A trip to Church & 3 humpback whales!

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On Sunday morning, Fee and I awoke early, pulled on our respectable “Sunday Best” outfits and marched ourselves to the CICC Church. Bean, still feeling a little groggy, decided to give it a miss. We couldn’t miss the Church as there was a sea of people arriving, and the bells were ringing loudly. We walked through the pretty graveyard and into the church which was made from coral and limestone and dated back to 1800.
The locals were dressed very formally. The men, in suits and ties and the women in colourful dresses and brightly flowered straw hats. They looked stunning. The service began and was a mix of English Christian and traditional Cook/Maori with regular bursts of enthusiastic accapella singing from the congregation. Although Fee and I obviously didn’t understand a word, it was wonderful to hear such passion and dedication.

Afterwards Fee and I enjoyed “brunch” at an attractive beachside coffee shop and joined Bean on the beach for a day of relaxing!

At around 4pm, a German man approached us and told us to look out to sea, as there was a “big fish”. Slightly confused we stood up and were thrilled to see humpback whales off the shore! It was really amazing. There were three of them - mother, baby and a female escort to protect them from sharks. They come to the warm pacific islands whilst the calf is still learning from its mother before returning to the Antarctic. We waded out as quickly as we could, avoiding the squidgy sea slugs and spiky sea urchins! It was breathtaking to watch these creatures as they spurted jets of water into the air and performed ‘back flips’ into the water. We watched them for about 20 minutes, until they eventually swam away.

We also met a guy called “Amo” from Hawaii who was at Raratonga with his dance troupe on holiday! We got chatting as we watched 3 little girls in tiny swim suits collecting giant sea slugs in their arms! Yuk!

We watched the sunset on the beach and Amo’s friends and family soon dragged us over to the BBQ they were having on the beach. They were so friendly and invited us to join them and to help ourselves to the big bowl of salad and dressing, French bread, and selection of meats. They were really kind and we all had a good chat.

In the evening, we watched the rather disturbing DVD of Wolf Creek (in which 3 travellers are murdered… great bedtime material!!!) with Vicky and Ash (from Essex) as we munched on popcorn. It was a great day!!

By Anna (Sue) xxxx

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