On our last morning on Rarotonga, I was determined not to miss the sunrise. I set the alarm for 6am and slipped out to our deck. I was just in time today, and the beautiful sunrise was worth getting up for.
We had our usual coffee and tea on the deck, and finished up the last of the rolls and peanut butter for breakfast. We are returning to Papeete food-less, but that is fine. We know that we have plenty of options there.
We had to be moved out of our bungalow by 10am, but were able to spend almost two hours on our deck and on the beach. That was a good thing, because we had three beers to consume (Before lunch! Shameful!) and the last of the Bugles crumbs to feed to the menagerie. I took some time to add to my list of "'kite flying countries' by flying my Konvertible Kite on gusty Muri Beach. While the day was periodically cloudy, the sun shined brightly at times, making us more than a little sad to be leaving that gorgeous lagoon at our doorstep.
Vina was the sweetest host possible, and, though had we booked using Booking.com, everything was handled perfectly all the way through the process, and there were no surprises (which is the best one can hope for while traveling). I would recommend the Muri Beach Hideaway to anyone, especially the Lagoon View (not the Beach Front) bungalow.
I was ready for no surprises after our issue with Cabanas Ngahu on Rapa Nui. Cabanas Ngahu had rightfully notified Booking.com that we hadn't checked in (because they didn't want to have to pay a commission when we never stayed there). Booking.com labeled that a No Show, and charged us $560 for that. It took sending several emails and disputing the credit card charge, all a bit more difficult using questionable Internet, to get the issue resolved, but it is now behind us. And to Booking.com's credit, they offered to pay any expenses above what we would have incurred. Cost-wise, it really worked out to be the same; we lost kitchen facilities and spent more money eating out, but the room was cheaper, too. I am posting about this just to point out that things don't always go smoothly, but they do ultimately get worked out and aren't worth stressing over. However, because we travel for longer periods of time it means they have to get worked out 'on the run', and it does point out the simplicity of travel by cruise ship.
We took the biggest risk of our trip to date by relying on the Cook Islands bus to get to the Rarotonga airport. There is a schedule- sort of- but they run on island time. And there was no guarantee that there would be space available on the bus for us and our suitcases when it did arrive. But it all fell into place, and we were at the airport by 1:00pm. G was still carrying five cans of Coke from the 12-pack he bought for less than US $7 a few days ago. He managed to horse trade them for two double ice cream cones from an ice cream truck at the airport and that was our lunch (we had already traded back our New Zealand dollars). Nothing he does surprises me anymore. ;-)
When the Air Tahiti counter opened, we were checked in by possibly the slowest agents I have ever seen. It was taking 8 minutes per couple (yes, I timed it) to check in and check baggage. Once it was our turn, I saw why. The baggage labels were not electrically generated; they were the old elastic string-type. And information about our onward travel had to be typed into some sort of immigration system. And, just like last year, immigration got all worked up about our extended (35 day) stay. But we finally adequately communicated our travel plans.
The last ten days have been a bit strange...though we've stayed in Polynesia the entire time, Rapa Nui is Chilean Polynesia, and Spanish was spoken; Tahiti is French Polynesia and French is spoken; in the Cook Islands English is spoken. But in all three places, that language is mixed with a Polynesian language, and it differs a bit from island grouping to island grouping. For example, 'hello' is 'Ia Orana' in Rapa Nui and Tahiti but 'Kia Orana' in the Cook Islands.
While we had a nice view of the lagoon surrounding Rarotonga from the plane, it was dark by the time we flew over Moorea about 6:10pm. French Polynesia is obviously on the eastern side of this time zone; the Cook Islands are on the western side. Sunset was more than 40 minutes later there last night.
Arriving in Papeete is more familiar every time we do it. Our Air Tahiti flight was on a small plane, and, for the first time arriving in Papeete, we had no long line at immigration. I do have to admit that I am growing weary of filling out immigration forms on this trip. Canada, French Polynesia, Chile, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, French Polynesia. We are now good to go until we arrive in Hawaii in late November. And we've collected some nice passport stamps along the way. Anyway, we took a few minutes to take photos of the musicians and dancer that welcome every international flight.
We held our breaths at the luggage carousel. This was the last time we might possibly lose our luggage this trip, but we're batting 1000. A short taxi ride later, we were greeted by name when we walked into the Hotel Tiare Tahiti. Easy peasy! Just two short days until we reboard the Pacific Princess. It will be good to get home!!
Frankly. as much as we loved Rarotonga, I think we left the Cook Islands just in time. Words like 'brilliant' and 'lovely' and 'heaps' are creeping into my language. And today, G, in remarking that we've managed to do everything we've done so far without sustaining any injury, used the word "holiday" instead of vacation. My Southern husband said holiday and he wasn't talking about Halloween or Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Crikey!