Cook Islands – August 2016
Rarotonga
Now the question was where we should go in
the Cook Islands! The Cooks are made up
of 15 islands spread across 2 million square miles of the South Pacific
Ocean. There are only a few of the
islands that can actually be reached and have ability to anchor/moor by boat
and that was either one or two islands in the Northern Cook Islands or two in the
Southern Cook Islands. Lots of people we
know chose the Northern Cooks and went to the nature reserve island of Suwarrow
(Suvarov). Only a caretaker and no real
town, but amazing snorkeling/scuba diving, or go to the Southern Cooks and head to
Rarotonga, which holds the capital city of Avarua. As Geoff and the boys have a great great
grandmother that was born and raised in the Cooks, we decided to go to the largest
and capital city to see if we could get information on the family line that is
from the Cooks.
Avarua harbor - Enough med moored
Enough med moored in Avarua Harbor
Kids watching the local boys jumping into the harbor
Peer pressure - had to do the same
Never try to convert the "deluded natives" or you end up here
Lawn bowling
Rarotonga sailing club
Palace Burger
Feeding chips(french fries) to the chickens
CITC Liquor Store
(Cook Island Trading Company)
We have been collecting coins from all of the countries we have visited
$1, $2, $5 Cook Island coins
We also happened to be showing up the week
of the Cooks Independence celebration.
This is their 51st year of self-government with free
association with New Zealand. Talk about
a great time to be here! They call their
celebration week, Te Maeva Nui. Similar
to Tahiti’s Heiva, it brings folks from all of the Cook Islands for competition
in dance, singing and drumming, but they also have guests from the Marquesas,
Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, and Papua to join in the dance, singing and drumming
presentations. The theme for this year
is “Honour the Thrones of our Royalties”.
So each team has a song, dance, drum performance dedicated to this
theme. We thought the performances at
Heiva were good, but the Cook Islanders make the French Polynesians look like
beginners! Seriously, they were so
good. The performances we so coordinated
and so much more lively. We could not believe the difference! And trust us, when we say the French
Polynesian performers were great. But
the Cook Islanders were amazing! Again,
no photos or videos! So sad, because it
will make you smile the entire time!
The Cook Islands are famous for their woven hats
These cost anywhere from $100-$500 per hat!
Walking around the fair
More woven hats
Local school kids decided to start their own dance group
make your own Tivaivai - quilting
At the Te Maeva Nui auditorium
Fireworks on Independence Day
View from Trader Jack's bar
We rented a car and had to remember how to
drive on the left hand side of the road!
Also remembering which way to look when crossing the road took a little
getting used to. We toured the island
and were told to visit the local prison!
So, we went, because they said it was a joke. We saw that is was basically a farm with a little
wire fence around it. They farm and tend
their own vegetables, which makes lots of sense. The actual prison has a gate, but no real
security to talk about. The prisoners
have a craft shop and make Ukuleles.
You can go and buy a ukulele made by a prisoner! What an enterprising business. We saw that they were making one of the
Thones/Royalty chairs for the Te Maeva Nui festival. The prisoners actually made the throne for
the celebration. Day one of the festival
showed just the raw wood, Day two showed it carved, Day three, adding
embellishments, etc. When we saw it, it
was for the closing ceremony and they were going to add some final
embellishments and then varnish it. We
thought that was pretty fantastic that the prisoners actually made a piece of
furniture for the festival and would be placed in a museum afterwards.
View of the Prison from the road
Prison gate
Prisoner made Ukeleles
Wood shop with plantation in background
Throne/Chair carved for the festival
Throne/Chair
They recycle and have it shipped back to New Zealand
Ready for shipment
Fobbed - Fresh of the Boat
Moorings Cafe for FOB sandwich
Goat using a pig as a step stool
Taro fields
View from recycling center
Coco Putt - mini golf and lunch
Tamarind Restaurant
Beach at Tamaring Restaurant
There are 5 local chiefs for the island of
Rarotonga. We toured one of the Chief’s
homes which was turned into a palace museum.
It was fun to actually dress up in her actual clothes and accessories
that she actually wears for formal events!
She of course was not in town at the time!
Dressed in Pa Ariki's ceremony clothes
There were lots of activities as this was a
holiday for the Cook Islanders. The main
tourists come from New Zealand and Australia.
The main language is English with Cook Islands Maori. It is similar to Tahitian, but just a little
different. An example would be “Ia Orana”
in Tahitian for Hello. It is “Kia Orana”
in Cook Maori. The kids were so excited
that English is spoken and we were thrilled as to not have to learn another
language so quickly!
So, far we are enjoying the abundance of
fresh groceries, no getting up at 4 am to get the only 6 heads of lettuce in
town. Lots of choices and
availability! Good food and lots of
incredibly friendly people.
Entrance to Sunday Market
(they have 4 rows of stalls)
fresh vegetables - rows and rows of these stands
fresh baked goods
delicious pastries
We understand why cruisers don’t make it
here very often. The locals seem to
believe it is the cost and also the formalities that seem excessive, but
putting in notice that you are coming was easy and check in was very efficient
and fast. The cost was average, I would say it wasn’t much more that French
Polynesia, but getting to a harbor with a good anchorage/mooring is the main
issue. The harbor in Avarua is very
rolly and not convenient. You have to
med moor to a dock that is hard to tie up to without help and it is
consistently rolly. They recently did an
expansion of the harbor, but it really only helped the fishing boats. They created a new breakwater and dredged out
the harbor for their fleet of fishing/tour boats. The harbor for sailboats is where the big
ships/tankers/fishing boats come in, so busy and small.
But overall, we have to say, we are
incredibly happy we have come here. We
really like it here and are enjoying our stay.
The island is beautiful, like Moorea, surrounded by a big lagoon, but
has all the local amenities that a big city would have. Like a real Cinema! We went to see the new Jason Bourne move
already and Suicide Squad. Ok, not the
best movies, but seriously good to see a new release since Tahiti was still
only showing Kung Fu Panda 3 and everything is in French, with no
subtitles.
We came to do some research on Geoff and the children's great great and great great great grandmother. Her name was Marie Ambridge and she was born and raised in the Cook Islands. We thought we could find out about the family lineage and history of the family in the Cooks. We went to the National Archives and they were able to give us information on her and her father and uncle. We were able to find Marie's uncle's grave site and learned that her father was a printer for the local paper and her uncle was a fruit plantation manager for the European Fruit Company. Marie married John Geoffrey Ashton and moved to San Francisco and gave birth to Geoff's grandfather, Jack Ashton. It was great to learn a little bit about the family history from the Cooks.
We came to do some research on Geoff and the children's great great and great great great grandmother. Her name was Marie Ambridge and she was born and raised in the Cook Islands. We thought we could find out about the family lineage and history of the family in the Cooks. We went to the National Archives and they were able to give us information on her and her father and uncle. We were able to find Marie's uncle's grave site and learned that her father was a printer for the local paper and her uncle was a fruit plantation manager for the European Fruit Company. Marie married John Geoffrey Ashton and moved to San Francisco and gave birth to Geoff's grandfather, Jack Ashton. It was great to learn a little bit about the family history from the Cooks.
Horatio and Noah at Allen Frank Ambridge's gravesite
Their great great great uncle
We will stay for another week or so and try
to make it to Aitutake, but not sure the weather will permit us to anchor
outside the harbor, as it is too shallow for our boat to make it into the pass,
some places are only 4-5 feet deep, our boat draws closer to 7 feet. So, if the weather is good, we will stay, if
not, we will make our way to Niue and then to Tonga.