19 April
This post has had rather a tardy journey as we have been waiting for our 'Swimming with the Turtles’ photos to arrive and they were delayed.
Rather than the usual day-to-day ramblings that appear in my travel blogs, and as the laughter, sunrises, food, and swimming merge into one big holiday experience this missive will be a bit random as the thoughts slip back into my head.
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| Evening game of pass the pigs. |
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| Sunrise |
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| View from our backyard |
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| Girls on tour |
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| Our hang out spot. Muri beach. |
After lunch, on our last day on Aitutaki, the weather had turned grey. In fact, on our short trip to the airport, it was pelting down. I was seriously worried that we wouldn’t be able to fly and our connection with our kids would be delayed.
It was such a relief to land once again in Rarotonga at 8:30 pm to light drizzling rain. Alighting from the plane the airport was in darkness and there were no directions as to where we should be walking. Fortunately, some local people were ahead of us and we followed them into the arrivals area, a roof with poles, to meet our boys who were there to pick us up. They and their partners had arrived earlier in the day and had set things up at the house.
The House - Muri Beach Villas
The Kokocabana was a great choice made by Lance. It had a tropical vibe but was very homey with large vases of ginger and heliconia flowers.
Our room opened up onto the large verandah facing the ocean. And that ocean was almost our backyard! Not having aircon was no problem as we left the wooden louvers open and the ceiling fan on. The sea breeze filtered through the flywire keeping us cool. The waves breaking over the coral reef created enough ‘white noise’ to lull us off to sleep. Not to mention the satisfaction of sun and sea to bring on restful sleep.
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| Path from our yard. |
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| Kokokabana |
Our days were spent snorkeling or just watching from above water to watch the tiny fish nipping in and out of the coral. It was also very easy to just sit together up to our chest chatting and laughing. And laugh we did when a wee fish had a little peck on one of Lance’s nipples. That will go down as one of the funniest holiday moments. You should have seen him jump!
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| Lazy days |
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| Evening games |
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| Sunrise |
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| The ma in law brought them bubbles! |
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| Just the girls |
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| Dillon & Lou sunrise coffee. |
We cooked our breakfast most mornings as we had brought bacon and sausages with us from NZ.
Two of our breakfasts out were had at the Beluga Cafe and what a great feed, in fact, the choice was so great that I ordered pancakes with bacon and bananas and banana pudding! The bananas here are so good. Every time I have been to the tropics I struggle to eat our tasteless bananas at home.
We have a small seven-seater vehicle and Dillon is the driver, which is handy as he doesn’t drink. Well he does drink otherwise he would be a raisin, but he doesn’t drink alcohol.
On our first morning, after a magnificent breaky at home, we hit the market. This market is only open on Saturday mornings and has fruit, veges, and touristy things to buy. If you are here on a Saturday you need to visit this market. Unfortunately, it was pouring, and I mean pouring, but nobody melted and we were all a bit wet, but not cold.
Later in the day the sun came out and has been here ever since.
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| Fun at the market. |
Another market not to miss is the Night Market. This market is a food caravan market and the food is varied and great. Our table managed to gather ika mata (raw fish in coconut cream), garlic prawns in a creamy sauce, chicken and beef noodles, pork belly slow-cooked in oyster sauce, a plate with a prawn skewer, lamb chop a fried egg, a sausage, rice cooked in coconut cream and a small salad to avoid the oncoming heart attack.
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| Night market feed |
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| Heart attack on a plate. |
Followed by a variety of crepes and churros stuffed and coated with all sorts of sweet delights. We got there at 5pm as they opened and this is recommended as when we left it was pretty full and queues were beginning snake out from the most popular stands.
On a wee adventure around the island for a little bar hop, we stopped in town for an obligatory drink at Trader Jacks on the waterfront.
Trader Jacks
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| Lou’ana and Sammy drinking nu |
Lou'ana and Samara loved the refreshing Nu, and had one whenever they could.
It’s not a particularly beautiful spot, especially when everywhere else on the island is lovely. A couple of drinks were had before we continued our sojourn to Vaiana’s, a rustic bar and restaurant on the beach. Those who had chosen to wear sneakers missed out on the sand between their toes as they sipped. Three large dogs were sitting in the water up to their shoulders and it looked like they were old men passing the time of day. As they sat they were watching the small fish darting around; it was quite comical to watch.
Vaiana's Bar
Our last stop was for dinner at Vaima, we had booked a table outside and once again our toes were in the sand, even though it was quite an upmarket place. The food and service were outstanding, the wine list said that they had Roaring Meg pinot noir a favourite of mine, and I tried not to get too excited, which was lucky because they didn’t have any. But resilient as I am we found something else that we had never heard of and Lou’ana, Samara and I were happy. I do recommend you try this place if you are here, you will need to book. Dinner at Vaima
It has been lovely being here as a family and it does warm my heart having us all together. Usually, when we are together it is when we are gathered around our table at home. Enjoying each other on an adventure is even better!
At the supermarket, they pretty much have everything you need and at reasonable prices. We had taken over some supplies, and our visit to the supermarket was on the downpour day, so we purchased some cheap brollies and rain ponchos. And it worked! We didn't need them at all, great strategy to bring on fine weather.
The great thing about traveling with your kids when they are adults is that they can take off and do their own thing however this didn't need to happen due to the house size (made for space) and our location, swims, walks, and trips next door to the Nautilis Resort for a cocktail needed no planning.
Lance was determined that we would dine one evening on the western side of the island to enjoy the sunset and this is how we found ourselves at Antipodes, a Mediterranean-style restaurant perched high on a ledge overlooking the sea. As we walked in it was easy to imagine we were on the otherside of the world and it resembled something we may encounter in Greece or Italy. Sitting at a large round balcony table we enjoyed great food and one bottle of Roaring Meg pinot noir while enjoying the vista which included a golden sunset. Please note that I mentioned that it was only one bottle of Roaring Meg, this was not due to any restraint on my part, it was because they would only sell us one bottle and after that, we had to buy by the glass. Not to worry, with a view like this it was imperative that the evening was started with cocktails!
Another highlight, well not at the time but makes a good story, was Lou'ana's dress. It was a very beautiful dress that had once belonged to Lance's mother back in the '70s. The very long zip at the back of this dress finally 'gave up the ghost' after 50 years. Unfortunately, it was when Lou'ana sat down at the table! Ever resourceful Lou'ana and Dillon slipped off to the bathroom and no one would ever have known that this was not intended to be an opened-back dress.A few other places where the food is worth a mention are:
Vili's Burger Joint - these burgers pack a punch and stuff will be running down your wrists which is a sign of a great burger.
Deli Licious Cafe - you will leave here stuffed full of really great homemade food.
Swimming with the Turtles - Charlotte Piho photographer
We booked this tour at the night markets and were all very excited!
The weather was about to turn but we managed a cracker of a day with a clear sky and ocean. After a very short drive (everywhere is a short drive in Raro) we arrived on the beach outfitted with some snorkeling gear, some of which had seen better days. However, it all worked and even though I had one large flipper and one short I managed to swim in a straight line and not in circles.
Our guide was a young guy who was lots of fun and looked after us all on the short swim out to the reef. Don't worry if you are not a confident swimmer, much of the journey was quite shallow. The sandy beach dropped away to reveal a beautiful coral backdrop and then suddenly the turtles appeared. They glided past us, under us, and over us gently flapping their flippers like they were soaring through the sky. It was a very special time for us all and I highly recommend it even though it didn't come cheap. Part of the package is photos and whilst ours took quite some time to arrive it has brought back lovely memories.
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| Samara & Declan |
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| Declan and friend |
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| Our little Whanau |
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| Dillon and friend |
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| Declan and Samara |
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| Lou’ana & friend |
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| Erynn and friend |
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| Happy Families |
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| Erynn & Lance |
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| Dillon and flying friend |
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| Dillon and Lou’ana |
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| Erynn, Declan, Dillon, Lance |
I say more room, but the person who had the two bulkhead seats in front of us spent almost the entire flight with her seat fully reclined. Fortunately I wear spectacles, otherwise my eyeballs would have been scraping the screen, her chair was that close. It also made for some entertaining exits as I repeatedly climbed over Lance so I could use the loo.
All in all it was a good flight, and I am sure that the 11:30am breakfast was to help aclimatise us to the new time zone. Fortunately we were awake when the 5am trolly went past with savoury meat turnovers and a cup of tea went by, otherwise I would have chewed my arm off!
I am sure that there must be something scientific with how the bowels manage to fill with copious amounts of gas whilst occupying the skies at 60,000 feet (or how ever high it is).
When you have a 17 hour flight it just does not bear thinkimg about what might happen if you held on. So, we didn't, however Lance still had an accidental trumpet as we disembarked, right in the ladies face who was following close behind. Sorry, I have to keep stopping as I type this as it has me crying with laughter so hard that I am finding it hard to breathe.
I had to stop and use the loo on our way to the baggage collection and I started to giggle again in the cubicle, I was just managing to get it under control when the person in the next cubicle let out a clanger. I tell you, I was crying! So much so that ... now stop it dear reader, it was my giggles that burst out, nothing else! But the giggle was so loud that I had to turn it into a cough, and then wait until they had left the toilets before I came out.
Other than that Dubai airport was a breeze, there was nobody there and we pretty much just walked through everything. Dubai airport has no loud announcements but there are plenty of helpful people to point you in the right direction.
We are staying at the Jumeirah Creek Hotel which is close to the airport and a AED35 (NZ 15.50) taxi fare and the cost of a defibulator to get your heart working again after the hairy driving. I am sure I closed my eyes a couple of times.
They have upgradeded us to a lovely room with a spacious lounge, kitchen, toilet, large bedroom with a huge bathroom with bath, toilet room and a shower the size of a small nursery. It certainly is a good start to our trip.
I did think this was a bidet, but it squirts down not up so I think it is for washing your feet for prayers.
This afternoon we had a swim in the roof top pool with almost 360 degree views of Dubai. I sat drying off in the sun on a sofa looking out at the Burj Khalifa whilst waiting for my pina colada. The rooftop Cuba bar is also situated here. There is a glass wall part, and we spotted a group swimming as we came up in the glass walled elevator.
Anyway we were pretty shattered after our flight and nothing here opens until 10am, so we had a shower and a rest before shooting out to the Burj Khalifa.
Quickly purchasing tickets online meant we could get straight through the line. Because we were so early it was only moderately crowded. By the time I left the Dubai Mall at around 1pm the queues were huge, with more crowding in
The Burj Khalifa is well worth the AED 169 (NZ 75). The tallest tower in the world it stands 830 meters at the tip and has 163 floors. Our ‘At the Top’ tickets took us to the 124th and 125th floors as it is much cheaper than the ‘At the Top Sky tickets’, and once you are up there bloody high is just bloody high!
We didn't stay long as Lance has hurt his knee and can't walk far which was great when you are in the largest shopping mall in the world by land area. (26th in the world by gross leasable area).
Early lunch was had next to the huge pond outside the mall which has fountains playing at various times, however not when we were there.
Carluccio’s was a great place to eat, we were in the shade and able to watch the world go by. Hoovering down our food we declined alcohol as we were starting to droop after the long flight and a wee tipple may have found us curled up under the table.
Lance was finding it really hard to walk any further so took a taxi home and left me to wander at leisure around the mall. I do hear an intake of breath from some of you at the recklessness of his choice. But not to worry, everything is so expensive I only came home with a hat. However I wandered for a couple of hours enjoying the grandness of everything. Many of the men wear long white floaty shirts with equally floaty headdresses. Or maybe a baseball cape instead.
I managed to locate all of the highlights. The aquarium which is impressive but sad watching the creatures trapped in a mall. The waterfall was the best for me, it was very tranquil and huge! And of course the ice skating rink.
A word of warning if catching a taxi! Watch out for the luxury taxi fare. Lance was quoted AED 90 and myself AED 130 for the same fare. Both of us declined and took the normal taxi at AED 35.
Before dinner we popped up to our roof top bar to watch the sun go down and the wandered next door to the Irish Village for dinner. This is located next to the Tennis stadium and is a large open air place that you would find anywhere in the world. The temperature was lovely, the wine and beer were also lovely but the food was pretty ordinary. And even though it was an Irish place we ordered lamb kofta and hummus.
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