Market Day Rarotonga

Punanga Nui Market Day.
Today is Saturday, the big Punanga Nui Market Day in Avarau the main township on Rarotonga, so we were up reasonably early fed the fish in the lagoon breakfasted and went to catch the bus to Town. When we got to the reception area where the bus stops we saw two men with a very long extension ladder propped up against a very tall Coconut palm. They were there to remove the large bunches of coconuts hanging dangerously near to where people stand and also to the units. Falling coconuts, particularly from the tall palms cause a lot of damage in the island. One man was holding the ladder and the other right at the very tippy top, fortunately holding on tight with one arm, when the ladder started to slip and slide and then out of balance fell down to the ground with a crash, the poor man at the top just simply swung himself on to the trunk of the palm while he held on to a frond with one arm, as quick and gracefully as a monkey. He then started shimmying down as all the island youths seem to be able to do, even though he was middle-aged man. I called out for him to wait up while a got a photo, and he did so, loads of others waiting for the bus rushed to do so too. Could have been a terrible accident right before our eyes, but all was well. Both the men then proceeded to shuck the nuts and open them for all the many children gathered. We had a go at doing this and it is far too hard for us, takes a lot of strength and talent.
Bus dropped us at the gateway to the big Island Market and we happily went shopping for some vegetables and fruit like bananas, a pawpaw and tomatoes and lettuce. We wandered around looking at all the lovely black pearls some very expensive and some at as little as $5 each, I near bought another but I just love the one Erle bought me last time that has a pretty ring around it. I have been swimming in the ocean here with it hanging around my neck and it now has the most lovely pink lustre about it, so much so that a couple of pearl sellers told it was a lovely pearl, so I restrained myself, when you already have a good one why waste money getting another probably lesser one.
I photographed a big black rock that was all carved on every side in the middle of the market area.
Decided to buy a sarong, I do have some but it would be nice to have one from Cook Islands, so we made a grand tour of all the sellers looking for just the right one at the right price, finally we got a lovely one for $12 which I thought was reasonable, quite a lot of work goes into the painting and decorating of these sarongs.
We watched some more lovely island dancing that was the entertainment for the day, lots a little kiddies all dressed in grass skirts learning to wiggle their hips and dance, it was just delightful. Once again we bought up plenty of delicious ethnic food that we so enjoy, then we went out looking for a good place to rent a vehicle which we want to have for a week from Monday morning, there are so many to choose from, we don’t really want a scooter or a common car we want something different. We have heard there are some odd 3 wheeled cycles that have 2 wheels at the back for greater stability; maybe we will go for that if we can find them. Sadly the wonderful fun-mobiles we hired last time we were here are no longer available.
We flagged down the bus to go back to the resort, and were very soon out in the lagoon snorkelling among all the little fishes for the rest of the afternoon. Saw the whales frolicking outside the lagoon in the ocean again.
As this is Saturday night we decided to go out to a restaurant for dinner. We chose Alberto’s Steak house, we enjoyed some meals here last time, and we enjoyed ourselves again, the Swordfish steak was just excellent and the service quick and efficient even though they were very busy with a full house. As the resort was only a short walk away we could easily wander back home even with a few drinks under our belts!
Another great day, in this Island Paradise.
PS to my Cook Island visitors to my blog, welcome, do leave a comment and or become a follower; there will be more posts from here.

Rarotonga.
Winter this year has been very wet and dismal rather than actually cold, but constant rain and muddiness under foot convinces one that a holiday on a South Pacific tropical island would be a great idea. We have been to Rarotonga about 4 years ago and loved the slow relaxed happy way of life, so we decided to make another longer trip. Our first thought was to stay in the beautiful Muri Beach area, where the small islands are scattered like little jewels just off shore, some can even be walked out to at low tide. But our travel agent couldn’t find a single source of accommodation for us anywhere in Muri Beach as it is very popular. So we opted to return to Edgewater Resort and Spa, where we stayed last time. It was comfortable with a great view and the sunset was spectacular there every evening, the breakfasts also were rather nice and are thrown in for the accommodation cost.
We chose to travel by Air NZ rather than the cheaper Jet Star as we knew we would be hungry after driving to Christchurch to catch the [plane and we would get a nice meal on Air NZ. Was a good idea, we firstly were offered nice packs of chips, the Steward offered the passengers behind us an extra pack, and I cheekily said it was mean that we didn’t get an extra pack, and he said “you only had to ask” and tossed us 4 packs of chips. He then said, “If you don’t ask you don’t get.” And looking directly at me added “And you remember that!”
We arrived just on dark and were showed to our apartment, we quickly dashed out to get a meal at the next door restaurant where we had eaten before on our last visit. The meal turned out to be very nice, but we were very hungry so anything probably would have tasted good. But when I inquired about a drink of water I was told I had to buy a bottle of water, I did so and the bar tender attempted to charge me $7 for it, luckily another tourist at the bar said hey you only charged me $4 for a bottle of water, so the bar tender relented and charged me $4 also. We made a mental note not to eat there again! Walked back to our apartment in the pitch darkness, no street lighting much in this area. We were quick to bed but didn’t sleep very well as we had noted that there was no cooking facilities in the apartment and we had paid extra for rooms with a kitchen, also we spotted that there was no balcony which we had intended to sit out on in the sun reading our books, further more the rooms were so tiny there was only room for one chair and the small double bed, as there are two of us we didn’t think we would be at all comfortable in this mean little room , fighting over who would have the chair and who would stand that day, and resolved to complain heartily in the morning and try for another room, any other room would be better.
In all the years of travel we have done, never once before have we complained about our room or tried to change to a nicer one, but we sure did this time. When morn dawned it showed us that the tiny mean little room had only one window and it was completely blocked but a big tree right hard against the glass, so we would have to have the lights on all day and night!
Right after breakfast we marched up to the reception desk ready to take on any receptionist, the poor lady didn’t stand a chance really against our demands, and very soon agreed to allow us to change to another room, but, without any cooking facilities. Who cares about that, there were almost none in the other room anyway, just a tiny microwave with 5 tiny buttons on one side, how it worked I have no idea, but didn’t plan on finding out either. The receptionist sent us to have a look at another empty room we could change into. It turned out to be the most wonderful beach front ground floor apartment, about 3 times the size of the previous room and this one had a sunny balcony we could watch the sunset from, plenty on space for not only 2 comfortable chairs but also a nice settee as well in the lounge part and a huge double bed, with no hesitation we agreed to accept this new room as long as there was no further charges! There were no extra costs so we joyously hurried to repack our gear and transfer it all to the lovely sunny rooms with a view!
I am sure this will be the first of many stories from Rarotonga.