On our short walk this
morning before breakfast we discovered that the tide had come over
the road again during the night. Lots of coconuts and other debris
lying around. Apparently this is a bit unique and hasn't happened
for years. It doesn't look good for the future with global warming.
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| High Tide |
Damian was off for a
dive at 8am so he missed out on breakfast. I had a quick one and
headed to the golf course for nine holes. I was invited to join a
couple of locals which made it much more interesting than playing on
your own. It must have been my type of course with a birdie, two
pars and 23 Stableford points for my nine holes. It's an interesting
course - only nine holes and you play among telecommunications
towers and their guy wires. Apparently you get another hit, no
penalty, if you hit one. The course is also very compact so you have
to have a bit of an eye out for other players. The fairways were in
good nick, the greens a bit rougher than I'm used to but all in all
was most enjoyable.
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| Rarotonga Golf Course |
Picked up Jill, Sarah, CandC when I got back to Lagoon Breeze and took the inside route (while the main road circumnavigates the island close to the coast, there is also an inside road that also circumnavigates most of the island a few hundred metres inland. It's less touristy on the inland road and it's nice to see all the pawpaw and bananas growing - along with sweet potato and taro. There's kasava there too somewhere but we don't know what that looks like. We stopped in Avarua at Trader Jack's for lunch. A bit up market and not very friendly. We think they were catering for a different clientele – certainly not kids. $17 each for a burger, fish and chips and salt and pepper squid. I also had a Capuano. All satisfactory but again nothing to write home about.
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| Lunch at Trader Jacks |
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| A Vaka |
Back to Lagoon Breeze
where Jill and I looked after CandC while Damian and Sarah went for
a drive. After Charlotte went down for a nap I took the opportunity
to go for a snorkel. It's was still a bit rough and the current
quite strong so I went down the beach a little and let the current
bring me back. Lots of fish but still pretty murky from all the sand
that has been stirred up.
On Damian and Sarah's
return Jill and I got ready to go out for our Progressive Dinner
which we had booked a couple of days before.
It didn't start well.
We were to be picked up at 5:15pm. When the bus still hadn't arrived
at 20 to 6 I went back to the room to find the number to
ring. When I got back to the bus stop the bus (full of people)
pulled up and the driver said he would be back shortly, after
dropping everyone off. When we were eventually delivered to the
first house everyone else was part way through the guided tour so we
didn't have a clue what was happening. The guide (who turned out to
be chief of some group (never found out which one) was showing
everyone around his garden - even explaining what had happened to a
few car wrecks sitting in the back yard. Jill and I looked at each other
with a “whose idea was this”. Fortunately things looked up from
there on. In his vege garden we saw our first arrowroot plant - and
as we have heard, it does look a bit like marijuana. He shelled a
coconut for us all (very sweet) and then it was time for entrees. On
the menu was marinated raw fish, sweet potato and banana salad – all
delicious. Never thought we would say that about raw fish. Apparently it's marinated in lemon juice which actually 'cooks' the fish . Before hopping on the bus for the next venue we were
entertained by the children of the extended family with some dancing
– a bit cute.
On to the next house
for mains. We were introduced to the family (two sisters did the
cooking) and were greeted by one of the boys with a welcome chant.
Dinner was very delicious, coconut crusted fish, chicken and numerous
salads and vegetables (mostly local produce) plus some 'angry bread'
(a product of one of the atoll islands where there is no soil to grow
root crops).
At our desert stop we were provided with a delicious fruit salad, a meringue stack, pineapple and pawpaw
upside down cake, banana cake, ice-cream and tea and coffee.
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| First Course |
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| Second Course |
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| Third Course |
At each stop we were entertained by the 'chief' on his ukulele and the boss tour person and the owners of the establishment. While the night got off to a shaky start it was all very enjoyable and the food delicious. It was just great to go into the homes of some 'real' Cook Island residents and spend time with them.
...... and the night finished with the Cook Islands' National Anthem
