Highlights of our 3 week stay on One Foot Island..One Foot Island Video
Highlights of our 3 week stay on One Foot Island..Supplies for 3 Weeks on a Desert Island
Here’s what we packed for 3 weeks on the island, it was our biggest shop of the holiday! We took all the essentials such as cocktail umbrellas and straws ;) We had to post most of our hiking gear to friends we’ll be visiting in Oz to fit it all in our packs. It would of been nice to change our diet after 6 months of noodles and porridge, but our Air Raro flight had a weight restriction of 16kg each, so we had to stick to the lightweight hiker food for a little while longer. We did manage to add a load of fresh food to this when we got to Aitutaki.
Breakfast
Our hosts gave us a MASSIVE bunch/branch of bananas that kept us going for toppings on our porridge in the mornings. Also a regular supply of Paw Paw and lime for elevensies :)
Lunch
Noodles are our mainstay, we never get tired of them, our favourite brand is Koka Noodles, they make the best Hot & Sour soup base. We add all sorts stuff to our noodles – Dried chilli, balsamic vinegar, dried mushrooms and anything fresh we can get our hands on.
Dinner
We had coconut rice mixed with some Thai curry pastes for dinner, plus whatever fresh veg we had. Our hosts would also send us some special treats to spice it up, fish, eggs, cake and all sorts.
Coconut Rum Cocktails
We mix up our lemon & lime drink powders strong and tart, add some fresh lime and our rum of choice Mount Gay, then just stick it into a freshly cracked open coconut, awesome drink!
Rarotonga – A Moonlit Arrival
Wohoo! Rarotonga! A quick stop over on our way out to our remote island, but still an awesome start. The tropical flavour kicked in straight away with flower garlands and reggae in the minibus over. Followed by a midnight stroll on the beach, and a moonlit glimpse of an exciting looking island opposite. Huge chunk of coral in the sand. Nearly fell over it. Very excited already and it’s pitch black out there ;) Gekos were loitering on the veranda eating up all the mozzies, moths and beetles. Nice work chaps. Couldn’t sleep this night, waiting for the sun to come up and see what the tropical beach would look like!Rarotonga is the main island of the fifteen Cook Islands and the only one with an international airport. We decided to do a stopover here and see the place before heading to our island paradise.
We arrived at Tiana’s Beach Bungalows, our halfway home for the next 3 days late in the night. We made ourselves at home (i.e. two large rum cocktails), then headed straight down to the moonlit beach.
Life’s a Beach
Woh, how awesome is that! And this isn’t even the real holiday :P We woke up to find a long stretch of golden sand, palm trees and bright blue water. The cat we’d found the night before had adopted us already. Snoozing on the deck he was. Clearly waiting for us to stick our heads out and offer him some breakfast. Cheeky ol’ Terry Tibs.
Charlie the owner brought us some Paw Paw and Lime for breakfast. It was amazing. Never eaten one except as tiny chunks in an M&S fruit salad. A fresh ripe one drizzled in lime is something else. Sooo good.
If you want to go for a little stroll, there’s really only two choices – clockwise or anticlockwise. Rarotonga is a big round circle with beach on the outside (protected by a ring of coral) and big pointy mountains in the middle. We decided to stick to the beach and stay clear of the mountains for a change ;)
We ventured out in both directions during our stay and as far as we could tell there’s endless beach and lagoon in both directions. And yes, it all looks this good.
We’ve left reality and walked into a holiday brochure
The tropical fantasy is coming together nicely. Waking up in the morning and finding perfect blue water and waving palms was excitin’ enough. Wondering around was even more confirmation that we were indeed in some tropical place. I think my brain was struggling to comprehend we were actually really there finally! It felt bizarre enough to get up in the morning with nothing to do. No morning rush of the rucksack pack and steam off along the trail, racing the weather, and racing the schedule. Not having the sense that you were in a hurry to get somewhere fast. And having no particular mission at all to speak of is an odd feeling! So for now, the mission is purely to get into the holiday spirit :) … So how does that go again ?
Tiana’s Beach Bungalows
Chillin’ and looking out over the Muri Beach. Supposed to be pretty good snorkeling around here. There’s a few crazy looking fish out there. But we weren’t too energetic. The aim of the game here is sitting down doing absolutely nuffin’ and sipping cold beers. Phew, it’s a hard life eh. Awesome ;)We stayed at the southern end of Rarotonga near a small township called Muri Beach. It looked on the map to be an interesting bit of coast as the lagoon here is quite wide and there’s three small islands (motu) in the middle of it. The bungalow was amazing, literally a few steps from the door and you were on the beach!Lagoon-atics
So, it was getting pretty warm. Time for a dip perhaps? Break out the snorkel? Sitting down for too long after walking, walking, walking every day was only possible for so long. The weirdest thing? Having the same scenery for more than about an hour starts to confuse the brain. You can’t tell what time it is, oddly. A confused sensation of timelessness arises from not having the last hour’s progress across the landscape to look back on. If space doesn’t change, then neither does the time. Strangely, time and space have become linked in my perception. And being lost in time – paused – we don’t really know what to do with ourselves!
Hmm… Fancy a walk?
The lagoon was warm, shallow and full of coral reefs and fish. I was expecting such, so before we left New Zealand I bought a little underwater camera to capture some of our aquatic antics.
The minuscule GoPro camera is fun to play with – there’s no focus or other settings, no view finder, I just set it to take pictures every few seconds (or video) and see what comes out. Best of all, it has a hilariously distorted fish eye lens!
Flying Over the Pacific
Deeper into the Pacific we go, heading out, thousands of miles away now from the place that’s been home to us for six months: New Zealand. Actually feels like we’re “going abroad”. Even though we’re English ;)
And so! Eagerly looking out the window, i’m keeping my eyes peeled for a glimpse of our remote pacific island. The next phase of the adventure? Being desert island castaways!
I love these little planes where everyone gets a window seat, old school propellers too, such a treat :) Only a 50 minute flight from Rarotonga to Aitutaki, entertained by the endlessly interesting cloud formations slowly drifting past the window.Aitutaki Atol – Deep in the Pacific
When we say our island is in the middle of nowhere, it really is! Aitutaki atol is surrounded by infinite deep blue ocean. Stunning! “Cookie! I think I can see a Pirate ship over there!”Photo Credit – Jenny McIver.A Tiny Plane to Aitutaki
Touchdown! The Aitutaki atol… So close now! It’s like ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’ to get here, but only one more step and we’re fully marooned! Let the Bear Grylls-ing begin…
The stewardess on this plane was so awesome. She came round with a pad and took our specific preferences for tea, coffee, milk and sugars, and came round with a tray with everyone’s made up individually to our liking – as if we were mates that popped in round her house. So lovely!
Not only was the stewardess brilliant, she was even featured in the inflight magazine – I have a feeling she might be Air Raro’s one and only stewardess?!
Air travel must of been brilliant in the good old days when all airports were like this. No waiting around just get off the plane, pick your rucksack up off the trolley and you’re on your way.
