Back in Time

Cook Islands - Rarotonga

I left Auckland on Thursday, and was soon passing the international date line - so I was instantly transported back in time 24hours to Wednesday - damn I wish I'd taken notice of the sports results to make some extra cash betting!

So the jet touched down on Raro - the capital island of the Cook Islands - there's a whole bunch of islands which are all quite far apart - like 40mins flying time each. Raro has about 8,000 inhabitants I believe so it was never gonna be too busy or stressful here. I came here in the twilight of my world tour hoping to find paradise one last time. I'd heard of the islands surrounded by lagoon, coral reefs and pretty fishes, I'd even seen the sunset pics of the beaches. What I got first though was a completely out of the blue culture shock.

I walked into the terminal building at the airport and a little guy on a stage was plucking away and singing his heart out on the Eukalele. Cute I thought. I left with my baggage and saw many passengers getting the floral reef around the neck treatment - though since I was going budget - there would be no such festivities for poor old Luke!

I hopped in a taxi with a woman from my hostel who chatted to me the whole way there - with an accent not too dissimilar to Jar Jar Binks! It was dark so I couldn't gauge what the climate would be like but it felt nice and warm so that was a good start.

The morning came, and pretty soon, I realised I wasn't in my comfort zone, Cook Islands time is about as reliable as a raft made of biscuit. The money was funny, and there weren't very many people around. Especially in my creepily empty hostel. Thankfully after a day walking many miles just for something to do once the sun had gone in, I met Al, a dive master staying at my hostel.

The following days I took a bike out about town to see a little more and pick up my flight vouchers for my upcoming excursion to another of the Cook Islands.

Friday night rolled around so Al and I hit the town - quite a unique experience really since the clubs and bars actually havea good mix of locals and tourists - unlike anywhere I'd been previously to my recollection - it's usually all of one or the other. We soon got chatting to some local and had a great night partying to all of 1993's greatest hits.

As luck would have it, my final day saw a group of lads land in my hostel. Luckily they would still be there when I returned 4 days later...