Cook Islands

During our time in the Cook Islands, that has been a common theme, the kindness of strangers. It appears that everywhere we go, people are always willing to give a helping hand on the islands.

A couple of our goals on this trip was to volunteer in the Cook Islands and to intermittently meet up with different Brothers from the Congregation of Christian Brothers. We weren't too successful on the first one, but we were able to meet the three Brothers living in Rarotonga, Brother John, Vincent, and Ben. We shared dinner with them twice while on the island, and Brother Ben, mid-80's shared some funny stories from when he was studying to become a Brother, back in the late 1930's. This guy has seen quite a bit. It was great to meet up with them.

I mentioned this previously, but the Cook Islanders are very welcoming and generous. A few times around the islands, we were approached by locals asking if we needed any help or wanted a ride somewhere. So if you see a Cook Islander, pat them on the back and thank them on behalf of me for their kindness.

Our last week in the Cook Islands was characterized with quite a bit of lounging by the beach, reading, lying by the pool, and reading a little bit more. The life of a traveler is TOUGH!

There is one activity we did do, a cross island hike. This was a hike that crossed the island from the north to the south, and we had been looking for a chance to do it. We were lucky enough to catch three straight days of sun, which was the first time so far. We quickly jumped out of bed, laced up our running shoes, and headed downtown to begin our "epic" hike. This hike turned out to be one of the most unique and challenging hikes that we had ever attempted. We were following what we thought was the trail to the trailhead until the path was no longer visible. We walked down a couple hundred yards to the road, and three locals said that we were going the correct direction. So we went back to where we stopped, and poked our head into the brush, and there the hike continued. From there on, our hike was under a canopy of trees. Our ascent was full of walking on top of tree roots, grabbing on to tree branches, until we finally we reached the top. From there, we had a panoramic view of the northern and southern beaches and the famous "Needle." The Needle is a large rock sticking out at the top of the mountain. The hike down was twice as tough as the ascent. This way down, the side receives less sun and less hikers, and as a result was muddy, steep, and sleek. Nadine caught herself several times from falling by grabbing a tree branch. It was a challenge. Nadine and I don't have any great desire to do it again, but we felt proud to have climbed it.

Our time in the Cook Islands has ended. We are now in Auckland, New Zealand after heavy fog diverted us to the capital of Wellington before eventually landing in Auckland 6 hours late. Yes, the rain has followed us here. New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere and rather than being the heat of a Texas summer, it is winter and cold. We have four weeks to explore the two islands and we are excited to see what the land of Kiwis has to offer.

JW

Hold a true friend with both your hands.
-Nigerian Proverb

Our first two weeks here in the Cook Islands have been great. A week ago, we took a short early morning flight from the main island of Rarotonga north to the small island of Aitutaki. We thought that the lagoon surrounding Rarotonga was nice, the one surrounding Aitutaki was superb.

The highlight for both of us on this trip so far, even though we just started was the lagoon cruise that we took midweek. We woke up quite early to make reservations for a cruise to Honeymoon Island and the motu Maina. Nadine and I were accompanied by our two English friends, Sarah and Jason. I am able to communicate in Spanish and French, but this English English takes a little getting used to. We got a ride up to the wharf where our barge was set to depart. Upon our sea-going vessel, we had tables with chairs all around it so we could eat, drink, be merry, and watch the blue water as we sailed on by. Along the way, we stopped to snorkle in 20 foot deep water as we sailed over puffer fish and clams the size of a scooter. These were the biggest clams I have ever seen. I am now identical to Jeremy Pepper in that when I went to pick the clam's nose, it shut, chopped my finger off, and I now only have 9 fingers. It makes it easier to swim in circles now. Mom, I was just joking about that.

We followed our snorkeling with a huge lunch of fruit and yellow fin tuna. This tuna rivals all of the salmon I have had in my life, good eating! We then visited Honeymoon Island which houses the rare red beak bird. I killed one to take home with me and show everyone back in the States. Another joke mom. We finished off our motu visiting with Maina. Here we were able to learn how to effectively open a coconut, get our passport stamped again, and do a bit more snorkeling along with some of the bread that I took from lunch. It was great just watching fish fly by.

On our way back to the wharf, Nadine, Jason, Sarah, and I were part of a sarong wearing demonstration. I think that this was because we were the youngest folks on the boat. The rest were folks coming from the main island for the day, thus they were all blue hairs. The entire day proved to be the highlight of our trip so far.

The people of Aitutaki have to be some of the warmest, most welcoming people we have met so far. They are Polenesian Texans. Anytime that we were walking around the island, several people would stop and offer to give us a ride. One evening, I stopped, chatted with a local guy whose name I couldn't understand. He chopped down a few coconuts, pulled a few bananas, showed me his land crabs (ladies beware!), and I played soccer between four coconut trees with him and his two kids and a young girl from next door. I helped him bring his boat ashore. This type of experience reaffirms your faith in humankind and the joy and blessing of being able to travel. Everyone should try it!

After we booked our flight for our around the world trip, we learned that Survivor was going to be filming at the exact same time that we were going to be there. The entire island of Aitutaki seems to be geared for the show. There are several parts of the island that we can't actually get to because of filming. One day, Nadine and I went over to a part of the lagoon which houses a luxury resort. As we were standing there, I looked over and there was Jeff Probst, the host of Survivor. I went over immediately and told him he needs to replace one of the current Survivor contestants with me. Actually, Nadine and I talked with him for a good 5 minutes. He seems to be a pretty good guy from the Midwest. It was nice to meet him and talk with him for a bit. I told him that I would run into again in about a year and a half when I'm on the show.

One of the more amusing things to happen to us so far is renting a scooter to explore the island. The fun part is that neither Nadine nor I have actually driven a scooter and everyone here drives on the left side of the road. That provided for two challenging obstacles. Fortunately we started with an automatic little gray crotch rocket. Initially I had an ackward time getting used to driving it as Nadine continually laughed and yelled at me to drive on the left side of the road, not the right as we're accustomed to. No animals, humans, or plants were injured during this expedition. Actually, a few Cook Islanders were laughing pretty hard when they saw me have a hell of a time trying to turn the scooter but really just driving onto peoples' yards. We are not quite sure the condition of their spleen at this time.

We are currently have another week here in Rarotonga and the Cook Islands before we continue on to New Zealand on July 17th where they have been having quite a bit of snow.

We are having a great time and wish everyone continued health. [/i]Akeeta! [i]

We hope to add many of our great photos in the next week.

Peace from the Cook Islands!

John and Nadine

You learn alot while traveling, butt nuggets of information.
- Sarah (our British traveling partner in the Cooks)

Hello yall! Nadine and I finally arrived to Rarotonga and the Cook Islands last Monday and we are happy to be in a rainy paradise. Quite a bit has happened since we arrived to the tiny island, so we will let you know what has been happening.

First of all, if you are not familiar with our locale, here is the 411. The Cook Islands are located in the South Pacific west of Tahiti, east of Fiji, and very far due south of Hawaii. It's a tropical climate. There are two groups of islands, the northern group, hardly inhabited, and the southern group which contains Rarotonga and Aitutaki, the two islands we are visiting. We picked these set of islands over Fiji and Tahiti due to A) the fact that we wouldn't expect there to be many visitors, which there aren't, B) a little cheaper, which it isn't, compared to American prices, and C) it would be beautiful, no doubt about that.

June 22nd we flew to L.A. to meet up with some old college friends before going to our first international destination. Upon arriving to L.A. our goal was simple, relax. Previously we had been packing, moving, and making sure our apartment was empty before our first flight. Chrissie was Nadine's roommate at TU and we stayed with her and her roommate Vola. It was great riding down to Venice Beach where I could lift weights and constantly ask where the gym was in front of a big crowd. I also met up with Van Schaick, one of my college roommates. He is a big lawyer in Hollywood now, so if you ever watch COPS, he is responsible for making sure the show is not breaking the law themselves. Quite ironic! It was a great time of laying around, watching World Cup soocer, and repacking our bags.

Our flight from L.A. to Rarotonga left at 11:45 in the evening. The entire way, Nadine had the middle row to herself where she remarkably slept a solid 5 hours on the plane before our arrival into our layover spot of Papeete, Tahiti. Myself, I had two seats to myself where I curled up like a baby and slept like an old man. The actual arrival into Rarotonga was pretty nice. Instead of just landing onto the single runway, we flew by the island at a low altitude to land from the opposite direction because of the wind blowing off of the Pacific. The view of the entire island was amazing.

The first four days of our time on the island consisted of reading, writing, staring out the window praying for the rain to stop. Yes, our first days in paradise were restricted because of the rain.

After several days of non-stop rain, Nadine was content staying in the hostel reading her book, myself, I had to get out of the hostel, so I jumped on the bus and headed to Muri Beach to just see another part of the island. When I got there, I found a nice little place to rent a kayak and the rain let up and the sun had actually peeked its head out along with Sabrina, our German friend from our hostel, so we rented two kayaks. As soon as we put it in the water, the clouds clouded over, wind picked up, and the rain began to fall again. Since I paid for the kayak, I was determined to use it. Kayaking in the rain across the blue lagoon was refreshing in the choppy Pacific Ocean water. After we landed and searched the first motu, Sabrina decided to head back to the beach, because she was cold. I on the other hand figured I might as well visit the other motu born of volcanic rock. As I paddled over, the waves and wind were blowing me and my kayak around like Matthew Pepper in high school, so at that moment I decided it might be wise to go back to shore. I did live to see another day.

Once the rain really stopped on Friday, Nadine and I traveled back over to Muri Beach to try our hand at kayaking. From the beach, we manuevered our bright, plastic kayaks around motus, the name for the little islands, as waves crashed in the far distance against the reef that surrounds the island. When it came time to return our kayaks, we paddled against a powerful headwind. As a result of our kayaking, the next morning, Nadine had some sore shoulders and back.

Saturday started off as a sunny day and we had high hopes. Snorkeling was our goal. We rented some snorkeling gear and walked south down the island road. We found a secluded spot on the beach and dropped our stuff there. As we headed out towards the reef, the water wasn't that deep, so we had to avoid running into it. After a few trips around the reef among parrot fish, several of the fish that you saw in "Finding Nemo," we decided to try another spot further down the beach noted for great snorkeling. This next spot was the perfect spot for snorkeling. In front of the Rarotongan Resort, there was deep water with 10 times as many fish as the previous spot. The entire sensation felt like we were swimming among all types of fish one would find in an aquarium. It was awesome!

Sunday, July 2nd, a very important day in American history, my 29th birthday, we attended mass at a church close to our hostel. In the Cook Islands, people are known for two things, their dansing and their singing. The singing at mass was lively, unique, and in Maori. After mass, we were invited to join in the monthly tea. Basically, everyone brought some type of food to go along with either tea, coffee, and juice after mass. It was a good time as we talked with folks from the island.

To celebrate my birthday, we went to eat at an Indian restaurant for a buffet the night before as well as a day of renting bikes and circling the 20 mile road circling around the island. It was a great way to see the island.

So there has been a few interesting things that have happened here, just some quick notes. At the Indian restaurant, I walked into the restroom, and instead of seeing a trash can for your paper towels, there was a very large crab eating the paper in its place. I jumped back when I saw it. You would hate to have him bite your butt while you were going to the loo.

Another item of interest, we have learned that you have to wash your clothes everyday or two, not three or four, because, as is the case with our clothes, they begin to stink quite a bit in the humid weather.

We actually went to an "Island Night." Different Cook Islanders perform their native danse. It was great to see the folks in their native attire. At the end when it came time for people in the crowd to danse with the dansers, Nadine hurriedly hid behind me. Unfortunately, they didn't pick her.

It has been fun here on Rarotonga. We are now heading to Aitutaki where they are currently filming Survivor. I am going to sneek onto the island. Hope all is well.

Peace from the Cooks - John and Nadine