the island. Paul gave us a lift over and we were finally able to find some bread in a shop on the way. We were met by the owner who showed us to our accommodation. We had a one bedroom place on stilts right on the beach. Ours was the only beachfront propert http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-314129.html It has been a long day but I really want to write it up now before I forget any of the details as it was one of the best days ever. Wersquod booked to go on an Aitutuki Adventures lagoon trip today. The trip was run by Puna and Tutu a married couple who had been running the tours for a number of years. Puna took the boat out onto the lagoon before explaining to us where our first stops were http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-314111.html I slept terribly last night. I think it was because there seem to be more geckos in this villa than the last place plus there seem to be more creepy crawlies in general. That combined with the fact it was so hot all night stopped me from relaxing as whenever I lay on top of the covers I was thinking about all of the things that might crawl on me.We decided not to hire bikes today and instead to h http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-314107.html Today was our last day for now at the Muri Beach Cottages. We just managed to fit everything into our rucksacks although we knew that our hand luggage was overweight for the Aitutaki flight as it's only a small plane the hand luggage allowance is tiny. We hoped it would be relaxed and that they wouldnrsquot care because if they werenlsquot we were in trouble.I spent part of the morning wal http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-314105.html Landing in Sydney on Thursday afternoon it felt strangely like I was coming home... Sydney remains the closest place in my opinion to London and for that reason I love spending time there. However by the time I had wandered around the domestic terminal trying to figure the best way to reclaim my left luggage from international terminal and then arrived via the airport link train at Central http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-281963.html I was missing Fiji leaving it behind on the way to Rarotonga the capital of Cook Islands. Arriving at the tiny airport was a new experience. It's like a bus terminal with all the shop closed. A nice thing about the pacific region is the welcome singing and ukuleleLooking out at the beach was nice but I didn't find it a paradise. After Fiji we have been really spoilt The water is a different co http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-255986.html OBS Vi har det siste dgnet lagt ut 6 nye bloggerParadiset skulle endelig beskes. Fikk hre fra drosjesjaafren at 3. juledag var veldig spesiell paa Aitutaki saa vi bestemte oss for aa flytte returdatoen. Det var det frste vi gjorde naar vi kom paa flyplassen. Ikke'no problem.Vi ble tatt veldig godt i mot paa flyplassen. Fikk kranser rundt halsen og greier. Og paa hotellet ble vi mtt med e http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-241675.html And on to Atitaki. A great way to sepnd my birthday. Lunch at a waterfront restauant and then fly off to a remote atoll in the middle of the paciific. This place is really romantic and beautiful. The bad weather however hitched a lift with us. The first day the sun was out allowing us to swim kayak and enjoy but then the cyclone hit again and for teh last day it has been pouring. Time to fi http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-238231.html KIA ORANA Guten Tag oder Sinngemaess lange sollst du Leben Visit heaven while you are still on earth......... und so geschah es. Am 11. Januar 2008 um 1 Uhr nachts laden wir auf den Cook Islands oder besser gesagt auf Rarotonga die groesste Insel der Cook Gruppe. Empfangen werden wir mit Musik und einer GardenienGirlande. Von Christchurch New Zealand aus ist die Zeitdifferenz 25h was sovi http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-235248.html Elaine another volunteer on this trip decided to come along to Aitutaki with me and I'm glad she did. The prop plane zoomed off with us to Aitutaki in about 45 minutes and as the pilot made his descent paradise rose from the sea. Imagine it the endless cobalt blue ocean and suddenly an island of brilliant turquoise water a hookshaped island ringed with white beach and 15 small islands http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-220723.html Once back from Akaiami we spent a few days on Aitutaki exploring the island by the help of a rented scooter. Before you can drive in Cook Islands you need to get a special Cook Island driving licience. The police figure that if you can drive from the rental garage to the police station and get there in one piece then you are a safe driver. Managed to get to the police station safely however fin http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-217001.html We landed at 6am in Rarotonga the principle island to be met with lush flora and forna intense humidity and a lovely man playing the polynesian guitar we both immediately felt better after the grey chicken incident in LA.We stayed in town for the first night as we had early morning flights to an outer island Aitutaki the next day. We wandered around the shops and lined No's tummy with nutri http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-215434.html Our short Air Rarotonga flight touched down in the tropical island of Aitutaki following a stunning decent that gave us a jawdropping panorama of the collection of islands and atolls held within the large turquiose lagoon. Since Aitutaki is an island held within a lagoon just like Rarotonga the water off the beeches are shallow clear and still and if you stand at the shore it won't be long http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-199700.html July 27th 2007 We arrived in Rarotonga at about 630am. It was still dark when we landed but we were welcomed into the small airport with smiles and a song from the locals. We left most of our luggage in left luggage and waited for our 800am flight to Auitutaki. It was a short flight about 4550 minutes. We saw our first glimpse of paradise as we flew over the Island. The island is surround http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-187926.html On Olly's birthday we flew to Aitutaki. It took 40 mins on the little plane. The view flying in was fantastic we could see the whole of the bright blue lagoon. We stayed in a little hut right on the beach it was lovely. We thought we's seen paradise but we hadn't until Aitutaki It's a huge aqua lagoon surrounded by reef. It's considerred to be one of the best lagoons in the world. It couldn http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-156548.html Flying from Fiji to the Cooks is only a straight easterly flight of 3 hours. We stayed for a few hours on Rarotonga the main cook island and then set off to discover Aitutaki an atoll in the cook island group. life in the cooks was even more relaxed than in Fiji everyone wearing flowers in their hair and being really smiley. But the cooks were also very much like a tropical New Zealand. The mai http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-151338.html 090307 150307 Cook Islands Paradise on earthIn the Cook Islands the greeting equivalent to lsquoHellorsquo is lsquoKia orianarsquo which translates as lsquoMay you have long lifersquo which has a more longevity than the greeting in most languages where we generally wish each other a mere lsquoGood dayrsquo only. We arrived late at night spending our second Friday 9th Marc http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Cook-Islands/Aitutaki/blog-140316.html