Farewell NZ. Hello Cook Islands

Saturday evening we got the bus into town walked into a pub & bumped into a couple from Perth WA that we had met the previous week-end. Sightseeing went out the window, we watched the rugby, Crusaders won so celebrations all round, & stayed in the pub till about 1.30am then a taxi back with a driver that didn‘t want to stop chatting.
Sunday we had our last use of the van, going to Lyttleton to see Timeball Castle. A timeball was an early method of indicating time to vessels in the harbour so they could correct their chronometers & thus more accurately calculate their position at sea.
After booking into our hotel at Christchurch Airport we had time to visit the Antarctic Centre which is right next door. Christchurch is the airport from which most scientists etc. leave to go to the Antarctic & it is where they get fitted out with cold weather clothing & have a 3 day induction. Several countries have a centre here &, of course, the USA is the biggest. There is also a visitor centre which is where we went. The audio commentary was done by Sir Edmund Hillary and covered things like climate, wild life, leisure time etc. Antarctica is not only the coldest but also the windiest & driest continent, so dry that you cannot make a snowball. There was also the chance to withstand an Antarctic storm with a wind of only 44km p/hr bringing the temperature down, with wind chill, to -18 deg C. & a ride in a Hagglund people carrier, the type used there, over similar made up terrain at the rear of the building. Seat belts & strap hangers were a must & we still got thrown all over the place.
There were also penguins, in this case the tiny blue penguin, which can be found off the coast of NZ.
Next morning, Monday, up at 4.45am & off to the airport & the Cook Islands. It is about 1hr. flight from Christchurch to Auckland & then approx 4hrs to Rarotonga but, due to Int’l Date Line, we arrived on Sunday afternoon.
The Cook Islands are a group of 15 islands scattered over an area of the Pacific the size of Western Europe between 9 & 22 deg south. They are in 2 groups, Northern & Southern, not just physically but also socially. The Northern Group is made up of 5 atolls & 1 sand-cay & the Southern Group of 4 raised reef islands, 2 atolls, 1 almost atoll, 1 sand-cay & 1 volcanic island, Rarotonga, which is where we are staying. The Southern Group has 90% of both land & population.
Rarotonga, the biggest island, has a coastal ring road of 32kms & most of the population live close to it, the interior being lush, mountainous forest. Running adjacent to the coast road is the ancient Ara Metua coral road, now surfaced, built in the 11th century. The island’s lagoon is protected by a reef that encircles the island. Palm fringed beaches of white sand line the lagoon & the waters are crystal clear and contain many species of fish.
However, the brochures don’t mention the stone fish or sea urchins that await the unwary, not that we’ve heard of anyone treading on one of them.
This was for us a week for resting up a bit & if you want to rest up this is the place. ’If you want something in a hurry you’ve come to the wrong place’ was how one of the locals put it in a slow drawl.
Still we did venture out on the island’s 2 bus services (the Clockwise & the Anti-Clockwise) both of which start & finish in the capital, Avarua. The speed limit is 50km/hr & slower through villages & past schools so the buses take nearly an hour to do the round trip.
The reason for us coming here is in Pat’s 40 Places to Visit book & is the island of Aitutaki which is about 200kms from where we are staying. It is a short hop in Air Rarotonga’s Saab 340 plane & so we went on Wednesday. The lagoon is indeed worth the trip as it contains several smaller islands (motus) each with palms & white sandy beaches. So idyllic that many couples get married here & both the US & British TV series ’Survivor’ were filmed on a couple of the isles. The lagoon is also the best place in the Cooks for snorkelling & whilst Pat was doing this I was being fitted with a pareu, the local national costume.
The return flight, however, was far from pleasant with a strong tail wind buffeting us all the way.
Back in Rarotonga we also managed to take in some crab racing, a jeep safari tour of the island with a driver calling himself Mr. Hopeless, a seafood barbecue on the beach, saw the Crusaders win the Rugby Super 14s whilst in a bar in Avarua on Friday & visited the local market on Saturday morning. So much for taking it easy.
The week came & went far too quickly & on Sunday it was back to Auckland & then on to Los Angeles.

Pics are: Pat in Antarctica, Me on our beach Rarotonga, Aitutaki Holiday Resort, Motu in Aitutaki lagoon, Painting church roof in Avarua