The journey started on Wednesday, 3 August 2005 , at 12.45 pm . My sister (Wendy) and myself left Wanganui for the big smoke of Auckland . We arrived about 1.45 pm and took the courtesy bus to the International Airport . We did not have to collect our baggage, as it was checked straight through to the Rarotongan flight. We then went and paid our departure tax of $ 25 . Then through the customs check, and what happens the customs officer asks me if I had something in my wallet. Oops, I forgot that I had a bottle opener/pocket knife in there. So duly apologised and lost the dangerous weapon.
Had a look around duty free, and met up with rest of travelling companions, 2 sisters (Trisha, Andy), brother-in-law (Brent) and the one and only mother (Julie also a member of St Johns). We were told that mother went through customs and set the bells and whistles going, which also, by the way happened when coming back from Rarotonga .
We departed for Rarotonga 3 August at 4.10 pm , arrived Rarotonga 2 August at about 10 pm , a flight of about 3 hours 50 minutes. For those who do not know, we had to cross the International Date Line to get to Rarotonga , so it is about 22 hours behind us, thus we gained a day.
We hopped onto the courtesy bus to our destination of the Rarotongan Beach Resort and Spa, of which took about ½ hour to get to. On arrival we met with the wedding couple to be, my niece (Julie, named after granny) bride to be, and Shay the groom. The wedding was to take place on the Friday afternoon. We went to their accommodation, which was the honeymoon suite, and met with others in the wedding party. Got to sleep about 3 am (just talking of course) or maybe a little drinking.
Might as well say about the temperature while we were there. We had a couple of days with showers, the wedding day (Friday) was cloudy), the last 2 days was beautiful sunshine. The temperature was still warm (around mid 20 s) day and night whatever the weather. So warm that I was only wearing shorts and t-shirt, or colourful shirts, and sandals the whole time. But of course wore respectable attire for the wedding, even though I looked overdressed. Flashing those lily whites, and blinding everyone with the glare. Don't think I could handle the temperature in the middle of summer.
Got up sometime Wednesday morning and checked out the TV channels. There were 12 movie channels, but the funny part is that they looked like they were played through a DVD and the same movie was repeated for 24 hours. So if you missed something, or only saw part of a movie you could catch up with it later in the day. There was also the CNN channel, Cartoon Network, one I think was a French speaking channel and a couple of others.
Wednesday afternoon we all went into town. We traveled by bus, which took about ½ hour from our accommodation. There were 2 buses you could catch, the clockwise and the anti-clockwise, which ran hourly (one on the hour the other on the ½ hour). Not very big, but good to have a nose around. Saw that the Rarotongans have a $ 3 note, so brought one thinking it was a novelty. Went to a café and received another $ 3 in my change. There are two different types of $ 3 notes, one a pink and the other a green/blue. Also there $ 2 coin was shaped like a triangle, as I found out buying a beer later that day, but spent the coin instead of saving for a souvenir. Otherwise the currency we were using was NZ.
While travelling in the bus, we noticed that there were heaps of people on scooters, and not wearing helmets. The speed limit around town was 30 kph and on the open road I think about 50 kph. The roads were in dire need of repair, with pot-holes etc all over the place. I said to the family that it might be a good idea if I got my license to ride a scooter around the island, but for some reason they thought I might be too dangerous, or it could be hazardous to my health. One day we saw about 4 people on scooters going for their license, and the only one with a helmet was the police officer at the back. All one had to do was produce their NZ license and pay about $ 10 and they got their Rarotongan license.
That night we sent to an Island Night, which was fantastic. I think maybe my eye-sight improved a little for a short time. The entertainment was great, and the umu was delicious, and it all only cost $ 49 . Well worth the money.
