30.07.07 Monday afternoon

Apart from eating, sleeping and relaxing more than usual we have managed a few activities. After breakfast yesterday we went to the closest Cook Island Christian Church. There were quite a few tourists. The service was all in CI Maori except for a few bits. The singing , as expected, was lovely – indeed the reason we had gone.

In the afternoon, Isla and I went to the beach while W and L went for a run. We had borrowed some reef shoes for Isla but they were too big. It was low tide and the beach was too corally for comfort so we went to the pool. There we spent most of the time playing a game called ‘Keep Granny guessing”. Isla would sit on the edge of the pool. I would stand in the pool a metre or so away from the edge. Isla would start counting “ 1,2,6,9,10,5,4,3,8,9..” . At some point in the random sequence she would either launch herself into the middle distance collecting me on the way or deliberately slip suddenly down into the water at the edge of the pool, giving me a heart attack as I lunged forward to grab her in case she failed to surface spontaneously. Whichever, she would splutter to the surface laughing uproariously. Wendy and Lach appeared as we were on our way back to the room for ‘a special shower with Granny’. The base of the shower has a plug, so Isla sat ‘washing’ herself contentedly for ages. Then we played another ‘game’ called “Wash Granny’s undies” - not a game she was familiar with.! Amazing what little kids find interesting. Wendy and Lach appeared soon after we were both dressed.

This morning we caught the local bus into town and went to the tourist info. This week is the annual celebrations when lots of islanders from the outer islands ( The Cook Islands are comprised of 18 islands) come into Rarotonga ( the biggest island) to Avarua ( the main town on Rarotonga) for drumming, singing and dancing competitions. Many of these are held in the local auditorium. To get tickets to an event you queue up ( as we found, for 1 hour) at the local library. Nothing is computerized so you choose your ticket from the few left from a plan on a piece of paper and write your name in the respective box.

We wondered around a bit more, found a café where there were some locals ( or at least Polynesian looking people) and had some open sandwiches and decent coffee. We bought some staples and then caught the bus back.

Avarua is in the north of the island and the resort we are staying at is about 1/3 of the way anti-clockwise around the island from Avarua. The centre of the island is quite mountainous and the ‘main’ road goes round the edge. There is one bus every hour going in a clockwise direction and one in an anticlockwise direction. So far we have seen 1/3 of the island twice – we caught a clockwise bus into town and, because we were not prepared to wait another half an hour, caught an anti-clockwise bus back.

Ka kite ( good bye / see you later)

28 07 07 Kia orana

Got here safely.

It is still Saturday – Rarotonga is the other side of the date line, 20 hours behind Australian Eastern Standard Time. Isla managed her 2 flights well. The personal TV screen with assorted kids shows helped on the Syd-Auckland flight ( though she did not like the headphones) and she slept most of the way on the floor on the Auckland-Rarotonga flight. We have all missed out on 4 hours sleep.

We are staying at the Rarotongan Beach Resort. Our rooms are in one of the oldest blocks ( but they are the cheapest) but the bathrooms have recently been updated and they have everything we want. Each room has a little outdoor sitting area looking onto a garden with palm trees and hibiscus. The breakfast buffet has all the usual hotel breakfast buffet things including cut up pieces of coconut in the fruit platter.

Ka kite

Ps I may go tomorrow to one of the organized activities and learn some Cook Island Maori.

Italy itinerary

Leave Sydney Monday 3 Sept

Urbino 4 to 8th Sept
Ravenna 8 to 11th
Mantova 11 to 15
villa in NWcorner of Tuscany 15 to 22
Rapallo 22 to 26
Varenna 26 to 29
Milano 29 to 2 October

Cook Island dates

I leave for the Cook Islands from Sydney on Sat 28 July and return to Canberra on Wednesday 8th August.

New Toy

This is my new toy. A family member has commented that he doesnot know what inches are. My response to that is "Isn't it good that, even though I am ancient enough to know about inches , I can also learn about small notebooks".