Week 17 – Paradise at a price

A great flight over to Rarotonga as we all got bumped up to Premium!!! First impression of the Cook Islands was that the islanders had no idea what they were doing as one customs person said go this way and then the next said go the other way. This happened a couple of times and we had to wait ages for the luggage, but we eventually got out to be greeted with a pick-up sign and flower garlands for everyone. Short lived as there was a mix-up with some other people and they had to share the ride with us with kids and luggage on laps. On the way to the house we also discovered that nothing was open on Sunday and the Monday was Queen’s Birthday public holiday. We found a small store open and got the essentials, but had to pay through the nose for them. $5 for Bread, $5 for Milk, $10 for a block of cheese. You get the idea.

Turns out though that this is pretty much the price you have to pay every where on the island. Basically everything has to be flown in, so the prices are crazy. Given that the wage is about $6 an hour, you can see why it is only the resort owners making it rich.

The house we had booked in Matavera was about 7k’s out from the main beach of Muri. The house is absolutely great. Just what we where looking for. Right on the beach (although there is no sand here), palm frond roof, and a great big deck looking out across the pacific. The only problem is there is nothing to do!!! A bus goes every hour, but after a quick look around the island on the Tuesday, we decided to spend the time playing around home on the huge lawn. Both the kids love playing soccer and having water fights. Tina is also becoming expert at cooking up a storm with minimal ingredients. The breads and cakes have been great.

The only down side other than having no real beach in front of the house, was that we were meant to have internet and DVD and SatTV etc at the house, but this somehow didn’t work out and we have been stuck “off-line”; which is no good considering we still haven’t booked or researched any of our onward journey after the Cook’s.

At least we got a good discount and they got a pre-pay wifi service up and running for us after 4 or days, but we did have had to learn to live without the modern conveniences for a while.

We also figured out the best way to get around is to hitch a ride with one of the locals going past in a flatbed truck or ute. The kids love riding on the back of a car, and there is certainly no way they could ever get away with this back home. After almost the whole of the first week we finally settled into Island time and are spending the days down at the lagoon and messing around with the kids. Jamie has (finally) gotten off the dummys and only has a nappy at night now.

Each Saturday there is a big market in town, which was great to look around. They have music and dancing going on in the middle of it and there is a great vibe to the place that is missing through the week.