Sunday, Aitutaki

Another lovely peaceful sleep. Not sure why people complain about the chucks, we never hear them!

We were allowed onto the new floor for breakfast this morning but quite honestly we would have been happier outside, not sure why Thomas, owner, can't see the advantage.

Breakfast for me is lovely as there is a choice of cereal and fruit - pineapple, guava, pawpaw, passion fruit, mango and watermelon - I can have my five a day + here. Then pancakes and toast but I am happy with just fruit.

We asked about hiring a car but due to so many locals coming back for the holidays there were none available. The other option was a moped! Jon hasn't driven a motorbike for more than 40 years and I have only been on a moped belonging to my friend in Godella back in 1976ish so we were not too sure about it.

Thomas suggested we walk down to the café and grill where they hire them from and try one out. The walk down was very hot, seems much hotter than yesterday.

I tried to persuade the man to let us have one of the cars for a few hours but he was not having it so we ended up with a moped after Jon's test drive. If we didn't have the moped we would not see the island as there is no public transport.

We drove back to our resort and it was a little wobbly but not bad. Getting on and off was my problem due to my very sore legs from snorkelling sunburn! I should know better!

We collected our things and stored them in the box under the seat and off we set. Not far down the road Jon shouted Ouch! And said he had been stung. We stopped and I checked but although his neck was red I couldn't see anything else. This was a good start!

We carried on and we both settled into the ride and really enjoyed it. It didn't take long to get round the island and I felt like the paparazzi snapping away with my camera.

The roads were very quiet as it was Sunday and they still have a day of rest here and go to church. The population is about 1600 and there are 8 churches, we passed at least four and they were all full.

We really enjoyed our moped ride and saw all of the island. We wanted to stop for a drink and found the only bar open, it was 11.30 and we decided to have lunch. We chose fish and chips and salad. When it came it was lovely fish in batter with chips but the salad was sweet potato and mango in a coconut sauce and very good but far too much. We later found out it was the lovely butterfly fish we had been swimming with yesterday. Had I known it was a reef fish I would not have eaten it as you can get very nasty toxic poisoning  from them and one dose of that in Fiji was more than enough for me.

We had bought drinks in the little shop attached to the bar and if I had to do my weekly shop there I don't know how I would manage as they didn't stock much - no supermarket here.

We met up with a couple who we had seen in our resort. They turned out to be Brits living in NZ. I now know how we get the whinging Pom label. She was awful saying how different it was to three years ago and how she didn't feel well and neither did her husband Roger. She was not happy on a moped as she had no hat (they had been in Rarotonga before here so not sure why she hadn't bought herself a hat). We couldn't wait to get away from them so finished our meal and left. Very strange woman.

We went across the road and sat on the beach which is the opposite side of the island to where we are staying and also open onto the ocean beyond the reef so much noisier and the water not so calm but still very blue.

We then carried on round and came to the very plush resort of Pacific Resort and we went in to have a look around.

We went to the outside bar and they had the most beautiful infinity pool and seating area onto the beach. We ordered an iced coffee and the waitress was lovely and happily chatted to us about life on Aitutaki. It is the quiet season now as it is cyclone season and she said they only had three bungalows occupied. I know from looking in the brochure that it is very expensive to stay there but we wondered why they don't reduce the price to get more people in? I checked and it is five hundred pounds a night for a double room! Wow! I really don't think it is worth that.

Our coffee was delicious and we walked around and took photos. It was amazing to see how big the waves were crashing over the reef. Really beautiful but we were happy to be inside on the lagoon where it was much calmer.

By now we were very hot and I was finding sitting on the bike with sunburnt legs very hard so we headed for home.

We stopped off at one more beach and as we were parking and I was getting off Jon moved the bike and I ended up in a heap on the ground! No damage done though. We had a walk along the beach but decided where we were staying was by far the best spot on the island and we headed back.

We left the moped at the café and then went and enjoyed a stubbie overlooking the water another good day in paradise.

We walked back to the resort and it was extremely hot so we changed and went to the beach. The tide was in for the first time for us and so the sand bars were covered. Who needs a pool with this lovely water to swim in. I thought I ought to be shrinking with all the time spent in the water but I fear the food is putting paid to that! Jon slept and I swam. A couple swam, walked a sand bar, swam across a channel, walked another sand bar and were then across on the island resort of another luxury hotel. I would have loved to do it but not on my own. I did go about half way and that was lovely and so many fish swimming around.

We went back to our bungalow and after a shower we had a cup of tea and a rest before sorting out the packing ready to leave tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was a BBQ. Thomas told us he was full tonight so we reserved a table but there was only us and two couples there. It said entertainment but we didn't have any. Thomas' family arrived from a Rarotonga this evening to spend Christmas here so they were all having a family meal at the house. However, the Sunday waiting staff were lovely and one of the ladies spent a long time chatting to us and telling us about her life here. They are happy to make a living, feed their children and that is it. They don't want material things, you can't buy much here anyway, they enjoy fresh food, grown by themselves and fish caught in the lagoon or from the ocean. She told us that the fish we had today was probably the beautiful butterfly fish that I had been admiring when snorkelling in the lagoon yesterday. I felt very mean. It seems worse than eating your own chickens!

Back to our room and still no Internet so will have to wait until we get to Rarotonga and hope we can get a connection for Christmas Day!

WEATHER
Sunny 31 degrees.