Well our plan to go snorkelling in the morning fell through due to high winds whipping up the water, so we jumped (gently) on the scooter and set off to explore the island. I said a couple of days ago that there was only one road running around the island, in fact in places there are 2. The second road was the islands original main road and was constructed of crushed coral some time around 1100AD. Thankfully the road is now paved so we took it. This road has a lot more islander homes, rather than tourist accommodation on it. Many of these houses were also home to small businesses; it seems many people would prefer to run their business out of their homes rather than a store. Again, with very few exceptions, all the houses and properties were well kept, many had goats in the gardens, as well as the occasional cow or pig; and chickens were everywhere.
Back Road
After lunch, the wind had died down a bit, so we headed back to the Fruits of Rarotonga for some more snorkeling Again the water wasn’t crystal cleat due to the sand being stirred up at times, but we were still able to a number fish. There was a very strong current today, so we had to be careful not to be pushed onto the coral while swimming.
Once we got back and cleaned up we headed out to an “Island Evening”. There are many places that run these events that feature local food and dancing. We signed up for one that had a cultural tour beforehand. The tour took us through a typical native settlement, with stops in various huts explaining the history of the Cook Islanders and showcasing a number of areas such as boats, fishing, medicine, the history of the Islands and when they were populated and the use of coconuts. The coconut is used for just about everything from food and drink, to string and rope making, plate and basket making, torches for night fishing and clothing. We were also shown the six stages of coconut development and what uses were made of each stage. There were also demonstrations of how to husk a coconut split a coconut and scrape out the meat. All the narrators had a great sense of humour and put over their subjects very well. The tour was well worth it.
Drummers at Island Night
After the tour we headed over to the restaurant which was located around a small man made lagoon. The food was a little disappointing as we were expecting a lot more local dishes rather than the more “touristy” food that was served. We mentioned this later, and we were told that originally the local dishes were served but a lot of people would not eat them so there was a lot of waste. However the disappointment of the food was made up by the quality of the show. How the girls moved their hips the way they did still remains a mystery. All in all an excellent night.