Raratonga

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Raratonga

To conclude of our round the world trip, we decide to treat ourselves to some relaxation before returning to the world trip. The Cook Islands are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean are a long long way from the UK, so we are unlikely to visit them again so took nine days to experience the Islander’s lifestyle in full.

We arrived at Raratonga airport to find an old guy in a Hawaiian shirt (well I guess it’s and Islander thing) playing a guitar and singing tropical, Polynesian songs to us as we queued for customs and to collect our bags. I had already found and booked a well recommended guesthouse on Trip Advisor called Aremango, all the reviews had raved about it and it was only thirty quid a night for a kingsize room with - get this - a private outdoor shower! Rachel re-read the confirmation email and realised that despite my assumption that a room posh enough to have a private shower and courtyard would be fully en-suite, no - it in fact had shared bathrooms at the other end of the house! But not to worry, it turns out to be a lovely place to stay and we met some really nice kiwis who were also staying there.

We went out to party on Friday night. Apparently it was the island’s only party night - the buses ran until 2am instead of 11pm so there were no excuses! After a nice meal at a lively bar/restaurant called Trader Jacks, we met up with Jason & Sarah, a kiwi couple from Aremango and after a few beers headed to ‘Whatever’, and that’s exactly what we thought as we got a groove on to a mix of 80s, hiphop and cheesetastic house. Anyway we were drunk enough and had some fun, plus it was quite funny watching the locals dance and flirt - Pacific Islanders aren’t the skinniest people in the world. By 12.30 we’d had enough so we went out to get the local equivalent of a kebab….. Fried Chicken! The only 24/7 food vendor in town sells the local’s favourite tucker, and the more grease in it, the better. One and a half chicken drumsticks was enough to bring me close to a coronary so I donated the rest to an expectant street dog and we caught the bus home.

Awaking with the slightest of hangovers, we caught a lift with Rachel and Lauren - two kiwi junior doctors on a four week placement in Raratonga - to the weekly street market in town. We wandered around in the sweltering heat and bought some local foods - fruit including a giant watermelon (yes, Rachel briefly ‘carried a watermelon’), some fish and a coke bottle full of fresh coconut cream. We bought some fresh roasted coffee too, so when we got back to the guesthouse I took full advantage of the coffee machine and brewed up my first ever cappuccinos - I’d seen them do it in Starbucks enough times to know it wasn’t rocket science!

In the afternoon we went down to the beach to watch the triathlon that was going on, and clapped and cheered the ridiculously buff men and women as they came out of the water after their 2km swims. Inspired by these feats of nature, we lay on the beach, sunbathed and drank cocktails…..

On Sunday morning, we decided to go to church! No, travelling hasn’t put us in touch with God, we’d heard that seeing a service in the Cook Islands was a ‘must-do’ to get some of the local culture. We pitched up at the church in Muri after getting another lift from Rachel and Laura, the Kiwi doctors. We made sure we had covered our shoulders and hoped the locals wouldn’t mind we didn’t have hats. Walking in it seemed the service had started, although we weren’t late - people kept on arriving so we weren’t the last to arrive. The singing kicked off the service and was as resounding and room filling as we thought it would be. We couldn’t understand most of the service as it was all in the local language but there wasn’t too much talking. The singing continued and we actually found ourselves getting goose bumps! The locals are amazing singers! One of the strangest things was the use of PowerPoint - hymn books are no more! Later on in the service we had a guest speaker from Canada, an Evangelical pastor who spent ages telling us all that we were sinners, that our hearts were sin factories and we are all damned to hell unless we repented. He kinda ruined the whole thing and even made some terribly un-PC jokes about cannibalism!! Surely he can’t do that!! I know that it wasn’t all that long ago that cannibalism was wiped out here but it’s never going to be a laughing matter. Anyway, we left feeling rather negative about the evangelical church but having enjoyed a good dose of some local culture.

We borrowed Aremango’s double kayak and went out to explore the local islands. Muri Beach is on a lagoon, and has three islands separating the mainland from the reef. The reef that encircles the island has a 4km drop so the force of the Pacific Ocean crashes upon it, 500 metres away from the beach, leaving the waters around the beaches completely calm and easy to kayak over. It was a lovely day to go exploring, so we launched our kayak into the lagoon and first paddled over to the reef where the island met the ocean and the huge waves were crashing down. It was so shallow there that we ran the kayak aground and had to wait for the next set of waves to give us enough water to get away from the reef! We paddled around the islands and then went over to the back of the smallest island where there was good snorkelling. While we were in the water another couple paddled past us and threw us some bread where the fishes went crazy for - we had whole schools of tiger fish and triggerfish eating out of hands! After snorkelling, we headed back to the beach for lunch and as there was a little current taking us, I laid back and let my wife do all the work 😊

The island hosted a 5km fun run once a week and of course all the triathletes were going to join in. Apparently there was $5 food afterwards so Helen (our resident triathlete!) convinced a few of us to join in. As there was no island bus as the right time, we had to take the bicycles and cycle 11km to get to the fun run so it was lucky that it turned out to be more of a 5km walk! The route took us away from the main road and we got to walk through local people’s back gardens and see all of the crops being grown, the different types of pretty modern housing, and a noisy bullock. Mooo. After the ‘run’, we were welcomed back to the beach with cold beers and a speech by the local host for the event. All day long he’d been cooking an ‘umi’ in his garden - a pit full of hot coals and masses of local foods. He said grace and then two hundred people then descended on the tables of food (in a relaxed, orderly fashion of course!). We were lucky enough to be at the front of the queue, so got first picks at the feast. We put root vegetables such as taro, kumara and breadfruit, salads, fruits, and slow roasted meats onto our plates and sat down on the west-facing beach to watch the beautiful sunset. After the feast to got back on our bikes and slowly pedalled our way home, stopping for cake at the supermarket. Yum.

The highlight of our time in Raratonga was undoubtedly the ‘Island Night’. We (Rach, I, and five Germans staying in our guesthouse) were picked up in a minibus and once all the other people were collected our guide explained that our minibus was the ‘Purple Waka’ tribe, and we would be competing against the four other Raratongan tribes. The guide explained that each tribe needed a leader, and amongst the lairy middle-aged Americans and Germans onboard, no one wanted this great honour. So as you probably guessed, muggins here became The Chosen One. Our guide then told us that as in Maori tradition, the losing tribe would be eaten, thus being the leader was a great responsibility.

The bus wound up a steep hill to beautiful hilltop landscaped gardens full of local fruit trees and views over the south side of the island. Before the missionaries had arrived, all Raratongans lived here up in the hills to protect them from attacks from other tribes. However, after the Christians had convinced them to stop killing and eating each other, they migrated down to the shores to embrace tourism. So I led my tribe around the hills until all the other tribes had arrived, and it was then time to visit the sacred stones for our blessing from the village priest. Quite frankly the scariest priest we’d ever seen! After lots of chanting, stamping, and staring, each of the tribe leaders went to make an offering to the stones and after more chanting and eyeballing, the interpreter told us that since we came in peace we would not be eaten. Thank goodness for that! So we were allowed into the great hall for the feast, and what a feast it was. Similar to the umi from the other night, the only instructions were to taste everything and to eat at least three platefuls! I didn’t need telling twice! The food was delicious and even the grumpy old local ladies (the Mamas) sat next to us cheered up after a good feed.

After the feast, the show began and through impressive singing, drumming and dancing we were told the story of the Cook Islands people. One of the best cultural shows we’ve ever seen, the music was captivating and the performers were totally into their show. Even the Mamas starting bopping away, it was very sweet! Towards the end of the show the tribe leaders were called to the stage for a dance off! Not one to be shy, I took to the stage and managed to get our tribe reasonably noisy. The competition was mixed; three old Kiwi dudes and one Maori guy who was also from Kiwiland. I won’t try to tell you I was amazing - I mean, I was of course, but have a good laugh at the video at the top of the blog. Sadly despite my enthusiasm, the power of the skinny old kiwi guy next to me was too great and his tribe vocally overpowered ours. It was a sad day for the Purple Waka.

We had two days of rain, where there wasn’t a whole lot to do. We read, wrote, and stayed for as long as we could in bed listening to Harry Potter, which has become our ‘if all else fails’ fallback. Fortunately on the penultimate day, the sun popped out again and gave us a final chance to singe ourselves and thus to hopefully look as people will expect us to after 8 months of travelling! We are now on our way back to the UK and looking forward to seeing everyone very much.

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Photos

Aaaaaaaa ararararaaraa
Tarzan hits the beach

Me man
Man finds wood after kayaking lagoon

On your marks.....
for the Raratonga triathlon

Get set.....
for dinner, after the 5km 'run'

Mind yer fingers!
Taking dinner out of the umi

Wash it down
Beers after the umi

The chief and his bride
at the fruit gardens

Smiley Mamas
A lot happier after they'd eaten!