Watchin the time roll away..as we should have been out on bikes today. We had been told that there was no need to book – they had plenty...but of course, not this morning. Hey ho, something had to go wrong I suppose!
Anyway, not wishing to waste a day, we booked bikes for Thursday instead and decided that, as all the faffing around in the hire shop has made us miss both clockwise and anticlockwise buses, we’d walk into town. You’d have thought we’d suggested doing it naked , the look of shock on the booking clerk’s face! Ok it was 5 km and the temp was in the upper 80’s or so. But we like walking!
So a leisurely walk into town (what else do you do in these temps!) produced a few interesting pauses at tiny local shops and a very pleasant chat with a young man fishing..more of him later! We’d been looking out for a couple of these very distinctive South Sea Islands shirts and a new sarong for me (well, it has to be done!) We found them!
Margery also tried the local flower decoration – unfortunately this was behind the wrong ear! Married ladies put them behind their right ear, unmarried behind their left to indicate they’re “ready for anything” – oops! Whata mistakea to make!!
Houses of Parliament can be very different! Do you think “2 Jags” would approve of this parliamentary transport?!!
We also found the marketplace where we will be going on sat – there were a few stalls there, so we bought ourselves a coconut, 2 enormous passion fruit and a pawpaw- all for the princely sum of NZ$4 (abt £1.60)!!! So that was a couple of lunches sorted.
We also booked ourselves a table at what is supposed to be the best seafood restaurant in Rarotonga for our last night here, Saturday. Who should take our booking but the young man we’d chatted to on the sea wall earlier! Like many islanders the world over, he has two jobs to make ends meet – waiter and fisherman! So we’ll see him again on sat at Trader Jacks!
We decided to go the long way home, and get a view of the island from the perspective of the anticlockwise bus – this walking thing’s all very well, but there are limits!
So, what do you do on a sunny afternoon on a south sea coral island? You go snorkelling of course! Well many people do – we’d never tried it, but as our resort has the free loan of snorkel gear it would have been rude not to have a go. Great success all round once we both stopped trying to breathe through our noses! For those of you who haven’t had the experience we found it incredible being able to swim alongside turquoise parrot fish (12-18”long) and shoals of smaller grey/silver fish; not to mention seeing bright blue star fish and all the coral. Harry, you’d have loved the fishes!
Margery had a bit of a busman’s holiday, joining in with a group of aussies being shown how to make the traditional flowered head dress ladies wear for traditional feasts (we’re going to one this evening) . The instructors turned to me and said “she’s good” – I said “- and not a piece of wire or oasis tape in sight!” Margery finished far ahead of the other ladies, but did let the cat out of bag towards the end of the session. It was still fascinating to see what you can do with a strip of palm leaf stem, a handful of amazing flowers (all collected from the gardens here) and a piece of string!
Anyway, not wishing to waste a day, we booked bikes for Thursday instead and decided that, as all the faffing around in the hire shop has made us miss both clockwise and anticlockwise buses, we’d walk into town. You’d have thought we’d suggested doing it naked , the look of shock on the booking clerk’s face! Ok it was 5 km and the temp was in the upper 80’s or so. But we like walking!
So a leisurely walk into town (what else do you do in these temps!) produced a few interesting pauses at tiny local shops and a very pleasant chat with a young man fishing..more of him later! We’d been looking out for a couple of these very distinctive South Sea Islands shirts and a new sarong for me (well, it has to be done!) We found them!
Margery also tried the local flower decoration – unfortunately this was behind the wrong ear! Married ladies put them behind their right ear, unmarried behind their left to indicate they’re “ready for anything” – oops! Whata mistakea to make!!
Houses of Parliament can be very different! Do you think “2 Jags” would approve of this parliamentary transport?!!
We also found the marketplace where we will be going on sat – there were a few stalls there, so we bought ourselves a coconut, 2 enormous passion fruit and a pawpaw- all for the princely sum of NZ$4 (abt £1.60)!!! So that was a couple of lunches sorted.
We also booked ourselves a table at what is supposed to be the best seafood restaurant in Rarotonga for our last night here, Saturday. Who should take our booking but the young man we’d chatted to on the sea wall earlier! Like many islanders the world over, he has two jobs to make ends meet – waiter and fisherman! So we’ll see him again on sat at Trader Jacks!
We decided to go the long way home, and get a view of the island from the perspective of the anticlockwise bus – this walking thing’s all very well, but there are limits!
So, what do you do on a sunny afternoon on a south sea coral island? You go snorkelling of course! Well many people do – we’d never tried it, but as our resort has the free loan of snorkel gear it would have been rude not to have a go. Great success all round once we both stopped trying to breathe through our noses! For those of you who haven’t had the experience we found it incredible being able to swim alongside turquoise parrot fish (12-18”long) and shoals of smaller grey/silver fish; not to mention seeing bright blue star fish and all the coral. Harry, you’d have loved the fishes!
Margery had a bit of a busman’s holiday, joining in with a group of aussies being shown how to make the traditional flowered head dress ladies wear for traditional feasts (we’re going to one this evening) . The instructors turned to me and said “she’s good” – I said “- and not a piece of wire or oasis tape in sight!” Margery finished far ahead of the other ladies, but did let the cat out of bag towards the end of the session. It was still fascinating to see what you can do with a strip of palm leaf stem, a handful of amazing flowers (all collected from the gardens here) and a piece of string!
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