“a place of unsurpassed natural beauty and simple tranquility, providing a rejuvenating tonic to sooth away the pressures of the outside world.”Other than eat, read and snorkel there is not a great deal to do and the island is easily covered in one day on a bike or scooter. But the scenery is spectacular and the people are so friendly. So perhaps it is not everyone’s cup of tea, but for de-pressurising we have never experienced anything like it.
First View of Aitutaki
Rarotonga at DawnWe got into Rarotonga at 6:00 a.m. and were not due to leave until 3:30p.m. so we stowed our luggage and hopped onto a “Counter clockwise” bus into the main town which is Avarua. To circle the entire island by local bus took one hour and the buses run in each direction every half hour. The fare for the island circuit was $7.
The town is largely jewelry shops selling black pearls and tourist gift shops. We went into a very expensive jewelry store where the prices were well beyond us ($20,000.00 for a necklace) but they sent us to the pearl market just down the street which they also owned. There we selected the setting and the pearl from amongst bags of unset pearls and they made it while we waited.
The Pearl MarketAfter my shopping fix, we took a taxi to a restaurant at the Rarotonga Yacht Club that Lynne and Bob Falls had recommended called “Sails” and had a marvelous lunch and probably the most expensive wine I have ever drunk ($12. a glass) I had a Waldorf Salad overlaid with grilled prawns, beautifully seasoned. Paul had the Fisherman’s Bites which were ahi tuna in tempura batter with rice and salad. We were right on the beach with a wonderful view of their lagoon.
This is the view from our table, although Paul did not spend the entire lunch on the swing. The sky was a little cloudy but the sun was out. We haven’t quite realized that we are on holiday yet and are still in rush mode. So we hopped on the “Clockwise” bus and got back to the airport.Roratonga is definitely tropical. Lots of heavily eroded mountains in the center of the island with lush land around the perimeter where people grow bananas, taro, oranges, pineapple, coconuts, kumara, and beautiful tropical flowers: bougainvillea, azalea, hibiscus and whole hedges made of huge tropical plants that we would only grow in a pot in the house in Canada.
After a short flight (40 min.) to Aitutaki we knew that we had arrived in Paradise for sure. The sky cleared up. We had a bit of rain in Rarotonga and it was cloudy, but Aitutaki had clear skies and sunshine, and the island is like something from a dream…
We were met at the airport with a lei and ukulele in one of the most charming airport terminals that I have ever seen. Our driver met us in the airport. No need for a sign, he just knew us.
The Airport at AitutakiWe arrived at our delightful villa within 10 minutes. It is a two bedroom home decorated with rattan furniture, glass tables, and a teak-wood deck right across the front, with two upholstered full length sofas around the periphery of the deck and a teak table with four rattan chairs in the centre. Everything is in tropical colours and the inside furniture is all white with lime green (!!) pillows decorated with hibiscus flowers in bright pink and orange. The full kitchen has state-of-the-art stainless steel appliances and the bathroom has a glass pedestal sink and a huge shower. Each bedroom has its own bathroom, complete with white tiled floors and white towels (lots of them)
The property is owned by an Australian woman whose 82 year old mother, Mama or Tutai (two-taa-ee) supervises the place. There are only two villas on our side and the three on the other side are owned by her brother and as Mama told us, not as upscale as ours. The whole property is covered in coconut palms and Nono trees and we had fresh tapani flowers everywhere; on the television, on the night side tables, on the sinks, the sideboards and coffee tables. There is a fan in every room, separately controlled from the light switch and all the shutters have glass panels which open to let the wind go through. On our table was a plate of papayas (paw paw fruit), lemons, and in the fridge were three coconuts with a straw in them and a hibiscus hung on the side. What a welcome!
Mama very kindly offered to take us to the grocery store in her truck. She is not allowed to travel at more than 20 km. (her son’s stricture) and she subsequently gave us a wonderful tour of the island on which she was born. She got lost, but we saw the dock, the churches (many of them) and lots of burning of the vegetation prior to planting the crops. We then went to her friend’s house to feed the cat and see her greenhouse just full of orchids, bougainvillea and other tropical plants.
She will arrange a scooter rental for us tomorrow and has booked us into an island night at the Tamanu Beach hotel. She also showed us the Café Tapuna which is high on our list of restaurants to visit.
We were both exhausted and went to bed at 8:00 p.m. Paul stayed up to 8:30 p.m.!
