Sunny Beach Lodge, Cook IslandsAitutaki I
A storm in Cook Island:
We got a message from Niki (sunny
Beach Bungalows) that they have a cyclone and if we still want to come or if we
want to come at a later day… as we are on a timeline we decided to still go and
hope for the best.
- The tropical cyclone Osai is the 2nd cyclone in a week passing through the Cook Islands – warnings got issued (and our bungalow still had the storm wood panels on the windows when we arrived)
- On Wed the storm was 250 km NW of Palmerstone moving with 15 knots an hour – it was at that time a Cat 1 and expected to become a Cat 2 and it was expected that it passes close to Rarotonga early Feb 16
An early start
5 am the alarm rings (yes, we are
on vacation and get up early!!!) coffee, shower and we are leaving – a short
drive to the airport, car drop off and we are checking in, security and decide:
time for breakfast – and no, it is not cheap here at the Airport!! I may should
mention what I thought was super cute, when we came to the airport and checked
the sign it Said Rarotonga and behind “Relax”. Gine loved the birds hanging
from the ceiling – makes us feel like we are on vacation.
We also got another Message from
Niki, that the storm from last night passed over and that it looks like that
the sun will come out… perfect – we are ready for the Tropical Cook Islands
Flying to Rarotonga….
Most of the time we are sitting
together on a plane, but not today – because we both wanted to be at a window
and so we sat behind each other and both had a view. First leaving Auckland and
seeing both harbour bays was amazing– then flying over the Coromandel Peninsula
where we were a week ago. After that a long flight over the ocean we circled
around the whole island of Rarotonga, and yes we had the most perfect view on
the lagoon around it, before landing on the airport – we had our Mini scenic
flight!!!
We arrive in the Cook Islands
When stepping off the plane we
felt right away we are in the tropics!!!! I may should mention we are now back
in time as we crossed the dateline – we left Auckland on Feb 17 and arrived
here in the Cook islands on Feb 16!!! It is humid and it is hot. We got another
stamp in our passport and walked over to the Departure terminal: very cute – we
didn’t have to show a ticket or passport, what’s your name – ok. You have
luggage (and no, you don’t get a luggage tag here either) – as well sitting in
the terminal is fun, as we got visited by some rooster and chickens walking
around. Security - there is none - and then it is time for Aitutaki with Air
Rarotonga:
Flight to Aitutaki
Once we are in the small airplane
the propellers go on and we head out again another 60 Min to Aitutaki – soon we
can see the small island and the huge lagoon – we are so excited – it looks so
amazing.
Niki & the Sunny Beach
Bungalows
Niki picked us up from the airport
–here you pick up your own luggage from the cart, and then we head south
towards our Bungalow. We learn that the storm only died down this morning and
you can still see a lot of water accumulated on the side of the roads.
After showing us the bungalow,
Niki drove us around Aitutaki, so we know where the town is, the supermarket,
where you can fill up drinking water (they have free drinking water fill
station here)– it was our own little personal tour. By the way tonight we are
the only guests here. Tomorrow someone else is coming. We had our rental
scooter parked out front (tomorrow you can go and pay for it, it’s just down
the road). We still had the wooden panel on the windows which got removed and
they started to work to remove all the debris which got blown down from the
storm and was on the beach.
Shopping on our scooter
Time to head out and get some milk
– we went into 3 “supermarkets” until we found the one, where they actually
sell Almond milk and cereal for breakfast –we also had our first little tour
around this little island. It is super cute as here you don’t wear a helmet,
and no there is no insurance on the scooters either – I mean what should happen
on such a little island right???
A sunset on the beach
Back we decided tonight we have
take-out supper from next door, we brought it back to our place, eating with
ocean view and sunset behind palm trees. Afterwards we headed down to the beach
to watch the sun go down – see the sky get red and the clouds looking super
cool – what an amazing ending of a day.
And yes it is really hot here, Gine
has the feeling that everything feels humid and moist….. Welcome to the tropics!!
At the most beautiful Lagoon
in the world: Aitutaki - a slice of heaven
- Aitutaki is 16sqkm and 1800 people call this paradise home
- they say it has the world’s most beautiful lagoon and you can’t travel to Aitutaki and not explore the lagoon (which itself has 15 islands in it)
- It is the 2nd most visited island
in the Cook Islands and it is 220 km north of Rarotonga
- It is believed that it got first settled by the Polynesians around 900, they say they are descended from Ru, a famous seafaring warrior who sailed here from Avaiki
- it got discovered in the 12th century by Chief Ru - he was on a voyage with his wives and his brothers and their wives. When a storm struck them, he prayed to the God of the sea, that is when they discovered a bright island ahead. he named it "the-land -of-Ru-glimming-at-sea". He settled in Aitutaki permanently and never left.
- Captain Blight on the HMS bounty was the 1st European to spot it in 1789
- And there are no dogs in Aitutaki: as the story goes a long time ago one of the chiefs had a daughter and she got bitten by a dog and he then had all dogs killed to keep her safe and since then there are no dogs here – another story is that they believed that dogs carry leprosy. As per my internet research dogs are banned from here since the 1900s.
Good morning sunshine
This morning, we woke up because
the roosters were noisy – you don’t really need an alarm clock. A nice coffee
on our balcony and the very best we have blue sky!!! We are excited. And soon
we head out to explore
We cruise around the southern
Island
We are heading south to check out
some of the Island on our super cool scooter- first we had to pay for our
scooter rental and then we are ready – first stop is in Arutanga:
- This is the main town of Aitutaki – and here are a few stores – but not much else
Arutanga CCIC Church: we
stop at this white limestone church and walk around it, check out some of the
old gravestones (I may should mention during driving around we can see fairly
often that there are graves in the yards of houses)
- Ziona Tapu is the oldest church in the Cook Islands built in 1826 and the most prominent building in town
- CICC – Cook Island Christian Church – founded by the LMS – London Mission society
- Rev John Williams arrived in Aitutaki in Oct 1821 - he didn't come on ashore but he had two Tahitian preachers coming here to preach the gospel, Aitutaki was the first island to accept Christianity. Rev John William came back here in 1823 blessed the chapel and preached about John 3, 16 (you can read this verse on a gravestone on Cook Island Maori), he left in search for Rarotonga and couldn't find it and went to Atiu
- Since 1821 Christianity is the dominant religion on the Cook Islands
- Akiukiu anauau! Na Te mamao na te taerere! Pou reva metua kore! Namunamu kiri tangata, i te va'a o te tae'ae - God bless the Cook Islands: God Bless all the people of the Cook Islands
Arutanga Wharf: was our
next stop, Niki came with us here yesterday – today the color of the ocean
looks amazing and we did find the black stone as in the old days, visitors had
to stand on the black stone to be welcomed
- Te Poaki Kiriti Maro Tai: When the visitors arrived with a canoe they got welcomed with the traditional welcome “as stripping of being a visitor”: they were guided to the rock and then stripped of their old coat and given a new coat
- Here is the main passage from the open ocean into the lagoon for boats
Aretaki Lookout: we drove
up there and here they have two picnic tables and you have a wonderful view
down onto the harbour and the church – by the way they had a cool sign with a
lot of explanations on what you see and old customs of Aitutaki.
From here on we headed further
south and then across to the other side of the island and we drove through a
lot of jungle tropical forest with nice narrow roads and I’m sure we came on
our trip today by at least 3 more other churches if not more. I thought it was
super cool when you could see once in a while showing you directions like to
Tauto, Nikaupara – as the island is really not big.
Tautu Wharf: our next stop
– when we drove down the steep and narrow gravel road – but not big deal we
made it and the water was super brownish looking here – we did walk out to the
end to have a nice view, as from here we could see some of the Motu’s
- Tautu – here was at Silo 1 the original village and church from 1888 – so that the people didn’t have to cross the island to go to Arutanga. After an epidemic broke out the villagers thought they got sick from the wetlands and its cold winds and they relocated the village
The Banyan Tree: as we
headed north, we drove “through” a huge Banyan Tree – I don’t think that it is
only one tree – it looks like several trees and Banyan forest – it was like
driving inside a tunnel with all the roots hanging down, we did have to stop,
Gine wanted to explore it a bit more. From here we drove across the island
again and were back in Arutanga.
Some shopping is on order: I mean
we can’t go home without a fridge magnet – and Gine thought it was so cute,
that they had that super cool music playing.
A Break from the Sun
We headed back and made ourselves
a coffee and sit a bit in the sun – because it is so hot and on the scooter we
are also always in the sun. But then it is so nice, so we had to go down to the
beach and look out onto that beautiful water – so amazing!!!! Now we are ready
to head out again.
The Ootu Beach
Niki told us that “Base one” and
Ootu beach are the best beaches for swimming –so we headed north, and then
along the old runway (and old means old – like from WWII) – at the end there
were picnic tables and we walked down to the beach, but as it is nice it was
not the most impressive one and so we headed on towards Ootu Beach: after a
detour we did find it (I mean there are not that many roads here in Aitutaki.
And this beach is amazing – the white sand – then the deeper blue-green area
and a huge sand bank …. We walked and swam over and then Gine went for a long
walk along the sand back – so super cool – you feel like you are in Paradise.
Swimming – relaxing in the sunshine and after two hours we decided a shade
break is in order again and so we headed back again for another coffee.
Piraki Lookout
But as we have a scooter and it is
so beautiful we decided to head up to the Piraki lookout, ok, we didn’t totally
get it on the first try – but we did end up at the two watertanks and we did
enjoy the view down onto the lagoon – really amazing. Now we have a bit of a
downtime – as soon we will head out for our big dinner:
Island Night at Tamanu Beach
First, we were not so sure if we
should spend the money – but then it was super cool. We went there at a bit
after 6 pm and got a front row table – perfect: they have it twice a week the
Takuru Island Feast. Soon after we came, they had the ladies singing local
music – which made us feel right south Pacific like. Once we got really hungry
(as it was already 7 pm) the buffet started with a prayer and we were the 2nd
table to go – perfect: all is local and some things we didn’t know what they
are – some was weird and some was super yummy – only problem was we were
already full by the time the desert buffet came (w only got a little bit with
ice cream and now we are really full!!!).
Time to sit back and relax, they
told us right at the beginning because of the weather they can’t to the fire show
– but we still had a lot of fun watching the guys (or warriors), girls and the
little kids in the costumes dancing to the songs and the beat of the drum. We
had a lot of fun and enjoyed it a lot.
I may should mention as we drove
there with our scooter it started to rain – so Paul put up the speed and we
arrived in the dry – it did rain, once we were in the restaurant – but we came
home nice and dry again.
2025-05-23