ParadiseMar 3, 2009
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At Auckland airport we made some more new best friends, Stella and Yolande who are Raratongans but have been living in Auckland for a year preparing the evidence for a court case at the end of which they hope to be given back to them land and property that they say was stolen from the family many years ago. As we parted they said 'See you at the market on Saturday'. We didn't know how they could be certain of this but but hey, Yolande is psychic so what do we know! The flight from Auckland was short, 3 hours, and like everywhere else apart from Shanghai we arrived in the early hours. It wasn't until morning that having walked a little over the length of E's garden from our room we became part of the scene from a travel brochure photograph of a tropical island; white sand and a blue, blue, blue lagoon with an island in the middle. Breathtaking. Imagine swimming, or in E's case pretending to swim, amongst fish in crystal clear warm water. The little resort we were in had decking overlooking the lagoon so when we weren't on the beach or in the water we just sat on the decking and drank in the scene. We knew there had to have be reasons we had worked for 40 years and being able to afford to visit this paradise was one of them.
It was a fascinating ride on the local bus to the Saturday market. Things are fitted into the existing structure, for instance the 'National Sports and Olympic Commitee' headquarters is a wooden hut at the side of the road. We don't have a photograph of that but when we load some of our photos you'll see 'The Foreign Office'. In household gardens throughout the island there are graves and tombs, whenever possible family members are kept close even after death.
The market was interesting and fun and made all the more enjoyable because there was absolutely no hassling by the sellers. However when we were about half way round shouts of 'Julia' and 'Elizabeth' indicated that Stella and Yolande had seen us. Psychic or eagle-eyed we know not which.
As usual on the trip we met some lovely people on the island, both locals and other tourists. Our favourite fellow tourists were Val, Pat and Francesca, three retired midwives from Manchester who had been travelling for 5 months. They had lots of funny stories to tell and when we see you in person do ask us to tell you the one about the brothel.
We loved the slow pace of life on Rarotongan but left (wait till you see the photographs of the 'International Departure Lounge') agreeing that we were glad we had experienced a tropical island but a short visit was enough.
