Actually useful info on Raratonga

There isn't a phenomenal amount of information on internets about the Cook Islands.  Having spent some qt there, I thought I'd do a solid for internet world and provide some of the deets we would have found useful.

Where to stay: the beaches in Titikaveka are the nicest we saw. We got married at the Royale Takitumu and were there for 7 nights – we loved it and had the place virtually to ourselves. I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again, or to rent a bungalow near by.

Muri beach is over developed and the beach is severely eroded. The lagoon that it faces is beautiful to look at, but there is barely enough beach for a lounge chair and the hotels are smashed together. The benefit is lots of bars and restaurants within walking distance, but I wouldn't stay here.  Unless its the highest of tide, swimming is in knee or waist high water.

We stayed in Aroa for the 2nd half of our time and were super happy. Its a nice beach for swimming and snorkeling and there is a lot more retail-wise than in Titikaveka. We were walking distance from a DVD rental, bike and scooter rental, mini-golf course, and a couple of restaurants.

Since both the accommodations we stayed in were self-contained, we mainly cooked for ourselves. By which I mean that Ed mainly cooked for us and I drank rum. But we did hit most of the restaurants that were recommended or we were curious about.  Here's a wrap up.

Paw Paw Patch – don't go on Sunday night for the bbq buffet. Its lamezone tourist time where honeymooners, anniversaries, etc. are “wooooo'd” and slow jams are played by an island trio. But, the a la carte menu served other nights is amazeballs.

Rarotonga Fried Chicken – the ladies aren't very friendly, but if once served from a fresh batch of chicken, we didn't mind. Like everyone in Oceania, they are afraid of salt but this can be rectified.

Waterline – beautiful setting for cocktails, skip dinner.

Razi's Indian – good! And one of the best values on the island.

Tamarind House – everyone loves it, and for good reason. Set in a former NZ official's tropical home, it overlooks a gorgeous beach and the food is outrageously good. We went for lunch, which is a bit less spendy than dinner, and thoroughly enjoyed.

Vaima – we had our wedding dinner at Viama. Some dishes were outstanding, some were just ok. One of the only restaurants with tables in the sand just feet from the ocean. They also have an awesome DVD rental that opens sporadically but has a great selection.

Wigmore's – so much more than just a gas station, fantastic fish and chips. We ate them twice and didn't feel nearly as bad about ourselves as we should have.

Saltwater Cafe – a lot of locals love this place – the food is so slutty and so delicious. Probably our overall favorite meal.

 Thems the huevos.

Trader Jacks - to see how the locals pickle themselves, belly on up to Trader Jacks during daylight hours.  Some of the food is outstanding, other dishes are a hot mess.  The action is at the bar, which we stayed away from. 

The most complete info I found on the Cooks was here.  GO!

cookislandsatoz.com

Cook Islands Wrap Up

We didn't know that much about the Cook Islands when we decided to spend nearly a month there. We knew there were beaches, the google images were solid, and it was cheaper than Fiji. Choosing a spot for our wedding wasn't easy. I worked with a “wedding coordinator” (I'm using quotation marks properly) who really was just a shmo from Small Guide Travel who got kick backs for pointing people to resorts that her website had deals with. Having seen the place Mandi with an “I” recommended to us, I'm glad that we got wise to the jig with her and did it ourselves.

Rarotonga is the largest of the Cook Islands – it takes nearly an hour to circumnavigate its single road. The island is volcanic which means fantastic produce, a giant bump in the center than can be hiked over, and v. strange weather systems. We had nearly a week of full sun before the rains began. Some days in our bungalow I thought trees would be uprooted; some days they were.

Unlike other vacation destinations, Rarotonga isn't super built up. Most people that go are from NZ, and rent bungalows rather than staying in hotels. The biggest resort is tiny compared to a major chain hotel. The beaches are public and quiet: no one is selling sarongs, or hair braiding, banana boat rides, or herbs packaged as weed. There is just ocean, beach, jungle and the road to putt around on a scooter.

For climbing.

Which isn't to say we were bored. I snorkeled almost every day we were there. The island is surrounded by coral. On the downside, this means there are only some areas where the ocean floor is soft and sandy for wading. On the upside, one can snorkel from the shore anywhere on the island and see tropical fish that are beyond amazing.

Being on Rarotonga made me wonder why we ever lived in a city.  Waking up in the morning to the sound of the ocean, wandering to the beach to snorkel for an hour or two at a time, scootering to the local gas station/video rental/grocery store/fish and chippery in the afternoon, it makes one think about chucking it all. We came up with a fairly detailed business idea that is still being batted around.

Meeting so many formerly-corporate New Zealanders who've sold off and opened small businesses on the island makes one think. The men are thin from tennis playing and are so tan that the creases around their eyes are bright white when they aren't smiling, which happens rarely. They work outside on their property, or pour gin for their seasonal friends, or teach tourists how to sail. They're professionally relaxed.

Ed asked my when we were in Koh Lanta how long I thought I could stay at the beach and not get bored. I thought a month would do it. I was wrong. Apparently my tolerance for the slow paced life is virtually inexhaustible.

For looking.

Ed got new glasses in KL...

And now we ask ourselves, what would Stanley Tucci do?

 

 

Extremestown

I didn't have a chance to wrap up NZ properly while we were in the Cooks.  I was super busy with snorkeling, scootering, and trying out various sarong tying methods.  But I'd be remiss if I didn't include a little ditty on Queenstown, which is one of the most picturesque cities we've visited on this trip.

Queenstown is made for tourists.  Extreme tourists.  I imagine the expression "been there, done that, bought the tee-shirt" originated there.  There are almost endless ways to get one's adrenaline fix in Q-town, including but not limited to: bungy jumping (both the world's oldest and, separately, the world's highest), paragliding, parasailing, jet boating, downhill mountain biking, glacier climbing, heli-hiking, heli-skiing, heli-rafting, heli-biking, white water rafting, black water kayaking, canyong swinging, zip lining, skydiving, hot air ballooning, ATVing or snowmobiling.  The list continues, but it would seem that if one can jump off it, be launched over it, or ride on it in a dangerous way, someone in Queenstown has created the experience.

by choice.

Ed and I aren't the extreeemmmmeeee sorts and neither of us counts adrenaline among our vices.  But Queenstown is rad, even for those who don't want to be video taped screaming at 9.8.  We spent our week wandering the small town, drinking local wine, and hiking in the surrounding mountains.  I rented a bike for an afternoon and followed the lake trails to a nearby town.  We rode the luge and ate delicious cheese and soaked up the amazeballs autumn weather.

mountains for walking

cheese for lunch

I don't have a conclusive wrap up here.  What I do have is a petit hangover and another picture of Toby.  Fin.

travelin reading list, part VII

Being on the farm with no booze, transport or entertainment and subsequently on the beach with lots of daylight and no plans, I've read a LOT of books lately.  I've sort of enjoyed scavenging books at the places we've stayed.  At home I would have been more selective since I didn't have hours a day to read.  Now I'll pick up just about anything and almost always finish it, no matter how awful.

Oh, hott travel tip #54.  Always carry a paperback so you have something to trade on the book swap shelves in hotels and coffee shops.  We were able to save a small fortune in guidebooks this way and sometimes I even ended up reading something really super great as a result.

Survival of the Fittest by Jonathan Kellerman
I found this book in the cottage at the farm and selected because it was not covered in rat dung and did not appear to have been peed upon.  I've never been much of a crime reader, but now I'm learning about authors who have one protagonist that appears in a series of books.  In this one, that's Alex Delaware and he's as predictably handsome and wise cracking as all the crime stars.  I enjoyed this fluffy number; the killers are picking off the genetically inferior and a greedy WASPy family is involved.  Senators! Nazism! Disabilities (this was written when the word retard was still used by doctors)! I also find it entertaining to read books from the '80s, when the detective and his sidekick have to create a suspect list from several "print outs" from the "databases."  There are pencils to be sharpened and libraries to be visited while researching the crimes.  Old school solvation!

The Company She Keeps by Georgia Durante
The memoirs of a former model and mob wife turned stunt car driver and is fascinating if poorly written.  The story is long and winding; its obvious that the author isn't a writer by trade and her editor should be flogged.  The intrigue comes in having a peek into the psyche of an abused woman and a glimpse into the inner workings of the mafia.  The frustration at the authors' relentlessly poor choices in men and continued neglect of her kids is just grating.  If I hadn't been sitting on a beach for a month, I never would 't have finished it.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Awesome recommendation from Burgie.  A SUPER charming and beautifully written book, its a series of letters between witty, hip characters at the end of the second world war.  The history lesson is revelatory, but what makes it a non-stop read is the cast of sweet and quirky characters that the main narrator, writer Juliet, meets during her time in Guernsey.  Definitely in my top 5 for the year.

Sahara by Clive Cussler
This one was on the shelf of our bungalow in Raratonga.  The protagonist here is Dirk Pitt- also ruggedly handsome and handsomely rugged.  And wise cracking.  And tough and heroic.  I sort of loved this ridiculous but smart novel which incorporated the civil war, gold mining in Africa, the decades old story of a female Australian pilot, naughty big corporate conspiracy, toxic waste, cannibalism, slavery, and shipwrecks.  Getting into the crime genre, its hard not to notice how many salacious elements the authors manage to toss into the plot.  What Clive, no Khmer Rouge?  And what about theFreemasons? Perhaps in the next Dirk Pitt joint.

Bloodline by Tess Gerritsen
Also a paperback in the bungalow.  Also a crime novel.  More toxic waste, school shootings, witchcraft, big pharma, but in a small town setting.  It was sort of like that show "Everwood," but with 'roid rage.  Strange, but ultimately a fun read.

Wedding Video by Molly-san

My bff created this gorgeous vid for our nups.  I just got to stream it properly and hear the music this morning.  Watch and mist.

A Molly Simms' joint, y'all:

http://vimeo.com/23079403

Low, Lower, Highest!

Low: I might have cried on the way to the airport on Rarotonga. I'm not a prolific crier generally but leaving the paradise that had started to feel like home totally bummed me out. I'm pretty sure I lost half my tan on the plane to Auckland, where we slept for 5 hours at an airport motel until the next leg of our flight to Melbourne.

Lower: After spending several hours in the Melbourne airport we were tired and dirty and ready to check in to our shitacular airport motel for the rest of that layover. Our room was tiny but fine and I was planning to catch up on some blogging and Skyping. Then I opened my bag and realized my notebook was gone.  In my 5 am fog, I'd left it on the flight from Auckland to Melbourne. This isn't just any notebook. Its a calendar that I bought at Tokyu Hands and the cover reads “A Moderate Request.” In it, I've recorded what we've done every day of our trip since October 1^st when I bought it.  I made all of our lists, recorded our research, and jotted down all the hilarity in my head in its “notes” pages.  One of my favorite things to do at night when I filled in the day's activities was to say to Ed “Do you know what we did on this day in January?” And then fill him in on the details. Some nights I would read the entries from the same day of each month from the whole trip and we'd relive those countries and highlights. And it was in the seat back pocket of seat 60A.

I speed walked to the airport around 4:30 pm and talked to three ladies at three counters who didn't have it. They were all lovely and sympathetic but couldn't help. I returned to the motel and for the second time in as many days, got misty.

We slept poorly again and were up early for the last leg of our flight to KL. I'm sure this sounds highly convoluted (and is) but for monetary reasons these flights actually made some sense.  After checking in we were warned by the AirAsia folks to go directly to security because lines were crazy long. We didn't want to miss the flight but I wanted to check for my book one more time before we left Oz.  Ed heroically agreed and we split up to hit Quantas' baggage services, the Found property room, and the information desk. When I saw Ed & a Quantas employee walking toward Found property,  I intercepted them to say I'd already checked and not to waste their time.

Ed said “Oh, but this lady saw it in the system and its here.” And so it was. Filed happily away in a different part of the room. This goddess among women with her beehive hair and certain pack a day habit strolled out of the office with my memory filled Moderate Request held up for me to see.  I almost kissed her and very nearly cried again. I really need to get some sleep.

The book is sitting next to me on the plane as I type, and we're going to photocopy its pages when we get to KL, so we don't have to worry if its misplaced again. Tonight we'll going to play the longest game of “this day in our trip” in history. Thanks to Quantas lady, Air New Zealand, and the kind soul who turned it in rather than chucking in the garbage.  I care more about this calendar than anything else in my baggage.  Including my wedding dress.  Best.