2013: San Jose, San Francisco, Portland, Montreal, Cook Islands
Jul 14th, 2013, 08:59 PM
#21
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 221
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks for the good wishes. Yes, we did have an excellent time for the American & Canadian legs. Daniel,. we were very keen to visit C.R.G but unfortunately just couldn't make it work. We were so lucky in Portland with the whether that it does bode well for a return visit, even though everyone met told us how lucky we were!
Jul 14th, 2013, 09:12 PM
#22
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 221
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
SUNDAY 14 JULY MONTREAL TO LOS ANGELES
Well, we certainly were up early this morning. Ready at the airport by 6am for the 8.15am Air Canada flight to Los Angeles.
The Air Canada check-in lady politely informed us that we were allowed 50 lbs per piece rather than the 70 lbs x 2 plus 1 x 50lb her colleague had told us on the way up to Montreal. SHe offered to charge us $75. Um, I don't think so. So we cheerfully repacked the luggage so that we were each carrying the maximum carry-on weight which was 2 x 10kg each excluding laptop, purse, and camera. Hurrah. The lovely check-in lady seemed amazed at our repackaging prowess and bid us bon voyage
The flight to LA passed smoothly and we landed at LA Airport about 11am. We had arranged a rental car to go and visit our friends with Avis. I have nothing but high praise for Avis at LA. The bus driver happily lifted our bags onto the bus, gave everyone driving tips and was very friendly. We got the same treatment at the opposite end of the day today too when returning the car.
We drove to our great friends at Newport Beach and not long after arriving, headed out for lunch. We went for a drive on the coast to Javiers (sp?) restaurant. It was a Mexican place where there seemed to be a fair bit of trendy smoozing going on. A lovely lunch and cocktails.
We returned our friend's place and spent the afternoon lazy around the pool and catching up. It was a great afternoon (with more beating-down sunshine).
We headed for the airport early evening via a couple of Nordstrom stores. We arrived at the Airport about 9pm and are now awaiting our 11.15pm departure. No trouble with all of our extra bags when we made our way to the AirNZ counter. We got the quick wink and quickly scurried off before anyone changed their mind and wanted to weigh our bulging carry-on
Next stop is the Cook Islands. Here's hoping for a little more sunshine. We may not finish the trip report for a week now, depending on communications.
Well, we certainly were up early this morning. Ready at the airport by 6am for the 8.15am Air Canada flight to Los Angeles.
The Air Canada check-in lady politely informed us that we were allowed 50 lbs per piece rather than the 70 lbs x 2 plus 1 x 50lb her colleague had told us on the way up to Montreal. SHe offered to charge us $75. Um, I don't think so. So we cheerfully repacked the luggage so that we were each carrying the maximum carry-on weight which was 2 x 10kg each excluding laptop, purse, and camera. Hurrah. The lovely check-in lady seemed amazed at our repackaging prowess and bid us bon voyage
The flight to LA passed smoothly and we landed at LA Airport about 11am. We had arranged a rental car to go and visit our friends with Avis. I have nothing but high praise for Avis at LA. The bus driver happily lifted our bags onto the bus, gave everyone driving tips and was very friendly. We got the same treatment at the opposite end of the day today too when returning the car.
We drove to our great friends at Newport Beach and not long after arriving, headed out for lunch. We went for a drive on the coast to Javiers (sp?) restaurant. It was a Mexican place where there seemed to be a fair bit of trendy smoozing going on. A lovely lunch and cocktails.
We returned our friend's place and spent the afternoon lazy around the pool and catching up. It was a great afternoon (with more beating-down sunshine).
We headed for the airport early evening via a couple of Nordstrom stores. We arrived at the Airport about 9pm and are now awaiting our 11.15pm departure. No trouble with all of our extra bags when we made our way to the AirNZ counter. We got the quick wink and quickly scurried off before anyone changed their mind and wanted to weigh our bulging carry-on
Next stop is the Cook Islands. Here's hoping for a little more sunshine. We may not finish the trip report for a week now, depending on communications.
Jul 15th, 2013, 08:18 PM
#24
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 16,854
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Jul 20th, 2013, 03:10 AM
#25
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 221
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
MONDAY 15 JULY LOS ANGELES – RAROTONGA – AITUTAKI
It was great to be back on AirNZ again. We had a great flight from LA and even managed a light doze. We arrived in Rarotonga very early in the morning (not exactly sure what time, the flight arrived earlier than scheduled, perhaps around 4.30/5am).
Dutyfree at Rarotonga Airport consisted of alcohol and prices were about the same as NZ supermarket prices. Bubbly was particularly expensive so we gave the good stuff a miss.
We had a bit of time before our 8am flight to Aitutaki which gave us a chance to figure our just what to do with our luggage in Rarotonga. We didn’t want to take all of our bags on the small island hopper planes run by Air Rarotonga.
Luggage storage options at Rarotonga are:
- Airport lockers which come in small / med/ large. Located near the Air NZ check-in counter/ Air Rarotonga office. They are narrow but very deep. Very expensive with the average sized suitcase locker costing $20 per day.
- Having Aquarius Hotel (directly across the road from the Airport) look after your bag for $10 per day
- If you are travelling on Air Rarotonga flights to outer islands, they will look after your bags for $2 per bag per day. They will only look after your bag for the time that you are travelling to the outer islands and you must pick it up immediately after you land back in Rarotonga.
It was a relief to be able to store the bags with Air Rarotonga as it would have been an a hassle to have to lug them around.
Check-in and boarding with Air Rarotonga was very relaxed. No boarding call. You simply walk out to the plane about the time that you think you should. Lovener 2 was able to board the plane about 2 minutes before it took off. All very relaxed!
The flight from Rarotonga to Aitutaki is 40 minutes in a small but not tiny plane. It was a bit cloudy on landing so we didn’t get an amazing view of the lagoon from above.
We were picked up at the Airport by Terry who did transfers for a number of accommodation providers. We were dropped off at our accommodation –Aretai Villas and welcomed by Mama Nicholas.
We chose Aretai Villas because it seemed like a nice balance between the eye watering prices of the flash resorts and almost-backpacker accommodation at the other end of the spectrum.
Aretai is looked after by Mama Nicholas whose company we really enjoyed. She had a real sparkle in her eye for 86 and was simply charming. We had many cups of tea, scones and passionfruit together. Mama Nicholas is very skilled in tivaevae and had much to talk about.
The villas are Aretai are great accommodation for a family. They have a large spacious lounge and 2 bedrooms. Self-catering would be an easy option here (particularly if you bought some staples with you from your home country). They are set right on the beach with kyaks available.
For us, unless I wanted to spend more time talking tivaevae with Mama Nicholas, I’m not sure we would stay here again as as a couple we just didn’t need quite so much space!
The flight from Rarotonga landed just before 9am and we were immediately whisked to Aretai Villas and then quickly picked up by our pre-arranged tour operator, Teking.
We originally booked the Lagoon Snorkling tour for immediately after landing as we weren’t going to be able to get into our accommodation. It turned out to be a great idea (despite the fact that it was well over 24 hours since we had been in a bed).
We had a fantastic time on Teking’s Lagoon tour. Lots of laughs and some astonishing snorkeling. Teking had 3 boats out that day which were captained by himself, Captain No-good, and Captain So-good.
We snorkeled over 4 different spots. One had a huge amount of fish. Fish everywhere in every direction you turned. All sizes, lots of colours. There were also some enormous fish –a wrass? And giant trevally. Some of the fish we saw were a metre in length by about 75 -80 cm wide.
Another snorkeling spot had giant coral. Not a huge variety in colour but a huge range of shapes including the brain shaped coral.
The next snorkeling spot had a shelf and was fun to meander through (being loosely guided in direction by some buoys). Nice fish here too.
Our last snorkeling spot took us to purple coral. It was purple from above the water and quite blue from below the water. It was very pretty.
There was a nice lunch bbq’d on Honeymooner’s Island where we watched kite-boarders who were clearly having a huge amount of fun whizzing around the lagoon. I think Lovener2 quite fancied himself out-there and I don’t think I would have been far behind given half a chance!
Our final stop was at Big Foot Island. Again, very pretty and a nice place to have a stroll around.
The tour with Teking was well-worth it. We were out on the water for about 6.5/7 hours. It was highly entertaining and a great way to spend the day.
After a big day out, we decided on a quiet night and popped next door to Puffy’s takeaway and grill for dinner at about 6.30pm. The fisherman was still out fishing so we decided to come back after 8pm for our freshly caught fish and chips. When we came back, Dad was still out back filleting the tuna! We were absolutely ravenous by the time it arrived. Yummo.
TUESDAY 16 JULY AITUTAKI
Today we lay around for a bit and then decided it was time to explore the island. Getting a car was impossible so incredibly reluctantly, I hopped on the back of Lovener2’s scooter, knowing full well that my Mum back home would be having kittens. I pointed this out to Lovener2 who knew better than to go faster than 20km. It’s the way that everyone travels in Aitutaki and everyone was very careful on the roads/tracks.
We rode around Aitutaki and had a lunch at the flash Pacific Resort. We were curious to see what the resort was like and the quality of the resort relative to the eye-watering prices charged. In short, it was nice but not overwhelmingly so and we wouldn’t shell out the extra $ to stay here personally.
We had our lunch in a little outdoor bungalow right next to the beach. Despite being a bit windy, it was picturesque but not quite as nice as some of views you get from French Polynesia’s outer islands or the Isle of Pines. Lunch was o.k but not great and certainly over-priced.
Later on we took our scooter out to Samade-on-the-Beach’s bar & grill. We had booked in for their Island Night show which we were really looking forward to. Samade-on-the-Beach has a very beautiful location right on the Lagoon and some small sized bungalows that looked very nice. I think we would probably stay here if we returned to Aitutaki one day.
We had not long sat down when the Lagoon started to grey over. And then the heavens opened up and down came the rain. This was not a light speckling of rain. This was a torrential downpour. We had to move tables to avoid getting drenched.
The Island Night dancing was all done by kids and was lots of fun to watch. Some were more in time / familiar with the routine that others
We had a great night out and were thankful that the rain stopped by going-home time. Lovener2 rode us home gingerly at a snail’s pace (I think it would have been quicker to walk) and we enjoyed a mouthful of dirt after being passed by some cars and other scooters!
WEDNESDAY 16 JULY AITUTAKI – ATIU
We didn’t feel we had missed too much by having a short stay in Aitutaki. For us, the island didn’t lend itself to lazing around too much and there isn’t a huge amount to do. We loved going snorkeling but once that is done & you have driven around the island, then you might find yourself scratching for options. The beach/lagoon is very pretty but certainly isn’t the most stunningly beautiful that we’ve ever seen. Aitutaki gets onto the world’s top 10 beaches list but personally, we think that some parts of French Polynesia and New Caledonia’s Isle of Pines have more jaw-dropping beauty. Still, we certainly won’t be complaining, having enjoyed 2 hot days when back home the rain & wind remains hideous. ☺
It was exciting to board the puddle jumper for Atiu. An island that there wasn’t a huge amount of information available on before we left home. Atiu is 50 minutes flight from Aitutaki and has a dramatically different landscape.
Atiu is surrounded by a ring of dark coral and has some gorgeous dramatic beaches, rich almost red soil, and some jungle-like greenery. Not unlike some parts of Moorea/ French Polynesia without the population/ French government-funded infrastructure.
We were picked up by our accommodation provider Marshall who runs Marshall’s B&B. Marshall is very personable and has deep knowledge of Atiu. He makes us feel very welcome and we know that we’re going to have a great time here.
We had borrowed a pick up from Marshall and used this to spend the afternoon exploring Atiu. We had lunch at the one place that appeared open and ate the one item available on the menu (burgers). Very tasty burgers ☺
We drove about halfway around the island, experienced the jungle greenery and then found ourselves at Oneroa Beach. Simply breathtaking. Not the type of beach that we would rush to swim at. For us, the ocean swell looked too treacherous (and I didn’t want Loverner2 to have to explain to my mother that not only had he taken me on a scooter, he’d also taken me swimming amongst the crashing ocean waves and rip)
The scenery was dramatic and beautiful. We strolled along the coral filled beach and picked through beautiful shells. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.
We finished our afternoon off with a visit to Atiu Fibre Arts Studio (more tivaetivae and some fabulously creative use of tapa cloth and lace), picked up some Atiu coffee and then headed back to the homestay.
We ate dinner in with Marshall who cooked us a great meal and then we nodded off to sleep not long after.
It was great to be back on AirNZ again. We had a great flight from LA and even managed a light doze. We arrived in Rarotonga very early in the morning (not exactly sure what time, the flight arrived earlier than scheduled, perhaps around 4.30/5am).
Dutyfree at Rarotonga Airport consisted of alcohol and prices were about the same as NZ supermarket prices. Bubbly was particularly expensive so we gave the good stuff a miss.
We had a bit of time before our 8am flight to Aitutaki which gave us a chance to figure our just what to do with our luggage in Rarotonga. We didn’t want to take all of our bags on the small island hopper planes run by Air Rarotonga.
Luggage storage options at Rarotonga are:
- Airport lockers which come in small / med/ large. Located near the Air NZ check-in counter/ Air Rarotonga office. They are narrow but very deep. Very expensive with the average sized suitcase locker costing $20 per day.
- Having Aquarius Hotel (directly across the road from the Airport) look after your bag for $10 per day
- If you are travelling on Air Rarotonga flights to outer islands, they will look after your bags for $2 per bag per day. They will only look after your bag for the time that you are travelling to the outer islands and you must pick it up immediately after you land back in Rarotonga.
It was a relief to be able to store the bags with Air Rarotonga as it would have been an a hassle to have to lug them around.
Check-in and boarding with Air Rarotonga was very relaxed. No boarding call. You simply walk out to the plane about the time that you think you should. Lovener 2 was able to board the plane about 2 minutes before it took off. All very relaxed!
The flight from Rarotonga to Aitutaki is 40 minutes in a small but not tiny plane. It was a bit cloudy on landing so we didn’t get an amazing view of the lagoon from above.
We were picked up at the Airport by Terry who did transfers for a number of accommodation providers. We were dropped off at our accommodation –Aretai Villas and welcomed by Mama Nicholas.
We chose Aretai Villas because it seemed like a nice balance between the eye watering prices of the flash resorts and almost-backpacker accommodation at the other end of the spectrum.
Aretai is looked after by Mama Nicholas whose company we really enjoyed. She had a real sparkle in her eye for 86 and was simply charming. We had many cups of tea, scones and passionfruit together. Mama Nicholas is very skilled in tivaevae and had much to talk about.
The villas are Aretai are great accommodation for a family. They have a large spacious lounge and 2 bedrooms. Self-catering would be an easy option here (particularly if you bought some staples with you from your home country). They are set right on the beach with kyaks available.
For us, unless I wanted to spend more time talking tivaevae with Mama Nicholas, I’m not sure we would stay here again as as a couple we just didn’t need quite so much space!
The flight from Rarotonga landed just before 9am and we were immediately whisked to Aretai Villas and then quickly picked up by our pre-arranged tour operator, Teking.
We originally booked the Lagoon Snorkling tour for immediately after landing as we weren’t going to be able to get into our accommodation. It turned out to be a great idea (despite the fact that it was well over 24 hours since we had been in a bed).
We had a fantastic time on Teking’s Lagoon tour. Lots of laughs and some astonishing snorkeling. Teking had 3 boats out that day which were captained by himself, Captain No-good, and Captain So-good.
We snorkeled over 4 different spots. One had a huge amount of fish. Fish everywhere in every direction you turned. All sizes, lots of colours. There were also some enormous fish –a wrass? And giant trevally. Some of the fish we saw were a metre in length by about 75 -80 cm wide.
Another snorkeling spot had giant coral. Not a huge variety in colour but a huge range of shapes including the brain shaped coral.
The next snorkeling spot had a shelf and was fun to meander through (being loosely guided in direction by some buoys). Nice fish here too.
Our last snorkeling spot took us to purple coral. It was purple from above the water and quite blue from below the water. It was very pretty.
There was a nice lunch bbq’d on Honeymooner’s Island where we watched kite-boarders who were clearly having a huge amount of fun whizzing around the lagoon. I think Lovener2 quite fancied himself out-there and I don’t think I would have been far behind given half a chance!
Our final stop was at Big Foot Island. Again, very pretty and a nice place to have a stroll around.
The tour with Teking was well-worth it. We were out on the water for about 6.5/7 hours. It was highly entertaining and a great way to spend the day.
After a big day out, we decided on a quiet night and popped next door to Puffy’s takeaway and grill for dinner at about 6.30pm. The fisherman was still out fishing so we decided to come back after 8pm for our freshly caught fish and chips. When we came back, Dad was still out back filleting the tuna! We were absolutely ravenous by the time it arrived. Yummo.
TUESDAY 16 JULY AITUTAKI
Today we lay around for a bit and then decided it was time to explore the island. Getting a car was impossible so incredibly reluctantly, I hopped on the back of Lovener2’s scooter, knowing full well that my Mum back home would be having kittens. I pointed this out to Lovener2 who knew better than to go faster than 20km. It’s the way that everyone travels in Aitutaki and everyone was very careful on the roads/tracks.
We rode around Aitutaki and had a lunch at the flash Pacific Resort. We were curious to see what the resort was like and the quality of the resort relative to the eye-watering prices charged. In short, it was nice but not overwhelmingly so and we wouldn’t shell out the extra $ to stay here personally.
We had our lunch in a little outdoor bungalow right next to the beach. Despite being a bit windy, it was picturesque but not quite as nice as some of views you get from French Polynesia’s outer islands or the Isle of Pines. Lunch was o.k but not great and certainly over-priced.
Later on we took our scooter out to Samade-on-the-Beach’s bar & grill. We had booked in for their Island Night show which we were really looking forward to. Samade-on-the-Beach has a very beautiful location right on the Lagoon and some small sized bungalows that looked very nice. I think we would probably stay here if we returned to Aitutaki one day.
We had not long sat down when the Lagoon started to grey over. And then the heavens opened up and down came the rain. This was not a light speckling of rain. This was a torrential downpour. We had to move tables to avoid getting drenched.
The Island Night dancing was all done by kids and was lots of fun to watch. Some were more in time / familiar with the routine that others
We had a great night out and were thankful that the rain stopped by going-home time. Lovener2 rode us home gingerly at a snail’s pace (I think it would have been quicker to walk) and we enjoyed a mouthful of dirt after being passed by some cars and other scooters!WEDNESDAY 16 JULY AITUTAKI – ATIU
We didn’t feel we had missed too much by having a short stay in Aitutaki. For us, the island didn’t lend itself to lazing around too much and there isn’t a huge amount to do. We loved going snorkeling but once that is done & you have driven around the island, then you might find yourself scratching for options. The beach/lagoon is very pretty but certainly isn’t the most stunningly beautiful that we’ve ever seen. Aitutaki gets onto the world’s top 10 beaches list but personally, we think that some parts of French Polynesia and New Caledonia’s Isle of Pines have more jaw-dropping beauty. Still, we certainly won’t be complaining, having enjoyed 2 hot days when back home the rain & wind remains hideous. ☺
It was exciting to board the puddle jumper for Atiu. An island that there wasn’t a huge amount of information available on before we left home. Atiu is 50 minutes flight from Aitutaki and has a dramatically different landscape.
Atiu is surrounded by a ring of dark coral and has some gorgeous dramatic beaches, rich almost red soil, and some jungle-like greenery. Not unlike some parts of Moorea/ French Polynesia without the population/ French government-funded infrastructure.
We were picked up by our accommodation provider Marshall who runs Marshall’s B&B. Marshall is very personable and has deep knowledge of Atiu. He makes us feel very welcome and we know that we’re going to have a great time here.
We had borrowed a pick up from Marshall and used this to spend the afternoon exploring Atiu. We had lunch at the one place that appeared open and ate the one item available on the menu (burgers). Very tasty burgers ☺
We drove about halfway around the island, experienced the jungle greenery and then found ourselves at Oneroa Beach. Simply breathtaking. Not the type of beach that we would rush to swim at. For us, the ocean swell looked too treacherous (and I didn’t want Loverner2 to have to explain to my mother that not only had he taken me on a scooter, he’d also taken me swimming amongst the crashing ocean waves and rip)
The scenery was dramatic and beautiful. We strolled along the coral filled beach and picked through beautiful shells. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.
We finished our afternoon off with a visit to Atiu Fibre Arts Studio (more tivaetivae and some fabulously creative use of tapa cloth and lace), picked up some Atiu coffee and then headed back to the homestay.
We ate dinner in with Marshall who cooked us a great meal and then we nodded off to sleep not long after.
Jul 20th, 2013, 03:28 AM
#26
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 221
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
THURSDAY 16 JULY ATIU
We spent the morning driving around the rest of Atiu and visiting its dramatic beaches / coast line. The scenery is striking and rugged. Very beautiful. Very bright greens, and ocean that is part royal blue and part turquoise.
We grabbed a quick burger from SuperBrown and then got changed into our caving-dwelling clothes ready for an afternoon of cave visiting.
We went with Marshall Humphreys' eco tour, which was led by Paul Maaka. We visited the Anatakitaki cave and saw the most amazing bird, the Kopeka. The Kopeka are tiny nocturnal bird which navigate the dark using sonar. Amazing to listen to their constant chirping to help them navigate amongst the stalactites and stalactmites.
The caves were very beautiful and more impressive than the caves we have visited in NZ. They took about 25 minutes to walk to. It's a pretty careful walk as much of the path is over or around sharp coral. The effort to get there is well-rewarded as the caves are spectacular.
The next part of the tour was a candle-lit swim inside one of the caves. It was tranquil, a touch on the cool side (refreshing rather than tropical), and an experience we'll never forget.
Our tour finished with a visit to a Tumunu (Bush Pub) which consists of a basic hut/shelter, several logs to sit on and a bucket of bush beer which is shared amongst attendees (whilst Cook Island music played in the background). It was fun to share tales with the locals (all male) and I wisely stopped after a few rounds of the cup. Lovener2 was in for several more rounds. It was a lot of fun.
Dinner was with Aunty Parua Tavioni and was a wonderful experience. She is an excellent cook and we loved spending time with her. The highlight of the evening (after her delicious coconut prawns) was her sharing her tivaevae with us. She is a wonderful tivaevae maker and we spent a lot of time discussing techniques and sharing designs. She was just gorgeous and very generous in sharing her knowledge. I would have loved to have spent a few more days with her.
We were exhausted by the time we made it to bed!
We spent the morning driving around the rest of Atiu and visiting its dramatic beaches / coast line. The scenery is striking and rugged. Very beautiful. Very bright greens, and ocean that is part royal blue and part turquoise.
We grabbed a quick burger from SuperBrown and then got changed into our caving-dwelling clothes ready for an afternoon of cave visiting.
We went with Marshall Humphreys' eco tour, which was led by Paul Maaka. We visited the Anatakitaki cave and saw the most amazing bird, the Kopeka. The Kopeka are tiny nocturnal bird which navigate the dark using sonar. Amazing to listen to their constant chirping to help them navigate amongst the stalactites and stalactmites.
The caves were very beautiful and more impressive than the caves we have visited in NZ. They took about 25 minutes to walk to. It's a pretty careful walk as much of the path is over or around sharp coral. The effort to get there is well-rewarded as the caves are spectacular.
The next part of the tour was a candle-lit swim inside one of the caves. It was tranquil, a touch on the cool side (refreshing rather than tropical), and an experience we'll never forget.
Our tour finished with a visit to a Tumunu (Bush Pub) which consists of a basic hut/shelter, several logs to sit on and a bucket of bush beer which is shared amongst attendees (whilst Cook Island music played in the background). It was fun to share tales with the locals (all male) and I wisely stopped after a few rounds of the cup. Lovener2 was in for several more rounds. It was a lot of fun.
Dinner was with Aunty Parua Tavioni and was a wonderful experience. She is an excellent cook and we loved spending time with her. The highlight of the evening (after her delicious coconut prawns) was her sharing her tivaevae with us. She is a wonderful tivaevae maker and we spent a lot of time discussing techniques and sharing designs. She was just gorgeous and very generous in sharing her knowledge. I would have loved to have spent a few more days with her.
We were exhausted by the time we made it to bed!
Jul 20th, 2013, 04:01 AM
#27
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 221
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
FRIDAY 19 JULY ATIU - RAROTONGA
Our time in Atiu was drawing to a close. In keeping with our usual desire to make the most of our time in special places, we decided that there was room for another attraction visit before we caught the plane back to Rarotonga late morning.
We went with Marshall to see the Rimarau Burial Cave. My oh my. Hidden in the middle of no-where (the path didn't even look like a track). From the outside, the cave (made of limestone and calcium) looked fairly non-descript.
We shimmied down a very narrow dark hole (not for the faint-hearted) and climbed through the cave which is currently being researched by anthropologists. It is nothing short of astonishing. This is not a cave containing a few token femur bones. This is a cave where you have to watch your footing to make sure that you are not accidentally walking on a jaw bone, pelvis or tooth or fully intact skull.
It was an experience we doubt we will ever be able to repeat and we felt enormously privileged to be able to visit. The cave has a very restful feeling, there is nothing eerie or disconcerting about it.
We're now looking forward to getting home so did another bag pack and boarded the plane to Rarotonga which is a 45 minute direct flight from Atiu. Rarotonga looked quite stunning as we approached and we were glad to see what this popular island looked like.
On arrival we picked up our luggage from Air Raro's storage and proceeded to have an island experience with the rental car booked through Island Rental Cars. We don't recommend them at all & if you want to be spared a rant, then skip over the next paragraph
We booked and prepaid for VW Beetle. Not cheap at $91 per day. We followed the instructions received to find the car beside the hedge. Of course, there was no sign of it. So we rang to enquire and we told it was "5 mins away, already on its way to the airport". 20 minutes later no sign of it. I ring again to be told it's already there. ???? How did we miss a VW beetle drive past? Oh no, they'd decided to give us a Crysler sedan instead. Which we were meant to magically pick out for ourselves amongst the all the other cars parked in the large parking area. It was parked 3 rows of cars from the hedge even! grrr! Then of course there are issues with a beep every 3 minutes when you drive the car, a groaning sound it made before lurching forward, and key issues too. We had to visit 2 offices to sign paperwork. Seriously unimpressed with the blase attitude and crappy vehicle. It was a hunk of junk. Avoid Island Rental Cars. You've been warned!
We spent the rest of the afternoon cruising the island. We got lucky with a great fish sandwich for lunch at CocoLatte. We spent a few hours in the Botanical Gardens which were lovely. We eventually made our way to the Pacific Resort for the Island Night. Unfortunately our rental car experience luck spread to the Island night which wasn't good.
It was lovely to bump into old acquaintances from NZ and the Pacific Resort has a beautiful setting. Staff were very friendly and the service was great. Nice cocktails. However, the Island Night was really bad. The food was inedible and we would have been very unhappy if we were staying at the 5 * resort. We had a chicken curry and frankly, we get better chicken curry in "long-life" chicken curry boxes from the supermarket. It was hideous. Entree was equally bad.
We stayed for about 1.25 hours and decided to leave. We think it was the out-of-tune string instruments that eventually pushed us over the edge. The ukele and guitars were in different keys and two of the singers were out of tune. It was more than we could take so we cut our losses.
We headed off to the Aquarius hotel by the airport to see if there were any rooms available. We clearly weren't the only ones with this same idea and they were already fully-booked. Loever2 set himself up with laptop in the lounge area where we were made to feel very welcome. I tried to accompany him until my eyelids started to get too heavy. I nipped out to the car for a quick cat nap.
The AirNZ flight has check-in available from Midnight and then departs at the hideous time of 2.25am. We are now tucked up in the AirNZ Koru Lounge and bracing ourselves for the cold that we greet us on arrival home.
Our total luggage stats:
Big Bertha: 25kg
Medium Bertha: 24 kg
Small? Bertha: 26 kg.
Carry-on:
Purple back-pack: 4.2kg
Black Thrift store carry-on: 10.4kg
Small? satchel: 5.2kg
We are dangerously close to cracking the 100kg!!
We managed to escape excess luggage (after suffering the amusement of onlookers when we repackaged our luggage to spread the weight a bit more evenly). Mum & Dad, the scales you bought me for Christmas the year before last have more than earned their keep! We have one more flight with AirNZ to go so hopefully we can get through
It's been a great trip.
Our time in Atiu was drawing to a close. In keeping with our usual desire to make the most of our time in special places, we decided that there was room for another attraction visit before we caught the plane back to Rarotonga late morning.
We went with Marshall to see the Rimarau Burial Cave. My oh my. Hidden in the middle of no-where (the path didn't even look like a track). From the outside, the cave (made of limestone and calcium) looked fairly non-descript.
We shimmied down a very narrow dark hole (not for the faint-hearted) and climbed through the cave which is currently being researched by anthropologists. It is nothing short of astonishing. This is not a cave containing a few token femur bones. This is a cave where you have to watch your footing to make sure that you are not accidentally walking on a jaw bone, pelvis or tooth or fully intact skull.
It was an experience we doubt we will ever be able to repeat and we felt enormously privileged to be able to visit. The cave has a very restful feeling, there is nothing eerie or disconcerting about it.
We're now looking forward to getting home so did another bag pack and boarded the plane to Rarotonga which is a 45 minute direct flight from Atiu. Rarotonga looked quite stunning as we approached and we were glad to see what this popular island looked like.
On arrival we picked up our luggage from Air Raro's storage and proceeded to have an island experience with the rental car booked through Island Rental Cars. We don't recommend them at all & if you want to be spared a rant, then skip over the next paragraph
We booked and prepaid for VW Beetle. Not cheap at $91 per day. We followed the instructions received to find the car beside the hedge. Of course, there was no sign of it. So we rang to enquire and we told it was "5 mins away, already on its way to the airport". 20 minutes later no sign of it. I ring again to be told it's already there. ???? How did we miss a VW beetle drive past? Oh no, they'd decided to give us a Crysler sedan instead. Which we were meant to magically pick out for ourselves amongst the all the other cars parked in the large parking area. It was parked 3 rows of cars from the hedge even! grrr! Then of course there are issues with a beep every 3 minutes when you drive the car, a groaning sound it made before lurching forward, and key issues too. We had to visit 2 offices to sign paperwork. Seriously unimpressed with the blase attitude and crappy vehicle. It was a hunk of junk. Avoid Island Rental Cars. You've been warned!
We spent the rest of the afternoon cruising the island. We got lucky with a great fish sandwich for lunch at CocoLatte. We spent a few hours in the Botanical Gardens which were lovely. We eventually made our way to the Pacific Resort for the Island Night. Unfortunately our rental car experience luck spread to the Island night which wasn't good.
It was lovely to bump into old acquaintances from NZ and the Pacific Resort has a beautiful setting. Staff were very friendly and the service was great. Nice cocktails. However, the Island Night was really bad. The food was inedible and we would have been very unhappy if we were staying at the 5 * resort. We had a chicken curry and frankly, we get better chicken curry in "long-life" chicken curry boxes from the supermarket. It was hideous. Entree was equally bad.
We stayed for about 1.25 hours and decided to leave. We think it was the out-of-tune string instruments that eventually pushed us over the edge. The ukele and guitars were in different keys and two of the singers were out of tune. It was more than we could take so we cut our losses.
We headed off to the Aquarius hotel by the airport to see if there were any rooms available. We clearly weren't the only ones with this same idea and they were already fully-booked. Loever2 set himself up with laptop in the lounge area where we were made to feel very welcome. I tried to accompany him until my eyelids started to get too heavy. I nipped out to the car for a quick cat nap.
The AirNZ flight has check-in available from Midnight and then departs at the hideous time of 2.25am. We are now tucked up in the AirNZ Koru Lounge and bracing ourselves for the cold that we greet us on arrival home.
Our total luggage stats:
Big Bertha: 25kg
Medium Bertha: 24 kg
Small? Bertha: 26 kg.
Carry-on:
Purple back-pack: 4.2kg
Black Thrift store carry-on: 10.4kg
Small? satchel: 5.2kg
We are dangerously close to cracking the 100kg!!
We managed to escape excess luggage (after suffering the amusement of onlookers when we repackaged our luggage to spread the weight a bit more evenly). Mum & Dad, the scales you bought me for Christmas the year before last have more than earned their keep! We have one more flight with AirNZ to go so hopefully we can get through
It's been a great trip.
Jul 20th, 2013, 06:09 PM
#29
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,896
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Wonderful report. It is an interesting mix of destinations you visited. Can you tell me more about the tivaevae and how they are constructed? Do they lean toward certain themes or color schemes? It sounds fascinating.
Jul 21st, 2013, 12:14 PM
#30
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 221
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks
The Tivaevae I saw were beautiful. They were typically made of either two or three layers of cotton fabric (no batting or wadding is used between the layers). All used solid coloured fabric with no patterns on them. The background was usually a whole clothing (think sheeting) and then they used either shapes or a more all-over style pattern. Predominant themes were flowers which were sometimes heavily embroidered with decoration as well. The designs were tacked on and then needle-turned under.
Hope this make sense? Not sure if you an experienced stitcher or if the way I've described this is all gobbled-goop?
The Tivaevae I saw were beautiful. They were typically made of either two or three layers of cotton fabric (no batting or wadding is used between the layers). All used solid coloured fabric with no patterns on them. The background was usually a whole clothing (think sheeting) and then they used either shapes or a more all-over style pattern. Predominant themes were flowers which were sometimes heavily embroidered with decoration as well. The designs were tacked on and then needle-turned under.
Hope this make sense? Not sure if you an experienced stitcher or if the way I've described this is all gobbled-goop?
Jul 21st, 2013, 04:36 PM
#31
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,896
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Loveners, you did great. I do sew a bit, but have avoided quilting so far. I have been to shows with quilters though. It sounds like the designs were a form of applique. Very interesting that the fabrics were all solid colors.
