More Pictures from the Cooks

The lagoon at Aitutaki Resort on Rarotonga. We crossed on the little boat for their island night - a fabulous show and authentic meal. The picture at the right is Moana Sands beach. There we had wonderful snorkeling in warm water with lots of new fish we hadn't seen in the Caribbean. Bill saw a huge moray eel. Glad he didn't choose to say Kia Orana to me!

Back Home Again

We are home to warm (ish) early spring with daffodils and cherry blossoms. It's a bit of weather-shock after the tropical Cook Islands. As we expected, LA seemed incredibly crowded, frantic, and loud. Our hotel, the Marriot, had probably more rooms than all the hotels and guest houses combined in Rarotonga, and we saw more traffic in 24 hours than we had seen the entire previous five weeks. We miss the laid-back quality of life already.

Here are some pictures from the Cooks.

Cooks

The island show was good, but too touristy compared to the one on Wenesday night at the Aitutake Hotel here at the lagoon. This troup just wasn't as authentic, no coconut shell bras, and too much tourist hipe. Oh, well. The food was great. Lots of fresh fish, pork, chicken, and the usual wonderful salads.

Our hotel in Aitutaki, Wednesday and Thursday night, was a "chalet" (that seems incongruous here, but it's what they call them) with big bedroom, kitchen, and nice bath. We were a coconut throw from the white beach. Our flights to and from Aitutaki were easy, and only about 40 minutes in length. The airports are so small, you just get there about 30 minutes before the flights leave, and the guy playing a ukelele stops singing and says, "okay, if you are going to Rarotonga, get on the plane now." It's amazing.

Tonight, someone blew a conch shell at 5:00 pm. and announced, "happy hour." What a place.

I can't put up pictures, because this internet service is so very slow. It's just not worth it. I'll put them up when I get home.

Aitutaki Island

We are now back in Rarotonga. Aitutaki was wonderful, and we spent my birthday on a lagoon snorkely cruise with a local guide and three other people. We snorkeled on two different reefs, visited the islands where Survivor was filmed, then had lunch at a third island. We had fresh grilled yellow fin tuna, a variety of tropical fruits including papaya, guava and watermelon, a salads. It was wonderful. Then, there were two hours for lounging in the shade, listening to island music povided by our hosts, or swimming on the pristine white beach. I didn't miss birthday cake in the least.

Dinner was at a local restaurant and consisted of fresh Parrot fish stuffed with crab and shrimp, marinated in coconut mile, and wrapped in banana leaves for steaming. It was gorgeous.

I have already spent 40 minutes writing another blog, which got lost when I tried to publish it, and this internet connection is very slow, so this will be short. We fly out tomorrow night about midnight, and will be back in LA about noon on Sunday. Home on Monday.

I'll try to post some photos and another addition to this later. Right now, I want to hit the lagoon before happy hour! We are staying at Pacific Resort a Sandals property. Got upgraded to a garden suite, and it's absolutely lovely. What a paradise. Island show tonight!

(

The Cook Islands - Tuesday

We arrived in the Cook Islands on Easter Sunday afternoon, having left Auckland on Monday afternoon. It is really strange to gain back a day. Here, and in NZ, the Monday after Easter is also a holiday, so nothing has been open until today. We even walked about 45 minutes in the hot sun to lunch yesterday at a Sailing Club up the beach. It was worth it, as the salads were terrific and the beer cold. I have pictures of the small regatta to share. Nice little double hulled sailboats.

The island is lovely, just like a Pacific island should be and like you've seen in the movies. There are white sandy beaches, tall coconut palms, and mountains in the center of the island. Our hotel is right on the beach, and there's great snorkeling right out our door and down two flights to the beach. Because we are on the top floor, our view is amazing. The reef is a long way off shore, so we have lots of fairly shallow water to explore, and there are lots of fish to be seen. Some are quite different from the ones we are used to in the Caribbean. The food is very good, and we've both eaten mostly fresh fish. Tonight, the restaurant in our hotel is open, so we will eat there, with a rhythm and blues singer performing. That should be interesting.

The flight over from Auckland was only 3 hours and 35 minutes on a big 777, and very comfortable. The lunch was delicious - can you believe it on an airplane? At reception, the friendly representative of our tour agency hung gardenia leis around our necks in welcome.

This morning we went on an arts and cultural tour, and because Bill and I were the only ones, we had a private tour. The guide took us to several historic sites of the Maoris, and several artists' studios. We had lunch in town, and will take the island bus back to our hotel after a little shopping. It's a pretty laid back lifestyle, as you might expect. Tomorrow morning we fly to Aitutaki for two nights. Then, back here on Friday to stay at Pacific Resort, a Sandals hotel. It looks pretty posh.

I am sending this from an internet cafe, and didn't lug my computer along on the tour and into town, hence no pictures. But, I have taken some great ones of the blue Pacific and crashing surf on the reef. I'll post them when we get home - or, if we find a different arrangement at the next hotel, which I doubt.

It's great weather. The vegetation is lush and in bloom. Can't ask for anything more. Lots of hibiscus, bouganvilla, crotans, banana trees, papayas, coconuts, etc. We ate island spinach the first night, which I later found out, is Taro. It was delicious. This whole island is delicious!

Easter Sunday on Waiheke Island

The traditional view of the Sky Tower in Auckland on the right. If you look closely, you may be able to see the bungy jumper on the righthand side about half way down.

Tane Mahuta, the giant Kauri tree. It's difficult to get an idea of the scale of this tree from a picture. On the far left, is the Ferry Terminal in Auckland.

Today, we spent the day on Waiheke Island where there are about 15 wineries, mostly specializing in red wines. It is about a 35 minutes by ferry across from Auckland. There were lots of day- trippers going back and forth to celebrate the holiday, swim on the lovely beaches, and visit the wineries. We were glad we had a car, as we could go at our own pace.

We had lunch at Stoneyridge Winery and enjoyed a bottle of their very nice sauvignon blanc. The small menu selections were plenty for lunch. Bill had bruschetta with goat cheese and proscuitto. I had a vodka cured salmon with passionfruit and saffron flavored yogurt sauce. Both were delicious. We visited two other wineries, Mudbrick (which is pretty well-known) and Te Whau which has a very modern winery overlooking the expanse of beaches, the end of the island, and vineyards toward Auckland. It's a spectacular view.

Last night, we enjoyed another wonderful meal. I'm sure you are tired of reading about these. We ate at Harbourside restaurant which is in the Ferry Terminal building. I'll go into the menu, if anyone wants details. It was just as good as Craggy Range and the setting on the poarch included a view of the Auckland harbor and a sunset sky. It couldn't have been nicer.

Tomorrow, we fly to the Cook Islands. We leave Auckland about 11:30 a.m. arriving there at 4:30 p.m. We gain a day, but lose an hour. We'll then be on the same day of the week as the US. I don't know what the internet sitiuation will be there, but trust I can continue with postings.

Auckland and Waitangi Treaty House

Above: Racing sailboat in Auckland harbor, Hokianga Harbor, Waka canoe at Waitangi

We made it to Auckland just fine, after an all day drive across the north island to the lovely and sacred (Maori) harbour of Hokianga on the west coast. There are more big picturesque dunes there and very small settlements. It's amazing when you find beautiful peaceful places like that which are totally undeveloped. We also drove through the forest of huge Kauri trees, similar to our redwoods. "Tane Mahuta", the biggest remaining tree was just a short walk off the highway.

The Kauri Museum, totally off the beaten path, was fascinating and enormous with a complete history of the thousand year old trees and the timber industry back in the 1930's and 40's. Now, there are very few left, but the museum has an extensive collection of furniture, wooden boats, rooms of panelling, bowls, etc. that have all been made from the Kauri wood as well as antique saw mills, chain saws, and other tools (Matt would love it). As we were traveling on Good Friday, there was so much traffic coming out of Auckland, the roads were jammed. We decided to head straight back and turn the car in early. Unfortunately, the car had other ideas, and with the check engine light on, we limped up all the hills driving the last 60 miles. It was an ordeal. Of course, finding the rental car agency in an unfamiliar BIG city was also a challenge. We were both getting pretty flustered, (that's putting it nicely) when we drove around the block, again, and there sat the Budget office. We were two minutes early, just before they closed. Whew.

Back to Waitangi two days ago. The tour of the grounds and the treaty house was lovely and informative. The Whare (pronounced "fah-ray") is a meeting house, and this one was built with authentic tools in the traditional manner in the late 1930's to comemorate the centenary of the signing of the treaty between the English and the Maori in 1840. We also saw the 33 meter waka, built the at the same time. It is taken out in the harbor every year on February 6, the anniversary of the signing) and paddled by 80 Maori men. Can you imagine a canoe big enough to hold 80 people? They say it weighs 12 tons when in the water.

The cultural show that night was wonderful, with all young beautiful performers doing the traditional songs and dances. I've never seen anything like it. It was exceptionally well-done, costumed, and lit - all in the meeting house with the carved statues of the 14 tribal ancestors looking on.

We walked all around downtown Auckland today, went to two markets, ate in the Viaduct Harbor overlooking racing sailboats and took the ferry to Devonport. Now, there is a lovely charming village with art deco buildings, cafes and art galleries. What a place to live! Lots of people were going across with children and bicycles because of the holiday weekend and perfect weather. There were hundreds of sailboats in the harbor. Wish you could all be here.