After breakfast this
morning we picked up a hire car for the next three days. We
organised it through Lagoon Breeze and Island Car and Bike Hire.
ICABH picked Jill and I up and took us to their office and set us
up with a Nissan March (Nissan Micra in Australia). Very compact but
enough room for all of us. No such thing as a car seat in the Cook
Islands so Charlotte is sitting on Sarah's knee- well in a pouch.
With a top speed to 50km/hr on the island and 20km/hr through
villages it shouldn't be a problem. The hire was pretty cheap at
$125 for the three days (even if the car has seen better days).
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| Our Hire Car |
Back to Lagoon Breeze
to pick up the others and we set out east along the bottom of the
island. We found a fruit and vege stall and bought coconuts, pawpaw and
bananas. Checked out the side road to Wigmore's (Papua) Waterfall
where the Cross Island Track comes out. We all intend doing that
tomorrow (in shifts – DandS in the morning AandJ in the
afternoon). The road to the falls turns off at the abandoned
Vaimaanga Hotel.
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| Vaimaanga Hotel |
The Vaimaanga was to be a luxury hotel and was 80% built on this
site in 1993 by an Italian company before work ceased. I've read the
stop was a result of embezzlement of funds and also as a result of a
crackdown on Mafia activities in Italy. Whichever is correct the
hotel now stands abandoned.
Travelling further
around the island we called in to Muri Beach for lunch at Sales
Restaurant, and very nice it was. Jill and I had the Rau Rau Manea
(traditional Cook Island food – smoked fish, curry eke, spiced
rukau poke, island fries, and curry pawpaw. Muri Beach is a
protected area (with small islands off shore within the lagoon). We
spent some time on the beach after lunch before completing our
circuit of the island.
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| Lunch at Sales |
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| Rau Rau Maneau |
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| Muri Beach |
We stopped in Avarua to
do a bit of shopping and then on to the “bigger supermarket” run
by CITC (Cook Island Trading Company) for a few more supplies.
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| Downtown Avarua |
We
were back at Lagoon Breeze in time for Jill and I to clean up ready
to be picked up for the Highland Paradise Cultural Centre where we we
were to have dinner and a show. Highland Paradise has won several
Cook Island tourist awards over the years and well deserved. It was
a most enjoyable night and the meal of local food was excellent. Highland Paradise
tells the story of Cook Island life prior to Christianity (which included cannibalism and human sacrifice), life after the
missionaries arrived in 1821 and life since 1974 when the international
airport opened and tourism began in earnest. The night was not cheap
at $99 per head but was well worth it.
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| Highland Paradise |
