The Islands - Rarotonga

"Kia Orana" (may you live long)

After New Zealand we took a four hour plane to the Island of Rarotonga, part of the Cook Islands. William is originally from another nearby Cook Island called Aitutaki.



With it's large central turquoise lagoon Aitutaki (above) is one of the most beautiful places on the planet (according to some travel magazines). There are only about 2000 residents on this island which is about 7 square miles in size. This is where William was born and spent his childhood. He enjoyed natures bounty fishing and snorkeling here. He and his father shared many stories about how they used fish and what they caught. One such story involves hooking a 20+ foot shark on a 16 foot aluminum row boat with a hand line. Rouch



Rarotonga (above) is also gorgeous. I'd imagine that would be the case for most any of the topical islands in the Pacific. William spent his childhood on Aitutaki but went to Rarotonga and lived with his Aunt Olly to go to college. Rarotonga is about 26 square miles in size, with a population of roughly 10,000. It's interior is largely undeveloped because of it's volcanic peaks some of which reach almost 15,000 feet!



Rarotonga really only has one road that circles this whole island. There are other roads which are mostly dirt roads that only partially enter the interior. There is a beautiful waterfall located there, and a peak you can hike to (about a four hour hike)!



We rented a super nice and spacious home on Rarotonga.



The above picture is the view out the front door of the house looking towards the interior of the island.



Since there's only one real road that goes around the island, and the max speed limit is about 30 MPH (50 kilometers per hour) I decided to rent a scooter. Well, that and the fact that we had five people total and alls they rented on the island were Toyota Yaris's. lol



Right across the road from the house we rented was the Fish Club, and the beach. More about the Fish Club in a few pics.



You would find sprouting coconuts everywhere on the beach. That explains why all those beautiful pacific islands shorelines are filled with coconut tree's. They are there growing everywhere.



The beach was of course sand, but just beyond the sand was all this coral rock. This stuff would look great in my aquarium, and it's all right here on the shoreline. To think we would pay a lot of money for just a few of these beautiful rocks.



In the Fish Club parking lot they had this little food stand. You can see the beach in the background where I took the picture of all that rock coral 2 pics above.



I thought I'd share their menu. There are some interesting items on that list.



The fish sandwich was great. It was made with fresh tuna. Fried Tuna Sandwich, got to love it.



The Fish Club had a bar with a large screen TV. Here are two friends I made while waiting for William to show up at the bar one evening. They were super friendly New Zealanders on vacation with their wives. They were at the bar this day watching rugby while their wives were off shopping. They taught me a ton about rugby as we watched two rugby games in a row together. In exchange for all the newly found knowledge about rugby, I gave them a Billbob coozie. Hmm, seems Billbob coozies are worth a little something out here. Dang, and that was my last one! doh



Although we did not charter a boat here (we did not have enough time), I did visit the docks.


These brightly painted boats are pretty neat. They are used to catch Flying Fish. Fishermen go out at night and catch flying fish with a net on a long pole. They stand in the bow area where you see that slightly taller pedestal. They scoop the fish up off the surface of the water, and throw them into the boat behind them. The boat controls are right there at their fingertips to stay on the fish.

Y'all may be tired of hearing about my "summer vacation" stories, but there's one more one still coming. It's going to be a good one too, and includes some of the awesome snorkeling available there. Stay tuned and thanks for listening.


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