Rarotonga Day 4

We really don't have much to say about day 3. We found access to the internet, and by the time we got our posts up, spoke with a couple from near Santa Fe, NM, and I answered about 100 emails, our day was pretty much gone.



We did fit in some downtown shopping (you'll just have to wait to see what we got for the grands), and we got caught in a torrential downpour on our way back to Lagoon Lodges. We were soaked to the skin! Riding a motorcycle in the rain brings new meaning to Forrest Gump's description of the rain in Viet Nam (we had "little stinging rain"). We ate the last of our Wahoo last night, having eaten Wahoo burgers for lunch. While it was lovely fish, four fish-based meals in two days left us needing a little change.

On to Day 4.



On the recommendation of our Kiwi friends Derek and Denise, we decided on Day 3, to schedule a jeep tour for Day 4. We went with Raro Mountain Safari, and it all sounded wonderful in their brochure. However, when we woke this morning, it was raining, and continued to rain, sometimes rather briskly, all morning long. The safari goes, rain or shine, (as advertised in their brochure) so away we went. This is one of our guides, Apu, both of the guides had well developed scripts they were following which included lots of humor, some of it in marginal taste. Remind me to tell you about what Noni juice is good for.

The highlight of the tour was our ride in the back of the jeep. It had a roof, and roll down canvas side flaps, but the flaps were rolled up, and caught water better than a cup. As a result, our covered seats were always wet, and at one point the hood on Bubby's raincoat was completely filled with water when she exited the jeep. Of course getting wet clothes dry enough to pack is one of the major challenges of this climate. It took us all day to dry our underroos, something that would take about three hours at home.



Here is Bubby standing by Wiggmore's waterfall. It is the only one on the island, and our guides joking claimed it was the largest on the island, and perhaps, the largest in the world. The most interesting part of our tour was the amount of time we spent in the interior of the island. There is an amazing amount of agriculture going on inland, and it was fun to see the taro, citrus, arrowroot, pineapple, etc., being grown on the "mountain" (what the locals call it).



They did take us to some rather scenic locations, however, as you can see in the photo, we were in the clouds so our magnificent views were somewhat obscured. We still enjoyed ourselves immensely. If I hadn't been worried about giving the camera a bath, I would have taken a lot more photos. As it was, Bubby had to hold her umbrella over me while I took pictures.



At one of our scenic view points, the guides had planted coconut and pineapple along the sides of the "track", and in honor of Sarah, Daniel, and Matt, her is a small example of a growing pineapple. They used to export these, however, the market went elsewhere and now they just grow enough for local consumption.

Our tour ended with a lovely beach-side lunch in the only place we were truly dry, under a pavilion. It was a BBQ, and the meat was, of course, fish! It was mahi mahi, marinated in a soy-based product and quite tasty. There were two salads, bread, fresh fruit, BBQ'd bananas (a remarkable dessert) and there was plenty. It was a very nice luncheon. Our tour cost us about $75 NZ each, or $40 US each, and it was well worth it. The lunch alone was worth $20 (US) of that. If the weather had been fine, the views would have been spectacular. As it was, we still had a great outing. We are going to find some dinner out tonight, and enjoy another sunset.

Maybe I will wet a line, if the tide starts to come in.

Buboppy