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 ?
We’ve left reality and walked into a holiday brochure
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.
Catching our ride to One Foot Island
Dropped off at the harbor and picked up our ride across the lagoon. Heading from the main island of Aitutaki through the tropical bright waters to our new home, One Foot Island! A little windy that day made for a bit of a bouncy ride ;)On our way to the port (this is the port), we stopped off at a few local shops to stock up on fruit & veg and few other last minutes supplies (more rum). This is the local fisherman who’s giving us a ride across the lagoon.Crossing the Lagoon
The smile on my face is beginning to crystalize into a giant immovable grin. I’ve been taken over with a quiet excitement brought on by the realisation at we actually are in the Pacific, we’re in an actual lagoon, and we’re speeding towards one of the best places on earth… ( with real wild palm trees ). An actual desert island. “For real”. Quite a lot for my little noggin’ to fully comprehend without exploding with awesomeness overload.First impression of the Aitutaki lagoon? Jesus Christ, have you seen the colour of this thing? And it’s huge, like a massive crystal clear lake slap bang in the middle of the Pacific. W O W !
Quite a bumpy ride across it though, at one point the ‘captain’ looked back with a worried look on his face, I think he thought we might of tipped out the back!
Excited as we approach One Foot Island
The first glimpse of the island as we approach! Passing several little motus on the way I wonder which will be ‘ours’. The water is a kind of neon blue I’ve never seen before. It’s almost looks as though it’s generating light under the surface and illuminating the entire area. This is not normal sea!
I spot the actual Tiger and Shark islands from that Saturday morning TV show, Shipwrecked. ( Classic hangover trash telle ). I dangle over the side staring at them open mouthed from the boat as we power through the water at high speed. It’s starting to dawn on me that we really are going to be living on a remote, palm tree laden paradise very shortly indeed. And all to ourselves. Is it real?? This place really exists? Very very hard to take in. I think my brain is in a bit of a state of shock at the amazingness of it all. I may need a shot of rum in a minute to calm me down… ;)
Stepping off the boat we were greeted by a couple who we assumed must be the owners, “Are you the guys that are staying here for 3 weeks? Ah you’re going to love this place”, they started to give us the tour. It soon became apparent they were very enthusiastic One Foot Island veterans, just finishing their forth stay on the island. They gave me the impression that people who come here, often keep coming back, I can see why, everything was exceeding my expectations.
The actual owners Andrew & Moyra were in the house getting it ready for us before driving these guys back across the lagoon. There wasn’t much the Canadian guests hadn’t told us, so they gave us a quick lesson in coconut opening and the two rules: No climbing coconut trees, and be careful with the machete! We waved goodbye as the boat roared off across the lagoon, finally we were on a desert island all to ourselves :)
Welcome to One Foot Island
This is it! What we’ve been waiting for for six months. WooHoo! Our own island. And it’s a-mazing! I know.. I’m sorry, i’ve just run out of adjectives here! But it really is as beautiful and tropical as it looks. I’m fully expecting there to be buried treasure on there and pirates to attack. Being marooned on your own private island is about as fantastic as life can get.
It’s exactly what you’d draw if someone asked you to draw a desert island. It’s looks tiny here but we’re only looking at it end on. There’s a lot more to explore round the back!
The Cook Island Mauri name for the Island is Tapuaetai, but the tourist friendly version is One Foot Island. I’ve heard a couple of different reasons for the name - The most likely one is it’s simply shaped a bit like a footprint. The more elaborate story is about father & son caught fishing in a no-fishing area of the lagoon many years ago. By following each others footsteps across the beach, the father was able to hide his son on the island and convince the approaching war party that he alone was guilty of the crime (punishment death!)