Time to leave Aitutaki and fly back to Roratunga. We boarded the same little plane, with even less scrutiny than before. Everyone seemed to know everyone and the safety demonstration was the co-pilot taking the seatbelt extension and wrapping it around the mouth of obviously one of his jovial friends, to stop him talking! Many of the people on board were either part of a 7 aside rugby team or were going to watch the matches. In fact the whole island was taken up with the tournament and a young fellow staying at the same place as us went along and thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie and fun of the whole thing.
We stayed at the Mauria Beach Hideaway and the owner was very kind and friendly. Lotus flowers were lining a ditch on the property and were a glorious riot of colour.
There was a night market close to where we were staying, so instead of cooking dinner we ate there. The locals had stands and cooked local dishes for sale. Very inexpensive and very delicious. My other half ate far more risky things than I did, pressed fresh juices and unknown concoctions in the food but neither of us were sick and the food was outstanding. This lady cooked a wonderful lamb shank that fed the two of us and then her desert was so delicious, I went back the second night for more. I also bought one of the sarongs from another stall. There were ukelele's for sale too, but a little more pricey.
We walked down the road a ways to this restaurant which was on the dock. The place itself was a converted Container. The food was out of this world. We ate fish a lot of times, but this fish was absolutely delicous. We saw a fisherman bringing his catch to her right from his boat, so we knew it was all very fresh. In fact some of the local little places had far superior food to the so called better hotels.
Every day we walked the beaches. There was quite a bit more coral on this side so we wore beach shoes. On the other hand it meant we saw lots of fish right from the shore.
Our room was very comfortable. Not the most modern, but cosy and scrupulously clean. As usual, we had a kitchen as well. I made use of the washing line at the back and the continuous warm wind, to get some washing done. Our bed was covered with this spectacular bedspread. The work is done on one of the smaller Cook Islands.
There was also a hanging on the wall, also done in reverse applique. I was sorry we didn't have the time to visit the island itself. However, I did visit the workshop of Colin and bought a lovely simple black pearl ring. Several years ago, my daughter and her then fiance met Colin and he took them on a foraging trip up behind his property, they could barely keep up with him! Colin kindly put together a beautiful little pendant for my granddaughter as a memento of when her father proposed to her mother on the Island several years earlier.
This was where we had our breakfast every morning. Lots of papaya and fresh tomatoes. We bought our food at the local gas station. The food came from the market gardener across the road. There were different stalls along the road where people sold fresh vegetables from their gardens. It was quite rural with chickens freely running around as they were all over the Cooks. Up the road, there was a large pig on a tether, munching his way through the grass and up the hill was a goat.
I watched this every day from our balcony as it unfurled from the palm tree close to us. Our host was busy one day making many leis to put on her mother's grave. On Hallowe'en and All Saints Day, the locals decorate the graves of their ancestors. The graves are usually on the family property and are very much integrated with every day life. She drove us up the hill to see her handiwork and I was amazed at the effort she had put in and the quantity of flowers. The grave was beautiful. On our way to the airport, our driver took us past the local Church where everyone was buried who did not have family land. The whole place was a fairlyland of lights and flowers.
It was so sad to be at the end of our journey. I had thought of it as the trip of a lifetime - but there are so many places I want to see more of. So many more places to see that we didn't have time to go to. I am thinking now that rather than a trip of a lifetime, perhaps this was the first, but not the last to a part of the world that though it is so far away, being part of the Commonwealth with so many ties to England, felt very familiar and comfortable. Until the next time!
