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Published: February 10th 2017
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Hello Everyone!
I apologize, my Cook Islands blogs are a bit late due to the expensive wifi here on the island. You take free wifi at your hotel for grant it until you don't have it! Hence, I am publishing my blogs from New Zealand.
Our first impression of Rarotonga (the most populous of the Cook Islands) has been very positive! The population is 13,000 with an area of 67 sq. km. It takes 45 minutes to drive the 30 km around the island. A flaming orange coral reef encircles the island as well as a lovely lagoon and the coastline has lots of white sand although the beaches are quite narrow. Inland consists of rising lush fields, rural farmland and thickly forested mountains.
Even though the Cook Islands is a separate country it has close ties to New Zealand and uses NZ currency. Rarotonga is a 3 hour flight from NZ.
We are very happy with our little bungalow, very clean and comfortable with a kitchen and a lovely pool. Ariana's Bungalows which is set in a tropical garden is about a 10 minute drive from the main town so is handy for us on the
scooter. The owner Evelyn, an islander is a wealth of information just like having a tour guide on site! In the garden we have papaya, bananas, passion fruit and star fruit available to pick anytime. Our hotel is very environmentally friendly providing recycling for everything including composting for guests. Like some Islands in Hawaii there are chickens and roosters roaming freely. They aren't bothersome and eat the pesky insects!
You pretty much have to rent a scooter or car to get around or take the local bus that goes around the island both ways every hour. We have rented a scooter and Warren is in his glory bombing around. There's not much traffic so feels very safe. There are tourists here but you never feel smothered with crowds. It's low season as it's summer in Australia and NZ. We have met lots of great people from UK, NZ, Australia, Canada and Europe.
We really enjoy the local people, descendants of French Polynesia, Tahiti and Samoa. They are very happy, friendly and always willing to help out the tourists. I would imagine tourism is their main economy. They are very religious people with a church every few blocks. Most
places are closed Sundays and Saturday afternoons. The best thing for us is that most of the gas stations and convenient stores sell local produce and baked goods. The produce is so fresh and the breads are delicious as well as loaves, meat pies and local eggs. It's nice to support the local people. Every Saturday morning in town is a market where the local people sell their wares. A real variety of goods and a fun place to spend a morning. There are a few larger grocery stores with everything you need. In general groceries are expensive as most things are imported to the island. The heavier, the more expensive.
There is a good variety of restaurants, cafes and beach bars. Lunches are around $10 and dinners $20-25. There are also lots of take always with picnic tables where you can pick up burgers and sandwiches for 4 or 5 dollars. The fresh fish and fish sandwiches are a favourite with us which are readily available everywhere. We have had yellow tail tuna, mackerel, mahimahi and wahoo. The fish and chips are super good!
The weather so far has been great. Around 30 degrees with sunny, cloudy
and rainy periods. Often there will be a downpour and 30 minutes later full sun. The rain keeps everything fresh and green. It's a perfect tropical climate.
Well that's about it for our first week. Thanks for reading!
Mallory and Warren
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Deb
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Hey Mallory, Rarotonga looks beautiful! Looking forward to more blogs, always so interesting!