The Cook Islands

3 days, 480 nautical miles and enough caught fish to feed a small island after leaving Bora Bora we found ourselves outside the lagoon of Aitutaki, a small island that is part of the Cook Islands. Aitutaki is well known amongst cruisers as a place that is pretty hard to get into due to the fact that its reef pass is a man made, and a relatively half-arsed effort (there is a shallow spot halfway in that is less than 5ft deep at high tide, which many boats end up stuck on). We arrived an hour or two before the high tide, so decided to wait outside for more water.

Our arrival also coincided with the monthly arrival of the supply ship from New Zealand, everything from food, to cars, to building materials and boats arrived via the ship, and due to the shallow channel, it sits outside the pass for a few days whilst a small pontoon barge ferries all of the cargo in to the island.

Cowabunga went through some of the roughest stuff she has seen on the trip so far. A lot of us suffered, but she loved it, so did Trev!)

During our first day on the island, we saw a lot of people playing instruments, apparently it was the Islands "Battle of the Bands" competition and a pretty big thing for Aitutaki. We went along and enjoyed an amazing show, and soon realised just how nice the Cook Islander people are. 

Another day in Aitutaki was spent riding our motor bikes around the island, which could be done in around 20 minutes. We did however break up the journey with a big breakfast feed, some coffee, a big lunch and some afternoon beers at various spots around the island, and a few burnouts on the hill beside the water reservoir rounded out the day nicely.

Biker Chicks

Gamino MC, Cook Islands Chapter

Me and Salv bringing back the 4 drinks at breakfast rule, topping off a pretty nice feed with some iced coffee before hitting the road again. 

After almost a year away from home for Andy and myself, and a few weeks for Salv, we were pretty stoked to see pies and sausage rolls in the warmer at the local shop. Sure enough this scene would repeated almost every morning, around smoko time.

The following photos are taken less than an hour apart, after having almost a week of rainy weather, the sun came out for the arrival of the Vaka's, we had a few afternoon drinks in the cockpit and the next thing, after donning our shit shirts, The Bunga 5 was born.

Bucko (flute), Hannah (drums), Andy (trumpet) Salv (Guitar), Jono (Harmonica) - The Bunga 5.

 I'm sure many bands have been born in flash points like this, but are any going to take over the world like The Bunga 5?

 Our time on the island also coincided with the arrival of the traditional Vaka’s, these are replicas of the boats the original settlers of the Polynesian Islands used to travel the Pacific, these ones had travelled from Hawai’i, French Polynesia and the larger islands of the Cooks and making their way through the Pacific. It was a pretty big event for Aitutaki and in typical Island-style hospitality, the Chief decided it was a good time for a communal feast, or “FID” as they would say it. The arrival of the Vaka’s was scheduled for Thursday Afternoon, so locals set up the local boat club for the big feast, everyone brought a platter or bucket of food and the barbeques were stacked with all sorts of meat. Our arrival to the club was welcomed, and everyone generously offered us to eat first, much to our embarrassed consent. However one of the seniors of the club told us in no uncertain terms that if we didn’t go know the locals would eat all the food (which sure enough they did!).

We enjoyed the feed that night, unfortunately the Vaka’s didn’t make it in time, so the Chief declared they would do it all again tomorrow. When we were leaving we asked if we could bring a plate tomorrow, the lady we spoke to told us that was out of the question as it was their duty to host us, and if we weren’t fed, it would reflect poorly on the town. So the next night we enjoyed another amazing feed, one an island paradise with some of the friendliest people in the world.

 The rest of the time in Aitutaki was spent as most time is spent in these parts, some snorkeling, and coconut hunting, and a day spent on Honeymoon Island, a small island in the lagoon that is the typically perfect Pacific scene.

Hannah and Salv taking it in

Enjoying the sun!

the place was littered with hermit crabs, so we had our own Aitutaki Cup Races. My guy finished 2nd last.

After almost stepping on this baby, we soon realised that along with hermits, the place was full of birds too, mostly babies awaiting the return of their parents for some lunch.