Rarotonga, The Cook IslandsOct 15, 2009
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AMSTERDAM outside the breakwater at Rarotonga
Our 4WD vehicle
Mr. Useless, our driver and guide
| “Land was created to provide a place for steamers to visit.” - Brooks Atkinson RAROTONGA…when we disembarked from the ship’s tender, we were greeted with, “Welcome to Raro!” This truly does appear to be one of those places that was put here for people, like Captain Cook or our modern day cruise ships, to find. A delightful island of Polynesians, but not the French kind. Our excursion for the day was land based (three straight ports of call with snorkeling has left us a bit waterlogged….and that’s nothing we planned to do for more than a few days in any event). We chose a 4WD vehicle tour through our Cruise Critic connections and we were part of a group of twelve, six in the back of each of two vehicles. We figured we’d get a circle island tour (there is barely one road around the island) with a few off road jaunts up to some scenic overlooks. Lunch was also included, and that was another in the ground umu pit lunch with meat and fish and some more of those exotic tropical fruits and vegetables. An array of tents was set up by the locals at the tender pier and there were carvings, shell jewelry, pareos (they spell it differently), tee shirts, blouses…all the usual Pier One stuff, but much more reasonably priced. Our drivers showed up and we piled into bench seats in the back of these Range Rovers. Why do we need this kind of vehicle? I figured a nice six passenger van would do. Au contraire. We went up some slopes on rutted and rocky unpaved surfaces that bruised our ribs and frightened the lady sitting next to me so much she had to shield her eyes because of the steep climbs and precipitous drop-offs we went dangerously close to. We took some good pictures. The driver and guide for our vehicle was Mister Useless; that’s how he introduced himself and he had a ball cap with his name on it. The people are enchanting and friendly; the reef surrounding the island is constantly having white water breakers crashing over it; the agriculture is prominent (tomatoes, taro, bananas, even more bananas, pineapple, loads of coconuts, breadfruit, and Noni (that miracle fruit with the juice that our friend Suzy from SPB sells). There are goats in everyone’s yard it seems, there are some pigs, lots of chickens, and a few cows. Fish is their thing and there’s lots of it. Great flowers are everywhere on the sides of the roads and all the women got a couple of blossoms for their hair. After seeing the entire island in about 3 ½ hours, we stopped for lunch and Mr. Useless explained the food, gave us a poisson cru making session, said a Polynesian blessing and then it was chow time. For a beverage, we had a pineapple/passion fruit juice drink, and the poisson cru may have been the best of all the versions we sampled over the past week. On our own after the tour, we visited a high end block print fabric shop that we had researched don the internet before we left home. The prices were high but the quality and originality were wonderful. Rosemary almost bought a great tropical dress but the configuration and feel of the fit on her frame wasn’t quite right. If we had gone there first thing in the morning, the shop would have made the proper alterations for us…the factory is attached to the shop with about a half dozen local women at sewing machines and a guy in the back doing colorful block printing on bolts of fabric. Not so for Bob; I bought a nice tropical shirt and we received a 25% discount because we were paying in New Zealand dollars instead of $US or Credit Card. A couple of shirts and pareos, and we were back to the ship. Fun day, different culture, spectacular weather. - RBM |
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